Score!!

[kz1000st]

At least I hope so in the end. I spend many hours searching through Craigslist for bargains. A couple of weeks ago I saw an ad for a 2010 Kymco Like 50cc for $300. I was skeptical so I passed over it thinking, "That was a $2200 scooter when new, it must be a mistake." It lingered for almost three weeks so I e-mailed the owner and she responded that it was still for sale. I just picked it up. It quit on her and she had "Mechanics" telling her it would cost a bundle to fix so she just wanted to unload it. My gain. The mechanics said, "I don't even know where to get parts for it." Sound familiar China scoot owners?

I don't know what's up but I'll find out and then have to decide whether to keep it or flip it. Right now I'm pretty pleased and can't wait to dig into it. For $300 I'm not sweating it. If I fail the engine is worth that much. It's Ivory White and a two stroke. I finally got a Craigslist bargain.

[Admin]

Awesome, congrats! I love finding good deals. I always seem to make out like a bandit on CL. :tup:

[thumper650]

That's awesome!
I have a Made in China Kymco and it's been great.
I love the way the Kymco Like looks, I was considering the 200I, but I'll be moving and not needing another scooter for while.
You got a deal, even if it needs a rebuild, which I bet it doesn't.
Keep us updated.

[rks]

Sounds like a steal to me.

I had to google it to get a look at one.....wow, they are very easy on the eyes, and I even like the ivory color....it would make a good looking stable-mate for my ivory cruisers.

Good find... like previously stated, keep us updated. I feel the fix will be something really simple.

[novaraptor]

That's the way you get great deals.. when you know how to fix things life gets better.. Congrats...

[kz1000st]

First observations so far. For all of you with Chinese scooters. Be very happy. Kymco is out of their mind. Taking the plastics off is darn near impossible. To remove some of the screws for the side plastics I would have to do major surgery. I'm so disgusted. No solenoid, they use a starter relay. The starter motor is under the engine, not on top. It has lights, horn, directionals but nothing around the motor is alive. I even get power to the starter relay but when I pull the relay and try jumping the wires I get nothing. I get a weak spark when I hook up my battery charger but it won't kick start. I'm in it to win it but so far this scooter is totally alien to me. It was built like it was never supposed to break so it's hard as heck to work around. Obviously it was meant for a dealer to work on at ridiculous shop rates, not Joe Average Citizen.

[Firehawk989]

Had an experience like this when I bought a Hyosung Sense off CL for $200. Taking the plastics off was easy, but the seat bucket area had a panel welded over it which made working on the engine a huge PITA!

Fortunately my Yamaha is very easy to work on as well, just like the Chinese bike I started with.

Anyway, I would try a new battery first, or test it with a jump from your car. Next is to start looking into the wiring and/or the starter relay, but I would be surprised if the wiring was the issue on a kymco.

[kz1000st]

I just put a new battery in it. Same problem. Hit the starter button and it just clicks at the starter relay. I tried jumping the power wires in the starter relay plug but got nothing. Kicking it over gives me a weak spark but that might be an engine speed-no power to the system problem. I'll keep digging.

I just may try the jump from the car trick. Maybe a bigger battery hooked up might reveal something.

[kz1000st]

Further update:

I haven't been very enthusiastic about working this thing. After numerous tests I've discovered the starter motor is burned out. I couldn't get it to spin until I removed it and jumped it on batteries. On the stock battery...nothing. On a 10 amp battery.....nothing. Off my car battery it spun but immediately got hot. A new one is $70 plus shipping. I had it spin at one point but it didn't engage. Some day soon I'll pull the variator cover to see if the starter gear inside is shot. On the parts page I found instead of giving me a price it said, "Call for price" Code for, "Are you sitting down?"

Better yet. The VIN number starts with "L" designating a Chinese build. Chinese built and they charged $2200 for this thing???!!! Plus all reports give it a 30 mph top speed. Can you say "Hoax"?

[scooter]

I just bought a Majesty 400 for a smoking deal. But there's a Reflex in the paper for a grand I'm really eyeballing! My wife will be PISSED when I have 5 sitting in the garage. Interested to see how this turns out for you.

[cheapeto]

I thought all of that stuff went on in the early days of 2000 to 2007 or so. I really thought you found a diamond in a chunk of coal.

[scooter]

I'll assume you're speaking of the Reflex because of the dates. It's an 05 Reflex with only 3900 miles and new tires. 1000 asking and maybe get him down to 800 because it's red....... Opinions vary but that's a good deal around these parts. :clap:Everyone around here in "military USA" is trying to scam the new recruits and get something for nothing. I told a kid at work about it and he got it for 650 bucks because the coolant sensor was leaking. He fixed it in the parking lot yesterday with some Teflon tape. The dude just wanted it out of his garage. Good deal......Yes. He still doesn't get my parking spot under the overhand on the sidewalk though. That's because I'm the boss. HAHA

[kz1000st]

OK. Here's my report on the final repairs. The Snowmobile/ATV shop I took it to after losing interest in fixing it myself installed a 72cc BBK on the scooter, a new stator and some other incidentals after finding a scoured piston and barrel. Final cost $663.00. Which would have been worse if I took it to a bonafide Kymco shop with stratospheric hourly rates.

So an $80 starter motor and $90 stator later on top of the $300 original investment rockets the cost to over $1000. I can hear it now, "Yes, but unlike a Chinese POS this scooter will last." Not so, China scooter haters. It will last only if the next owner doesn't flog on it like the last and takes good care of it with regular maintenance unlike the first owner who beat it to death in 2,000 miles.

Which is about what you can say about a Chinese scooter. Care for it and don't abuse it and the 50cc China scoot will last as long as many other similar sized scooters. Bintelli and a few other China scoot sellers have customers topping 20,000 miles with ease.

[wheelbender6]

I saw a Linhai 260 on craigslist for $200this week. If it has a title, It may be worth the trouble to revive it.

[novaraptor]

Thanks for the update, KZ. Sorry it wasn't the excellent deal that it originally looked like. My latest "deal" was just an ok one. In mid November, I found a 2006 Majesty for $1200.00. Sounds like a steal, except that it had over 48,000 miles on it. Talked to the guy and he had bought it used about 4 years ago for a 120mi a day round trip work commute, all freeway. He didn't want to put the milage on his Suzuki crotch rocket. His job ended so he no longer needed the Maj. Since he used it to commute only, he kept the engine and drive system up. Not so much on the looks. So, the price was good enough considering. Two days after I bought it, I recovered the seat. Then I replaced the tail light plastic, cause it was cracked and missing a piece. Had to use rubbing compound on the windshield to remove a couple of years of bugs and grit. Just replaced the gaskets in the exhaust system. Small stuff, and still need to clean and touch up paint, but so far, so good..

[kz1000st]

To me it's just an object lesson. One, if it looks too good to be true, it is. Two, people are such dopes sometimes. This is a dead simple, expensive two stroke that was trashed. So how do I believe that Chinese scooters are so bad when there are people who can blow up an expensive one?

I have a bunch of miles on mine without major headaches and no blown pistons. It just shows that it's the rider that makes the scooter. I bought it from a bad rider.

[novaraptor]

I mostly agree, though a really good deal pops up often enough that it feeds the dream. I've basically found that there are three types of vehicle owners. First, the one that keeps the paint bright and shiny, polishes up the chrome, keeps the upholstery clean and sparkly, and DOES NOTHING to keep the engine and drive in performance shape. Two, the opposite of that. The mechanic that spends all his energy and money on performance, keeping the engine tuned, the fluids changed, the tires properly inflated, and DOES NOT CARE if the body looks like crap. The third type, pretty much in the minority, has pride in the whole vehicle. It looks sharp, runs well, and rarely gets sold, since the owner did the research and bought what he wanted in the first place. So, absolutely, if it looks to good to be true, check it out with a wary eye. You will still get fooled some of the time, but there are deals to be made..
And I absolutely agree that it is the owner that is more often the cause of system failure that the vehicle manufacturer. It's been said that a craftsman is only as good as his tools. I strongly disagree. A skilled craftsman can use crappy tools if that is all that is available, and still get the job done. An uncaring poor craftsman can have the best tools money can buy, and still not get acceptable results.
So, keep the cynicism, but know that there will be another deal, either next month or next year.. Shiny side up!

[Shadowfire]

Wow, someone smoked the piston? Good grief. They must have been running it without oil or something. :hmm: Make sure that they checked that the oil pump is working before you take it out on a trip. On a kymco there is an oil pump that meters the oil into the air/gas mixture right before the reed valve. Also, you probably already know this, but make sure that when they changed the top end, they adjusted the carburetor air/fuel ratio.

Once you remove the variator boss limiter and modify the ECU to disable the speed limiter, an otherwise stock Kymco 2-stroke can reach 45mph+. 30mph is the "as shipped" configuration, in which the variator boss prevents the variator from closing all the way (and reaching the highest ratio), and limits the engine at 6000RPM. There is no way to trash the engine in this configuration unless you run it without 2-stroke oil or screw around with the carburetor jetting / needle settings and make it run lean. The stock exhaust is also going to make your power start to drop off once you're at 8000 rpm.

I weigh 260# and my Cobra Racer 2T will pull me up to 50mph (GPS verified) on a flat run, using a Technigas pipe, lighter roller weights, and carburetor adjustments so the engine doesn't burn up (the bike is otherwise stock). It can go a little faster downhill (55mph), but I'm nervous about that since its already at 9500rpm when I'm doing 50. I'm betting that the 72cc will allow you to get up to speed faster, but didn't add much to the top speed. Unfortunately my setup produces its best power at 8200+ RPM and runs pretty rich below that (needed due to how much air goes through when you reach resonation), making it "not the most fuel efficient 49cc scooter". 40mpg, lol. My Xciting 250CC (which is a heavier bike @ 400lbs, not that the Cobra is light @ 240 lbs) accelerates about the same for the first 40mph, but has a top end of 85ish MPH and gets better mileage to boot. I kind of needed that oomph, despite the fuel efficiency hit, because of how heavy I am (and my home town is somewhat hilly).

For comparison, the YY250T doesn't want to get above 6500RPM @ 70mph on the highway (getting the same mileage as the XC250), and that's WoT, no oomph left. (I know its not rev limited since I can get it over 8000rpm on the center stand.) It's not a suitable vehicle for travelling on the highways in Connecticut (whereas the Xciting 250 is just barely suitable), since we have left-hand exits and people are usually doing 80 or more in that lane, making crossing over a risk I absolutely don't want to take on the YY250T.