Making a Tao Tao reliable?

[Redlawnmower]

Hi, guys. I was wondering if there are any things I can do to a new Tao Tao to make it not die after a year. Are there any upgrades or things I can do so that it will last me at least a few years? I really want a 50cc scooter but I have a $1000 budget so I can't get anything too fancy. Also what do you recommend for <$1000? Thanks for your help

[lostforawhile]

get a Keihin carb, get rid of the crappy sealed no name one, possiby a better battery, but that one might be ok for a while, remove every bolt, locktite everything, change the gear oil to a reputable brand, immediately, also the engine oil needs to be drained and refilled with quality oil before you ever even start it. replace all your bulbs,brake light,turn signal etc, with LED, much brighter, and much less current draw, get a quality variator belt, like a gates, plan on replacing the contra spring in the clutch, the cheap chinese springs fail quickly, then the bike won't go into low gear, to get out of it's own way. find the restrictions if it has any and remove them, they are bad for the bike, and bad for your safety. Plan on getting quality tires, most come with really bad tires. look into replacing the wheel bearings and gear box bearings with quality ones, get a large tube of silicone dieletric grease, unplug all your electrical connections, and fill the cavities with it, this stops corrosion at the connections, it's a 139QMB they are not bad engines if maintained, and there is no reason they should only last a year, most of the complainers, are people who rode them until they died, or people who assembled them out of a crate, didn't know what they were doing, and never throughly checked over the bike for issues.

[culcune]

I would suggest to also join http://49ccscoot.proboards.com/ All scooters, all the time, and the guy who moderates it (maybe the founder) is a fan of Chinese scooters. They modify them for performance, too; Taotao seems to be the more popular Chinese brand due to their bargain-basement price AND decent quality (for the price) over other Chinese brands. Personally, I would stick with stock while breaking in the engine before changing out parts, but that is just me and I am NO expert by any means--but do check all nuts and bolts and locktite them; again, ask on 49ccscoot (there are scooters of all engine sizes discussed).

[biz moto]

i have 2500 miles on my taotao zummer

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by biz moto

i have 2500 miles on my taotao zummer

Additional context may be helpful . . oil preference and change interval, tire pressures, engine modifications?

Typically the more 139QMB "enhancements" . . the less reliable!

[lostforawhile]

Originally Posted by tortoise

Additional context may be helpful . . oil preference and change interval, tire pressures, engine modifications?

Typically the more 139QMB "enhancements" . . the less reliable!

it depends on what you mean by enhancements, replacing crappy factory parts with quality parts doesn't make thing unreliable. putting a big bore kit on, with the stock crappy crankshaft and china bearings, does, on these bikes, the variator weights, stock drive belts, brake parts, wheel bearings etc, are junk. as well as the stock contra spring, they will fail, just go ahead and replace those with quality parts, I have 2000 miles on my bike, and my stock contra spring is now junk, as well as my factory tires and valve stems are failing. My spring is lost somewhere in FL and I need to order my tires, the stock belt was toast at 500 miles. variator weights were flat spotted at 200 miles, run dino oil until about 500 miles, to allow the engine to properly break in, then switch to synthetic

[Baileyjr]

I just want to warn people about GOOFIT parts for scooters . Every part I have ordered from this company has been bad. Like voltage regulators, ignition switchs and CDI's . I have ordered many from Amazon and I had to send every thing back . But I have found parts made by Glixal seem to work very well and there cheeper. I just don't want to see others go through what ive been through wasting time and money on garbage .

[Pom Racing]

Originally Posted by lostforawhile

get a Keihin carb, get rid of the crappy sealed no name one, possiby a better battery, but that one might be ok for a while, remove every bolt, locktite everything, change the gear oil to a reputable brand, immediately, also the engine oil needs to be drained and refilled with quality oil before you ever even start it. replace all your bulbs,brake light,turn signal etc, with LED, much brighter, and much less current draw, get a quality variator belt, like a gates, plan on replacing the contra spring in the clutch, the cheap chinese springs fail quickly, then the bike won't go into low gear, to get out of it's own way. find the restrictions if it has any and remove them, they are bad for the bike, and bad for your safety. Plan on getting quality tires, most come with really bad tires. look into replacing the wheel bearings and gear box bearings with quality ones, get a large tube of silicone dieletric grease, unplug all your electrical connections, and fill the cavities with it, this stops corrosion at the connections, it's a 139QMB they are not bad engines if maintained, and there is no reason they should only last a year, most of the complainers, are people who rode them until they died, or people who assembled them out of a crate, didn't know what they were doing, and never throughly checked over the bike for issues.

I'm super new to the forum (and to Chinese vehicles) and this is an incredibly helpful post. Thanks so much for sharing.