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LIKE 200i / New Member, New Like, Break Me In Gently!
« on: August 07, 2015, 04:06:29 PM »
Apologies in advance for this long message, but I'm a writer by trade, so I tend to babble on.... I recently put my Yamaha Vino down on asphalt (first tangent: is there an accident thread on this site? Genuine Buddy's forum has a fascinating accident thread that runs for 30+ pages).
I'm an old fart (mid 50s) and only got into riding scoots two years ago with the Vino and loved it. I fell once before (my fault, in the rain on a turn) but it was at slow speed. This recent accident was at 30 mph and due to a cager accelerating-braking-accelerating-braking into an intersection where I had no stop sign and he had one. I thought I was about to crash into his truck and braked too hard and down I went. Lots of road rash (but no broken bones) and a $900 repair bill on the Vino.
So I'm fixing and keeping the Vino, which only has 5k miles, and maybe I'll sell it down the line, but I realized I needed a safer scooter than my 2009 Vino with 10-inch wheels and rear drum brake. Enter the Like 200i with its dual disc brakes on 12-inch wheels. Bought a red one on sale ($2,489 OTD) primarily for those brakes! I pick it up tomorrow and I'm just about all healed up from the road rash.
My main question is how to break in the Like? As a voracious reader, I've already read hundreds of threads here, going back almost a year, and have seen a few posts about breaking in. I read that Yager200i recommends a hard break in: "Do a hard break-in. Don't baby the engine. You've got to get those rings to seal extremely well to get good compression." Stig stands by his by-the-book break in, following the manual precisely, which has given him 8,000+ miles of fairly carefree riding. (Second tangent: except for that maddening episode last year with his crappy dealer who didn't have the right diagnostic tool. First thing I asked my dealer; "Do you have the Kymco diagnostic tool?" They said they did and acted as if it was strange that I even had to ask, because of course what reputable Kymco dealer wouldn't?)
Like Stig, I've never been particularly mechanical in my past, but I'm very adept with tools and construction and so forth, so I think I'm going to attempt to do light maintenance work on the Like. So I can probably do those early oil changes that are so critical to break in. But do I really need to do a gear oil change at 50 miles, like Yager did? I figure I'll leave that up to the dealer, who has a very friendly mechanic that I got to know during two scooter rallys here in Memphis the past couple years.
Well I warned you I'd babble. Any assistance is greatly appreciated!
I'm an old fart (mid 50s) and only got into riding scoots two years ago with the Vino and loved it. I fell once before (my fault, in the rain on a turn) but it was at slow speed. This recent accident was at 30 mph and due to a cager accelerating-braking-accelerating-braking into an intersection where I had no stop sign and he had one. I thought I was about to crash into his truck and braked too hard and down I went. Lots of road rash (but no broken bones) and a $900 repair bill on the Vino.
So I'm fixing and keeping the Vino, which only has 5k miles, and maybe I'll sell it down the line, but I realized I needed a safer scooter than my 2009 Vino with 10-inch wheels and rear drum brake. Enter the Like 200i with its dual disc brakes on 12-inch wheels. Bought a red one on sale ($2,489 OTD) primarily for those brakes! I pick it up tomorrow and I'm just about all healed up from the road rash.
My main question is how to break in the Like? As a voracious reader, I've already read hundreds of threads here, going back almost a year, and have seen a few posts about breaking in. I read that Yager200i recommends a hard break in: "Do a hard break-in. Don't baby the engine. You've got to get those rings to seal extremely well to get good compression." Stig stands by his by-the-book break in, following the manual precisely, which has given him 8,000+ miles of fairly carefree riding. (Second tangent: except for that maddening episode last year with his crappy dealer who didn't have the right diagnostic tool. First thing I asked my dealer; "Do you have the Kymco diagnostic tool?" They said they did and acted as if it was strange that I even had to ask, because of course what reputable Kymco dealer wouldn't?)
Like Stig, I've never been particularly mechanical in my past, but I'm very adept with tools and construction and so forth, so I think I'm going to attempt to do light maintenance work on the Like. So I can probably do those early oil changes that are so critical to break in. But do I really need to do a gear oil change at 50 miles, like Yager did? I figure I'll leave that up to the dealer, who has a very friendly mechanic that I got to know during two scooter rallys here in Memphis the past couple years.
Well I warned you I'd babble. Any assistance is greatly appreciated!