What did you do with your Kymco scooter today?

[rjs987]

I've seen threads like this on other forums and figured "why not?"
Just the simple stuff and not the place for extended discussion about scooter things.

So to start. Today was very windy. Temps are around 74F which is really warm for March in central Iowa. And sunny too. But the clouds are moving in and getting ready to rain about 2 inches in the next 2 days starting tonight.
So my wife and I pulled the Rav4 out of the garage and washed it. It is white, but was starting to look a really darker shade of gray.

While that was being done I decided to also pull out the AK 550 and wash that as well. It was overdue from winter/cold riding. Before I bought my AK I was unfamiliar with how to care for a bike with a Matte finish. I noticed that some people have equated that to a satin finish but those are 2 different finishes... not the same thing. Even the cleaners that are specialized for those finished state they are for Matte AND Satin finishes.

Anyway, before I bought mine I had posted the question about how to properly take care of a Matte finish and the most common reply on a few different forums was to simply wash with clear water and wipe down with a microfiber cloth. NO cleaners (at least never use cleaners made for most car bodies or motorcycle panels) or that will cause the Matte finish to become blotchy and look really bad. And definitely NO WAX. That would be even worse on the Matte finish. As I said above there are special cleaners made for a Matte finish but I figured the most economical method was the most commonly suggested one... rinse well with just water and wipe with a microfiber cloth. So that's what I did. The bike looks new now!

In a few days after the rain is done I'll be going out for a ride.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Thanks for the photo - "clean scoots are happy scooters!" - I think Abe Lincoln said that....

Do these come in other colors? Kymco doesn't seem to have a corporate color, (see "Honda RED", Kawasaki bright green)
Seems most maxi scoots come in only one or two colors in each continent.....and some colors only come in a particular country!
And most maxis seemed to change color each year.
We got the red Forzas in the USA, I think Cananda got grey ones - some countries got white - while Asia had several pretty wild colors. (lime, orange, yellow, etc.)
The French and Italians bring some pretty classy "expensive looking" colors and details to their maxis, while Asia seems to stay with a basic color palette, or grey and black. (the 1st generation Kymco LIKE was drawn for Kymco by an Italian design house, for example ....see the many small details; VW asked an Italian house to shape their cars in the 60's & 70's)

I'd love to see Kymco ask the French and Italians to draw a series of scooters for them to consider.
I'm not a fan of the "re-assembled broken dinner plates" look of the panels fitted to modern Asian bikes or scooters.

Again, thanks for the pic!
Stig

[Iahawk]

interesting suggestions you received on caring for your matte finish...lots of matte cars out there and I can't imagine people just using water on a dirty car? That is a recipe for scratches. Surely a gentle, neutral pH car soap wouldn't harm a matte finish? As someone with a healthcare and chemical company background we would never suggest cleaning with water only as water doesn't encapsulate, trap and suspend soils, like a detergent does. Think of a dirty bathtub...use soap/bubble bath and the dirty water all drains out. Use only water and the soil leaves a dirty ring in the tub as the dirt is redeposited on the walls of the tub. Same thing happens in a car wash bucket with soap vs one without.

But hey, I've never even washed my scooters! They only get a wipe down with detail spray after riding. I don't think they've ever really been dirty...

I will add that I like the matte blue on your scoot. It would be strange to have a bike that couldn't be polished..but I bet you could clean it up well and use one of the new hybrid spray ceramic coatings. I use them on everything nowadays..killer protection, shine and water beading.

[CROSSBOLT]

Had a nice 20 mile ride first time in months and gave her a bath with Gunk and Murphy's. Smells so good and shines!

Might add that you guys convinced me to add pull wires to seat latches. I had her started before my ride mentioned and the gloves were under the seat! Pull wires allowed access so restart was avoided.

[wymple]

I got my 500 out with it's new battery and put about 25 miles on it. Haven't yet gotten into the mood to give it a much needed bath. Since it's white, it looks pretty good anyway. No wonder us old people like white

[rjs987]

Not really WITH my scooter but FOR my scooter.
Went to Walmart to get some Shell Rotella T6 5W-40 oil for my AK. Gathering what I'll need to do the oil change coming up in early May, or sooner if I end up riding enough. Their web site said they had it in stock for pickup today so I went in. Half the oil stock on the shelves was missing entirely. And no full Synthetic Rotella T6 anywhere. Lot's of empty space on that wall. I did see they had SuperTech 4 cycle full Synthetic motorcycle oil in 10W-40 in the 1 qt sized, and seemed to have plenty of that. Based on the cost for the Rotella online the SuperTech oil was about $8 more per gallon. I decided to shop around to see if another Walmart or other store in the area had the Rotella since that's what I've always used in all my bikes since 2004. When I came home and looked again the Walmart web site showed out of stock on the T6 5W-40 this time. But they did show a 2.5 gallon jug that could be ordered... for a higher price than the SuperTech qt bottles would be. I am thinking they just didn't update the web site with what they will be able to get now since the price on the one gallon T6 that was out of stock is the same as it was last year. I guess I'll have to go back and get the SuperTech stuff. Same specs. Produced by Warren Oil. JASO MA2 spec. $7.86/qt. Must have oil that is JASO MA or MA2 spec'd, which means nothing that is Resource Conserving, since the AK does have a wet clutch like all my previous bikes. Don't want slipping clutch plates.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Te...-40-4-Stroke-Motorcycle-Oil-1-Quart/556497072


BTW- slipping clutch plates due to using oil that is resource conserving, or has extra friction modifiers, is not an issue with scooters that have the clutch located on the swing arm since the engine oil is not shared with the clutch and usually the clutch is dry, not wet like on many motorcycles and the AK 550 (and the Burgman 650 and others like this).

[rjs987]

Did go back to Walmart and bought 7 qts of the Super Tech 4-stroke full Synthetic 10W-40 motorcycle oil. It's the blue bottle with the silhouette picture of a sport bike on the front.
Took the long way around on my bike just to burn off a little more gas from the tank, but not real far. The last red bar was already flashing so only rode about 8 miles, so double the distance than if I just went straight there and back. I put 3.06 gallons in the tank after 160.5 miles. Calculates out to just over 52 mpg. A while back I siphoned out the tank and measured how much I refilled to a full tank. I wasn't able to get all the gas out of the tank that time (didn't have a siphon bulb... yet, but I do now) but still put back in 3.4 gal and estimate possibly another half gallon was still in the bottom of the tank. So I figure I had enough for another 25 miles. The official spec for my AK 550 is a 3.9 gallon tank. When the last red bar flashes it is a strong suggestion to start looking for gas, about 55 miles left in the tank. Then when that drops off the red "E" starts flashing and that means I only have about 15 miles to go before the tank is dry.

The next oil change interval (3000 miles) on my AK does not require a filter change. It is the only oil change on the schedule that doesn't. Every oil change, at 6000 miles and every 6000 miles after that, does also show to change the filter. The AK only needs 2.6 L of oil without the filter change and 2.7 L of oil with a filter change. So 2.8 qts with a filter change. The total capacity if I should totally drain the system, such as in an engine rebuild (that I really don't every expect to need), is 3 L or just over 3.1 qts.

[rjs987]

Well, did it again. My wife received an email from the local grocery store with a one day sale on Lays chips. As you all know the price of groceries, including chips, is way higher than it used to be just recently. So off I go to get 2 bags of the coveted chips. A 2.6 mile round trip that I turned into a 20 mile ride. My wife was wondering how far that store was that I decided to go to. I told her it was the local store but it was a long way to get back home! A total of 28 miles just today doing errands and shopping to stores that are only 1.3 or 2.5 miles away.

[rjs987]

Cut down the over grown yews across the front of the house yesterday morning and spent the rest of the day cutting up the branches into smaller bits to put in the recycle bags. We can pack a lot in those bags when it's cut up. Did more cutting this morning. My wife with the loppers for the skinny branches and me with the electric chain saw for the thick branches. When I say over grown I mean 3 yews spanning 15 ft like a continuous hedge that is almost 6 ft tall and very dense. Some of the branches at the base were 5 inches diameter and one or two up to 8 inches diameter. So the chain saw was needed for those. It was getting warm, finally. Today was supposed to get up to just over 70F but actually got up to 80F. So this afternoon I put down the garden tools and went out for a ride.

Rode 104 miles today on a figure 8 loop route on several county roads I had not been on for a little while and a few that were entirely new to me. Mostly all alone on these roads. I did see several groups of motorcycles out today. A few of them of at least a dozen of what looked like Harleys but definitely all V-Twin cruisers. Lots of leather vests and a few leather chaps, all with patches everywhere. But they gave me the biker wave anyway. I didn't look to see if any rider jerked their hand back when they realized I was riding a scooter. I'm sure a few did. No pics of the groups since they were all going the other way as I was riding.

[rjs987]

In preparing for my first long-ish trip on the AK I've been gathering and checking a few things. Since I don't have a top case on this bike I am returning to how I packed with CTX1300, which also did not have the top case. I have a large dry bag that I first bought and used with my first 2005 Burgman 650. It sat in storage for several years but I checked and it is still good to use now. That bag is 55 L I think, so it will fit everything I usually would put in a top case (the last one I had on my 2013 Burgman 650 was a 46 L case) plus the few items that will not fit into the smaller under seat storage box... about a half helmet worth of stuff.

While I was out filling the tank today I also stopped by Lowe's and bought a Battery Tender Jr. They had them for $5 less than Amazon and most other places and as a bonus I get a 10% military discount off of that. I normally carry a set of motorcycle specific jumper cables when I ride on longer trips just in case. Same as taking along the tire plug kit and other tools. I already have the Battery Tender Plus for when I park in the garage but that might find its way to being used for the JD tractor so I now have 3 maintainers, one for my wife's Metropolitan, one for the JD tractor and now the BT Jr for the AK. The BT Jr takes up a little less space than the jumper cable set so that will save me a little there, even with the alligator clip cord that come with it. Testing the BT Jr now on the AK and it seems to be working just fine. I really don't expect to HAVE to use it while on the trip but it will be along just in case. I will bring the alligator clip cord just in case someone else at the campground needs a little battery boost. Won't be the first time I've assisted someone with a 1100 or 1300 sport touring bike get running again.

[Ex-KLR]

Moved from one shed to another.  I organized the "another" shed so I can back in and ride out.

[rjs987]

Finally got around to adding the storage box divider I bought a several months ago. It uses double stick tape on the side channels that hold it so didn't want to even try until temps were above 60F. They were today and will likely stay there overnight and tomorrow in the garage at least. I have a lot of stuff in the storage as always (as you can see) and until the double stick tape sets up on the box sides I won't move anything to behind the divider. The storage box in the AK 550 is sloped from shallow in the rear to deep in front so this will help to organize things. If I need to I can slide the divider out to have the full length of the storage box. I ordered this from AliExpress.

[Iahawk]

not a damn thing for 3 months, now!!

[Stig / Major Tom]

not a damn thing for 3 months, now!!

ouch......

Stig

[rjs987]

Since there have been reports of the double stick tape coming loose that holds the aluminum side channels I added a bead of JB Weld Plastic Bonder to them to reinforce that connection. I don't need these to ever come off and I can still slide out the divider if I need a longer storage space. So this is how that looks now. I really don't care if it doesn't look aesthetically perfect since it is hidden under the seat.