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Someone ran into my parked 2008 Grand Vista in a parking lot. I had my handlebar locked. When I arrived on the scene my handlebar was no longer locked, and if I lock it now, there are a couple of inches of play in them that wasn't there before. When I drive the GV I noticed that to steer the scooter straight, the handlebar has to be pointed slightly to the left.

Basically, I am looking for any insight/experience this forum might have with this kind of damage. How are the handlebars connected to the front wheel? Thanks in advance.

The KYMCO Grand Dink/Vista Owner's Manual says the spark plug gap should be between 0.6 and 0.7mm. The Service manual for the KYMCO Grand Vista says the spark plug gap should be between 0.9 and 1.0mm. That is a big difference between what should be authoritative manuals from the manufacturer.

I set my new spark plug gap according to the Owner's Manual between 0.6 and 0.7mm and drove the scooter for a day. I found that the idle was a bit rough, and when I took the plug back out a little white deposit was starting to form on back of the spark plug "arm" (I don't know the technical term). I cleaned the deposit off, changed the gap to the service manual recommended specs between 0.9 and 1.0mm and put it back in. Today the idle has been much smoother, so I do believe the service manual was correct and the owner's manual incorrect in this case.

Oh, the old spark plug I was switching out had a gap just slightly smaller than the 0.9mm. It had what seemed to be a lot of black carbon deposit.

Great! I love riding mine as well.

I solved my own problem. The answer is on the transmission side of the scooter. When I take off the cover for the transmission there is a crank shaft that one can turn (19mm socket) that turns the flywheel by means of a chain.

Thank you, mrbios. I had my GV in the shop replacing the tires when I wrote that post. The reason I was asking whether the gear oil or brake fluid had to be changed when one changed the rear tire was because I am planning on changing out the gear oil, but if the shop already had to do it as part of the tire change, then I wouldn't do it now and I'd just make a note of it.

Thank you again for typing in your experience with changing the rear tire as I am sure that it will come in handy down the road.

When I got my 2005 GV in 2011 my tires had the same cracks in the same place, and same age.  I road it like that and put the avon Viper Strikes on at 8K miles.  Ideally they should be changed but because tires are constructed with plies it is not likely that they will suddenly fail.  I like to make sure everything else is good and put off what I can before changing the tires.  In my case the scoot only had 2,600 miles on it.

I decided to not ride it like that, so it is at the shop getting new tires. I am willing to do a lot of repairs and maintenance myself, but I am not daring enough to replace the tires myself.

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