Help me buy a Yamaha and related equipment

Long post to follow.

Background:
Driving patterns

You shouldn’t have any probs picking up a good used 'scooter that will fit your needs.
Pretty soon some of the gear heads on here should pop in with good advice.
If you just have to have a new one you should have no problem there either.
A 125cc should be plenty for what you want and size should be no prob either.
Stay paranoid and stay safe.

There are 4-stroke 125s available in various sizes. Why does it have to be Yamaha? SYMs and Kymcos are fine as well. You should have no problem finding a decent second-hand one. Have a look in your local scooter shops. If you buy second-hand from a scooter shop, I’d say you’re looking to pay around 20k for a reasonable bike. Some people would say you don’t need to pay that much, but I think that 20k is more likely to get you something without too many problems.

Good that you’re going to buy a mesh jacket. Doubt it will fit under the seat with your helmet though (you mean a decent full-face helmet, right?) You see, the main protection in that type of jacket comes from the armour in the elbows and shoulders. The mesh material itself will offer some abrasion resistance, but not as much as decent leather. The elbow and shoulder armour is bulky. So I’d say you’re looking at putting either the helmet OR the jacket under the seat. Of course you could put the helmet on the clip so it rests in front of the seat, but then you risk somebody cutting the strap and stealing it, or colliding with the helmet, compromising its safety without necessarily leaving any visible marks. Why not just take it inside with you?

There is a mesh jacket for sale here alpinestars.com/_lp/2005Appa … xt_jkt.pdf .

Smart of you to get the jacket. I think it might even help keep SOME of the pollution off your clothes as well.

With regards to it’s protection level…let me say it’s not mesh everywhere…as well as the shoulder and arm armour, it also has elastic Kevlar on places that commonly contact the road during a slide…so it’s not body armour only.

[quote=“Mordeth”]With regards to it’s protection level…let me say it’s not mesh everywhere…as well as the shoulder and arm armour, it also has elastic Kevlar on places that commonly contact the road during a slide…so it’s not body armour only.[/quote]I have two mesh jackets: a Triumph Raptor (single colour, looks OK worn anywhere on or off a bike or scooter) and an RS Taichi. The mesh on both of them is abrasion-resistant (the Triumph is Cordura) and they also have reinforced areas. But with this kind of jacket, if you slide for any distance, it is likely that you will not be able to use the jacket again. It should protect your skin but in doing so will probably self-destruct.

COOL! just like in mission impossible. Man, Tom Cruise is hot.

Thanks for all of the replies.

I looked at a number of different scooter shops and have heard so many different things.

Relative to getting a new bike: I was going with the Yamaha in think if I ever take the bike overseas (that parts would be easier to get). If I don

[quote=“chichow”]Relative to getting a new bike: I was going with the Yamaha in think if I ever take the bike overseas (that parts would be easier to get). If I don

Ok 2nd hand it is.

Anyone in Taipei willing to recommend some shops they trust?

and how much should I be looking at to retrofit a remote start ignition? how to say remote igintion lock in chinese?

If you live in Chung-Ho drop by my buddy’s shop. It’s at 35 An-Her (spelled Anhe) road, Yung-Ho/Chung-Ho (borders on both counties). They are 5 mins away from the Ching-An MRT stop. Very easy to find, they are the only scooter and big bike shop on that short road. There number is 8942-2174. The owner is called Monkey, he speaks no English, but he is very helpful and honest. If you need any help just PM, and I can meet you at the shop and help you out. BTW, since you say you will be only riding 3 months a year, why not just rent one.

Thanks for the reply.

I’m going to head over to the Zhong He shop tonight.

Why Yamaha? Brand familiarity? Also from before someone had mentioned the fuzzy. That’s what I wanted. The equivalent of a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. Ya change the oil every 3k miles and it runs until the wheels fall off.

Why not rental? Well my estimate is 3 months a year for a number of years, but the 3 months aren’t consecutive. Plus I’ve got some mates where I can keep the scooter in a garage and they can crank it over and ride it every once in a while

Couple more questions: There are some scooters listed for sale in the forums.

Assuming I do a private 3rd party sale, is it worth it to get the scooter checked out by a shop? Or is the shop basically taking the money and running. Also can the shop for the 400NT do the transfer between 2 inidividuals?

Thanks so much!

[quote=“chichow”]Why Yamaha? Brand familiarity? Also from before someone had mentioned the fuzzy. That’s what I wanted. The equivalent of a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. Ya change the oil every 3k miles and it runs until the wheels fall off.[/quote]Most scooters are like that! I got my 10-year old SYM Dio 50 a couple of years ago. Since then I’ve had one part replaced; the carburettor, at a miserly cost of something over a thousand NT. I put good 2-stroke oil in (obviously if you’re on a 4-stroke you’ll want to be changing oil around every 1000k) and change the gearbox oil every 3000k. I’m going to ask my mechanic to have a general look around it – ignition system, clean carb etc. – soon, but that’s just for peace of mind rather than any current problems. It just keeps on going.

As I said, Yamaha, SYM and Kymco are all fine and there are some other decent brands as well.

[quote=“chichow”]Why not rental? Well my estimate is 3 months a year for a number of years, but the 3 months aren’t consecutive. [/quote]Even more reason to rent, surely?

[quote=“chichow”]Assuming I do a private 3rd party sale, is it worth it to get the scooter checked out by a shop? Or is the shop basically taking the money and running. Also can the shop for the 400NT do the transfer between 2 inidividuals?[/quote]I’ve had bikes checked over by my mechanic for free, but that’s because he’s a friend. I guess a shop would do this for a nominal charge, and yes they might sort out the transfer for you but then it’s really not difficult to do this yourself. There are a couple of threads in this forum which explain how to do it. (By the way, you might want to consider the additional security of a police check. Next time I buy a vehicle, I’m going to go to my local cop shop with the plate number & ask them to make sure it hasn’t been stolen. The DMV should know anyway but apparently there have been one or two cases where they didn’t and some poor unwitting guy later got pulled for having a stolen vehicle.)

[quote=“chichow”]and how much should I be looking at to retrofit a remote start ignition? how to say remote igintion lock in Chinese?[/quote]This seems a bit over the top to me. A decent U-lock, plus making sure your bike doesn’t look too new and shiny, is adequate security IMO. After all, if someone wants your bike THAT bad, they’ll just stick it in the back of a truck and drive away.

[quote=“joesax”]

My scooter has a remote ignition/alarm. It was cheap and easy to install and it disables someone from starting your scooter with a screwdriver. You can get them at most scooter shops for under 2000nt.

For your uses… I don’t think you could go wrong with either SYM or Yammy. If you spend more than 20k you should be able to get some sort of warranty from the dude if you negotiate one. Just get one that brakes well and sounds tight when you hit bumps. I’d also suggest you get one with a front disk brake. Other that that, get one that feels comfy.

Good luck bro.