Just ordered a Vader
 

Hey everyone! I have been considering a vader for awhile and finally pulled the trigger. Now, I have never owned a new china bike and wanna make sure I do everything right when it gets here. Aside from putting it together what else do I need to do? I remember reading once years ago that you needed to change the oil in them before you ride them, is this still the case? Also, I'm pretty sure I've read multiple times to take out certain bolts and loctite them. Which ones?
Anything else I need to be looking out for?

I appreciate any help in advance!

Hey jsumd! Congrats on your purchase!

As far as assembly goes, it's not too difficult. An extra hand would be nice for putting the rear monoshock in.

Drain the oil immediately and put in fresh oil (oil drain bolt is a 17mm bolt on the right side of the bike under the exhaust pipe; just telling you because I accidentally removed the cam chain tensioner by removing the wrong bolt lol).

Handlebars and controls are easy to put together.

It's recommended that you put blue loctite on all engine bolts (8mm bolts I believe), although I haven't done that yet. Don't overtorque them when putting them back in.

As far as putting the front wheel on, I found the best way to do that was to put the Vader under an A-frame ladder and suspend the front-end in the air using ratchet straps. (See picture below)

http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/...722_194547.jpg


You should also check your valve lash at some point in time. It'd be best if you did so immediately, but you don't have to. There are YouTube videos out there that you can use as references if you needed to. It should be the same process as checking/adjusting the valve lash on genuine Groms.

Other than that, it's simple and straightforward. Hope you have a great experience w/ the Vader!

Thanks man! Your video is what led me to choose a vader. Im on there as moto-jimbo. What leds did you use? Ill just go ahead and change them when i get it.

Maxipad will be your best help here, and I just found this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHeetiEX75M

The above video is from a guy who rode a CT-70 replica (Chinese 125cc knockoff of the Honda) from San Francisco to New York City with his son, who was on a 150cc BMS scooter. If you remind me, I can try to find the advrider.com thread, which is an interesting read, but not much help to you in putting your Vader together :)

Here is thread which won't help you with the Vader, but is a good read and shows how stout the Chinese bikes can be

http://advrider.com/index.php?thread...w-york.988742/

Thanks culcune, after reading that last winter I decided to pull the trigger on my CB. :crazy: what was I thinking.

May take off for another long distance jaunt. Thinking about Aransas national wildlife refuge. Home of the whooping cranes.

thanks for sharing the video and the link! The scooters across america post was great!

Ha Thanks again culcune! You're always on top of it!

The LED Headlight Bulbs (without High Beam) I'm using are:
Part #: H6 BA20D Type 5W
Link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-H6-BA20D-...oAAMXQLs5RrkpK


I will make a thread on here some time in the near future listing all of the mods I have done to my bike and where to get them.

Ok is there a option with a highbeam? I have to pass va inspection.

I look forward to seeing all your mods.

I believe this would work, however I'm not certain.

Link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1pcs-BA20D-C...tWQqX2&vxp=mtr



The 5w bulbs will still function if you turn the high beams on, but they look the same as when they're operating on low beam.

Thanks a ton! You've been a huge help!

Just a quick update. My cashiers check was received by powersportsmax today (Saved me $35 to do it that way and I'm cheap like that). I made sure to have someone sign for the package through usps. Call me over cautious but better safe than sorry.

There's no such thing as being over-cautious when it comes to dealing w/ some of these vendors lol.. That's awesome tho! I look forward to hearing about your experience w/ the Vader!

Update time. I'm not sure where my bank finds employees but I called simply asking them if the cashiers check had been cashed and the employee couldn't even figure out how to tell me that. She said she had to do some research and call me back. Umm, okay. Anyway, I'm not really nervous about it but I think I'll go ahead and email powersportsmax and test out the whole customer service end of them.

Certainly too late for this transaction ,but the general consensus when dealing with these china bike venders is to use a credit card for the extra protection in case things go bad .