Enzo - the cheap Chinese scooter that's totally not a Ferrari

As a product of some enabling that I participated in this weekend, I am the current caretaker of this scooter. Which I think will be dubbed "Enzo".

The previous caretaker had an affinity for Ferrari and chrome strip stickers. Overall, I think it actually looks pretty good. 

It has not run in a long time. But the brake worked, and that meant I could easily load it in my truck bed with ramps (pushing up a ramp without a brake to hold the bike gets sketchy fast).

This would appear to be a low km example.

Though those "security fobs" scare me a bit.

Here's the deets tag.

So, does it run? Well I don't know. The battery was dead. It is currently on the charger. 

What are your plans for it Robbie? I also don't know. Hoping to get it running and then see. 

Have you even done anything interesting yet? Sorta. 

I was able to turn it over on the starter a few times with the charger hooked up. Seems to have no spark right now, but fuel is flowing from the tank into the clear filter at least. It does have some sort of security system on the key fobs, which I am always suspect of. I pulled the spark boot to see if I got sparks to the case, but I wasn't seeing anything (which is why I think it has no spark). 

Next up, figure out why no spark. 

Looks like a neat project. Is the "security fob" one of those little ignition interrupt things common on snowblowers? I'd be nervous driving around with one of those; one good bump and there no ignition.

Pardon my ignorance, I've never had a little bike like that.

Is this the place for an AMR300?  I don't know but I have wanted to see somebody put one on something silly for a while.  Make that SUPERCHARGE badge real.

There is nothing more satisfying than getting something like this up and running. See my posts on the cheap razor electric dirt bikes. 

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

That is the cutest little puffer I've ever seen!!! Did not know they existed. I have a 16hp Yanmar 3cyl diesel garden tractor that desperately needs one!!!

Thanks. 

No supercharger for now. Gotta make it run first. 

Followed the instructions here: https://www.buggydepot.com/tech-center/gy6-150cc-ignition-troubleshooting-guide-no-spark/

And found I think the cdi is bad. Ordered a complete new ignition kit (plug, coil, cdi, etc) for $20. 

Here is the security system that I was worried about, but it appears to have been integrated to the factory wiring harness. There is some other quite sketchy wiring jobs, but this was done well. I still don't trust it.

100mph speedo?!!?  Seems a bit optimistic, and terrifying at even half that.

In reply to NorseDave :

In my experience, chinascoots have a very optimistic speedometer, like 15% or more off sometimes.  Still, yeah, if you could bury the needle, it'd be scary.  At least the ones like this with 16" wheels are somewhat more stable at speed.

Robbie, as junky as these things are, at least parts are really cheap, and a full engine rebuild isn't difficult at all.  Wouldn't be surprised if the CDI is the only issue, though, they seem to fail more often than anything else.

My wife used to have a Kymco People and that thing's speedo read like 30 - 40% high. I rode behind her on my bike once and when we got to a stop sign I asked her if she knew she was doing 25 in a 35. She said NO - it read 35+ and "no wonder people are honking at me all the time!" Yikes.

In reply to dculberson :

Wow, my People S was only off by 4-5%.  Maybe that's the difference between the ones built in China vs. Taiwan.

Also, I just remembered, if there are markings on it anywhere that say "ABS", beware, it's not really antilock brakes.  It's a relief valve that opens when you pull too hard on the front brake lever.  If it has that, I'd ditch it ASAP.

eastsideTim said:

In reply to dculberson :

Also, I just remembered, if there are markings on it anywhere that say "ABS", beware, it's not really antilock brakes.  It's a relief valve that opens when you pull too hard on the front brake lever.  If it has that, I'd ditch it ASAP.

I haven't seen any ABS markings. But the front brake lever (right hand) is locked out via a bolt through the pivot. At first I thought it must be single circuit brakes factory and just one lever for both wheels. After reading the almost-english manual, I'm not so sure that's how its supposed to be setup....

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

Hmm, that sounds kind of like either a basic parking brake setup or a prior owner hack job, although I think I usually see that on the rear wheel.  Most of these scooters are hydraulic front brake/cable rear brake.  If it is a hack job, maybe the front brakes failed, so they were disabled.

I am the recipient of the enabling Robbie did over the weekend, and this was a bit of a bonus.  Thanks so much for doing all this, my friend!!

You've got to tell the backstory behind the scooter, the previous owner.

For fun on two wheels, you can't beat a twist-n-go scooter.  I currently have a traditional motorcycle.  I have had three motorcycles and three scooters.  I live in the city.  The scooter is easier and more enjoyable within city limits and at speeds of 50MPH or less.  Plus nobody bats an eye if you part on the sidewalk or at a bicycle rack.  Try doing that with a motorcycle and observe the looks you get.  Enjoy!

Ahhh yes, the all important backstory. I will add that in. 

For now, a quick update: with new cdi, it now sputters and dies on starting fluid. I don't have 3 arms so I can't keep it running on starting fluid, but I think now I've got spark so I'll pull the carb and clean it up. Fresh gas probably wouldn't hurt anything either.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

While you've got the carb out, you may want to test the vacuum petcock, to make sure nothing is gummed up there.

Well, the carb was nasty. Like the slide wouldn't slide up nasty. But I think I got it all cleaned up and all the tiny holes in the jets cleared. The (what I think is) the pilot jet was especially gummed up and hard to clean. But I think I got it.

Also drained the gas - vacuum petcock works great. I put the fuel hose in a bucket, sucked on the vacuum line to it, and then pinched the line with pliers to hold vacuum. Tank drained without spilling a drop.

Haven't got fresh gas for it yet but will soon. 

After fresh gas it would still only run on starting fluid, and I noticed that brand new carbs are $28 on amazon. So I hit the easy button. Now it runs great - aaaaand it has remote start. HAHA. 

I put all the plastics back together last night and fixed various things like adding more electrical tape around the sketchy splices and plugging a turn signal bulb back in. The battery was garbage and then I really fried it with my charger on 'start' mode, so I also replaced the battery. Hoping to drive it around the block today. I think the last issue to get worked out is the front brake, and to clean it up. 

Now the backstory!

A few weeks ago, a fellow GRMer (SKJSS) reached out looking for someone to help him with a potential long distance car purchase. The car in question was a Fiero, and the seller was an older gentleman who was focused on finding a good buyer rather than extracting max $$. SKJSS quickly became friends with the seller, and realized the seller was trying to include this scooter with the sale of the car. 

The car was owned by the seller, but the scooter was owned by the seller's nephew, who had passed away 5 or so years prior. The scooter was simply taking up space in the seller's garage, and he didn't want to mess around with trying to sell it separately. SKJSS on the other hand, knew that it would probably cost more to ship the scooter home to him than it would be worth. So we hatched a plan that when I went to go help with the purchase, I would pickup the scooter. Seller gets scooter gone, SKJSS doesn't need to ship scooter, Robbie gets to play with scooter. Win, win, win. 

The original plan is to fix up the scooter, resell it, and then give a big chunk of the profits back to the original seller (he's an elderly guy who could use the hand). Plus the seller is a sports car guy who just isn't mechanically inclined. He told me some stories of volunteering for the SCCA up a road america back in the 70s. Cool. 

So now where we are is a scooter that runs (hopefully drives well) and looks pretty good. I've spent about $100 so far on parts, maybe a bit less, and after quick perusal of FB marketplace, I think it has a potential market value of 500-1000. BUT (and there's always a but) my FIL is talking about getting some scooters like this for our trip to Montana this year. He thinks taking something like this to run from the house up the mountain to the campgrounds would be fun. So maybe I'll just end up selling to my FIL. We shall see. 

Well, it drives great. And cleans up pretty good too! I gave the kids each a ride around the block and I've been having fun dropping "maybe I'll take the Ferrari" into conversation as many times as possible.

I miss having a motorcycle but they are no more here until the kids are grown I'm told. 

I do love me a scooter though...*starts searching for crappy old Vespas*

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

eastsideTim said:

In reply to dculberson :

Also, I just remembered, if there are markings on it anywhere that say "ABS", beware, it's not really antilock brakes.  It's a relief valve that opens when you pull too hard on the front brake lever.  If it has that, I'd ditch it ASAP.

I haven't seen any ABS markings. But the front brake lever (right hand) is locked out via a bolt through the pivot. At first I thought it must be single circuit brakes factory and just one lever for both wheels. After reading the almost-english manual, I'm not so sure that's how its supposed to be setup....

So, funny story. I started looking into the front brake lever that felt like it was locked out with a bolt. It was not. 

The master cylinder was, however, simply locked up. Even though a new one is relatively cheap, I thought I'd see if I could free this one up.  So I pulled it off the bike and mounted it in a bench vice. Tap tap this way, tap tap that way, spray pb plaster, tap again. In the end, it freed up, and I put it back on the bike and bled it out. Seems to be working!! Haven't done a test ride yet but so far so good.

And, this bike does have the "ABS" popoff valve. It's attached between the caliper and the flexible hose. Unfortunately I think I'd need some adapters to remove it from the system completely, so for now it stays.

Well test ride says front brake works great now! Woohoo.

Last issue is the fuel gauge. Reads about 1/4 when the handlebars are turned to the left, and reads 0 when turned right. I don't think that's how it's supposed to work!

Oh, and the front fender is cockeyed a bit, but looks like I just need to loosen and reposition.

The fuel gauge sounds kind of weird.  Wonder if it is a pinched wire or something.  Or is it while you are riding that it changes, if so, could just be the way the float works?

eastsideTim said:

The fuel gauge sounds kind of weird.  Wonder if it is a pinched wire or something.  Or is it while you are riding that it changes, if so, could just be the way the float works?

I too thought it was a pinched wire. I also thought this bit of quality workmanship was at fault.

Turns out, I couldn't find either to be a problem but I did find a stuck float in the tank. PB blaster got it moving again and now I think the gauge works (it did with me manually moving the float on the sender, have yet to add gas to see if the gauge moves up). 

I think the flopping back a forth a bit is just crappy quality of the gauge itself and being loose so gravity can move the gauge needle.

Also now that this is fixed I'm calling this bike "restored" lol. Ive also decided not to keep it so it will be going up for sale soon.