Can Your Scooter Do This?

Even though he’s a little goofy looking to some people, my little Yamaha C3, affectionately known as Scooter or HappyScooter has really impressed me in my three months of ownership. Even though I’m already taking motorcycle lessons in preparation for moving up to a more powerful machine, I don’t think any other bike will match the utility that ole HappyScooter offers. For example, last night, I decided to do a grocery run, but I didn’t drive my Subaru Impreza down to the coffee shop. Do I ride home and get the car?

If I was riding a motorcycle or any other scooter, I’d probably have to consider changing vehicles if I wanted to do a regular shopping trip. Not so with HappyScooter. I went to the Thrifty Foods and loaded up with whatever I needed and tossed both completely full bags of groceries into the massive storage area inside my Yamaha C3. With a gentle push on the cover, followed by a click, I was ready to head home to make dinner.

I was actually wondering how much the extra weight would affect the performance. Although HappyScooter had just gotten his very first tune up and new variator weights, I was expecting the performance to be somewhat less with the extra cargo. Turns out he happily hauled the groceries and my ass home with no complaints, maintaining roughly the same speeds with maybe just a half KM/h less up the 10% grade hill by my house. I’ve taken smaller bags of groceries in the past, but I’d never loaded up to nearly overflowing.

Although this is pretty great, it’s not as cool as what these two crazy kids did…

Across Canada on a Yamaha C3 Scooter

Mike and Keri rode from Vancouver, BC to Barrie, ON on their own HappyScooter. Their 2007 Yamaha C3 Scooter travelled over 4486KM over 11 Days. Here’s the kicker. They did it on only $153.76 in gas! I know that Subie drinks that much in a single round trip to FRYS Computers. They have put together an awesome journal complete with pictures of their adventure across Canada. You can check it out here.

Everywhere they went, people were amazed by this little machine and I continue to be amazed by it on a daily basis. Even if I do get a bigger bike down the road, I think HappyScooter will still be part of the family for the majority of grocery runs and other around the town errands.

A Recall Already?

Unfortunately, even though I had just gotten back from the clinic with HappyScooter and he’s running pretty awesome, it looks like he’s going to have to go back again. Yamaha has issued a recall notice for him and it sounds kinda serious. Apparently, the connecting rod has been snapping on both the 2007 Yamaha C3′s and its little sister, the Vino 50. Although Mike and Keri didn’t have any problems for over 4486KM’s, I would get it sorted ASAP as this could leave you stranded.

You can find more information about this recall and a number to call right here. Although it is a US Recall so far, the Scooters are identical and I expect to hear from my dealership once they get the notices.

In the meantime, I’m heading for a scooter ride to the coffee shop with my laptop. Meep! Meep!

Scooter’s First Check Up

So this week, Scooter made it to 1000 KM’s which signalled that it was time to take him in for his break in tune up. The Yamaha C3 doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, but the first service is usually important to make sure that everything is tight and working properly. I took him in this past Wednesday during that ugly patch of weather that we had and just picked him up today. In addition to the usual service stuff, I also asked the shop to throw in some performance variator weights. I got these from a group buy on a site called C3Rider. The Dr. Pulley Slider Weights are lighter than the original weights (4g vs 6g) and are said to improve acceleration and top end speed due to their unique design. For $25 bucks plus shipping, why not.

The Ride Home…

I’ve been riding my scooter pretty much totally stock for the past three months. Except for an oil change at 600KM to Motul 5100 motor oil, I’ve done nothing to improve its performance. At the same time, I also refreshed the final drive oil using stock Yamaha Gear Oil. Although the scooter did seem smoother after swapping out the totally silvery crap that leaked out of my engine, there was no improvement in top speed or climbing performance.

After rolling out of the parking lot, I noticed immediately that the acceleration was different. Before, it would slowly take off and accelerate evenly. After the service and the change to the Dr. Pulley 4 gram slider weights, the scooter now accelerates just a little slower, but then takes off like a rocket after about 10 KM/h. You can really feel the scooter take off. Since there is so little horsepower in the 49cc engine, any changes are immediately noticeable and this was definitely noticeable.

Other Performance Increases…

Besides the change in the acceleration, the change in weights have improved mid range power and top end speed. The 10% grade hill that I have to ride up to get home would normally rob me of power quickly and drop my speed to a lowly 30KM/h. With the new pulleys, the speed drops very slowly and bottoms out at 35KM/h in the steepest part of the hill.

On flats, after the initial acceleration and take off, Scooter willingly, and smoothly, makes his way up to 63KM/h which is somewhere just over the 60KM/h mark and right before the Yamaha logo on a Canadian Spedometer. I have also noticed that on downhill slopes, the rev limiter no longer kicks in as quickly nor as harshly. I have yet to find the limit so I’ll report back when I can get a good downhill run.

The mid range is very usable, allowing me to easily surge with traffic and keep up smoothly with the twist of the throttle. I am really liking the results of this quick and easy $25.00 upgrade.

What About The Restriction?

The Yamaha C3 does have a washer that restricts top speed slightly at the expense of acceleration and mid range speed. Esentially, it makes the belt ride up on the variator a little higher, taking away a lower gear, while giving you back a higher gear. Since I’m really loving the way that it is driving right now, especially in the mid range, I don’t think I’ll be removing that washer anytime soon. Even the guy who discovered this modification decided to put the washer back in likely because he felt that it was way more driveable with it in. I’m sure that in flatter locations, this mod would be nice.

Any Other Mods Coming Up?

Despite the fact that there may be a new motorcycle in my future as I’m out taking a Motorcycle Riding Course right now in preparation for my Class 6 Road Test, I will probably keep my beloved Yamaha C3 around. It’s way too much fun to ride around.

I do want to pick up a new exhaust for it so that it makes a bit more noise in traffic instead of running silent and freaking out people at crosswalks. I’m still trying to find a good one that I can buy immediately, instead of having to wait 5 weeks for it to show up. I haven’t really been able to find any good information on what sort of performance increases there are from this upgrade though. Hopefully someone with experience can leave a comment here for me.

The other thing that I’ll want to do is switch to a proper street tire to reduce rolling resistance. Most of the ones that I’ve seen are also a bit taller, so they should improve the top speed of the scooter, without screwing up the mid range. I’m all for more top speed, but I won’t do it if it screws up my hill climbing. Not to mention, the taller profile should also give me a couple more inches of clearance so I can drop a knee without scraping the center stand, which I’ve done quite a few times already. Scary.

Rain Drops Turn Streets Into Wet Weather Carnage

I wasn’t out in Richmond today so I can’t comment on how much worse the carnage was out there in Fake License Land. I don’t know if you guys heard, but over 200 licenses were faked between 2001 and 2008 by a driving school out in Richmond. This school passed mainly Chinese Women (through bribes to an ICBC Road Tester) who could not possibly pass the road test, but had the bucks to spend $6000 on a piece of plastic. These are only the ones that they know about. This would explain a lot about why my people are embarrassments to me out there on the road. I literally fear for my life when I go out there in any weather.

Closer to home, it started raining lightly this morning as I was on my way out to drop Scooter off at the clinic for his 1000 KM check up. Scooter was a little nervous today but I assure you that he’ll be fine after the scooter doctors are done giving him his physical. I should be able to pick him up in a day or so. While there, he’ll also be getting a variator weight transplant to give him some more zip and have his restriction removed so that he’ll get some more top end speed so that stupid drivers don’t keep trying to pass us on the right on a single lane road.

After dropping off Scooter, I headed out to Delta to meet up with Tejpal Singh of 1234Pens for a real Dot Com Tandori at one of the finest East Indian Restaurants in the lower mainland. Stay tuned for the post later today. Although my trip out was pretty uneventful, the trip back proved quite a bit more hazardous…

Somewhere in New Westminster…

Right at the corner of 10th and McBride, on my way back from Delta, I saw two cars turned around in the wrong direction…

I can’t really tell what happened, but at least four cars were involved. Funny enough, all of the cars were white. Even more funny was that none of my people were involved in this incident. I was only able to snap a shot of the Dodge Pickup and the Honda Civic. Perhaps they consumed products laced with Melamine and lost concentration?

Somewhere in Coquitlam…

Once I got out of that little mess, I ended up seeing another accident in the middle of North Road near the Korean Mall. Although it wasn’t actually my people, some would say close enough. There were four cars stuck in the middle of the intersection with a little damage on each one. This area is notorious for indecisive drivers that can’t make up their mind which direction they are going. Also possible that Melamine was at fault as there is a large Korean SuperMarket in that plaza.

Further up North Road near the end that turns into St. Johns, I spotted this…

It looks like the driver of the Blue Dodge Pickup (another Dodge Pickup?) tried to change lanes into the SUV that is now pinned underneath a tree. However, it is possible that the SUV (looks like a Toyota 4-Runner) was trying to pass on the right when the Dodge clipped it and sent it into the ditch and then up the embankent into the tree. The lady in the cab of the Dodge Pickup was still in the car and crying. It didn’t look like there was any way the driver of the 4-Runner could get out. Scary stuff for sure.

With the change in the weather, make sure you pretend everyone is a moron and drive accordingly. Use your turn singles, cruise in the right, pass on the left (and make sure you get back in the right after you’re done instead of milling around idiots) and quit using that brake pedal like the kick drum in RockBand, screwing everyone behind you up. Stupid people, do us all a favour and stay home or take the bus. Stay safe everyone.