New looks

The blog gets new looks! There is also now a functioning mobile phone version, hopefully useful. And I got a better search panel. And even an update subscription service.

Reset forum

The forum got so bogged with spam, I unfortunately had to reset it. The software that I used to run the forum, the bbpost, simply did not allow me to perform any "bulk" actions to remove the spam. So now the forum is still there, but completely clean like brand new. Give it a try if you want, I will for one make sure to try and answer your question. Then again, you can simply leave your comments here.

CAPTCHAS

I am committed to keeping the comments on this blog open without any special registration with Blogger etc. Yet this is getting difficult as I am getting large amounts of spam comments. For this reason I'm adding captchas, the little distorted word images that one needs to recognize before being able to post comments. I am sure you've seen a ton of those. This way comments may still be anonymous, without any ID/password or registration.

New hosting for the manual

I am putting the manual in a new place, on the same site that hosts the forum. This should be faster and without any advertising interruptions. Here's the link: BaronScooterManual.pdf

Where's my rear brakes tank cover?

150cc Barons have both front and rear disk brakes. This is great and gives for a safe and fun riding, but you may have been wondering where the hell is the tank for the brake fluid for that rear. Well it used to be the rear brakes were drums, and Baron haven't yet put an access port for the rear brakes fluid tank. The tank (aka tiny aluminum box) is exactly the same as for the front brakes, and is located symmetrically on the left side of the handlebar. You have to take off the entire front cover to get to it, however.

Check out the forum!

I've put together the forum where it will be easier to exchange information and to preserve it over time - way better than comments. The forum is located here:

http://www.scooterblog.yarkolts.com/forum/

Please visit if you'd like to leave some comments or ask for help for your scoot. I will be checking the forum regularly, too. The place is empty but hey somebody's got to be the first one to post! At this time, you can post or create new topics without any registration mess, if you'd like to do so.

Moving and selling

I moved out of the Twin Cities in the middle of last month and had to sell my scooter. I was in fact still with the broken cable, so I gave it away to a friend for rather cheap. I hope he will fix and make some good use of it - and perhaps even contribute to these pages one day!

In the mean time, I will finish some small posts that I always wanted to do but never really had time for. Perhaps I'll get to it later this winter. I will also be opening a web board. I would like to create a permanent place online where this sort of scooter experience can be shared and stored.

I am now in Barcelona, a city ranked number two in the number of scooters (per head?). The things are literary everywhere, quite a teaser. I will however be a while before I can get one of my own.

Check out Justin's blog

(nevermind he seems to be down)

He writes about all sorts of things but also about scooting.

Throttle

So my throttle cable had in fact broken inside the housing. It is in quite rusty and dead-looking in many places. What this means is there probably never was any oil put on it, even though it should have been lubricated at the factory. Any king of initial lubrication should have lasted to this point. Because the throttle never felt too stiff, I never got to lubricating the cable myself, though probably should have. The lesson here is obviously to lubricate your cable before it's too late.

Thottle cable snap-off

Apparently my throttle cable snapped off this evening. The throttle handle turns and moves the cable, but there's no effect on the engine which stays at idle speeds. This was probably in the making for quite a while as I felt slight but really weird slipping in the throttle handle from some time ago. The funny part is, it snapped right on the highway.

I figured leaving it right there will probably mean towing, and towing means money and inevitable damage as there's no easy way to transport a scooter with a standard tower especially without a centerstand, and that means even more money. And in any case I wouldn't want to leave my fave toy to some weird police people. So I pushed it towards exit which happened to be quite close. Good thing this was in the city. Anyways after I pushed it out it only made sense to keep going. Just checked - I went about 1.5 miles. Mostly on the curb but sometimes on the side of the road. The scary part was getting it out of the highway - it was quite dark and there was plenty of traffic.

Anyways, remember I hoped I wouldn't get all the possible breakdowns on my Baron? Just forget about it.

The learning is of course not to push the throttle to hard when twisting it all the way. I.e. twist it all the way but don't cram it in there. No surprise it snapped on the hightway.

Inspection check list

I will be accumulating notes here that I think should be checked on the scoot once in a while. Most of these are nuts that need to be tightened - and that is really a weak spot for Chinese scooters. If you want to save yourself some repairs, check these things once you buy your scoot and than say at the beginning and the end of the riding season.

Nuts and bolts to tighten:

• Nuts holding the exhaust pipe brackets. These fall off, but not in my case.
• M6 studs holding your exhaust pipe pressed against the engine. These also fall off.
• The rear wheal axle nut. Yes, this one can be loose as well.
• The front fork bolt. I'll post some pictures.
• Bolts holding the centerstand.
• Bold holding the switch on the kickstant. You'd have to take the switch off to get to the main nut.
• Bolts holding the mirrors.

Kick stand

I was replacing my broken kickstand today. Because my centerstand has broken as well, this was quite an emergency :) I got a used replacement from my dealer.

To get to that area, I had to remove lower left side panel first. This is one of the grey panels that sort of wrap underneath the scoot. It is fixed by a bolt and a bunch of screws, some under the "carpet".

The leg itself is fixed by a special bolt in its bracket. The bolt has a thread in it for the detector which shuts down ignition once you kick it open. The further side of the bracket has a thread in it, so there isn't a nut for this bolt.

The hardest part is the spring. It is tight enough to make it impossible to just stretch it with hands. The trick is to hook both ends of the spring and then work the leg into the bracket sort of pushing it against notches on the frame so that the holes align.

This is what it looks like:



The part hanging is the shutoff switch. It goes over the bolt, and has a groove to hang to the little post above the bolt. Notice there's a little hole under the bolt on the kickstand leg. There's a small pin on the switch that goes in there.

Here's the whole thing mounted. I had to replace the smaller bolt with my own. This is a regular 25mm-long 6M stainless steel bolt with a couple washers. You have to jam it into the thread rather hard. It is not meant to push against the switch as these move separately.


Tools: The large bolt takes a 14mm socket, and the smaller one a 10mm one. You'll also need 10mm socket and a regular Phillips screwdriver to remove the panel.

Related posts:
So my small kickstand just fell off
Broken centerstand