Moped and Scooter Maintenance
- The most basic of maintenance requirements involves three components essential to your wheeled engine being able to work--oil, gas and spark plugs. Gas obviously is the energy source. Oil helps lubricate the gears and piston/cylinder assembly, and the spark plug provides both with the ignition to light the gasoline for combustion. Keep the two essential fluids topped off and cleaning/replacing your spark plug will contribute to avoiding unexpected stops in the middle of nowhere when riding. And a quick way to check your spark plug is by color. If it's white powdery at the tip after riding, your engine is too hot and will eventually seize. If it's gunky and black with oil muck, your engine is running too rich and you will eventually flood out. Chocolate brown is right where you want that spark-plug color to be.
- Your choice of tires will have a direct impact on how far you can travel on your scooter or moped. Go cheap and your tires will fail with flats and blowouts. Go quality, and you can rely on your tires to last on long trips.
However, a more important aspect of scooter/moped tire maintenance, regardless of brand, is to maintain proper inflation and check your treads regularly. Proper inflation maintains good contact with the pavement, reduces engine drag, and avoids smaller issues that can result in flats. Checking your tire treads regularly will tip you off to tire wear and potential snags stuck in your tires that could cause punctures or worse. The last thing you want is a tire blowout when traveling at speed. It can be an unexpected surprise that, if not prepared for, can result in you driving off the road or laying the scooter/moped down in a damaging slide. - Most scooters and mopeds are controlled via steel-threaded cables. These include the throttle assembly, front and rear brakes, clutch, and in some older models gear-shifting. While steel cables are very durable, over time they will break for a variety of reasons. Most cables are surrounded by a cable housing for immediate protection but eventually rust, the elements, dust, road grit, curving the cable around corners causing friction, and general age will snap a cable.
Your brakes are just as important. Brake systems on scooters and mopeds use one of two methods:
1. Drum brakes, the old vintage system that uses pressure shoes to slow down the wheel hub from the inside.
2. Disc brakes, which use a more modern approach of disc pads slowing down a disc attached to the wheel.
Both use pads against the wheel to create the stopping effect. Disc brakes work better using hydraulic pressure to effect quick stopping. However, both need to be maintained and checked regularly. Failure of a brake system can cause a serious accident, losing the ability to slow down or stop when needed. - Lighting on your scooter or moped is not just for night-riding. Lights make the difference between being seen during the day or just blending in to the surroundings. And blending in, when you're on a vehicle smaller than 1/10th the size of a car, is not what you want to do on a busy road. The fact is, drivers have a hard time seeing scooters or mopeds. They are small, hard to hear inside a car with the windows up, and don't command the same respect for space as another car.
Quick and inexpensive maintenance can be performed by checking and making sure all your bulbs are in working order. This includes your tail light, headlight and turn signals. All involve covers that can easily be removed with a screwdriver. Then all you need to do is take out the old bulb and insert and twist in the new one to secure it. Then you're done. - Scooter maintenance is something every rider should be in the practice of implementing regularly. You can check your scooter or moped weekly or monthly, but make sure to actually check it. Don't put off the care because it can make the difference between having a good ride or having a serious accident.