Modern Buddy

I lost my keys to my scooter about a year ago and haven't rode my buddy since. I was thinking of getting a new set cut via the locksmith for a grand sum of $60 or either a local dealer sells a whole new ignition switch for $52. I bought this scooter as a salvage rebuildable scooter and want to see if it will start before I pay for a key. (I'm not hot wiring it). I read on here that there is a "easy" way to open the seat. I'm not a bike thief and I am more than happy to pm a pic of my title to anyone who can provide this info. Thanks

I don't understand how getting the seat open is going to help you determine if the scooter will run. For that you need a) keys or b) to hotwire it.

hit it with a rake

JHScoot wrote:hit it with a rake

I tried your method of hitting it with a rake ,it only seemed to scratch my scooter up.Is there a particular way I should be hitting it?

JHScoot wrote:hit it with a rake

A local dealer informed me on a way to start the scooter without a key and you don't have to hot wire the scooter.

Did you have to get under the seat?

BusyApe wrote: I'm not a bike thief and I am more than happy to pm a pic of my title to anyone who can provide this info. Thanks

Yes and every time the zombie apocalypse starts the government tells us that everything is fine.

First post is asking how to break into the seat for a reason that makes no sense at all.

If you're gonna rebuild it you will need to cough up the money for a key...but yeah...the government told me that everything is OK with what you want to do.

I could have came on here and played that "Oh silly me I locked my keys in the pet carrier!!!gahh I'm such a klutzz!!! Maybe that would have been more believable .

I didn't want to get into it ,but to make a long story longer. I bought this scooter for a sum of $200. Not bad . I was going to fix it all up and cruise in the beautiful Florida sun. Well that didn't happen. It sat ...for a year. I got really broke like I always do toward the end of the month, and thought hmm I'm going to sell it as is . I got a lot interest but everyone wanted to know ,"Does it run"? I was getting low ball offers with it as is , but I got some really good ones too,only if I can just get it to run. X xxxxxx x xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxxx xx xx xxx xxxxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxx xx x xxxxx xx xxx xxx xxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxx. Xx Xxxx!! Xxx xx xxxx, xxx xxx'x xxxxx xxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx x xxx. Didn't really want to start it with old nasty gas. So i decided to post on the seemingly friendly modernbuddy.com . Guess what modernbuddy , not so friendly. As a matter of fact they're mean, very mean ,like hurt my feelings mean.

So I just buckled down and bought a fraking key today to the tune of $64 , so I'll just next eat week or whatever. Anyways, I ciphered out the old gas,did a oil change, and cleaned the carburetor. It now runs perfectly .Moral of the story is I hate typing long walls of text and I'll probably keep the damn thing now.

Welcome to mean ol' Modern Buddy!

Glad you got it started but tell me....if you weren't going to "hot wire" it how did you plan on starting it without a key? See what we mean? That makes nos sense at all.

I know ALL the local "dealers" in J'ville...post the name of the one that told you how to start it without "hot wiring" and Ill give them a call. And yeah...he told you how but would not do it...right

Why did you need to get under the seat? TBV asked you this but you decided not to answer. Some super secret that you can't reveal? Or just refuse to answer for your own reasons.

If you aren't going to hot wire it, aren't going to get it re-keyed why would you even think of cleaning the carb? If you're going to flip a scooter guess what...you have to put some money into it.


Yeah...we're being mean...while you're posting things that don't make sense and refuse to answer any questions. If you are
"more than happy to pm a pic of my title" you are either pulling a scam or painfully ignorant.

MB is a very friendly place and guess what...we watch out for our own...that kind of means not telling a first time poster how to break in. And no...a first time post of "I'm and idiot" would not work either, we would just think you were an idiot thief.

BusyApe wrote:I could have came on here and played that "Oh silly me I locked my keys in the pet carrier!!!gahh I'm such a klutzz!!! Maybe that would have been more believable .

I didn't want to get into it ,but to make a long story longer. I bought this scooter for a sum of $200. Not bad . I was going to fix it all up and cruise in the beautiful Florida sun. Well that didn't happen. It sat ...for a year. I got really broke like I always do toward the end of the month, and thought hmm I'm going to sell it as is . I got a lot interest but everyone wanted to know ,"Does it run"? I was getting low ball offers with it as is , but I got some really good ones too,only if I can just get it to run. X xxxxxx x xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxxx xx xx xxx xxxxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxx xx x xxxxx xx xxx xxx xxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxx. Xx Xxxx!! Xxx xx xxxx, xxx xxx'x xxxxx xxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx x xxx. Didn't really want to start it with old nasty gas. So i decided to post on the seemingly friendly modernbuddy.com . Guess what modernbuddy , not so friendly. As a matter of fact they're mean, very mean ,like hurt my feelings mean.

So I just buckled down and bought a fraking key today to the tune of $64 , so I'll just next eat week or whatever. Anyways, I ciphered out the old gas,did a oil change, and cleaned the carburetor. It now runs perfectly .Moral of the story is I hate typing long walls of text and I'll probably keep the damn thing now.

Now, if you had started with the long story Mean Buddy would have been Nice Buddy and someone would have PM'd you the way to open the seat.

Syd wrote:

BusyApe wrote:I could have came on here and played that "Oh silly me I locked my keys in the pet carrier!!!gahh I'm such a klutzz!!! Maybe that would have been more believable .

I didn't want to get into it ,but to make a long story longer. I bought this scooter for a sum of $200. Not bad . I was going to fix it all up and cruise in the beautiful Florida sun. Well that didn't happen. It sat ...for a year. I got really broke like I always do toward the end of the month, and thought hmm I'm going to sell it as is . I got a lot interest but everyone wanted to know ,"Does it run"? I was getting low ball offers with it as is , but I got some really good ones too,only if I can just get it to run. X xxxxxx x xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxxx xx xx xxx xxxxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxx xx x xxxxx xx xxx xxx xxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxx. Xx Xxxx!! Xxx xx xxxx, xxx xxx'x xxxxx xxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx x xxx. Didn't really want to start it with old nasty gas. So i decided to post on the seemingly friendly modernbuddy.com . Guess what modernbuddy , not so friendly. As a matter of fact they're mean, very mean ,like hurt my feelings mean.

So I just buckled down and bought a fraking key today to the tune of $64 , so I'll just next eat week or whatever. Anyways, I ciphered out the old gas,did a oil change, and cleaned the carburetor. It now runs perfectly .Moral of the story is I hate typing long walls of text and I'll probably keep the damn thing now.

Now, if you had started with the long story Mean Buddy would have been Nice Buddy and someone would have PM'd you the way to open the seat.

Or this person could've just Googled it or searched this forum and found any number of ways to get in the seat w/o a key.

BusyApe wrote:So i decided to post on the seemingly friendly modernbuddy.com . Guess what modernbuddy , not so friendly. As a matter of fact they're mean, very mean ,like hurt my feelings mean.

You know, there are jerks who post on MB. Sometimes I'm one of them myself. But other times, I'm the guy who explains to newcomers what the trick is to opening the Buddy seat. I treat people like they seem to deserve.

When in doubt, I ask questions. It's one of the things I do for a living: people call me with problems, they don't always explain clearly, so I try to figure out what's really going on. Most callers understand that, and they willingly help me to help them.

But your request didn't make sense on the face of it, which made me (and everyone else here) distrustful. You sounded more like someone who couldn't keep his story straight than like someone who genuinely had a problem he needed help solving. Would you give assistance to someone who seemed like they were trying to pull something off?

BuddyRaton wrote:.

I posted in my last comment how I was going to get it started but it's been x'ed out, I guess for security reasons . I didn't go to the local dealer I called . It's solano cycle in jacksonville beach , I don't know the lady name that answered . I needed to get under the seat to put gas in it, I thought that was pretty self explanatory. When a scooter has been sitting for a long time , a lot of the time it won't start because of a dirty carb, so I was going to clean it. I know that I needed to put money in it but I was being stingy. I wasn't going to pm a pic of my title , I just said that to make me sound legit , that probably was a little dumb lol .

Oh and I've read post on here from newcomers and they say stuff like "Oh silly me I locked my key in my pet carrier " and the next response is I'll pm you the easy way to open it .

TVB wrote:

BusyApe wrote:So i decided to post on the seemingly friendly modernbuddy.com . Guess what modernbuddy , not so friendly. As a matter of fact they're mean, very mean ,like hurt my feelings mean.

You know, there are jerks who post on MB. Sometimes I'm one of them myself. But other times, I'm the guy who explains to newcomers what the trick is to opening the Buddy seat. I treat people like they seem to deserve.

When in doubt, I ask questions. It's one of the things I do for a living: people call me with problems, they don't always explain clearly, so I try to figure out what's really going on. Most callers understand that, and they willingly help me to help them.

But your request didn't make sense on the face of it, which made me (and everyone else here) distrustful. You sounded more like someone who couldn't keep his story straight than like someone who genuinely had a problem he needed help solving. Would you give assistance to someone who seemed like they were trying to pull something off?

The mean thing was a joke but yes I understand what you are saying. I reread my post and it sounded a tab bit sketchy , I just didn't feel like going through the motions and explaining thoroughly.

BusyApe wrote:I wasn't going to pm a pic of my title , I just said that to make me sound legit , that probably was a little dumb lol .

It had the opposite effect. A story that doesn't make sense sets off alarms in people's heads.

In other news , I did a long test ride for a potential buyer just to make sure everything was everything. The speedometer is broke so I guess I was going too slow and some douchebag sped in front me , I think I heard a cuss word in the wind idk.Then when I was headed home I made a turn too fast , barely hit the brake before I nearly crashed into a ditch . I ALMOST DIED!! It was so much fun , I don't think I can sell it.

BusyApe wrote:Then when I was headed home I made a turn to fast , barely hit the brake before I nearly crashed into a ditch . I ALMOST DIED!! It was so much fun , I don't think I can sell it.

Needless to say - don't brake in a turn! Glad you got the bike running and are enjoying the ride. I don't, however, want to see your next post in the "who's crashed" thread.

BusyApe wrote:In other news , I did a long test ride for a potential buyer just to make sure everything was everything. The speedometer is broke so I guess I was going too slow and some douchebag sped in front me , I think I heard a cuss word in the wind idk. Then when I was headed home I made a turn too fast , barely hit the brake before I nearly crashed into a ditch . I ALMOST DIED!!It was so much fun , I don't think I can sell it.

You know, you might actually turn out to be our kinda people after all.

BusyApe wrote:In other news , I did a long test ride for a potential buyer just to make sure everything was everything. The speedometer is broke so I guess I was going too slow and some douchebag sped in front me , I think I heard a cuss word in the wind idk.Then when I was headed home I made a turn too fast , barely hit the brake before I nearly crashed into a ditch . I ALMOST DIED!! It was so much fun , I don't think I can sell it.

It's more fun when you make someone else almost run into a ditch.

BusyApe wrote:

BuddyRaton wrote:.

When a scooter has been sitting for a long time , a lot of the time it won't start because of a dirty carb, so I was going to clean it. I know that I needed to put money in it but I was being stingy. I wasn't going to pm a pic of my title , I just said that to make me sound legit , that probably was a little dumb lol .

If I was a bit hard on you...sorry...but as I said...we watch out for our own here!

Now...just some friendly advice for the future. Don't make shit up! We can smell it from miles away. Be honest with us and you will get all the help you need. That first post set off every alarm bell there is.

I can't tell you how many times I have tried to help people only to three days into it the person posts "Well I said I didn't do anything to it but before anything I tried to rebuild the carb and broke something but I was hoping it didn't matter".

It's hard enough to diagnose over the internet but when false information is given the general attitude is...you're on your own.

Jim Lahey: You know whats at work here? Its shit tectonics. When two shit plates strike and come together under incredible pressure, what happens Bubbs?
Bubbles: What Mr Lahey?
Jim Lahey: ...Shit-quake.

Hey all, I'm one of the lucky ones that get to ride my buddy all year long here in San Diego. I have a carver surfboard rack and ride my buddy to the waves almost daily. Long ago I lost one of my two keys but no worries I had a back up....until yesterday, I rode my scoot just 5 blocks away to surf my favorite surf break and my key worked its way out of my wetsuit in the ocean (my wetsuit has this nice little zipper pouch and I'm not sure if I got it zipped up all he way or not, i was so excited when I got there. I put the rest of my car keys in the seat (along with my favorite pair of sandals and I keep a volleyball in there!). I'm hoping I didn't even realize I didn't take my key of my key ring and that it is still in my seat but I'm pretty sure I remember putting it in my wetsuit pocket. I called local scoot shop (scooter west) which isn't far away...and it is a whopping $163 to replace the ignition and switch AFTER getting the scoot towed to them. So I'm thinking:

1. Can someone PM me how to get in the seat on the off chance I just left the key on my key ring and it is in the seat (also has my house/car keys on it which I could definitely use)...

2. Has anyone ever replaced the key/ignition?

Thanks much!

Joe San Diego!

Why would you pick this thread to post that request to?!???!

If you're in contact with ScooterWest, just ask them how to open the seat without a key... if, indeed, that is truly possible. Perhaps it is just an urban legend or a litmus phish...????

So how do you open the seat up without a key.. I am curious now lol

Remous wrote:So how do you open the seat up without a key.. I am curious now lol

As you have a Buddy, and presumably have a key for it - open the seat and look around in there. You will most likely answer your own question.