Modern Buddy

Hi all new to the buddy line. I purchased a very beat up '09 buddy 125 with 13k miles and as far as I can tell everything looks original. Had not run for 3+ years and clearly dropped a few times then left out in the weather that entire time. Changed the fluids, put in fresh fuel, changed the air filter - amazing it runs, rides, and the important stuff works (brakes, etc.).

It always lurches fairly hard when taking off from a full stop. That is, apply throttle - lurch - then accel after that is smooth. I have to think that might be an issue with the clutch. Or do they all do that? I have another scoot I ride frequently and the accel is smooth / linear so I think the buddy has some broken behavior, probably due to deferred maintenance.

Belt and variator look OK to me I pulled the cover. I'm willing to change the clutch if I can find something cheap that works.

Thanks for any thoughts.

PS: lesson learned, sometimes the more expensive but maintained / loved scoot is the cheaper buy overall

You at least have to open the variator and give it a good cleaning. While doing that you need to inspect the rollers to see if they are still round. Also, while you are in there you might want to inspect the drive faces on the variator and clutch.

My guess is the original owner never changed the rollers and they are probably in bad shape and will need to be replaced. While you are at it you should change the belt too. You could risk riding around on a belt with ~13k on it since they can last over 16k, but you do risk having it break.

If the problem isn't the rollers or belt then you might have a bad clutch. If you are lucky it might just need a good cleaning, if that doesn't work then a new clutch might be the easiest fix. I have had clutches go bad, one lurched so hard it would lift the front tire off the ground.

I appreciate the suggestions, thank you!

These are all normal maintenance items at the 10k, 10-year-old mark and are easy for the curious owner to DIY. I would go into them not in “inspection� mode but with replacement rollers, belt, and YouTube tutelage already in hand, and expect to give all the pulley faces a good scuffing as well as a cleaning. Hopefully the price you paid reflected that none of this had been done.

you could try scuffing the clutch bell and pads. I used a dremel with drum sander attachment. Don't breath that dust.

This appears as if it was indeed the clutch. Pulling off the OEM unit - full of gunk - not sure if grease or grease + clutch dust or maybe the PO used this to ride over mud flats to go clamming - dunno.

Installed a low mileage aftermarket unit and the lurch is gone. I have not been able to put any real mileage on it yet so we'll see how this goes but the trend is good.

Thanks for the help!