February 2009 - Posts

• Bug Espresso

  The Bug Espresso. One of my favorite small cc big wheel scooters in the market place. The one in the shop today was here for its 1000k service. The Espresso is such a nice scooter to work on and whoever designed it really did put some thought in how this scooter comes apart at service time. Everything has easy access with its own panel or cover making service times short and sweet. Even whipping off the rocker cover to inspect the valve clearances can be done in minutes and without loosing any skin off the knuckles. The ride quality is on the same par too. The big 16 inch wheels give this scooter a nice stable feel and the flat floor means both feet fit in behind the fairing snuggly. This scooter is very nearly feels.......... Japanese. Posted Feb 28 2009, 12:15 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Bug

• Honda NVS50 Today

  Scooter melbourne Quality, quality, quality. Well it is a Honda after all. There's something about scooters from Japanese manufactures that you just don't get in a Chinese brand scooter. Recently we've had a few Chinese made 50's come through the shop and it's not until you get back on a Jap made scoot that you really feel the difference in the build. The way this scooter got off the mark and rode in general was superior compared to some of the other scooters out there. Even servicing Jap stuff has an easy to it that you just don't get with some of the other brands. In my opinion the extra few dollars paid when selecting your scooter brand more than pay's for itself in the long run with quality of build and trouble free riding. Posted Feb 28 2009, 11:57 AM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Honda

• Sachs City rec/reg failure

  Scooter melbourne Another Sachs City and another electrical issue. This time it's a charging fault. The owner of this one asked me to come collect it in the van as she couldn't get it going at all. Once back at the shop is was a very simple diagnosis of a failed rec/reg. That was the easy part. The hard part is finding a new rec/reg. With the collapse of Stoney Creek Power Sports went all spare part and warranty back up on the Sachs motorcycle and scooter range. I've rang all the usual people who can normally help with spare parts but had no luck so far. I've even trawled various scooter websites and EBay to try and find a suitable replacement without any luck either. I was hoping that the Vmoto Milan would have the same rec/reg but due to there being no Vmoto dealers left in Melbourne anymore I can't get my hands on one to compare them next to each other. If you recognise the rec/reg in the pictures above please ring Everything Two Wheels on 03 90777312 or drop me a message on this blog. Lets see if we can get this one back on the road. Posted Feb 24 2009, 09:54 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Sachs

• I'm devastated!

  Scooter melbourne I'm devastated! My first mechanical failure of a Domino's Pizza TGB scooter in a very, very long time. Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. I had to sit down and really rack my brain to remember the last time I had to go out in the van and collect a broken down pizza scooter. From memory it's been about 9 months since the last one. Which in all fairness isn't a bad record at all. Take into account that there is over 30 of them running around on the fleet, the riders show no mechanical sympathy to the scooters at all plus there made by a none Japanese manufacturer and you'd think my van would be getting a pretty good workout indeed. It goes to show that the scheduled servicing program I created to keep these scooters on the road works, and works well........and the scooter that broke down? Well it turned out to be a drive belt failure. Never mind, you can't win them all. If you'd like to read more about Everything Two Wheels and the Dominos Pizza scooters pick up the latest copy of Scooter magazine on sale in newsagents soon.   Posted Feb 24 2009, 09:28 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: TGB

• Gilera Nexus 500ie. What a mean looking scooter!

  Scooter melbourne The Gilera Nexus 500ie. What can I say? This has to be one of the meanest looking scooters to ever come through the shop. This scooter looks so aggressive even at a standstill. The owner of this scooter had also done some work to make the scooter look even meaner than standard. Flush fitting rear indicators, a tinted screen, cut down rear mud gaurd and a noisy exhaust system all added to the look and sound of this one. If anyone even tells you that scooters are for girls, tell them to go look at a Gilera Nexus. Posted Feb 24 2009, 09:24 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Gilera

• Continental White Wall Scooter Tyres

  I seem to be shifting lots of Continental White Wall tyres of late. These tyres can really set off the looks of a scooter. There also really suited to go on Vespa's with the classic style tread pattern but look just as trick on a modern scooter too. Sizes available are 350x8 400x8 300x10 350x10 400x10 and 300x12. If you want a set give us a ring on 03 90777312. Posted Feb 14 2009, 03:18 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Continental tyres.

• Honda SH300i

  A regular customer of ours was in the shop today to show off his new scooter. He was fed up with the short commute on his Honda CBR1100XX from Fitzroy in to the city and decided a scooter was the way to go. Being a through and through Honda man the only choice was a Honda and what better a commuter that the new Honda SH300i. Having a look over the scooter it dripped of ‘Honda quality' with everything from PGMFI to Honda's link brake set up. I'm looking forward to this coming in for its first 1000k service. It will be interesting to have a ride and see if it goes as good as it looks. Posted Feb 14 2009, 02:57 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Honda

• Piaggio MP3 1st service

  When I was asked to do a service on a Piaggio MP3 I had two concerns. Number 1 was will it fit through my door? And number 2 would it fit on my bench? I'd seen a few MP3's whizzing around town but had never really paid that much attention just how wide one of these 3 wheelers were. The rider turned up and within a few minutes question number 1 had been answered. It fitted through the door no problems. My bench on the other hand was a bit slimmer than the door and it took some very careful maneuvering to get the MP3 on to it. I was super paranoid that this thing was going to fall over. Although the owner kept assuring me that once it was turned off there was no way on earth the bike could move I was still looking at this scooter standing about a meter off the floor and thinking ‘that's a long way for a brand new scooter to fall'. The service was pretty straight forward and was the standard oil and filter change plus a general check over as on most of the Piaggio range. Even resetting the service warning light didn't require any special computer or software. This scooter was a real head turner. As it sat outside the shop the attention it was getting from passers by was interesting to watch. I think Piaggio have hit the nail on the head with this very unique scooter. Posted Feb 13 2009, 10:50 AM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Vespa & Piaggio

• Daelim S1 brake squeal

  Nic is the owner of a Daelim S1 who contacted me through the Scooter Community forum asking me could I fix the rear brake squeal that his scooter was suffering from. Nic had been doing his own research as to how to fix the problem and had a list of possible fixes ranging from applying an anti-squeal paste to the back of the pads to ‘only brake very hard' when riding the scooter and if you've ever tried riding over Melbourne's tram lines in the rain the last thing you want to be doing is braking very hard. In reality the only fix for squealing brakes is to replace the pads with a high quality replacement. My theory on the whole issue is that some Chinese brake pad manufactures use some very odd compounds when manufacturing their brake pads and these poor quality pads seem to produce a squeal noise in use. Unfortunately Nic had convinced himself that the squeal was coming from the rear brake and due to wanting the scooter fixed as quickly as possible I ordered some rear brake pads without first seeing the scooter myself. A couple of days later Nic was at the shop and the new rear pads were fitted into the brake caliper. I went out for the test ride and as I pulled up towards the round-about at the end of the road the squeal was still there, but to me it sound more like it was coming from the front brakes not the rear. As I continued up the road I started applying both the front and rear brakes to see if I could get the squeal to appear at will. Sure enough it was the front brake pads squealing but due to the Daelim having linked front and rear brakes it would only squeal when the rear brake lever was squeezed. Once back at the shop it was out with front pads to see if I could match them up to a reference picture in the Nissin brake pad catalogue. It turns out that the Daelim runs the same brake pads as a Suzuki Burgman 250 and 400 models. A call to the guys at Nissin and the new pads were here and fitted. A quick road test confirmed the squeal was gone. As it says on the packet "#1 brake pads in the world" Posted Feb 09 2009, 04:13 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Nissin

• Sym Firenze 10,000k service

  Saturday was a busy day and one of the many jobs I did was a 10,000k service on a Sym Firenze. This is the first one to come through the workshop so I was pretty keen to have a look over it. As part of the service we had to do the belt and rollers, the air filter and check the valve clearances. As I pulled this scooter apart the quality of build was very evident and the designers had put a lot of consideration for the technicians who would have to be working on them at service time. All the bodywork came off with ease giving great access to the air filter and belt housing. Even getting the rocker cover off to check the valve clearances was a case of six bolts and the under seat storage was out the way with heaps of space to maneuver around. The ease of how this scooter came apart meant that although it was a major service it was done and dusted in around 2 hours flat. Quality of build equals quick service times which equal lower servicing costs. This is another reason why I think Sym have to be one of the best brands out there in the market place today. Posted Feb 08 2009, 11:57 AM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Sym

• Another Sachs City, another electrical issue!

  . Once again I've got a Sachs City in the shop for an intermittent electrical problem and once again it's down to poor quality electrical connectors. The Sachs City is a great value for money scooter but I see so many of them have niggling electrical dramas which spoils what is other wise a great scooter. In this instant the bullet connectors from the crank pick-up have come apart. This is the second time this has happened to this scooter. The connectors seem to be made of such flimsy tin that after a while they just come loose and stop the scooter dead in its tracks. To remedy the problem for good I've decided to fit a high quality plug style connector that I've chopped of an old jap bike wiring loom.  After a quick cut, snip and solder the new plug was installed and the scooter was back on its way. Hopefully the only time we'll see this scooter again is for its next service. Posted Feb 08 2009, 11:27 AM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Sachs

• A new record from Sym

  I think today a new world record was set for the delivery of spare parts from a distributor. At around 10.30 this morning I sent an email to the guys at Sym Scooters spare parts department requesting a drive belt, rollers and an air filter for a Sym Firenze. At 3.10 this afternoon a courier walked in the door with a box and all the parts I requested were inside. This isn't a fluke either. Last week I ordered a lock set for a Sym Bella and that turned up the same day on the afternoon courier run too.  The after sales customer support from the guys at Sym is second to none and as a workshop that deals with nearly all the scooter distributors out there  I can tell you that these guys totally blow the competition away with their after sales service. There's more to buying a scooter than just buying the scooter and if I was undecided between a Sym scooter and one from another brand I think the after sales customer service that Sym offer would have me putting my money on the Sym every time. Posted Feb 04 2009, 04:44 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Sym

• The cleanest Bolwell Arriba in the world!

  This has to be the cleanest example of a Bolwell Arriba I've senn in a long time. At nearly ten years old and with only 10,000k's on the clock it was one of the best examples I've ever seen with not so much as a single scratch on it. The scooter was here for a 10k service and I gave it the works. Belt, rollers, air filter plus the usual oil and filter change. The only other drama with this scooter was the charging rate was a bit low and even at full rev's the the scooters charge rate was only just over 12 volts. The owner explained to me that she just plugged the scooter into a battery charger every night which managed to get her through the next day just before the battery went flat. I told her if she let me fit a new rec/reg she could throw the charger to the back of the garage and never worry about a flat battery ever again. She went for it. So after a full service plus the charging fault fixed she was on her way home to go put the charger in the bin. Posted Feb 04 2009, 03:56 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Bolwell

• Yamaha R6 ignition coil failure

  I love work that's a bit different to the normal oil and filter type service work and with this bike it was definitely one that was a none standard job. Rachel the owner of a Yamaha R6 rang me and said her bike was running like crap. I booked it in and 2 days later it was on the door step. Even as the bike rolled into the shop you could tell something didn't sound too good. It was as if the bike would run on all four cylinders then switch to 3 and then back on to 4. An educated guess had me thinking along the lines of faulty ignition coil. So it was off with the fairing, remove the radiator and pull out the ignition coils. I plugged the coils into my multimeter and 3 coils checked out ok but coil number 4 was way out of spec. We'd found the problem. I rang the guys at Yamaha to place an order for a coil. It was during this conversation that I discovered that the coils had been superseded by a new part and it was best to replace all four coils because sooner or later this issue would crop up again. Two days later the coils were here and fitted into the bike. Once bolted back together the owner was on the door step and happy to be reunited with her bike. Posted Feb 04 2009, 03:50 PM by E2W with no comments Filed under: Yamaha