Rear Wheel/Tyre Removal easier?

[vespbretta]

Heard that the removal of the rear Wheel/Tyre of the Like 200i is a bit difficult and time consuming, because the righthand rear damper is in the way. Therefore its necessary to remove or lift the righthand sidecover and remove the upper damper boltscrew and damper.

Is that true, can anyone confirm that, or is there an easier/quicker way to remove the rear wheel of the Like 200i? For example by depressurising the tyre or loosen/remove both lower damper bolts and lower the whole engine/gear assembly a bit more to get the wheel pass the damper.

Any ideas of the Like 200i drivers? How do you do it? Has anyone done that yet already?

[Stig / Major Tom]

I will look it up on cyclepedia....but my dealer put my City Grips on for 1.5 hours shop time, so could not be too difficult! :-)
Stig

[BettinANDlosing]

I will look it up on cyclepedia....but my dealer put my City Grips on for 1.5 hours shop time, so could not be too difficult! :-)
Stig

That's steep!!!! 1.5 for front and rear i hope.... What's their shop rate? The like it's actually easier than most Kymcos to do the rear tire, you DON'T have to take off the rear shock completely, just disconnect it from the swingarm and you can pull the shock out of the way to slip the tire off. No need to take the boat panel off. My rate for tires it's 1hr for both, .5 for one unless its a crazy hard bike like MP3, abs still get it done in less than one hour.

[vespbretta]

Thanks Stig. I also have the cyclepedia account. It only says to remove the rear hugger fender....well yes, kind of selfexplaining.
But then still the Damper seems to be in the way to remove the wheel. The pictures only show a Like(?) without dampers, but do not mention to remove them...
Unfortunately Cyclepedia is very very unhelpful and unclear here. 
Of course a solution could be to drill a hole into the sidecover at the upper damper bolts location, so that one can remove the bolt from outside the sidecover without removing it. But who really wants to do that. 
I can´t believe, that it really takes hours to remove the rear wheel on the like.

@BettinandLosing
I heard that there is a difference between the Like 125 and the Like 200i. The Like 125 is easy. No need for a damper removal. But for the Like 200i it is (?)
Have you ever changed wheels on a Like 200i so that you can be really sure what you write?


Edit: Cyclepedia shows a Like 50 .....

[Stig / Major Tom]

Edit: Cyclepedia shows a Like 50 .....

Hey Robo,
Yep, you're right that is a 50cc LIKE rear wheel coming off in the cyclepdia pictures.
Well, here's my thinking :
Taking the rear wheel off our LIKE200i cannot be too difficult -
I think you probably only need to free the bottom of the shock (s) and the other bits there in front of you.
I'd get right down in there with you on this - but I do not plan on keeping this scoot long enough to wear out my current City Grips.

1.5 hours of shop time to remove the wheels, and remove & mount new tires & valve stems, & balance - seems reasonable to me.
Their labor was $90 an hour I think last summer. It is $100 an hour now.

It would be nice if Kymco had a repair book that listed the shop times needed for various procedures, but I doubt if very many scooter companies have such a thing.

Are you replacing your tires?
What will you be putting on?
Stig

[vespbretta]

I´m thinking about replacing the tyres, because I (or the dealer under warranty...) have to take it apart anyway, because of a broken (cracked) Upper Flange Bolt of the Swingarm (8mm Bolt).
(After 2 Month and only 1.200Miles!) Don´t ask me why this happend. All original factory torqued Screws and Bolts so far. So unfortunately my troubles with the Like also seem to begin (pretty early).

Anyhow, so I thought I could change the Kenda tyres, as they are not too good in cold weather and in the rain anyway. Not that I´m a passionate Raindriver, but weather here on the old continent isn´t too good any more, so it might be a reasonable safety decision. And the original Kendas have a pretty noticable radial runout also and are not balanced.

So, if I am going to change the tyres, I thought about the City Grip of course, but also about the Heidenau K61 or K58 modified.
My favourite is probably the K58 mod., because of its open thread pattern and its ratings. It seems to be a pretty good allrounder on all surfaces. I like those open threaded tyres better than those racing style pattern tyres with almost no thread pattern (slicks).
White Walls would also be nice, but there are not enough quality tyres around, so probably not really an option.

[BettinANDlosing]

@BettinandLosing
I heard that there is a difference between the Like 125 and the Like 200i. The Like 125 is easy. No need for a damper removal. But for the Like 200i it is (?)
Have you ever changed wheels on a Like 200i so that you can be really sure what you write?

I've never even seen a Like 125! Didn't think they sold those in the US. every time I've done the 200 I've been able to deflate the tire and hold the shock out of the way (forcing it forward as hard as you can).

[vespbretta]

Every time I've done the 200 I've been able to deflate the tire and hold the shock out of the way (forcing it forward as hard as you can).

Thanks a lot. That´s good news and the exakt Information I needed and wanted to hear. 


Edit: Yesterday I didn´t want to go on with guesses and beliefs on this topic and tried it myself. So I put hands on the scooter.
What I found out was the following:
The Damper can only be rotated backwards to the rear, not to the front. And then only about half of the height of the tyre sidewall, because its limited by the inner upper fender. With pressure maybe a bit more. So with a little bit of tweaking one should get that wheel pass the damper.
But unfortunately  I got stuck in the process, while trying to remove the Y- Rear Fork from the axle. Obviously the is a pulling tool needed which I didn´t have till now.
So my experiences here will continue the next days after having organized a 2 arm or 3 arm pulling tool.

The rear wheel removal of a Like is quite a bit of an adventure. But we still like our Like... Don´t we? 

[Dolemite]

I've removed the rear tire on the Like twice. There's no need to remove any tupperware.
What you need to remove the swing arm is a universal gear puller, places like Autozone or Advance auto rent them out for free.
I think this is the kind I used... http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/OEM-2-Ton-2-or-3-jaw-puller/_/N-264g?itemIdentifier=2044_0_0_
One with adjustable fingers to grab the rear of the swing arm and a pin that screws in centered on the spindle, a few good turns and it pops off.
I had to use a puller to remove the swing arm the fist time, the second time it slid right out, there are lots of washers and stuff that come off on both ends of the swing arm, so keep them in order.

As for removing the shock/damper, release ALL the air from the tire first, then slide the shock to the back and with some elbow grease you should be able to JUST BARELY squeak the tire by it.

Good luck!

[BettinANDlosing]

Even better, for the swing arm. Take everything off, caliper, shock, two 12mm bolts on the engine case etc. Remove the 24mm axle nut. Hand thread the axle nut half way on. Have a friend hold the tire and "pull" the wheel off while you tap on the axle nut with a hard mallet. It works EVERY time except on very crusty bikes. If it still gives you trouble spray a little PB blaster on the swingarm where it meets the axle. No need to go buy a puller, and the pulley itself is VERY hard to get a grip on the swingarm (curves on the back of the cast). Good luck to ya!!!

[zombie]

+ one, you don't need the puller.
The trick to making the job easier for the next go round is to apply some aluminum Anti Seize in the sleeve before assembly.