October 20, 2009
by Jim Zeiser
(Deposit, NY, US)
I had a little mystery with the Milano and it was driving me crazy. One day I started it up and it gave off a little screech and would vibrate as I rode down the street. Odd, very odd. I consulted with my experts and nobody could come up with a reason why it would suddenly go from smooth as silk to a paint shaker.
I finally decided to check the drive belt and CVT drive. When I opened it up I couldn't find a thing wrong there. The variator was fine, the rollers were round and the drive belt measured the proper width, which is the usual indicator of wear.
Well, it was open so I thought I would replace the Chinese OEM belt with a Gates Powerlink Premium belt with "super aramid fibers". When it came I compared the two belts side by side. In terms of width they were the same but when I stretched them together the old belt was much more stretched out. Ah hah!
When I put it back together the vibration was gone and the scooter is running at a much lower engine speed at the speeds I ride at, at least by sound. I don't have a tachometer. I'm happy that the rollers are wearing so well at 2350 miles, they look good for at least 10,000 miles at the present rate of wear. Much better than people say for Chinese material.
Another lesson learned and I'm glad I stopped and checked out the problem, a broken belt was a distinct possibility if I left it alone.
When you're done here, you may also be interested in reading some of these popular pages:
- A guide to scooter care & maintenance
- Rundown of state scooter laws
- Scooter driving tips
- What to wear on a scooter
- How/why to winterize your scooter
A battery tender like the Battery Tender Jr. can make all the difference in whether your scooter will start right up each spring, after being stored for months.
Just about every scooter owner needs to have a battery tender, sometimes called a trickle charger. Unless you are lucky enough to live in a climate where you can ride all year long, chances are your scooter will be put on ice, figuratively-speaking, for at least a couple months every winter.
One of the key steps in winterizing a scooter is to protect your battery from draining during its "rest" period. This can – and will – happen if you leave your battery sitting untended in your cold scooter over the winter, even if it's in a garage or shed.
Read our review or go right to Amazon.com to buy this highly recommended Battery Tender Jr NOW...
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