Modern Buddy

Hi Folks... This is my first post... I'm new to scooters and really loving my 2009 Buddy 150! I've been riding and working on motorcycles for 50 years, but I'm enjoying riding the scooter much more now! I just bought the Buddy a few weeks ago with only 2,450 miles on the clock. Its appearance is almost as new.

I do have a tip, if I may include it here. Until yesterday, the scooter had a nasty plastic rattle in the handlebar covers (cowls, shields, whatever) whenever I'd be sitting at idle. When I would push down lightly on the cover near the grips, the rattle would cease. I finally came upon my simple solution yesterday. I cut two one inch strips from a rubber band (about a 1/4 wide rubber band). I removed the four screws from beneath the covers so I cut just barely push the covers apart. I then inserted a rubber band, doubled up and pushed up with a screw driver, in between the covers. It formed a nice gasket that immediately stopped the rattling. Hope this might be of help to someone. In the attached pic, you can see how the band is inserted. I hadn't trimmed them yet.

Happy Scootering!

Both of my Buddy's had a slight rattle at idle from the handle bar cowling. I took them off and used Dyna Mat like material underneath to quiet them. Worked great and taught me how to remove the cowl.

Your way is probably the correct and best way. My way is the cheap, minute fix way, and will not be a lasting fix! Before my "quick fix", I did try to remove the cowls for a more "lasting" fix. I removed the four screws underneath, but the cowls seemed tight and I didn't want to force them for fear of breaking some plastic. I looked at the tech section of the forum, and it seemed that a lot more had to be removed in order to separate the cowls. In your experience, besides the four screws underneath, what needs to be removed? Headlight? I know the speedo cable would have to be disconnected, but perhaps the cowls would separate enough to correctly fix the rattle.

sem65 wrote:Hi Folks... This is my first post... I'm new to scooters and really loving my 2009 Buddy 150! I've been riding and working on motorcycles for 50 years, but I'm enjoying riding the scooter much more now! I just bought the Buddy a few weeks ago with only 2,450 miles on the clock. Its appearance is almost as new.

I do have a tip, if I may include it here. Until yesterday, the scooter had a nasty plastic rattle in the handlebar covers (cowls, shields, whatever) whenever I'd be sitting at idle. When I would push down lightly on the cover near the grips, the rattle would cease. I finally came upon my simple solution yesterday. I cut two one inch strips from a rubber band (about a 1/4 wide rubber band). I removed the four screws from beneath the covers so I cut just barely push the covers apart. I then inserted a rubber band, doubled up and pushed up with a screw driver, in between the covers. It formed a nice gasket that immediately stopped the rattling. Hope this might be of help to someone. In the attached pic, you can see how the band is inserted. I hadn't trimmed them yet.

Happy Scootering!

Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard. You're definitely going to like it here!

Bill in Seattle but wintering in Tucson
'14 Hooligan 170i Matte Green
'15 Hooligan 170i Titanium (AZ scoot)

Sem65,

That's a great fix and is "What Ivan would do" when working on a Russian motorcycle. I try to do my repairs with whatever I can find laying around but whenever I get stuck I ask WWID? and the answer usually pops up.

Mine did the same thing.

I fixed it by taking it apart, and then putting a small amount of silicon and letting it dry before putting back together.

Hope this helps.