My brother-in-law works at an aspiring custom motorcycle shop that usually ends up working on a lot of commuter mopeds and small-displacement bikes.
His advice is to avoid anything with a tire bonded to the wheel hub, which apparently the really cheap Chinese e-scoots have. He also shares the opinion to reassemble with loctite and check the valve adjustment on any clone GY6s.
I just picked up another one last week. A taotao atm50 for $50. Dirty but complete. It was abandoned in a shed, and the new home owner wanted it gone. I found all the paperwork under the seat after I popped the seat lock. Score!
I found the exhaust valve tight, likely the reason that it got forgotten in the shed.
While cleaning the carb I think I inadvertently damaged the diaphragm for the accelerator pump. It wasn't terribly funky in the carb, and it might have fine if I'd just left it alone. It will probably still start and run with this carb, but since a big bore kit is in this scoots future, a new bigger carb is too.
It has spark and compression.
Some new fuel hoses should be all I need to make rideable, but I have some evil plans for this one.
KyAllroad wrote: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!
This is 100% the right answer! Add a second seat, and your kid will get ALL the school dance dates.
Yes, that's cool, but you have to remember I don't want a full out project. Don't have the skills or time for that. The biggest "project" I'd be interested in is minor assembly...or I'm kicking around the idea of a golf cart that needs batteries and a paint job. Otherwise, I'm looking for turn-key.
Fat tire bicycle plus engine kit.
No projects. This is the closest I want to get...
Ninja 250s are free. Buy for $1500, sell for $1500.
You're trusting every chassis part on a motorcycle to keep you from serious injury. There are no non-critical components.
Would you rather trust Kawasaki Shipyard or a factory that was making lawn mowers last week?
So in my searching, I see a lot of 2014-2016 50cc TaoTaos or Jonways with very low miles for roughly $300-$350. For instance, this.... TaoTao 50cc
Owner says they've been sitting in his basement for nearly 2 years unused. I presume they'd need their tank drained, and carb is probably gummed up. Google says a replacement carb is around $30 (guess the GY6 fits all makes)? For me, with a relative lack of time, would probably swap the carb and then rebuild/clean the original at our own pace, which would give us a spare. Don't mind something that needs a bit of elbow grease, it would be good for my son to start getting his hands dirty. But I don't have time/desire/skills for a complete rebuild job. So if I bought a nearly new one that's been sitting for 2 years, what else would you expect to need to do? Nothing is guaranteed, but in theory, should it be pretty easy to get it up and running? My biggest fear is buying this for him, not being able to get it running and him being incredibly disappointed/sad. Worst case scenario, if I couldn't get it going myself, I'd just take it to a local dealer and let them fix it. Just wouldn't want that to wind up costing more than if I just buy it new. Crapshoot I guess?
In reply to Klayfish:
With the mileage on them that low I'd take a chance on them. There is a decent chance that the carbs are OK, just wash out the tanks and replace the fuel lines.
You can probably even kick start it with replacing the battery.
If need be, a better than OEM carb can be had on eBay or Amazon for $30ish, or OE equivalent for $20ish. The bodywork on that model comes of pretty easy, so access for repairs isn't to bad.
Worst case you can buy an entire 50cc GY6 engine (everything but the brake shoes, wheel, exhaust, and carb) on ebay for under $300 delivered.
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