Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - ClayMation

Pages: 1 ... 4 5 [6] 7 8
76
Xciting 500 / Re: Xciting 500 2016 Model Belt drive, tires and free-way driving questions
« on: September 23, 2017, 10:57:57 AM »
Guys,

I had my 4k Service done the other day.

They did all the standard 4k stuff, fuel pump change, air filter swap, various inspections.

I also had them tighten the throttle cable because I was taking off slower during start up than I wanted to. Now take off feels much smoother than before.

In a couple weeks to a month I will change the tires out for Michelin City's, but the back tire still has a couple thousand miles of tread left in it at least.

77
Xciting 500 / Re: How much Money do you invest in your Xciting500 annually?
« on: September 15, 2017, 06:35:14 PM »
Quote from: xsel777 on September 15, 2017, 07:04:32 AM
Oil and filter 100 x 5,brakes 100,rear tyre 150,front 80. Oh, and belt, gates booster (generic) 200.(changed at 20 000km)

Sent from my Mi Max using Tapatalk

So roughly about a thousand?
I suppose thats still fairly cheaper than car maintenance.

78
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 15, 2017, 06:34:16 PM »
Quote from: Stig on September 15, 2017, 10:19:13 AM
Many scooter riders, from a 650 Burgman down to a 50cc China complain about their scooter's rough ride. First question from many is " what aftermarket shocks should I  buy?" That rarely has much impact over the stock shocks. Scoots have small shock travel after the rider takes a seat, and have much unsprung weight.
Big heavy scoots generally feel better .....but many new to scootering riders still complain.
Stig

I would assume any bike would not feel great on squiggly concrete or extremely bumpy roads. In decently paved roads the xciting500 feels extremely smoothe.

On uneven roads it feels not too bad, on the worst roads it feels, i imagine, how any other bike its size would. I had a vespa style scooter prior to this, with very small tires and that felt pretty bad on the worst streets.

Comparatively the xciting is like driving  car.

79
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 15, 2017, 06:50:10 AM »
Quote from: Stig on September 14, 2017, 07:09:27 PM
My thinking is that-
Your 500, and any most every scooter, has a lot of its weight unsprung......thete is much, much less unsprung weight on any motorcycle.
Also this is the reason scooters have such lousy ride qualities!
But I'm no expert on these things....
Stig
What do you mean by lousy ride quality? For the most part the bike has performed admirably other than my settings mess ups.

80
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 15, 2017, 06:49:03 AM »
Quote from: Doc Wheezer on September 14, 2017, 05:24:01 PM
Normal rear tire wear on a maxi scooter will be 3500-7000 miles depending on how you ride. 
If you dark side you can get over 20,000 miles.

What is dark side? Ya mean, pushing the limits of the unknown?

81
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 15, 2017, 06:48:16 AM »
Quote from: Mr. Paul on September 14, 2017, 09:50:41 AM
I'm guessing because many of the large motorcycles are used as touring vehicles with predominantly highway miles. More rolling miles versus stop and go. Generally a 500cc scooter isn't used as a touring vehicle as frequently. Also motorcycle tires have a larger circumference so they have more rubber on them to wear before they fail. A 16 inch rear motorcycle tire inherently has more rubber on it than the 10 inch tires on the rear of my Helix. And they have more surface area to dissipate heat.  Hope that helps.

Most of my miles have been freeway miles to be honest. I would estimate at least 60% of the 5000 miles were put on there on the freeway.

Secondly, these tires aren't that small, they're a lot closer to motorcycle tires than a small scooters tires are. Rear rim is 14inch and the front is 15inch. Plus the rear tires are actually larger in diameter than the front, which makes them look larger even though the rim is smaller.

I'm still surprised how little the life is stated to be.

hypothetical question, could the xciting handle larger rims/tires than stock?

82
Xciting 500 / Re: How much Money do you invest in your Xciting500 annually?
« on: September 15, 2017, 06:42:09 AM »
Quote from: xsel777 on September 15, 2017, 05:47:32 AM
I must be doing 20 000km a year  at least.
Sent from my Mi Max using Tapatalk
What's the rough estimate USD per year?

83
Xciting 500 / How much Money do you invest in your Xciting500 annually?
« on: September 14, 2017, 05:51:58 AM »
I'm wondering how much investment you guys make annually on your kymco xciting500.

I'm particularly interested in knowing how you guys manage to cut costs of maintenance, what your break downs are and how much you ride.

I am especially interested in knowing a annual price break down from guys who ride their bikes a lot as opposed to just on the weekend.

I know money must be spent on the bike to keep it running properly. But is there a minimum baseline we should be spending annually to keep these machines running optimally?

I love my xciting500 and would love to figure out how to only spend a few hundred a year on maintenance if possible. I don't wanna spend as much as if I were owning a car, that's kinda one of the reasons I own a bike instead of the car (insurance is much cheaper, gas is much cheaper per gallon).

So, besides gas, looking primarily at maintenance charges, what's the experience of you guys who ride a lot?

84
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 14, 2017, 04:23:40 AM »
Quote from: Stig on September 13, 2017, 11:08:05 AM
The 500 is a big scooter. I hope you won't be disappointed, but doubt you will safely get much more than 5000/7000 out of any brand of rear scooter tire on that big bike. Big scooters famously eat rear tires at a prodigious rate. Nature of the beast. Have heard some owners mention going through 2 or 3 rears a year.
I'm running City Grips on my small scooter, and love them. Got 12k on the rear and at 14k the front is still going....but all this on a scooter approx 1/2 the weight of your's. Big scoot = big everything...incl. running $ for tires.
My VW Beetle's radial tires rotted long before they ever wore out the tread. Tall tire, low weight, low HP = long life.
Stig
How is it possible that guys get 12,000 miles on 800 lb motorcycles but I can't get that on a 500 lb maxi-scooter?

85
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 13, 2017, 07:18:20 AM »
Quote from: Mr. Paul on September 12, 2017, 11:37:43 PM



I would dare to say that very, very few on this forum are hobbyists. Most are dedicated cyclists with many decades of experience under their belts and most have forgotten more than you and I know. Seriously, they have really forgotten. ;)
If that's true i'm guessing the guys who say they only have 5200 miles on their 2009 xciting500s must only be using it as a spare bike to their other 3 main bikes.

86
Xciting 500 / Re: Anybody else here use their xciting500 as primary mode of transport?
« on: September 13, 2017, 07:14:13 AM »
Quote from: xsel777 on September 12, 2017, 09:46:56 PM
When I am not sleeping, I am riding mine! Currently 66000km on it, but it is in the shop now, with oil in the water, so head skim, and gaskets. The thing that has surprised me the most, is the threads stripping on the shafts, first the crank, and now the clutch.
The other thing that had been a repeat issue, is worn exhaust cam. That has been done 4 times now.

Sent from my Mi Max using Tapatalk
At what mileage did these things occur?

87
Xciting 500 / Anybody else here use their xciting500 as primary mode of transport?
« on: September 12, 2017, 08:04:21 PM »
Hey guys,
 
This might be a little weird since i'm still relatively new to the forum, but from the glimpses i'v gathered the impression I get is I might be one of very few people on here who uses their xciting as a primary mode of transportation.

For example, I rode out of the dealership with the bike a mere 4 months ago and since then I have put almost 5000 miles on the bike already. Whereas I have seen guys who have owned the model for 3-4 years and say that they have less mileage on it.

So I wanted to create a post specifically for those of us who use their kymco xciting500 as a primary mode of transportation, since I think they would notice a lot of the same nuances I do after driving it so long.

Can we get a show of hands on who uses theirs as a primary way of getting around and what nuances they've picked up on in the process?

Thanks guys.

88
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 12, 2017, 07:59:38 PM »
Quote from: Mr. Paul on September 12, 2017, 09:37:47 AM
Run the tire pressure according to the scooter specs, not according to the max pressure on the tire sidewall. Seems like you need to back the pressures down even more. Be careful.

The reason i've been upping the PSI to 40 lately is that I had a weird experience last month where, after me and my girlfriend went to Ojai on the bike (about 80 miles from my place of residence in southern cal) I experienced the PSI being reduced from 34ish to like 20. I attributed this to the extra weight (we also had the top cases full of about 30 pounds) and the long haul, it's like 160 miles round trip.

But ever since then i've been checking the PSI every other day and it seems to be maintaining the pressure ever since then. I have no idea why that occurred but I am sure, having not noticed it till I drove with it after a few miles, that it caused some minor cracking of the side wall of the stock maxxis tires.

Anyway, I feel it's ridiculous to have tires that only last 5000-8000 miles so i'm getting the city grips ASAP because I have no doubt they should last 10,000-12,000 from what i've researched.

I know 5000 miles might seem like a lot to hobbyists but I am not using the bike for hobby and weekend play, I am using it as a primary form of transportation, which is why I have almost 5000 miles on it despite only owning it 4 months.

89
Xciting 500 / Re: Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 12, 2017, 07:49:44 AM »
Hey guys,

Thanks for all the concerned replies.

The feeling I mentioned has improved and i'll tell you why.

First, as soon as you guys suggested a little less front wheel pressure I lowered the PSI from 40 to about 37 and I also changed my rear suspension settings from 2 to 4.

I definitely plan to get new tires on there at my next pay check by the beginning of next week and I definitely plan for those tires to be Michelin City grips. I can get the whole thing done for $260 which includes tire price and labor so i'm happy about that.

The next service itself will cost about 360$ so that will spike me up to more than 600$ for all of it.

But once that's done my next service will only cost about 200$ I believe. I heard the 5000 mile service is the most expensive.

Thoughts?

90
Xciting 500 / Bouncy/wavey Ride last couple of days.
« on: September 08, 2017, 03:03:32 AM »
Hi,

In the last couple of days I am getting what I can only define as a wavier and bouncier ride than I am use to on this bike. It started yesterday and continued today, I checked the cold pressure this morning at 39 PSI for both tires. I just changed the rear shock settings to 3 from 2.

What else might cause this that I should be looking out for?

Pages: 1 ... 4 5 [6] 7 8