Learn me Chinese mopeds

dculberson wrote: I'd make them wear helmets and would tell them the scooter is sold the minute I find out they're not wearing helmets. That's just my opinion, obviously.

Oh yeah, that pretty much goes without saying, my friend. They know I don't joke around with that stuff. I'd probably give them a few "strikes"...first offense it's parked for 2 weeks, second for a month, 3rd and it's gone, no questions. Thankfully their friends all have parents that must have similar mindsets, because those kids are always wearing helmets. So they wouldn't feel peer pressure not to wear it...probably the opposite.

Yes, I'm very thankful the community is set up this way. Not all the kids have scooters, but certainly a good handful do. The pool (which is pretty awesome in its' own right) is all the way at the one end of the community. Some people, like us, just bring our cars. But so many of them bring alternate things...golf cart is most common, but we do have a few GEM EVs, Razor scooters, scooters.

As someone who has laid one down, have them wear gloves too. Also actual shoes, no flipflops/etc.

HappyAndy wrote:

edizzle89 wrote: an old ATC70 doesnt sound unreasonable

Are you forgetting that Klayfish is in the insurance industry?

so he probably has really good insurance then

You can pick up a major manufacturer 49cc scooter for not much more used. You've ridden my 2007 Yamaha C3, it was $900 used with 5k miles and freshly dealer serviced with records and books. With fuel injection it always starts and it is great to ride, and has good Yamaha quality and parts availability.

eastsidemav wrote: If you get one, but want to keep their speed down, restricting the top speed on a GY6 scooter should be as simple as putting a properly sized washer in between the two variator halves

Do this if you get a scooter.

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JohnRW1621 wrote: How about those 5hp cycle carts. Build it with the kid and be the envy of all the Joneses.

Do this if you don't.

Sonic wrote: You can pick up a major manufacturer 49cc scooter for not much more used. You've ridden my 2007 Yamaha C3, it was $900 used with 5k miles and freshly dealer serviced with records and books. With fuel injection it always starts and it is great to ride, and has good Yamaha quality and parts availability.

Actually, I've never ridden the thing. Usually either just walk or take a bike...or if I can find the Jazzy, that's my favorite. Couldn't remember what brand yours was, but I know it wasn't Chinese. If I can find a good brand name, then that's even better. Still not sure I want to do this, have reservations about putting Josh on two wheels, but ugh...the croc tears were big and he keeps nagging at it. His b-day is coming up in March, and he says nearly every day "All I want for my b-day is something to drive"

You could try to find him a Jazzy. That's class! Be sure to try scooty next race, it is great.

How about the jet ski? We don't use it much anymore without the boat. Coolest ride in the neighborhood, and also the most hella butt dangerous thing that doesn't go above 10mph. Pretty blond not included.

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How about a moto-pony?

He'll be a big hit with the girls

Sonic wrote: You could try to find him a Jazzy. That's class! Be sure to try scooty next race, it is great. How about the jet ski? We don't use it much anymore without the boat. Coolest ride in the neighborhood, and also the most hella butt dangerous thing that doesn't go above 10mph. Pretty blond not included. .

If there was a realistic way to get the jet ski down here, I'd be all over it!!!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: In reply to dculberson: All of this can be said about a bicycle as well, the only additional risk is the weight of the vehicle and maybe the ability for the throttle to stick.

Sure, but I wear a helmet on my bicycle, too. And have lost a friend to head injury on her bicycle. Amazingly enough, she was wearing a helmet. Freak accident. :(

JohnRW1621 wrote: How about those 5hp cycle carts. Build it with the kid and be the envy of all the Joneses. Become the commissioner of the local racing league! Teach Jr to build them and have him create a little industry of selling them. Sample:

This is hands down the coolest thing on this thread!

Could also go with a Land Yacht and teach the yougns to harness the world around them.
A life long skill.

Slow, reliable, cheap scooter? Honda Spree, just adjust the steering head bearings before trying for a top speed (25-28 depending on your frontal profile and how loose your clothes are) run, unless you like speed wobbles.

One of those cheap bicycle engine kits could be another option.

Sailing that thing up his steep hill would be a challenge. Man, would that kid learn how to tack.

As others have said, you can get hurt at those "slow" speeds. I dropped a Harley at about 30, 35 MPH with Dr.Linda on the back. We were road rashed'ed up pretty good. She got a gash in her forehead and 2 black eyes. Also broke my Rolex, which cost more and took longer to fix than the bike.

I like that little car thing. Would it make it up the hill? Or the 3 wheeler if you didn't like the kid. They do have some pretty nice little 4 wheelers. When he gets tired of it/outgrows it, you can always keep it for yourself.

Ive got a couple hundred miles of scooter experience and i'm sort of on both sides of the safety issue. I fully believe you could kill yourself on a 30mph scooter through the power of murphys law, but on the other hand i remember watching something a long time ago about the military studying what kind of decelerations the human body could safely handle, and they discovered (by running an upright human being into a wall on a sled thing at varying speeds) that running straight into a wall at 30mph was about the fastest deceleration you could possibly survive. So while I believe you could die on a 50cc scooter, i also know that even 30-0 by running flat into a brick wall is not a guaranteed death sentence. I really think it's the chance of colliding with other vehicles that adds the greatest chance for tragedy.

Also, i have caught air riding my scooter off-road...

I want to compliment you for the environment it sounds like you are providing your children. The community sounds like a great place to grow up. I only hope they still develop the empathy to be able to understand the lives of other people who didn't have the privilege of police not bothering them about illegal activities in their own front yards, or even legal ones. It's hard to understand a lot of what goes on in this country if you can't even imagine what long-term fear and harassment do to a person's personality. Your kid's 'bubble' sounds awesome, but here's hoping they can still see out of it when they are of age to think of such things.

Yeah, I hear ya' Vigo. When I say "bubble", I mean that it's a somewhat typical (at least here in the south) suburban single family home community. Stereotypical "white picket fence" suburbia.

Yes, I realize you could get killed on a moped, a scooter, rollerblades, a skateboard, a tricycle or a unicycle. I'm going to do everything reasonable to keep them safe. But I need to let them have some freedom, can't literally keep them in a bubble. I've been letting both my boys play football for years, and some parents think we're crazy just for that...

So what about the reliability and quality aspect. Anyone else have experience with if these things hold up?

So what is the major problem with getting around on a bicycle? Street cred?

I used to ride a lot around town but then moved to where the only reasonable route took me across two old bridges with no shoulders. So just not safe to ride for about 6 years.

Your community sounds like the perfect bicycling area. He will always be more fit. And after a few years he can install pegs so he can take a friend with him.

In reply to Klayfish:

Are we still talking about the Chinese scooters?

Here's what I've found to be the biggest weaknesses.

First is gunked up carbs. The Jets are tiny, and it doesn't take much to plug one and cause a no-start. Any time it's in storage the carb drain screw needs to be opened. Running a bit of Marvel's mystery oil in the gas helps prevent corrosion in the carb. The factory fuel hoses are cheap junk. I always replace them the first chance that I get, and add an inline fuel filter. Some use a lot of vacuum hoses too, replace them at the same time as the fuel hoses.

They come with junky batteries and the charging system is just adaquite. When the battery is replaced, get a higher quality unit. Amazon has some pretty good AGM batteries for $35ish.

Another common cause of a no-start is tight valves. Chinese engines have soft valve seats, and the valves wear tight pretty fast, especially during break-in. Very often when you see a used low mileage scoot that won't start and the owner gave up on it, the valves are tight. The only thing that makes adjusting them hard is the body work around the engine.

A no spark no-start is usually a bad stator. The replacements are usually better quality than OEM, and are still pretty cheap. Special tools are required to replace a stator (flywheel puller), but the tools are cheap and readily available online. It's an easy job with the tools. Speaking of ignition, after market hi-po CDI units really wake them up, but it sounds like that's not what you're going for. If it didn't come with an NGK plug, put one in with the first service.

The plastics are brittle, handle them carefully when taking things apart.

Make sure to use good fitting Philips head screw drivers. The screws might actually be JIS, but anyway, a cheap ill fitting screw driver will strip the heads.

Change the motor oil as soon as you get it home, even if it's brand new. Automotive oil can be used, they don't have wet clutches. Also, change the oil in the rear gear drive, it's often forgotten.

Blue locktite is your friend.

Before long, you may find yourself wanting one. A tuned gy6 150 scooter will pull my big fat but around with no problem.

Advan046 wrote: So what is the major problem with getting around on a bicycle? Street cred?

Yes, that's part of it. They have bicycles and they use them a good bit. There is definitely a component of street cred/keeping up with the Jones' syndrome, as they see their friends getting mobile. At the same time, it's a legit issue that we live at the bottom of a leg muscle killing hill. Their friends live at the top. I'm a gym rat, and I hate walking up that thing. Example...of course, my front door is street level. We have a deck right off our kitchen, at the back of the house. It's so high off the ground they had to use steel beams to support it, instead of wood. I have a walkout basement with 12' ceilings. The hill on my street is no joke. And the rest of the community is like that....not quite as severe as my street, but it's a lot of uphill/downhill, rinse, repeat.

Andy, thanks for the info. Yeah, the original question in this posting was to find out if the Chinese scooters are of any decent quality.

In reply to Klayfish:

I guess I can sum up what I said in the previous post by saying that as an appliance for the clueless they can be problematic, for the savy and informed they are completely viable.

If nothing else, a Chinese scooter should be a good way for the kid to learn small engine maintenance and repair

My experience is from 10 years ago, but back then, they tended to shake themselves loose when they were new. Simply re-assembling with some loctite fixed that easily. Apparently, they are better and better every year.

JohnRW1621 wrote: How about those 5hp cycle carts. Build it with the kid and be the envy of all the Joneses. Become the commissioner of the local racing league! Teach Jr to build them and have him create a little industry of selling them. Sample:

Is this a kit or a piecemealed together? Very cool.

+1 for what HappyAndy wrote.

In addition, you can find just about all the Chinese scooter replacement parts you need at http://get2itparts.com As for the bolts, I've found that a manual impact driver (spring loaded screw driver you smack on the back with a hammer) to work wonders for breaking bolts free without stripping the heads. You just have to be careful with the soft metal used in building those scooters, but I've not had any problems.

Since this thread was brought back up, just a quick update. I went to look at them in person and feel OK enough on the reliability end. However, don't know a used one is the best way to go, as I see them at $450-$500 used and I can get a brand new one for $600. We may decide to wait until Xmas though, as spending that kind of loot on a b-day is tough...especially when I have twins who have a b-day coming up in July. We typically spend more money at Xmas than on their b-days.

While I don't want a golf cart, I do see a small handful pop up from time to time for roughly $500. They usually need batteries, which aren't cheap. But if I can find one that's not a basket case I haven't ruled that out entirely.