Review of 2005 Daelim S2 150cc Scooter

by Craig Bathurst
(Lancaster, PA, USA)

This Daelim S2 125cc Scooter (South Korea model) has been my first scooter (bought in Feb. 2006) and overall I have been pleased with it. It has a 125cc 12 HP, 4 port, 4 stroke engine that is oil cooled.

It has 12" tires with all disk brakes and a 3 gallon gas tank. It has nice storage underneath the seat. It has a nice bright headlight and a big taillight in the rear.

It's a medium sized scooter and I have gotten up to 70 mph and 65 mpg. Presently, I have 24,000 Km on it. At 23,000 Km the carburetor went bad (which can happen) and dumped raw gas into the cylinder and ruined the valves. I had the engine rebuilt at a cost of just under $800. The carb was an odd size and I had to use Daelim's carb. nothing else would fit.

The scooter cost me $3300 to buy including tax. I replaced the rollers for the CVT; it was time to change them at 23,000 Km and I also had to replace the rear master cylinder to pass inspection for 2010. This engine is of better quality than the Chinese engines.

I ride this scooter year round even in the winter months. Yes, I do wear leather chaps to keep my legs warm. It's a blast to ride! I take it on the highway during light traffic. It doesn't have the power to pass cars on the highway. The car drivers here are nuts!

I have ridden this with other motorcyclists all over the place and they're impressed with this scooter. There is also a 250cc version of the S2. Same frame and plastic, but a bigger engine, rear tire and suspension.

I bought a tall windshield for it and it keeps the wind off of me and keeps me warmer, when it's cold. It didn't come with a rear rack so I designed one and had it made out of stainless steel and I put a 45 Liter Givi box on it. I can now do grocery shopping with it.

This is a great scooter for city or rural traffic. Where I live, I have both kinds of traffic. It will carry two people.

This winter I had to put Startron additive into the ethanol gas. The engine is hard to start when the temp goes below 50 degrees. I switched over to non ethanol gasoline and the engine starts right up and holds an idle. I let the engine idle for 5 mins. to heat it up and it's ready to go. It has been a BIG improvement with the non ethanol gas for the cold weather.

Two years ago the distributor in Miami, FL went out of business by trying to run it on too few people and it went under. There is another distributor in Miami, FL (2010), but I don't think they stock all the parts for Daelim scooters. I think they have to order the parts for you.

There is another business that stocks parts (not plastics) for dealers only. I usually go thru Mr. Lee's Bike shop in JeJu Island, S. Korea for parts. He can get me ANY part I need and he sends it quickly when payment has been made.

When the US economy crashed a couple years back; Daelim stopped shipping scooters. The US Market dried up; which is understandable. I don't know when they will start shipping them again to the US. They started to ship some of their scooters to Canada again last year (2009).