145 miles on the new scooter and 2 important questions!

[nwscooterboy]

Well, it was quite an interesting afternoon. My buddy - who has been riding motorcyles and scooters since he could walk - came over to help ascertain my squirrely, steering issue. I thought I was almost imaginging this and tried to tell myself that it was because I was new back on a two wheeler, etc but after my buddy rode it, it was apparant that this was a real issue.

He came back from a test ride shaking his head and was in disbelief that I even went on the short Sat morning ride with the local scooter club. He said there was something seriously wrong with the steering and he suggested not even riding it until we figured out the problem. We decided to take off the front plastic and he determined that the steering nut collars (? Do I have that term correct?) were cranked down waaaay too tight. He did some adjusting...a couple of adjustments actually and test rode after each one...he said it was better but still not the way it should be. We decided to take off the collars entirely and this is what we found....



There is a bearing missing! I'm not sure how much this would attribute to this steering issue but he feels it is causing some of it. Needless to say....I'll write to Scooter Madness AGAIN asking them so send another part.

We put most everything back together and I did my own test ride and I have to say...even after he just adjusted the collar nuts (and even with a missing bearing from the cage) it seemed to "track" much better while riding...I thought it was night and day. He thinks it's about 50% better.

Anyone else think one missing bearing would affect the ride?

[blueboy5000]

Greasing the head-set is YOUR responsibility as part of the PDI. You should also have greased the front wheel bearing and speedometer puck.

A missing ball bearing is REALLY UNSAFE, but lucky for you the bearing is easily available on most cheap bicycles.

[nwscooterboy]

Originally Posted by blueboy5000

Greasing the head-set is YOUR responsibility as part of the PDI. You should also have greased the front wheel bearing and speedometer puck.

A missing ball bearing is REALLY UNSAFE, but lucky for you the bearing is easily available on most cheap bicycles.

In my defense, lol, none of the 5 different PDI references I used mentioned anything about greasing the headset. If any of them did, I would've. (and being a newbie, I relied on the PDI reference sources immensely and was very thorough.). Only one even mentioned to make sure the collar nuts were tight...and they were. Too tight!

Scooter Madness had already written back by the time I woke up and told me they're sending out new bearings immediately.