2008 People 150 - 10K miles - Very Loud

[griffin]

I just picked up a 2008 People 150 on Craigslist for $600 yesterday, it has a little over 10K miles on it. It starts up and runs, and I've driven it around a little, but this small thing is damn loud. I haven't done any work on it yet, so I was hoping to get some advice on what might be contributing to this screaming.

I plan on changing the oil and replace the air filter.. beyond that what should I be looking for?

If it's the stock exhaust, any recommendations on something more efficient and quiet?

[h2ou8n4]

A stock People 150 is a very quiet bike...something is amiss. First, while the motor is cold, start at the tip of tailpipe, move on to the muffler and then to the headpipe and just wiggle things around, touch all the fastener hardware, to see if you can find anything loose. While you're at it, look around the tailpipe to see if any power mad previous owner has drilled a few extra holes in the muffler back there. Next get a skinny screwdriver and tape a little flag of toilet paper to the the tip. Start up the bike and let it idle and then start probing for leaks. Try to check the entire length of the exhaust system...the tp flag will flutter if it detects escaping exhaust. Hope you find the leak and get things to quiet down.

[Mr. Paul]

As stated above, the People 150 should be quiet. Likely culprit is at the exhaust manifold where the muffler pipe mates to the engine. The nuts are bad about falling off or the studs could be broken. Also check for a crack in the exhaust pipe between the engine and the muffler itself.  My money is on a bad leak where the exhaust connects to the engine underneath.  Let us know what you find.

[griffin]

[Update]

I changed the oil last night (Castrol PR Motorcycle 10W-40) and that seems to have cut the sound down by about 15%, maybe more. I've got the air filter arriving tomorrow and perhaps that makes a difference as well.

I'll run through those suggestions (thanks Mr. Paul & h2ou8n4) and report back.

I should have mentioned that the exhaust was hanging down when I bought it and I needed to replace the bolt that attaches to the chassis. I ran over to Lowes and got a 8(1.25)x60MM to replace the OEM 8X50MM, so I'll see how that does and maybe avoid ordering an OEM bolt.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

[griffin]

[Update]

I didn't find any cracks and it seems like the pipes are seated well at the engine. I wasn't able to check for escaping air as I don't have a garage to use right now and there's a fair amount of wind in my lot so I'll need to check back on that again when I can have a valid baseline. I did swap out the air filter, but the old one wasn't in too bad shape.

I've noticed though that changing the oil reduced a large part of the noise and maybe it's within normal operations, I've never had another scooter and my only other experience is my 900cc motorcycle that purrs like a kitten.

[Mr. Paul]

Thanks for the update Griffin. Is the scooter loud at idle? If so that is not at all normal. Maybe the pitch is different than you are used to, not just the volume??? After all, the People loves to cruise around 7000 to 7500 rpm.