September 2008 - Posts

• Bolwell Arriba bald tyre

  This has to be the worst tyre I’ve seen come off a scooter in a long time. The rider booked in for his service and it was during the per-service inspection that I pointed out to the customer that the tyre was well and truly in need of replacement plus it was also flat. The rider was unaware that there was an issue with the scooter and also didn’t feel that the scooter was handling badly. I always try to build relationships with my customers to the point where they feel welcome dropping in to have their scooter checked over every now and again. This is the advice I’ll be giving this rider. It’s sad to think that riders are out there riding machines that are unsafe and putting themselves in grave danger. If you haven’t had your scooter serviced in a while take my advice. Drop in to your local servicing dealer and get him to look over your scooter. It might just save your life. Posted Sep 29 2008, 05:09 PM by E2W with 1 comment(s)

• Bolwell VS125 Major Service

  A Bolwell VS125 came through the workshop today for a major service. With 13,000k’s on the clock it was definitely time for the scooter to get some love. We did the works to this thing. Engine oil, drive belt, rollers, air filter, final drive oil, valve clearances checked and every moving part lubed to make the scooter feel fresh again. Bolwell’s have to be one of the best brands in the market place at the moment. The quality of the finish and the way these scooters ride make it understandable why these are Australia’s number one selling scooter. But the best thing I like about Bolwell (from a technicians point of view) is the workshop manuals. There full of crucial info with nice clear pictures and diagrams plus there written in clear English. There’s nothing worse than a workshop manual that just plainly doesn’t make any sense due to poor translation with fuzzy pictures or wiring diagrams that you just can’t read. Posted Sep 26 2008, 10:00 PM by E2W with no comments

• Peugeot Ludix Blaster (Part 2)

  Life with the Peugeot Blaster is still fun and the new scooter novelty hasn’t worn off yet. The only disappointment I’ve had with the scooter so far is the fact there is no under seat storage at all to speak of. It all fell apart when I walked out of the local shops with 4liters of milk a loaf of bread and a the latest copy of Scooter magazine. I put the key in the seat lock, lifted up the seat and stood there looking at the area where the under seat storage should have been but all I could see was fuel tank. Good job the scooter comes with a shopping bag hook otherwise it would have been black coffee when I got back home. The only other issue with the blaster is the god awful ‘Hutchinson’ brand tyres fitted to it as standard. It so easy the get the front tyre to slide in corners to the point where I’ve thought I was going to fall off the thing on a few occasions. Admittedly I wasn’t exactly taking it easy when it’s happened but boy the tyres just don’t have any grip at all. When I get a free moment I really have to fit a set of Continental Twist tyres. I’m sure they will cure the front end drifting problem. Apart from that the Blaster is great, I love it. Posted Sep 25 2008, 05:35 PM by E2W with no comments

• Yamaha Beewee

  Who says that having your scooter serviced at a non-franchised dealer will void your warranty? The rider of this Yamaha Bee wee wasn’t aware that the rider has a choice when it comes to having your scooter serviced and no matter what a dealer may say new vehicle warranties can not be voided if you decided not to use the dealer you bought it from for your servicing requirements. Initially this rider rang me up for some advice about her new scooter. It was during this conversation that I revealed to her that she was free to take the scooter to any workshop she liked. A few days later the scooter was here for its first 1000k service. After a complete check over and a few minor adjustments as recommended by the Yamaha service schedule the rider was back on her way with a stamped service record book and safe with the knowledge that her new scooter warranty is still intact. Posted Sep 24 2008, 05:14 PM by E2W with no comments

• TGB R50X

  A TGB R50X was in the workshop today for a minor electrical fault to be fixed. This is the first R50X I’d ever seen. I thought these were a new model only just released but after talking to the owner he informed me that the R50X has been around for a couple of years. For a scooter that isn’t new to the market place these really haven’t dated at all. The sharp angels give it a real sport aggressive look and the doubled over exhaust with the added chamber add to the sporty looks. The thing rode pretty good as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that some one may have derestricted this one? Posted Sep 24 2008, 05:10 PM by E2W with 1 comment(s)

• Italjet Torpedo 125 drive belt

  I think its drive belt week at Everything Two Wheels this week. Once again a rider rang me stranded on the side of the road and once again it was out in the van to collect the motionless scooter. This time it was an Italjet Torpedo with drive issues. More and more dealers are starting to shy away from repairing anything in the Italjet range due to the fact spare parts are becoming harder and harder to source ever since Italjet Australia went bust a few years back. Luckily enough the guys at GPS Imports in Melbourne are gurus with this kind of stuff. A quick phone call to Steve to confirm they had a belt in stock and the scooter was repaired and back on its way the very same day. If you’re chasing Italian spare parts GPS have to be your first point of call. Check out their website. www.gpsimports.com.au/ Posted Sep 24 2008, 05:05 PM by E2W with no comments

• Kawasaki KLR650 Wheel bearings

  The owner of one of a Kawasaki KLR650 rang me and said the rear brake was pretty much non-affective and hopeless at stopping the bike so I booked it in for a check over. Once here the reason for the fading brake was very obvious. The rear wheel bearings were so worn that the wheel was twisting on its axel and pushing the brake pads apart. Every time you went to use the back brake you would first have to get the brake pads back to where they would have been if the wheel bearing were ok and only then would you be starting to brake. This made the rear brake feel very spongy and the rear brake lever would have to travel twice as far and do half the braking. The only option was to replace the rear wheel bearings. I removed the rear wheels and fitted some high quality shielded bearings. Once bolted back together I also decided to change the brake fluid just for good measure. A quick ride around the block and the rear brake was razor sharp and felt like new again. Posted Sep 19 2008, 09:08 AM by E2W with no comments

• TGB Delivery 50

  I thought I give a positive plug to the guys at Stoney Creek Power Sports regarding their warranty and spare parts back up. Many owners when buying a new scooter never take into account the spare parts supply of the brand they are buying. I’ve seen cases with some of the smaller brands were a scooter has been off the road for weeks, sometimes even months due to poor spares supply. That’s not the case with Stoney Creek Power Sports the importers of TGB scooters. After a TGB Delivery 50 had a starter motor fail all it took was a quick phone call to SCP followed up by a fax listing the required spare parts and the bike was all but back on the road. The next day after the order was placed the new starter motor was with me and ready to be fitted. Once fitted the scooter was back to the Domino’s pizza store and delivering pizzas once more. In total the scooter was only off the road for three days and all repaired under warranty. Posted Sep 17 2008, 04:42 PM by E2W with no comments

• Im riding back to the UK!

  Rob is a customer whose KTM Superduke is a bike I’ve serviced since he bought it new last year. He’s originally from the UK and has been living here in Melbourne for the past couple of years. He rang me up and said his visa was coming to an end and it was time to head back home. I was expecting him to ask me to do a roadworthy on his bike so he could sell it on. What I wasn’t expecting was him to say “can you build me a bike that I can ride back to the UK on”. Spending lots of someone else’s money to build a one off bike is something I haven’t done in a while and how could I refuse such a request. Rob already had the idea of riding a BMW back but after some gentle persuasion I managed to convince him that it wasn’t such a good move. Being fuel injected and having a limited spare parts supply once in some of the Asian and Indian territories could prove to be a headache if the bike broke down in a remote location. We definitely need a Japanese bike but which one. We sat down with a blank sheet of paper a six pack of beer and our friend ‘Google’. It wasn’t long before we’d come up with a short list of a Suzuki DL650 a Kawasaki KLR650 and a Honda Transalp. The DL650 although a nice bike was eliminated because it runs tubeless tyres and if you’ve ever tried to change a tubeless tyre on the side of the road you’ll know why this one was struck off the list. The Kawasaki was ruled out due to the fact it is a single cylinder and although capable of doing the trip the long freeway stretches that Rob will encounter will have his hands going numb with the vibration. The standout winner was the Transalp. That was the easy bit. Now, the hard part is to find a good quality used Honda Transalp that we can kit out and modify for the long journey home. I’ll keep you posted how it goes. Posted Sep 12 2008, 08:24 PM by E2W with 3 comment(s)

• Sachs City electrical issues

  As anyone who is a regular to the blog knows I have affection for Sachs City’s. As a scooter they are great value for money and go pretty good too. It’s a shame about the niggling electrical issues that these scooters seem to suffer from. Once again I had a Sachs City here today that had stopped dead due to electrical connectors coming undone. This time it was the bullet connector from the pulsar coil that had undone itself. After a quick squeeze with a pair of pliers to make the female side of the bullet connector go tight again it was a simple case of plug it back in and away it went. What a shame that such a great scooter gets let down by such a simple issue. Posted Sep 11 2008, 05:17 PM by E2W with 1 comment(s)

• Continental Road Attack tyres

  September 10th, 2008 Spring is most definitely underway. Today was one of the warmest sunny days I can remember in a long time and with it tyre sales are starting to increase. The rider of this Aprilia RS250 opted to try some Continental Sport Attack tyres. I wasn’t too sure if I’d be able to get them in the correct sizes due the rear wheel being a 150 section but a quick call to Continental confirmed that Sport Attacks did come in a 150. Once the courier had delivered them it was a quick job to fit them on the wheels and the rider was on his way. http://stores.ebay.com.au/Everything-Two-Wheels   Posted Sep 10 2008, 05:50 PM by allen with no comments

• Bolwell Shark drive belt

  September 10th, 2008 Brent is the owner of a Bolwell Shark which has featured in the blog once before when it stripped its spark plug thread. Today he rang me on the side of the freeway and told me “the scooter just stopped going forwards”. I asked did the engine run ok and he replied “yes”. I instantly knew that it had snapped a drive belt. So, it was out in the van to collect the stricken scooter and bring it back to the workshop. After removing the final drive cover my suspicions were confirmed. I’ve never understood why people refer to failed scooter drive belts as ‘snapped’. When a scooter drive belt fails it doesn’t just snap at one point and come undone they literally explode and reduce themselves to shredded bits of wire and small blocks of rubber. As you can see by the photo it’s totally destroyed. The only fix for this one is a new belt from Bolwell. http://www.everythingtwowheels.com.au/scooters.html Posted Sep 10 2008, 05:48 PM by allen with no comments Filed under: Bolwell

• Peugeot Ludix Blaster

  What can I say about my Peugeot Ludix Blaster! This is the funest 50cc scooter I’ve ever ridden. It looks ultra sporty and goes like a rocket. The power output this is on par with any 125cc four stroke scooter that I’ve ever ridden and opening the throttle soon has the needle going off the dial speed wise. The Leo Vince expansion chamber adds character to the scooter too. It’s noisy without being too over the top and makes the engine sound like it’s angry as you pull away. Blasting away from the lights has you leaving all the cars behind and pedestrians turning to look and stare. It’s strange the way this thing has me smiling when I ride it as much as riding a big cc sports bike would when being pushed hard on a ride out. If your looking to buy any of the 50’s on the market at the moment I recommend you put the ‘Blaster’ on your list. The ride to the office will never be the same again. Posted Sep 09 2008, 07:47 PM by allen with 3 comment(s)