Who are you? ~ What is your experience?

[Stig / Major Tom]

Hello,
Please tell us about your scooter knowledge and experience in your "signature" box.


Thanks, Stig

[Stig / Major Tom]

Many times I've noticed a member will speak with some authority on scooter (and/or auto) mechanics in a manner which suggests that they have training, and/or much practical experience under their belts.

and often a member will make a rather pointed statement, as though it were fact.
An example would be similar to this,  "90% of the time I use only the front brake to stop - anyone who doesn't... does not know how to ride!"

Hard to know how to take this info, unless I know something about the poster's knowledge.

You may add info in your "signature box" by , clicking on your 'profile', then 'modify profile', then 'forum profile', scroll down to "signature" box and list your experience and or training.

Write it once in the signature box, and you'll never have to repeat it!
We'll see how this goes....
thanks, Stig
PS: keep it brief if you want it read!

[scooterfan]

In short - I am new to scooters and I am not a professional mechanic. Having mentioned that - I've always been interested in mechanical things , I grew up on a farm, and since an early age I already got involved in rebuilding tractor- and other engines on the farm. At age 14 I managed to get an old Vespa scooter going - all by myself. The Vespa was a gift from my late grandfather, but was in poor condition. Nobody,  included my grandfather ever thought I would ever be able to get the Vespa going. To everybody else's surprise I got the scooter going, and the scooter served me very well for at least four years.

I was farming myself for a number of years, and through the years I did all repairs and engine rebuilds on the farm myself. This include rebuilding off-road motorcycles that were used on the farm. Due to some misfortune I ended up working as a workshop manager for 18 years - designing and building industrial High Pressure cleaning equipment. I often got involved in repairing engines as well.

Since I got the Vespa from my grandfather about 48 years ago, I never stopped riding motorcycles, and I serviced and repaired all my vehicles myself.

During my lifetime I always regarded working on motorcycles, engines, vehicles, even scooters etc. as some kind of a "hobby", or "challenge - it gives me some kind of "fulfilment" in life -knowing that I am able to things I'm not suppose to do.

As far as my scooter experience is concerned - I know I'm still new and I only ride a small scooter. Many owners obviously owns bigger scooters, and have covered more miles on scooters than me. Without being arrogant - to my mind that doesn't necessarily mean owners with more "mileage" experience  ,  scooter "engine size" experience,  or number of scooters owned during the years always have the time, "technical 6th sense", or "finer knowledge" to sort out all problems.

In short - all engines work on the same principle. Anyone with technical "feel", or technical knowledge should be able to give advice on any given scooter. As easy as that. Electrical problems might be more complicated, but most owners should be able to give advice.

Personally, it never bothers me how other forum members express themselves. After all - my first language is not English, and I'm not even sure whether I always express myself "correctly".  I've never been involved in "Forum Politics", and I will never be interested in forum politics.

My 2cents.

[randyo]

I know how to turn a wrench, I know how to read a service manual, however, I prefer to pay someone else, it is not my profession, and I prefer to bond with the right handlebar grip and not a wrench

I don't have a scooter, I ride an adventure bike, 2007 Suzuki V-Strom 1000. My Kymco, is a UXV450i   utv.

[Stig / Major Tom]

At one time we had a member who was an experienced mechanic and owner of a Kymco shop in the northwest.
Perhaps we have something similar in a current member. If so, this would be beneficial information to all, & especially to novice owners.
Stig

[klaviator]

I'm not making my signature line...er paragraph into a novel.  I have owned too many bikes to list, ridden a few hundred different bikes and around 500,000 miles in 39 years of riding.  Most of my experience is with motorcycles but have accumulated nearly 80,000 miles on the five scooters I have owned in the last 8 1/2 years.  I have owned standard street bikes, sport bikes,  a cruiser, a full dress touring bike, adventure bikes, dual sport bikes, dirt bikes and scooters.  I have ridden in all but 7 states.  I'm not an expert mechanic but do most of my own maintenance.


I currently own a Versys 650, KLR650, Majesty, Super 8 150 and Like 150i.  I'll be selling the Super 8 and KLR and getting a smaller dual sport bike. 

I normally ride between 10,000 and 20,000 miles a year but expect to ride a lot more now that I am retired (as of a few days ago!)

[Stig / Major Tom]

I'm not making my signature line...er paragraph into a novel.  I have owned too many bikes to list, ridden a few hundred different bikes and around 500,000 miles in 39 years of riding.  Most of my experience is with motorcycles but have accumulated nearly 80,000 miles on the five scooters I have owned in the last 8 1/2 years.  I have owned standard street bikes, sport bikes,  a cruiser, a full dress touring bike, adventure bikes, dual sport bikes, dirt bikes and scooters.  I have ridden in all but 7 states.  I'm not an expert mechanic but do most of my own maintenance.


I currently own a Versys 650, KLR650, Majesty, Super 8 150 and Like 150i.  I'll be selling the Super 8 and KLR and getting a smaller dual sport bike. 

I normally ride between 10,000 and 20,000 miles a year but expect to ride a lot more now that I am retired (as of a few days ago!)

If you could sum up and post your riding/mechanical profile in your signature line -  it would be there to help novice owners evaluate your comments and recommendations. (The rest of us - too bull-headed to give very much credence to opinions which don't jive with ours, won't listen anyway - so no worries )

It's a win win.

Stig

[scooterfan]

I'm not making my signature line...er paragraph into a novel.  I have owned too many bikes to list, ridden a few hundred different bikes and around 500,000 miles in 39 years of riding.  Most of my experience is with motorcycles but have accumulated nearly 80,000 miles on the five scooters I have owned in the last 8 1/2 years.  I have owned standard street bikes, sport bikes,  a cruiser, a full dress touring bike, adventure bikes, dual sport bikes, dirt bikes and scooters.  I have ridden in all but 7 states.  I'm not an expert mechanic but do most of my own maintenance.

Please accept my apology for my "novel" under this thread a bit earlier.

Without being negative - as mentioned at my original post, to my mind the number of bikes or scooters owned previously by members, miles covered during the years, "engine size" of scooters and bikes owned by owners, and number of ordinary services carried out by owners can be very misleading about a member's technical knowledge - specially when the owner wants to get involved in more complicated repairs.
The reason being - I find it difficult to believe that owners who buy and sell bikes or scooters left, right and center during their lifetime, would ever have a chance or time to get involved in more complicated repairs on all models they owned during their lifetime. (Please don't get me wrong - I'm not pointing fingers to anyone).

In short -  Ordinary maintenance on any given scooter, motorcycle, car, etc. is completely different from tracing the source of a problem, knowing  how to eliminate possible causes of a problem, and putting one's hands on the actual component which caused a problem.

Again- I am sorry about my novel - I shouldn't have done that.

[Viper254]

Please accept my apology for my "novel" under this thread a bit earlier.

Without being negative - as mentioned at my original post, to my mind the number of bikes or scooters owned previously by members, miles covered during the years, "engine size" of scooters and bikes owned by owners, and number of ordinary services carried out by owners can be very misleading about a member's technical knowledge - specially when the owner wants to get involved in more complicated repairs. The reason being - I find it difficult to believe that owners who buy and sell bikes or scooters left, right and center during their lifetime, would ever have a chance or time to get involved in more complicated repairs on all models they owned during their lifetime.

In short numbers or models owned by any given owner never tells me much about an owner's real technical knowledge.

Again- I am sorry about my "novel" - I shouldn't have done that.

My experience is that giving too much information can sometimes breed elitism - probably not a problem on this forum but I've been on a couple where people get really... weird.

That said, you'd always hope that the genuinely knowledgeable would make themselves known through answering questions, helping out with members and generally making a bit of an impact, if they so wish.

My bikes are in my signature, but, to summarise really quickly - started riding at 20 out of necessity rather than any desire. Rode learner bikes, passed my test, had a handful of big bikes (up to a CBR1000F) and then got bored of them and was riding small bikes again by my mid twenties, and have done ever since. Did a decade of having a scooter as my only vehicle before beginning to drive a bit last year. I no longer commute so all my riding is for local errands and pleasure now. In reality, I probably enjoy recomissioning scooters as much as I enjoy riding them, and now pass my shed time making Youtube videos of how to do banal maintenance tasks on bikes that very few people care about.

I'm probably about 55% on the bike knowledge spectrum. Worked in a big Chinese bike importers from 2012-2015 so I am better on the Chinese bikes than I am the Japanese stuff, perversely.

Might add a couple lines to my signature... I'll see if I can condense anything useful!

PS: I really wouldn't apologise for the novel - it was quite interesting!

[Forbes1964]

I’m an auto mechanic by profession. A pastor by calling. Owned 2 scooters in my six months of scooter riding which was ABRUPTLY cut short by an accident. So most of my “advice” comes from the short experience with the 2009 xciting and my general knowledge of things mechanical along with a general knowledge of HUMAN NATURE.


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