Lunge, parry, and riposte

Well, maybe not so dramatic, but anyway. One of my regular readers had a rather heartfelt response/dissent to my recent lament about my friend's Chinascoot.

I hope he does not mind, but I will use his letter as a jumping off point and thank him heartily for giving me something to write about.

He wrote:

" I see in your recent blog that your friend is having a problem with his scooter breaking belts. Before you arrive at a conclusion like the scooter is at fault you should read Scootdawg more. Something like that could be rubber bits lodged in the variator or the clutch and be the fault of his dealer not doing an adequate job of cleaning it or the scooter also needing new rollers. Bad engagement of the variator could be breaking the belt. Rollers are a wear item and at 4,000 miles it's not outside the realm of the possible that they could need greasing/replacing. It's why many of us replace ours with better ones from Dr. Pulley at 4-5,000 miles.
Blaming the scooter because of a bad mechanics is short sighted. You're very fortunate to have an excellent dealer who knows what he's doing. Your friend with the China scoot is not so blessed."

Sure, these points have been made, and I'm certain the issue can be fixed eventually; however, the big picture issue I have with Chinese scooters is, and has always been, that while those who have technical and mechanical know-how can certainly maintain most of these machines, those who are not so inclined or perhaps do not have the time to tinker, should avoid them as it may well be more trouble for them than it is eventually worth.

For a wrench jockey, a Chinascoot can be a lot of fun and something to tinker with. For most folks with full lives already, tinkering with a vehicle can be a big headache, or even an impossible task, depending on technical acumen.

The very things that are mentioned in this letter are the reasons I caution folks away from buying a Chinascoot if they cannot maintain it themselves or if they do not buy it from a dealer with the ability to maintain it for them. Chinascoots have a cult following of very capable, mechanically minded folks, and for them, they provide a great hobby.

On the other hand, for folks without that ability or the support of a good dealer, a chinascoot may be little more than a way to waste a thousand dollars or more.

I also contend that the better brand name machines like KYMCO, SYM, Honda, and so on, have a better chance of being problem free due to higher quality parts and construction.