(Extra) Scooter Parts

Yesterday I spent most of my afternoon hunting down two mystery noises on my scooter. In the process of doing so, I ended up removing most of the external body panels from the machine and got a chance to poke around and see its inner workings. By the time I was done, I had found two small parts that had been, well, just hanging out unattached inside the body of the scooter.

Well, at least they weren't attached any more.



This guy was resting on the undercarriage panel (the mostly flat plate of plastic that keeps gunk from the road from getting kicked up into the engine) and was a big confusing at first. I eventually found that it had broken off the backside of the panel that covers the windshield bolts. It appears to be a mounting point for a screw and (obviously) is not one that I have been using. I think I'll call it a vestigial part as it doesn't appear there is any way to get a screw in it; you would have to drill through the instrument panel to make it work.

Extra part worry-factor: None. I'll be getting along just fine without this guy. The next part though....



In case you can't tell, this is a bolt. (If you look down toward the bottom you can see what remains of the threads.) The curvy profile of the bolt is not by design; this bolt has been seriously worn down. It fell out as I was putting the scooter up on its center stand and I have spent a long time looking for a place that it might call home. I have a guessed but nothing I feel very confident about.

Extra part worry-factor: High. Bolts shouldn't be worn down like this, not after six months of use. Very scary.


By the way, I did find one of my mystery noises, it was the front brakes. I'm hoping to coerce a mechanically-inclined person to show me how to work on disc brakes. My normal point of contact is a new dad so I don't know how available he will be in the near future. The noise isn't overly distressing, just something I need to check on relatively soon.

The other noise is still a mystery. I couldn't replicate it yesterday so I guess I'll have to work on it another time.