KymcoForum.com

Almost time to go to work but want to ask if the scooter should at least crank over with killswitch engaged. I thought it did when I first got the scooter. Now when the killswitch is engaged I get nothing at all. Obviously I have the brakes engaged too and still no crank and key in on position.

Also, is there any safety switches built with the kickstand in mind ?

The purpose of the kill switch is to kill the engine. While the kill switch is on the engine will not work. The engine should not turn over while the kill switch is engaged. If your engine does there is a problem with the kill switch.

As for a side stand kill switch, it depends on what scooter you have. Some do and some don't.

When I was looking around for my first bike a few months ago I had it narrowed down to with the Honda Forza or the Downtown. The Downtown won on many fronts:
- The Downtown was a fair amount lighter. With my fat butt in the seat the less the scooter weighed the better
- The Downtown has noticeably more power. My area is hilly with 80+km/h roads to get anywhere, so I need the power.
- I fit on the Downtown. Have enough room to move around and get comfortable. On the Forza my knees hit the dash and was very uncomfortable.
- The Downtown has the looks, IMHO. Looking at the Forza and the Downtown next to each other I thought the Downtown looked the business and the Forza looked plain.
- The downtown is reliable. Kymco is known to be a good reliable brand, which started out as a part of Honda and has grown. They are now making engines for BMW bikes. Hell Kawasaki are even buying the whole damn Downtown from them to sell under Kawasaki name (so in this case the good old Japan quality is really ROC quality).

In the end I got the Downtown for slightly less than the Forza but got a bigger, lighter, more powerful, better looking bike. For me the Downtown was the obvious choice.

Nothing has been fixed, per-say. The bike has yet to go back to the service centre.

The problem is it hasn't been getting cold enough to really test how well the bike runs in the cold. It was colder when I was having the stalling issues than it is now (which is strange as we have now hit winter), so it's hard to really gauge if the issues are resolved or if it's just not cold enough to be happening.
Since getting my bike back it has only stalled once, and that was about 10-15 seconds after it was turned on and it was sitting on it's centre stand (it also wouldn't turn on over for a few minutes afterwards).

I am fairly happy with how it is running at the moment though. I think the engine is settling in fairly well and is getting smoother and more responsive. It will be going in for it's first service in a week or so, so hopefully they will fix the light relay then and take a further look and make sure it is running well.

So my bike was due at the workshop yesterday for them to take a look at the issues. So I jumped on the bike ready to take it down, switched on the headlights and they didn't turn on. After around 5 seconds they came on full strength. Thinking that was weird I switched them off and back on, and they took a bit longer to switch back on. First time that had happened.

But with the headlight on I was ready to go. Had given the bike a few minutes to warm up (as I always do) and I was away. As usual for the first 10-15 minutes the bike was running fairly rough but after this seemed to become much smoother and more responsive. The ride to the service center was, thankfully, uneventful other than the roughness at the start.

Got it to the service centre and continued on to work. By 3:45 in the afternoon I had not heard anything from them so gave them a call. The response were:

1) They took the bike on 13kms of a ride (a 3km ride then a longer 10km ride) and didn't think it was particularly rough and it didn't stall. They took a quick look at the injectors and they were clean. Don't know where else to look and nothing else done.
2) Didn't think the rattling from the front end was out of the ordinary so didn't investigate.
3) They switched the headlight and it came straight on. Didn't investigate further.

Their suggestion was that I could leave the bike with them for a further few days and they would take another look. Kymco had asked them to replace the injectors in the bike in an email over a week ago but they didn't have any and had to order them in. So there was going to be a wait for them.

Needless to say I was fairly annoyed at the lack or progress so I called the dealer to tell them so and tell them I was after a refund. After numerous calls (they had to keep calling the service center) the response from them was:

1) They were annoyed that they were stuck 'in the middle' of me and the service center. They didn't like that I pointed out my contract of sale was with them and it was there legal responsibility.
2) Thought I was out of line at getting annoyed at having to leave my bike with them multiple times to get issues present from delivery fixed
3) Decided it was my fault these issues were occurring as I filled up with Premium 98RON petrol and they told me not to. Told me Kymco didn't know anything about this and it didn't matter what they said. They got very annoyed when I told them Kymco's stance is what is important here and that their opinion, as a dealer, was unimportant.

The end of my conversation with the dealer occurred when the manager of the store was screaming down the phone at me saying that they didn't care and to 'take them to court because I would lose and then they were going to come and get me'. He then hung up on me.

More than a little amused at the dealers lack of basic customer service and complete lack of understanding the damage the internet would do to his reputation, I proceeded to the Service Centre. The guys there were fairly nice and explained what they had done. I simply agreed to get them the bike for a few more days in the future (even though they don't provide loaner bikes and I live 35km away) but asked if we can check the headlights before I go as I know something is wrong.
We get out to the bike and test the headlight. They don't turn on. The service guys very quickly proclaimed it hadn't happened at all during any of their testing during the day. Looks like a faulty contact in the switch. So they have done a quick fix to the switch so the headlights turn on but have to order in replacement parts for an actual fix.

Haven't had a chance to ride the bike since letting it sit overnight to know how it goes now. Them reseating the injectors might have helped. But I still have to wait for them to get replacement injectors and headlight switch and then leave the bike with them for a few days.

As for the dealer, needless to say I will be suggesting to everyone I meet not to use them. They are pathetic.

I'm sure it's a surprise to on one here the response I got from Kymco today. They confirmed that there are no issues at all using a Premium 98ron petrol in my bike.
What was a surprise was that Kymcoknew the bike I bought, from who and when with me only supplying my name. Very impressive that they go to the effort of looking up my details after a simple email to them.

wakeupmaggie: Thanks for the advice. I had received the same advice when doing my Learner Course. Their reasoning is that not only is there a chance you forget to turn the bike off with the key (those lights and electronics are on and you will end up with a drained battery) but also that some bikes can have issues with constantly turning off via the Kill switch, and premature wear of the switch.
While I have no way of knowing if they are just talking rubbish or if there is truth in it, but I follow the advice anyway. Saves me forgetting (as I keep doing) to turn off my lgihts and having a dead battery. It's always off via the key, not the kill switch.

zombie: Thanks for all the advice. Never worked on a bike before, so I am a little reluctant to do things like this. I might have to get myself a Service manual and start looking around the bike. However I am reluctant to do anything major with the bike as it is only 2 weeks old, so still has it's full 2 year warranty. Doing too much with the bike the dealer/Kymco may turn around and say I caused the issue (a common excuse for many Car dealers/mechanics here in Aus).
As for the Seafoam, unfortunately it is not available to us here in Australia. I have to make do with what we can get.

Spoke to the dealer again today and they have said the issue may be that I filled up with Premium fuel. They seem to think that I should only be using regular fuel and anything else could be causing issues. They have offered for me to bring the bike in and they will take a look and fix it up for no charge (which they really have to do with the Australian Consumer Laws anyway), but they still think one cause is the fuel I am using.

So what do you guys think. Could the Premium petrol be the cause of the issue. I filled with 98RON petrol, as the manual stated to use 92ron or higher.
I did point out the bike had been having issues before I filled up, but they just said it sounds like the petrol. So I guess I will be taking it in to them for them to deal with.

Thanks guys. At this stage I haven't had much of a chance to play on the bike more, due to the constant rain. I am hoping to give it a really good run in the next few days and see how it is after that.
After speaking to the dealer he seemed to think it might have been an issue with stale fuel. He suggested I see how it runs over the next few tanks and then get the workshop to take a good look at it.

Hey guys. Got another update on my bike. Like I said earlier, after I did the throttle reset yesterday the bike seemed a bit smoother, but it was still noticeably rough when idle. Things where still pretty shaky when I turned it on or was sitting at lights. But being new to riding and the Downtown being my first bike I was a bit unsure as to what is normal or acceptable. All I could really compared it to was the Honda CB125 that I did my training on, and it was noticeably smoother at idle.

So anyway, I have been riding it around and getting used to it. Today the fuel gauge starts flashing at me to say the tank is low. I wanted to use up as much of the suspect petrol as I could before refilling to make sure all the containments had been cleaned out, but I had no idea how much petrol was actually left. So I did a bit more riding and then filled up. Using the Premium fuel that they had (98ron, no ethanol) it took just over 10.5L. Jumping back on it I notice a just about instant improvement. Idle just after switching on was still rough but by the time I had driven 1 hundred meters out of the petrol station and to the lights it was idling very smooth. It was a huge difference.

Clearly something was up with the petrol the dealer had filled it with. Thankfully they seemed to put less than half a tank in, so hoping nothing has damaged the engine. Going to be speaking to them tomorrow about it!

Thanks again all for the advice!