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My current residence is in South Carolina and the only law I can find dictating the speed of a two wheeled vehicle to be classified as a moped is that if it doesn't exceed 30 mph on level ground.  Now, I can't find anything stating it can't go over 30 down hill or about that there needs to be a speed regulator.  Does anyone have a better insight on this?

Can't say anything about SC but MN is probably not all that different. In MN most two wheeled vehicles with an engine displacement less than 50 cc can get moped plates and don't require a motorcycle endorsement on your drivers license. On the DMV website there is list of about ten scooters that have 49 cc displacement but still must be licensed as motorcycles and require a motorcycle drivers license. I don't know if the difference is speed or horsepower but the scooters that I'm familiar with that are on the list can all go over 35 mph.

There is not a speed limit per se for a scooter other than the posted limit for that road. Exceeding 30 down hill is okay, at least here in MN. If a cop sees you going over 30 (or 35 or whatever he feels is too fast) and the scoot has moped plates he can pull you over. There are two tickets you could get. If the scooter has been de-stricted or had a big bore kit installed or otherwise modified so as to not meet the state requirements for a moped license you can get a ticket for an improperly licensed vehicle (moped plates instead of motorcycle plates). If the scoot, as it existed when you were stopped, required a motorcycle drivers license, you could get a ticket for driving a motorcycle without a motorcycle license (assuming that you don't have a motorcycle license). If the scoot is stock, you're okay.

That being said, I've never seen or heard of a cop doing this. I know several guys with seriously hopped up 49 cc scoots and several with big bore kits in their (formerly) 49 cc machines. All these guys go too fast and generally ride like dicks. They don't seem to ever get stopped.

I've been riding motorcycles for nearly 40 years and bought my first scooter (Kymco agility 125) this past spring. One thing I noticed early on is that cops, at least in the twin cities, pretty much ignore scooters except for (maybe) parking violations.

Dale B

Sid, so I would need a gear oil that is specifically for 2 strokes and SAE90? The manual only says SAE 90.

Here's what I was looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Purple-01300-Performance-Automotive/dp/B0007QGT34/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1324411935&sr=1-1

The SAE90 gear oil is used in the gearbox in the rear end (Fill and drain bolts on the left side by the rear tire). The gearbox lubrication is the same on 2 stroke and 4 stroke engines. Royal Purple is pretty expensive stuff. You can get something cheaper at any auto parts store. All name brand gear oil is about the same.

The same goes for DOT4 brake fluid. I like Castrol brake fluid but any DOT4 will work. You should probably replace all the brake fluid but that may be a bigger job than you're up for right now. Take a look at the color of the brake fluid in your master cylinder reservoir. If it's a pale yellow, it's okay. If it's a dark yellow or brown, the whole brake system needs to be flushed. The dark color means that there's water and crap in the brake fluid. That can cause corrosion and it can eventually cause the the brakes to not work properly (or maybe at all).

Dale B

The first thing to check is the light on the tender when everything is hooked up and plugged in. It should be steady red or green (steady or flashing). If it is flashing red the battery leads are connected backwards or the battery voltage is less than 3V. If the battery leads are connected backwards the tender will not charge the battery.\

If you have a meter, measure the battery voltage. It should be somewhere above 14V with the tender connected and turned on although if the battery is really discharged the charging voltage could be quite low, perhaps as low as 13V. If that's the case, if the battery is not shot, the charging voltage will slowly rise (hours, not minutes) and eventually reach something around 14.5.

A fully charged battery will be around 12.6V with the tender disconnected.

Dale B

I've been riding motorcycles for about 40 years, and I still have two motorcycles, but I wanted a cheap reliable scooter for running errands around town. I bought my new Agility 125 six months ago. I picked the 125 because it was the cheapest conventionally styled 125 (not a big wheel scooter) I could find new that seemed to have decent build quality. I did not want a 50 because they barely have enough power to get out of their own way. In dense urban traffic, a bit of extra power is a safety feature. I've put about 1.3k km on it and it has turned out to be even better than I expected.

I put a milk crate on the rear rack and that lets me haul just about anything that I can reasonably haul on a scooter. The under seat storage is pretty decent but not big enough to hold a full face helmet. It may hold a 3/4 or half helmet. You'd have to check and see.

The good.

• small
• light
• Reasonably quick as long as you don't want to go over about 50 mph. For me that's just fine. In the city you rarely can go over 45 mph.
• Reliable so far (nothing has failed yet)
• Good gas mileage (80-85 mpg depending on how badly I misbehave with the throttle)
• More stable than I expected it to be with only 12 inch tires.
• Cheap to  buy and insure
• Front disk brake is great. You can even do a stoppie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoppie) without too much effort.

The bad.

• small (I'm 6'3" tall and my legs are too long to completely fit behind the body work. I knew this when I bought it and I'm okay with it. Other tall people may not be happy.
• Crappy suspension. Does not handle rough roads and pot holes well. Next year I may try to see if the after-market has any solutions for this.
• The seat is not real comfortable but that may be because my long legs cause me to sit in the wrong place on the seat.
• The drum rear brake is pretty bad. Since I don't use the rear brake all that much this is not a big deal but it still would be nice to have a decent rear brake.
• Gas gauge is not all that useful. This is not all that important or unusual. I've never seen any motorcycle gas gauge that was useful. Still, some people, especially newbies, think that a gas gauge should actually tell you how much gas you have in your tank.
• No trip odometer. This is sort of annoying as a trip odometer can be a reasonable substitute for the crappy gas gauge. I just write the odometer reading on the speedometer face with a grease pencil when I fill up. This is a low tech trip odometer

Dale B
Minneapolis MN USA

I guess that in my mind, on the center stand is upright.

I get 80 -85 mpg on my new (only 500 miles) Agility 125. This is all city, stop and go, driving where I seldom go over 40 mph. I don't do full throttle acceleration very often but I don't baby it either. I also use ethanol free gas.

Dale B