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Messages - kymi

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LIKE 200i / Re: like 200i Top Box Rack
« on: March 31, 2018, 06:21:30 AM »
I have a spare if you're interested, whole assembly rack, box (black) and all, it's off a Like 50 but they're exactly the same. Been keeping it for my orange LE which also came with the silly chrome grab rail but I made a rack instead and I'll never use the box. Where in OZ are you? I'm in Adelaide.

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General Discussion / Re: G'day from SA (South Australia)
« on: December 17, 2017, 05:54:19 AM »
Quote from: ole two wheels on December 17, 2017, 01:27:02 AM
Hi kymi, welcome to the Kymco forum,. That is really a beautiful shot with the sun reflection off of the front cover. I had a Springer softail the same color as that sun spot. What wasn't painted was chrome. We have a saying here, "chrome won't get you home.", how true. I have a Ford F150 with chrome all over it, but I've noticed that more and more vehicles are going blacked out here in the states.. What ever, live and let live, I say. It is a nice looking bike you have there mate. cheers

Thank you for your kind comments. I don't know why I said I hate chrome because I don't, but I really like the blacked out details on the LE. I'm happy with it now although I'd like to try some black mirrors, but a bit of chrome is OK and I really don't like the current trend of blacking out vehicles entirely. The saying 'chrome won't get you home' made me smile, I hadn't heard that before.

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LIKE 200i / Re: rear shock adjustment
« on: December 17, 2017, 05:10:13 AM »
You're quite right, a suspension unit is designed to work within a certain range and not top or bottom out. In most vehicles this isn't an issue but adding a passenger to a scooter massively increases the downward force and runs the risk of running out of travel (bottoming out). The spring is just like a battery but for storing energy instead of electricity. The springs on the scooter are constant rate so they will compress the same distance for every kg of force so for example a spring may compress 1cm for every 10kg applied, for every cm thereafter it takes another 10kg of force which is being stored as energy that is pushing back at the same force as that applied, so as that energy increases so does the force and it feels like the spring is getting stiffer. So again, you are correct, the spring does 'feel' stiffer because it contains more energy, and it is this energy that pushes the tyre back down on the ground after hitting a bump, it can't do this if the damper is bottoming out, hence the need to adjust the ride height.

Now that we have a load applied to the spring (the weight of the scooter), and we apply an additional force (the weight of a passenger) the spring is forced to compress because it is pushing against the ground, basically. When you raise the spring platform, however, the weight loading on it is constant so there is no additional force over the length of the spring and it just moves upwards. Once again you are correct, it can only do so until the damper runs out of travel.

Just to confuse the issue there are also variable rate springs which are made from tapered wire, kind of like a fishing rod that's been coiled up. These are typically fitted to high performance road cars which still require a soft ride over rough roads but as the coils close up the spring actually does become stiffer and stop the car leaning over too much in corners. Clever stuff.

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General Discussion / Re: G'day from SA (South Australia)
« on: December 16, 2017, 09:12:32 PM »
Quote from: PaulF on December 16, 2017, 08:59:00 PM
Thanks for that but still deciding how I want mine to look, besides your LE would not be so unique if I copied you.  :)

No worries, and thanks, but they're here if you change your mind.

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General Discussion / Re: My new scooter
« on: December 16, 2017, 07:09:39 PM »
Nice to hear there's at least 2 more LEs on the road, more likely to see me down south as I live in Aberfoyle Park

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LIKE 200i / Re: rear shock adjustment
« on: December 16, 2017, 06:53:40 PM »
Sorry again, and I'm apologizing because I've only just joined this forum and don't want to be seen as a stirrer but I come from an engineering background and learnt a lot about suspension from my time building and racing Westfield Sports Cars.

The information in the owner's manual is correct and good advice, a higher load should be compensated for by increasing the ride height and that's exactly what the adjustable spring platform does, it's a great feature because a scooter may have to deal with a huge variation in load especially if carrying a passenger, however the spring is not 'more compressed' at the higher setting, that would only happen if the spring is topping out the damper unit and that's a bad thing, or to put it another way when you raise the collar you are lifting the whole spring, the top of the spring raises by the same amount as the base so all that changes is the ride height and consequently the centre of gravity.

As I said previously the spring rate is set by the wire size and length of the spring, you can't change that. Racing suspension usually has adjustable damping, that is what controls the stiffness of the suspension and is usually set with a screw or knob on the body of the damper (shock absorber) or sometimes 2 screws for separate bump and rebound adjustment, some high end motorcycles feature this type of suspension.

I find suspension a fascinating subject and nowadays there is a lot of good information available at the click of a mouse, sorry again if I'm coming across as a bit of a smarty pants, that's not my intention, just trying to help.

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General Discussion / Re: G'day from SA (South Australia)
« on: December 16, 2017, 06:05:45 PM »
I have a spare set if you want them

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LIKE 200i / Re: rear shock adjustment
« on: December 16, 2017, 07:51:12 AM »
Sorry to disappoint you but turning that collar will not affect the spring rate, that is fixed by the length of the spring and the diameter of the wire. That collar is just a spring platform and will only change the ride height, and even then only by a few mm, but that's good if you are a bit on the heavy side or wish to carry a pillion passenger best to leave it on the high setting, otherwise it's worth dropping it down a bit to lower the centre of gravity which will aid stability. If you think you can feel a difference it's probably psychological because the change is so small, I dropped mine down and I can't say it feels any different at all but it was worth doing because I am only 70kg and I doubt that I will ever carry a pillion.

I made a c-spanner to do the job:

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General Discussion / Re: Running in my new Like
« on: December 16, 2017, 07:19:06 AM »
I've always bought new cars and scooters so I've done a lot of 'running in' and some of the information out there is a bit out of date. Apart from going a little easy for the first few km I just drive/ride as normal and try to do a fair bit of acceleration / deceleration (hills are good) to bed the rings in. Maybe not quite 'ride it like you stole it!' but don't go too easy on it, you will have a stronger motor if you load it up a bit.

As far as oil changes are concerned I did the first one at 500km, then 2500km and each 2500km after that. Personally I think that's a bit excessive, my PCX had 4000km intervals and I used to do that every 5000km, but oil's pretty cheap and it doesn't hurt to do it a bit more often. I use Valvoline 'Engine Armour' 10W40, no harm in using motorcycle oil but it's really a waste of money, it's only needed if you have a wet clutch which scooters don't have of course. For scooter engines a good quality automotive oil is every bit as good and works out a lot cheaper.

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General Discussion / Re: My new scooter
« on: December 16, 2017, 06:53:59 AM »
I've just joined this forum and now I see this, another South Australian with a Like 200i LE! Maybe I'll see you on the road sometime....

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General Discussion / G'day from SA (South Australia)
« on: December 16, 2017, 06:42:27 AM »
Hi all

I've had my Like 200i for a few months now and thought I'd join this forum and say hi, seems like a good one, I've been reading some interesting posts.

I got a 200i LE, (the orange one) and did some mild customizing with a little de-chroming (I hate chrome) and made some black stripes like those on some of the others, I think those stripes really suit this scooter, especially with the orange paint and the black details, I love it. I also ditched the chrome grab rail and made a small luggage rack which I use quite often. The only other thing I'd like to do is change the chrome mirrors for black ones but there's no hurry for that.

This is my fifth scooter, I had two Honda Today 50's, only because the first one was stolen and destroyed, then sticking with Honda I had a PCX125 and later a PCX150. The PCX's are great machines but for some reason I just don't like them, I much prefer a traditional flat-floor scooter.

The Like 200i has been great so far, I've done 3,000km in just over 4 months which is pretty normal for me, I usually do about 8,000km a year on the scooter and 4,000km in the car. I also picked up a Like 50 with a broken engine for $200 which might come in handy for parts, or I could repair it if I find a crashed one with a good motor but for now it just sits in a corner of the garage.



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