New items on the 09 X500Ri

[Mike Green]

A couple of weeks ago I included in my first post that I'm a 64 year old guy who has never been on a motorcycle or scooter. On my bucket list was the desire to learn to ride, and own, a motorcycle. With a history of substantial back injury and two back operations I no longer have the complete use of my left foot. I discovered maxi scooters with automatic transmissions. So I bought a new 09 Xciting 500Ri. What a monster! Here recently I discovered some really wonderful options on my scooter. They are called BRAKES and a THROTTLE! I soon discovered that coordinating and using these two miraculous things together I could actually turn without falling over and hitting the ground when attempting a turn. Needless to say I have accumulated a lot of scrapes and scuffs along the sides of the fairings and floorboards. There is even a gouge in the muffler. Now I'm wondering if I got some really fine emery cloth could I smooth the
damaged areas and repaint? I have the pearl white color and I can't find any touch-up paint of that color in their website. It's a shame that I have scuffed up this beautiful machine and would like to restore it to it's showroom appearance. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Mike

[zombie]

Loving it Mike... I didn't know there was a brake?
Touch ups can be a pain. The paint is easy. Any good auto paint supply can custom mix you a quart (that's right). You MAY be able to get less but usually a quart is the minimum amount given on the "recipe". Preping is key to a good job. Fill the nicks w/ any Bondo type stuff, and feather it out to blend. You really have to spray for an invisible repair.
http://mog.myfreeforum.org/archive/blending-a-paint-repair__o_t__t_60.html
http://www.paintscratch.com/blend.htm
http://www.learnautopainting.com/painting_auto_body_panels.htm
You can use one of these http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=opera&rls=en&q=preval+sprayer&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=579032487037820190&sa=X&ei=A3qPT4SAJYSm9AS7oaiNBA&ved=0CLEBEPMCMAM
Practice first.

[Vivo]

If you have already "mastered" your scoot without making additional scrapes and scuffs, you can have it professionally repainted. I'm sure you'll love your scoot even more after this.  DIYs are not that promising not unless you really know how. However, if the scrapes are small, you can use your imagination and cut some white reflectorized stickers to cover them scratches. I am very lucky my scoot is black. black is black. All I need is a black pen-type touch up paint or any black pen marker.  

[Mike Green]

Thanks ZOMBIE and VIVO for your suggestions on repairing the dings on my X500Ri. The pics of scoots from the Philippines were awesome! It makes me start thinking of adding some pin stripes to accentuate the lines and possibly some decal flames or something like that just to make mine more eye catching and individualized. And then I look at the beautiful design features on my X500Ri and how everything flows with the pure white's simplicity and no clutter and I say leave it the way it is. Someone once said you can't improve on perfection so I think I'll leave it like it is for now. But man those wide fairings and other mods sure looked good. I was hanging out at the dealership where I bought my scoot the other day and was shooting the shinola with some old biker dude and was telling him how much trouble I was having mastering right turns. He mentioned that it took him longer to be able to make right hand turns with confidence. I started reading other blogs and this seemed to be consistent with a lot of other bikers as well. I started thinking why it is that left turns are easy and the only times I've ever fallen in the last three months that I've owned my Xciting were trying to make right turns. The only answer I can come up with is that when I make a left turn I'm using my dominate right hand to control the turn. Does this make sense? Anyone else out there experienced the same thing? Vivo, I was watching the National Geographic channel the other day and they were doing a series called Taboo and this one dealt with different cultures and death. There is this huge grave yard in Manila and you can only use a grave for 5 years! They had this little dude and his job was to clean the corpse out and get the box above ground ready for the next cadaver. He gathered all the bones and rotted flesh and clothes and stuffed them in a garbage bag and returned the remains to the family. WOW! what a job! Excuse me for rambling but when I was watching it I thought about you guys and the post on hot dogs. Any suggestions on how to help me improve my right turns would be welcome. Mike

[Vivo]

Mike, a person living in poverty will take any, I mean, any job to make a buck and feed his family. That's reality man. That person digging graves is making an honest living.

Most right-handed people feel more comfortable extending their right hands. They like to put their right foot forward, because most are right-footed as well. When you lean left to make a turn, the opposing force that keeps you upright pushes to the right. You maintain your balance by pushing down on the bike harder or softer... with your right foot. Since your right foot is more responsive, and more practiced... it "feels" easier to turn that way. WHEN YOU TURN RIGHT, YOUR LEFT SIDE IS CONTROLLING THINGS, and your left side is a little slower, a little stiffer, and it just doesn't "feel" as comfortable. You waste energy fighting the uncertainty in your non-dominant side. That's why it's "easier" to turn one way or the other... because you're more accustomed to using one side, which makes it feel more comfortable. The answer is to practice and learn to trust your left side. And when turning right, don't hesitate, hesitating can be dangerous.

[Hoolander2]

Of course you could always have the dealer order and install all new body parts.  More expensive, yes, but it'll have that perfect factory fresh appearance again.  Then keep the old body parts for spares in case needed you can always have them repaired/painted even some other color if you ever wanted to change the whole bike's color. 

[Vivo]

Nice!   http://dragoncustom.com/gallery/fighter2/gallery.html