135,000 mile Buddy 125!

Discussion of the Genuine Buddy, Hooligan, Black Jack and other topics, both scooter related and not

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scootERIK
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Post by scootERIK »

Pretty uneventful 5k. Only had to change tires, oil, and rollers. Plus, I greased my side stand, it's nice and smooth now.

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GregsBuddy
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Post by GregsBuddy »

So good to see that the scoot' is still treating you so well.
Could you share the kind of riding that you are doing to gather your miles in such a short time frame? Do you ride to work ~50 miles a day on back roads? Do you go on many rides for pleasure? Are you collecting many highway miles? Is the scoot' on its third engine?
Thanks!
'09 Yamaha TMAX Large sport scoot.
scootERIK
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Post by scootERIK »

GregsBuddy wrote:So good to see that the scoot' is still treating you so well.
Could you share the kind of riding that you are doing to gather your miles in such a short time frame? Do you ride to work ~50 miles a day on back roads? Do you go on many rides for pleasure? Are you collecting many highway miles? Is the scoot' on its third engine?
Thanks!
When it's warm out I use the scooter as my main form of transportation. I also just go out for rides for fun or to explore. I often will do 200+ mile trips on the weekend, I recently did a 350 mile trip. Where I live about the shortest good ride is 45 miles and a lot of the better rides are 90-150 miles. Plus a trip to the store is 20-30 miles.

July, August, and September are the best months for scooting in Wisconsin so I do my best to take advantage of every good day. If it's 70+ degrees on Saturday or Sunday I am going to be out riding. Fall has started so it is already starting to get cool here so I won't be putting on as many miles.

I try to stick to back roads, but many of the back roads are 55mph speed zones so I am running wide open a lot of the time. I will use highways too when I need to get somewhere quickly.

This is the 4th engine. The 1st on failed at 44k, the 2nd one started to rattle at ~60k, the 3rd engine was a loner from my other Buddy 125 that go me to 73k(this motor was still reinstalled in my other Buddy, it is still running.) The current motor(no. 4) got me to 80k and it seems to be a good strong motor.
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Post by GregsBuddy »

With no "external" or "errors" problems by you (sorry, we all make errors like letting oil get low or not adjusting valves, etc. in maintenance, I don't mean to be at all negative) would the first engine have gone longer? Or was it spent?
Your experience is in alignment with mine. I ride quite a bit at 45-60 MPH, indicated. With regular oil changes the scoot' is at 14,500 and shows very little signs of wear, not even oil usage.
Thanks!!
'09 Yamaha TMAX Large sport scoot.
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Post by iwannascoot »

Where do you get the replacement engines and about how much do you pay for them?

Billy
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Post by lovemysan »

iwannascoot wrote:Where do you get the replacement engines and about how much do you pay for them?

Billy
I’ve bought several for next to nothing. Usually I buy a non running bike due to a carb clog or something. Keep the engine and part the rest out making all my money back. Just got a 170 a couple weeks ago.
161cc big bore kit, NCY big valve head Hand ported, NCY transmission kit, jetted and tuned. I can port your cylinder head.
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Post by scootERIK »

GregsBuddy wrote:With no "external" or "errors" problems by you (sorry, we all make errors like letting oil get low or not adjusting valves, etc. in maintenance, I don't mean to be at all negative) would the first engine have gone longer? Or was it spent?
Your experience is in alignment with mine. I ride quite a bit at 45-60 MPH, indicated. With regular oil changes the scoot' is at 14,500 and shows very little signs of wear, not even oil usage.
Thanks!!
There might have been a few things that made it wear out faster, but from all the reading I have done it seems like the piston rings fail between 40-50k. If I would have replaced the piston and rings between 35-40k* there is a chance the engine would have ran for a lot longer. I have most of the parts to rebuild the first motor so it may live again.



*By 40k I was burning a lot of oil and it would get dirty really fast.
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350kmi
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Post by 350kmi »

I am just about to turn over 35,000 miles on my 2012 170i and based on scootERIK's experience I have been curious to see it holds up. Our riding usage seems pretty similar, mine is daily 40-50 miles most rural 40-60 MPH roads when its above 30F (usually mid-march through late-October) with the occasional 100-200 mile county weekend ride. My annual ride out to the Mississippi through the Wisconsin Driftless Area is about 300 miles round trip.

So far I have not had to add oil between 1500 mile changes, but since about 30,000 miles I have noticed the level has started to drop form full to near add the dipstick over the 1500 miles. Its not enough that I'm worried but I will continue to watch it.
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Post by GregsBuddy »

Excellent. That's what I would expect from a good quality, air-cooled four stroke engine. It appears that keeping good quality oil, changed at ~1,500 mile intervals is the key. In other words, follow the Genuine (PGO) Service Manual.
With a new piston, rings and wrist pin at ~45K, the engine could go another 35-40K.
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Post by fried okra »

Not to start another oil discussion here, but:

What viscosity oil are you guys using?

And are you using dino oil or synthetic?

fried okra
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Post by GregsBuddy »

10-40 RedLine or Motul Synthetic.
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Post by scootERIK »

fried okra wrote:Not to start another oil discussion here, but:

What viscosity oil are you guys using?

And are you using dino oil or synthetic?

fried okra
15w-40 dino oil, Shell Rotella T4. I have used it since the beginning, it seems like good oil and it is pretty cheap.
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Post by 350kmi »

I used Shell Rotella dino oil during the break miles and for the first oil change after break in. Since about 2000 miles I have been running Mobile 1 synthetic, 10w-40 in the cold months and 20w-50 during the main summer months.
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Post by scootERIK »

4,000 more miles with no real issues. More tires and oil changes. I am experimenting with a #95 main jet in the carb to see if I can get a little more color on the plug. So far there haven't been any negative issues so I think I will leave it in. I also put some new rollers in, Dr. Pulley brand.

Before changing my rear tire I went out to do a few burnouts to finish the tire off but I overestimated how much tread was left on the tire so I ended up riding ~2.5 miles home on a flat tire after it wore through on my second burnout. But I did record a pretty decent burnout so it was worth it.

Video of the first burnout -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEEWxV_atAk


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Post by GregsBuddy »

NICE! Didn't know these things would do that. Never tried it with my 170i.
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Post by scootERIK »

It has been a bad winter in Wisconsin for scooting but it is finally starting to warm up.

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Post by scootERIK »

Recent oil change and a new rear tire. I put a Kenda K413 130/70-10 on. This is my second time trying the 130/70-10 size tire. I had a lot of trouble setting the bead on this one. Also, the tire was dragging a little on the fender. I was able to push the fender over so it isn't touching, hopefully it will stay in this position.

The 130 is really wide before you put it on the rim.
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Last edited by scootERIK on Thu Apr 09, 2020 7:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by GregsBuddy »

Thanks for the update.
Just clicked over 15K on my 170i. Just finished breaking in the newly replaced piston and cylinder.
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Post by scootERIK »

I am really enjoying the low gas prices.

As for the scooter another uneventful 1,000 miles.

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Post by scootERIK »

k1dude wrote:I cringed when you posted the 44,444.4 at 4:44pm. That was a very bad omen.

In Chinese, that means death, death, death, death, death, death, at death, death, death.

Guess what?

It died soon after.
I might have a little more luck with this post.

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Post by k1dude »

scootERIK wrote:I might have a little more luck with this post.

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MUCH better!!! Whew!!!
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Post by scootERIK »

Yet another bunch of trouble free miles. I did install a new belt and tires. I will be installing new rollers in the next day or two. I have come to the conclusion that I don't like 12 gram rollers. The scooter is just way more fun to ride with 11 grams, better take off and acceleration. I also installed my NCY exhaust but I will be going back to stock when I change tires since I prefer the stock exhaust when doing long rides. But the NCY is a fun exhaust around town and on twisty back roads.


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Post by JettaKnight »

scootERIK wrote: I don't see 100,000 happening, unless Genuine wants to give me a parts sponsorship then maybe. My big goal is 56,500 miles, then I will have done 50k real miles on it since the odometer is off by about 11%, plus the 942 miles it had on it when I got it(plus some rounding.) But in the mean time I am going for 45,500(=40,000 real miles) then on to 50k.
:D
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Post by scootERIK »

JettaKnight wrote:
scootERIK wrote: I don't see 100,000 happening, unless Genuine wants to give me a parts sponsorship then maybe. My big goal is 56,500 miles, then I will have done 50k real miles on it since the odometer is off by about 11%, plus the 942 miles it had on it when I got it(plus some rounding.) But in the mean time I am going for 45,500(=40,000 real miles) then on to 50k.
:D
A lot of wrenching and a few donor scooters later and it's getting close.

I have even started to plan for the next 50k. A lot of things are going to need maintenance and replacement at 100k. New suspension is high on the list of new parts. I might even rebuild the original engine at some point.

But for right now I am on the lookout for another seat, at ~20k this seat is no longer comfortable on long rides.


EDIT: I checked my records and the seat has over 32,000 miles on. 30k is about what I got out of my first seat before it wore out. Luckily I have another seat that only has about 16k on it.
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Post by scootERIK »

This 1,000 miles required a little maintenance some scheduled some not. Over the last few hundred miles the clutch went from making just a little noise to making a lot of noise. I believe that at least one of the bearings has failed*. In hindsight it was probably going for a while but the only symptom was a lurch when taking off but I thought the old rollers or belt were the cause. Luckily I have extra clutches so I installed another and the scooter was as good as it was at 20,000 miles. At some point I need to try and open up one of my bad clutches to see if I can repair them.

I also check the valves. Over 17,000 miles and this engine still hasn't needed the valves adjusted which is awesome. My first engine needed adjustment every ~6k.

With 6,000 miles on the #95 main jet I am very happy with the results. Spark plug always has some color where previously it was white. It also seems to work well with the NCY exhaust, it no longer backfires during deceleration. For reference I live at ~900 feet above sea level.

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*You can read about other people with the same issue in this post - http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/topic16763.html
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Post by scootERIK »

Two thousand more miles.

Swapped the seat out for my old seat that has a lot less mile on it and it really helped. Seems like the seats last about 30,000 miles before they get too soft for me.

Pulled the NCY exhaust and went back to stock when I put on a new rear tire. The NCY exhaust is fun around town but I prefer the stock exhaust on long trips.

I also did my first long ride of the year. 300+ miles and 3 states worth of scooting. I even crossed the Mississippi for the first time on a scooter.

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Post by babblefish »

Wheee! Your Buddy is having one heck of an adventure. Great pictures.
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Post by scootERIK »

babblefish wrote:Wheee! Your Buddy is having one heck of an adventure. Great pictures.
I even had a little bonus adventure when I got lost. I was on a really fun road so I decide I would stay on it for a little while longer before turning off but I wasn't paying attention to which direction I was going(the road curved more than I though it did) so when I did turn off I turned the wrong direction. After half a mile the road turned to dirt, but it was well used so it wasn't a big deal. But after a few miles the dirt road got really bad. One road was crowned so badly that I was stuck going ~10 miles an hour. I had to give up and get my phone out to figure out how to get back on track, even with the GPS on my phone it took a couple of roads to figure out where I was and where I was going. I figure I did about 15 miles on those dirt road. Normally I don't really mind dirt road but these were pretty bad.

It was around halfway through the dirt road section that I was on empty and needing gas, so I was very happy that I decided to bring along the extra gallon of gas. I also carry about .2 gallons of gas in a fuel bottle(strapped to the rear rack) but that might not have been enough this time.
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Post by BayStateScooterist »

Wow! Awesome pictures! Don't think my back can hold out for 300+ miles. The longest day trip I've made was 105 miles around the Quabbin Reservoir.
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Post by scootERIK »

Another bunch of easy miles on the Buddy 125. Only needed to do an oil change and throw a new tire on the front. The suspension is really getting soft after all these miles. It is quite noticeable when I hit bumps mid corner. New suspension is on the list for 100k maintenance.

EDIT: Decided to put my original shock with ~45k miles back on to see if that helps any. The rear shock I took off had ~50K on it.

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Bonus picture- Buddy with sunflowers.
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Last edited by scootERIK on Sat Aug 22, 2020 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Syd »

BayStateScooterist wrote:Wow! Awesome pictures! Don't think my back can hold out for 300+ miles. The longest day trip I've made was 105 miles around the Quabbin Reservoir.
Haven't read this thread for a while. Nice roads around the Quabbin. Grew up in Worcester County.
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Post by scootERIK »

The last few thousand miles had a little drama. At around 96,280 miles while riding at 50+ mph the scooter died. The good thing is I was 95% sure I knew what the problem was before I coasted to a stop. The spark plug cap had fallen off. I put it back on hoping it would stay, but it fell off again less than 3 miles later. This time I was able to move the spark plug wire around enough to get some pressure on the cap to help it hold on. Luckily this fix held for the 40 miles it took me to get home. If it would have fallen off again I was ready to run a chain of zip ties around the engine to hold it on(I have had to do this twice before.)

In the past I have recommended people change their spark plug caps every 10k, but I wan't following my own recommendations and had about 24k on this cap. So for anyone with over 20k on their Buddy you might want to change your spark plug cap, or if your scooter dies remember to check to make sure it is still attached.

While I was under the seat working on the scooter I decided to take a look at the diaphragm in the carb. For the last few thousand miles the scooter has felt a little slower during acceleration especially for 30-50 mph. Sure enough there was a tiny hole in it so I replaced it. It is starting to look like it might be a good idea to replace the diaphragm every 20k or every 10 years.

Other than that it was just an oil and gear oil change plus I swapped a different rear tire on.

Breakdown number two
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I hit 97k about 225 miles into a 300+ mile day.
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EDIT: 2,500 miles to go-
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scootERIK
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Post by scootERIK »

Getting closer-


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Post by PNWbuddy »

What rear tire size are you using? I see you tried a 130/70 a while ago and had some rubbing on the plastic fender. My 130/70 Shinko SR425 has worn a groove thru the plastic fender where a sharp ridge molded into the sidewall has rubbed. The bead was also very hard to seat for my tire.
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Post by scootERIK »

PNWbuddy wrote:What rear tire size are you using? I see you tried a 130/70 a while ago and had some rubbing on the plastic fender. My 130/70 Shinko SR425 has worn a groove thru the plastic fender where a sharp ridge molded into the sidewall has rubbed. The bead was also very hard to seat for my tire.
Right now I am running 3.50-10, specifically the Pirelli Angel. 100/90-10 is a good size too but it's usually not worth the extra cost.

The last 130/70 I ran rubbed, the first time I tried a 130/70 it didn't. Plus, I didn't like how it rode, it often felt like it was moving around in the corners. I also had a lot of trouble setting the bead.
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Post by PNWbuddy »

the 130/70 seems to handle fine but I've never ridden on anything else. Maybe I'll switch out the rear tire next year for a more proper size like the 110/80 that I have on the front just to compare.

Amazing to me how many miles you have on your scooter. I hardly ever find a reason to ride mine because the low top speed (54.7 GPS is the fastest it has ever gone) keeps it off most of the roads here.
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Post by scootERIK »

So close...


I did manage to get a hole in my rear tire but luckily it was a slow leak. I keep a back up ready to go so I on the road in under 20 minutes, just in time to make it to the last group ride of the year.

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A few miles later I stopped for a picture with some nice fall colors-
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Post by k1dude »

You have to do something special when you turn 100,000! Any plans?
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Post by scootERIK »

k1dude wrote:You have to do something special when you turn 100,000! Any plans?
I might try to get a video of it rolling over, plus lots of pictures. Then I might go for a ride.

After that I have a lot of maintenance and repairs to do. The bad part is the owner's manual doesn't have the 100,000 service recommendations listed. :D
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Post by babblefish »

scootERIK wrote:
k1dude wrote:You have to do something special when you turn 100,000! Any plans?
I might try to get a video of it rolling over, plus lots of pictures. Then I might go for a ride.

After that I have a lot of maintenance and repairs to do. The bad part is the owner's manual doesn't have the 100,000 service recommendations listed. :D
You should contact Genuine to ask them what maintenance should be done at 100K. Lol. Who knows, they might want to feature your scoot in an ad or something.
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Post by Syd »

babblefish wrote:
scootERIK wrote:
k1dude wrote:You have to do something special when you turn 100,000! Any plans?
I might try to get a video of it rolling over, plus lots of pictures. Then I might go for a ride.

After that I have a lot of maintenance and repairs to do. The bad part is the owner's manual doesn't have the 100,000 service recommendations listed. :D
You should contact Genuine to ask them what maintenance should be done at 100K. Lol. Who knows, they might want to feature your scoot in an ad or something.
I agree, Phil may be gone, and Genuine may be owned by an unnamed corporate entity, but good stories are good stories.
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Post by BayStateScooterist »

Let the drama begin! Nice to have a feel good story. Keep it going.
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Re: 100,000 mile Buddy 125!

Post by scootERIK »

Turns out there was a little drama over the last few miles. With less than 20 miles to go I was broken down on the side of the road, another worn out spark plug cap. 2 miles later I was on the side of the road again adjusting the spark plug cap, this time it held.

Video of the rollover- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD923yT9aCY

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There was even more excitement after 100k. At ~100,152 miles I was on the side of the road again. I though it was the spark plug cap again, but it wasn't that. I tried to start it a couple of times and it would almost run, but only when the electric start was turning. At this point I was thinking I blew the engine(or at least the rings.) I let it sit a couple minutes while making some phone calls to see about getting a trailer. Then I tried starting it again and it didn't want to turnover. I decided to try the kickstarter, but it was locked up. With that I was figured it might be the belt or CVT. I was not in a good spot to work on the scooter so I pushed it half a mile to a park where it would be easier to work. As I suspected the belt had failed. It broke in half and a bunch of the "teeth" had ripped off. The belt was wrapped around the variator which is why the engine wouldn't run. So I made another phone call and had someone bring me some more tools and a used belt. While waiting I cleaned up the CVT area. Once the tools and belt arrived it took about 10 minutes to have everything back together and the scooter running. Not exactly sure what caused the failure, bad belt, too many miles, too much abuse, or something other issue. There was a small nick in one of the variator drive faces and I haven't been the best about maintenance.


What was left of the belt, and a new friend I made while waiting for tools-
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00000.0 picture-
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A well deserved nap after 100k.
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Re: 100,000 mile Buddy 125!

Post by Dooglas »

scootERIK wrote: Sat Nov 21, 2020 10:43 pmNot exactly sure what caused the failure, bad belt, too many miles, too much abuse, or something other issue.
How many miles on the belt?
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Post by scootERIK »

Dooglas wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:12 amHow many miles on the belt?
I think around 11,000. I know that is more than the 8k that is recommended but I have never had a Bando belt fail even with over 17k. Usually they just wear out and get too skinny. I did buy the belt off of ebay* so there is a chance it was fake or possibly not as good as the Bando/PGO belts you can get at the dealer.





*I once bought a "Gates Powerlink" belt off of ebay and it started to come apart after ~2,500 miles. I am pretty sure that one was fake.
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Re:

Post by Dooglas »

scootERIK wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 4:54 amI think around 11,000. I know that is more than the 8k that is recommended but I have never had a Bando belt fail even with over 17k.
Well, now you have. Could be the belt you bought was quite old stock. Rubber does deteriorate through time. Also, most belts look fine when changed out.

I've owned 12 scooters. Always change the belt and rollers at or before the recommended mileage. I've never had a belt break in use. (knock on wood)
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Re: 100,000 mile Buddy 125!

Post by scootERIK »

My Buddy 125 is still racking up the miles. Back up to 4,000 miles. I've put over 31k on this engine since I got it and it's still running strong.

I sometimes think about how I now have more miles showing on my odometer than a lot of other 2009 Buddies.

I missed a bunch of the other mileage photos like 1k, 2k, and 3k, but when you are out enjoying a good ride it can be hard to keep track of the odometer.

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Last edited by scootERIK on Mon Aug 30, 2021 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 100,000 mile Buddy 125!

Post by 350kmi »

It's good to hear your current engine is still going strong at 31k. It will be interesting to see how many miles it goes, am I remembering correctly that 44k miles is you engine record so far?

My Buddy 170 is just under 38k and I am quite curious how far it will make it on all its original (non-consumable) parts. So far it isn't giving any signs of slowing down and I should make 40k before the snow arrives this year.
scootERIK
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Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:40 am
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Re: 100,000 mile Buddy 125!

Post by scootERIK »

350kmi wrote: Fri Jul 30, 2021 7:17 pm It's good to hear your current engine is still going strong at 31k. It will be interesting to see how many miles it goes, am I remembering correctly that 44k miles is you engine record so far?

My Buddy 170 is just under 38k and I am quite curious how far it will make it on all its original (non-consumable) parts. So far it isn't giving any signs of slowing down and I should make 40k before the snow arrives this year.
My first engine made it over 44k. The next one was at ~15k when it started to make bad noises, possibly the bearing between the connecting rod and the crankshaft but not sure. Then I borrowed an engine out of my other scooter, that motor now has over 30k on it.

While my engine might not be running as strong as I thought. It has an occasional vibration at high speeds. I thought it might be the belt and rollers so I changed those, then I adjusted the valves. But it still has an occasional vibration as high speeds. I did notice some play in the crankshaft when doing the belt and rollers so there is a chance the bearings are going. But there is also a chance that it is something else. So I have started the search for the next engine. But in the meantime I am still out riding.

38k on a 170 is really good, that's one of the highest mileage 170s I have heard of. I am curious how long a 170 can last.
scootERIK
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Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:40 am
Location: Lake Geneva, WI

Re: 100,000 mile Buddy 125!

Post by scootERIK »

106,000 miles and counting.


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