How to Break-in your scooter

Break-in or breaking in or sometimes called mechanical running is the process of giving the scooter an initial running period with light load, normal load or heavy load. This is done to make sure that all wearing parts are fitted. This is to produce the last bit size adjustment that will give them stable relation to each other. The manufacturers give some specific driving guidelines written on the scooter manual on how to break in the scooter. The focus of engine break in is to make the piston, piston rings and cylinder wall be compatible to each other. Experts varies different suggestion on how to break in your engine, some says that it is good for a hard break in while other says it is much good with light break in. There is no set of instruction for breaking in an engine.The users manual recommends light break in at first because the scooter break in is already done in the factory. I hardly recommend a Hard Break in for your scooter for a smooth and powerful results. Just remember to vary your speed while breaking in and don't stick to your speed. And also changing the engine oil in the right time should be strictly done.

The goal of engine break in is for the piston, piston rings and cylinder wall. When the engine is powered up, the piston rings between the piston and cylinder will begin to seal and smoother. For a few years, the requirements for the break-in of engine has changed because of improved materials and design used in the engines now a day. Today Chrome Bore engine are use rather than Steel bore. It is much easier to break-in a Chrome Bore because of its smooth cylinder wall.

There are important preparations and planning which must be considered before running the engine. Break-in can take place from a running vehicle or while travelling but sometimes used the engine stand way of break in. Engine stand break-in is the process of breaking in the engine in center stand and not moving. Heating up only the engine in a period of time. Engine preparation varies also due to the factors that there are different types of engine and some conflict on expert suggestions. 

To prevent the increase of oil pressure in the engine, experts recommend to start with Revolution per minute or rpm and the run the engine for few  minutes. There are also some problems that can be encountered if your break-in is not good. Some cases of these are worn out cylinders because of improper break-in. The oil dried because of too much pressure in the engine and the owner forgets to check it. Letting the oil dry while breaking is really a bad idea that's why you should always check for the engine oil level. Sometimes other parts are also damaged when there is a failure in the engine, this consequence should be avoided because it will cost a lot replacing some damaged part.

Comparing the break-in process now from the past years you will notice that the required time significantly decreased from months to days to hours due to some reasons. One of the reason is the company upgrade facilities that is capable giving better output on engine parts and assembling. Some manufacturers also perform break-in in the factory before releasing the unit to the market. They also perform some test for the engine to ensure its performance, durability and endurance. Other reason is the growing knowledge and experiments on how they can make a more easier, faster and reliable manufacturing. Science had help manufacturers a lot when it comes for performance output and how they ca make the product more useful.

Yamaha Mio Sporty

This scooter is really great of kind. I own one of this model for 3 years and until now it works well. The simple and compact body design gives it the sporty look and elegant style. This model of scooter changed their sticker designs a lot and also released some limited edition decals. This is one of the most known scooter model released by Yamaha and until now there are lot of this model is still being sold in the market.

The features of this scooter are also a factor that makes this scooter elegant. The disc brake at the front helps for a good stop. The muffler with a smooth and skinny design that is equipped with a nice design heat guard for the back rider safety from getting burned. Both front and rear suspension works well and give a very comfortable experience when driving. With the help of the soft seat, you can experience a relaxing and smooth experience while driving. The design of the foot board gives the rider a good foot grip when driving. Also the storage is good with the compartment below the seat and a few storage also at the foot board in addition also of the two pockets for some personal belongings. The meter panel that contains fuel gauge indicator, speed meter, beam indicator and signal light indicator are placed good and organized. The tail lamp is simple and still stylish. Lastly is the wheels, equipped with mags it also add an elegant view on this scooter.

When it comes in customization, this model is easy to customized. Lots of choices from accessories can fit the scooter and can give a good look. Different variety of design and options to choose. You can go from slim looks or chubby looks, this will defend upon your desired look.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Engine Type:                                   Air-cooled 4 Stroke SOHC 2-Valve

Displacement:                                 113.7 cc

Compression:                                 8.8 : 1

Bore & Stroke:                                50.0 x 57.9 mm

Ignition Power System:                DC-CDI

Clutch System:                               DC-CDI

Starter:                                              Electric & Kick starter

Fuel Tank Capacity:                      3.7 liters

Transmission:                                 V-Belt Automatic

Dimension:                                     1820 x 675 x 1050 mm

Min Ground Clearance:                130 mm

Wheel Base:                                    1, 240 mm

Dry Weight:                                      87 kg

Front Break:                                    Hydraulic Single Disc

Rear Break:                                      Drum Brake

Front Pressure:                              200 kPa (2 kgf/cm2)

Rear Pressure:                                225 kPa (2.25 kgf/cm2)

Spark Plug Type (NGK):               CR7 HAS

Spark Plug Type (Denso):           U22 FSR-U

Wheel Type:                                    Mag Wheels

Carburetor VS. Fuel Injection

What do you like most? Do you prefer to have a carburetor type scooter or the fuel injected type scooter. Lets talk about their difference, performance and benefits.

I will make a review about these types of engine and tell you what will make you choose each type. These types varies in their operations, fuel consumption and maintenance.

CARBURETOR

Carburetor is the primary system which allows the air and fuel mixture to be mix properly before entering the engine chamber. They are used in large industry of automotive engines but now is being replaced by fuel injections.

I find it interesting how or why people starts to like the fuel injection type of engines rather than the old carburetor type. I start looking for some answers with my question and find some comments and suggestions. Just like asking them, why is fuel injection better than carburetor. These are some of the answers I see.

"There is no choke"
"It has more efficient fuel consumption"
"It has more horsepower"

These are some of the answers I see. But before we get into that lets take a look about the history on how carburetor become the king of the moto-landscape.

When motorcycles started, carburetors were the only way to mix fuel and air in the right proportions for an engine to digest them. These starts the production and usage of carburetor in automotive industry. They didn’t seem to be broken, so nobody put much effort into fixing them. Up until the early years of this century, carbs just worked better.
Carbs also worked well with the crappy electrical systems most motorcycles had. Carburetors seemed to be fine and good, until someone realized trees are people, too. Or something like that. It turns out that running internal combustion engines is pretty hard on the planet.

Carburetors start to fade away in the industry in some reasons. What are the other things you don't know about carburetors?

1. They give more pollution that fuel injection. How it is possible? When the scooter isn't running the carburetor stocks fuel in a bowl like storage when these fuel evaporates it gives pollution to the nature, while in fuel injection they are sealed enough that prevent unburned fuel to evaporate.
2. Carbs are imprecise when it comes in mixing air and fuel. Unlike fuel injection that can be adjusted to make a precise ratio of air and fuel mixture.

But the good thing about the carburetors is their maintenance. With only a few budget, tuning with a handful of jets can be done. They are infinitely rebuildable and user-serviceable than fuel injections. So if you are travelling to remote places everyday, carburetors can have slight edge.

FUEL INJECTION

While the automotive industry began to grow, fuel injection starts to replace carburetors and now is well known in different countries. The benefits of fuel injection varies depending on its adjustment. Others say that fuel injection is much better in terms of fuel and power.

There are some competing objectives such as:

• Power output
• Emission performance
• Reliability
• Initial Cost
• Fuel efficiency
• Accommodation of alternative fuels
• Maintenance 
• Engine tuning
• Smooth operation
• Environment friendly

Mostly of the new vehicles being launch today are already equipped with fuel injection. Fuel injection also dispenses with the need for a separate mechanical choke which on carburetor-equipped vehicles must be adjusted as the engine warms up to normal temperature. That is one of the most good benefits of fuel injection when it comes in starting the engine. Furthermore, on spark ignition engines fuel injection has the advantage of being able to facilitate stratified combustion which have not been possible with carburetors.

It is only with the advent of multi-point fuel injection certain engine configurations, as traditional carburetor arrangement with single or twin carburetors could not provide even fuel distribution between cylinders, unless a more complicated individual carburetor per cylinder is used. That is why you really need a good mechanic that can adjust your carburetor in its precise ratio.

Fuel injection systems are also able to operate normally regardless of orientation, whereas carburetors with floats are not able to operate upside down or in zero gravity.

Fuel injection generally increases engine fuel efficiency that helps you to save more than other rypes of engine. With the improved cylinder-to-cylinder fuel distribution of multi-point fuel injection, less fuel is needed for the same power output.


Exhaust emissions are cleaner because the more precise and accurate fuel metering reduces the concentration of toxic combustion byproducts leaving the engine. With the help of  catalytic converter that can be optimized to operate more efficiently, exhaust gas is more cleaner.

HELMETS

A very important gear that can help you have comfortable travel. This gear is the most important to have when you want to ride a motorcycle. Helmets varies in styles, designs, weights and compatibility.

How would you choose the most effective helmet for you. First of all I recommend to use a full face helmet rather than half face. Full face helmet are those that covers all your entire face. It is better than the half face that covers only almost the top part of the head. Full face helmets can have more effectiveness in avoiding injuries to your head.

In choosing your helmet face shield I prefer for the transparent or clear type of face shield. It can give you a very clear visibility in the road while driving. Specially when driving at night, you won't have a problem seeing the road. Tinted face shield are good when there is high source of sun ray but poor when driving at night. Some helmets also comes with a built-in internal sun visor that will help you to drive even in high source of light.

When it comes to color of your helmet you should choose bright colors. In driving a motorcycle other motorist see a rider in the highest part which is the helmet. That is why it is important that your helmet has the color that can be easily seen by others even at night. There are helmets with neon colors printed on them, I recommend this kind of helmet as I own one kind of this the Scorpion EXO 500 Oil Neon Helmet.

When it comes in durability and weight you should choose helmets which is light weight but have strong durability. Your safety will be base on how your helmet can handle a hard impact. That is why helmets with high quality and strong enough are your best choice. You should also think about the size of the helmet. Helmet size varies from small, medium, large and extra large. Don't just buy helmets when you see them try to fit them so that you will be sure that you are comfortable with it.

Leave your comments and suggestion if you have guys.

PROTECTIVE GEAR

Wearing personal protective gear when driving is the most important thing to remember. It will protect you from injuries when falling in the ground or hitting others and bikes. Usually a personal protective gear consist of a jacket, pants, gloves, boots, knee panels and elbow panels.

KEVLAR / JACKET

This will protect your body from scratches or injuries when falling off your bike. I highly recommend you to buy for jackets with armour inside like carbon fibers, titanium, hard polymers or foams. This will help reduce the impact of your body and reduce also the shears strain to the wearer. More important is the panel that will protect your backbone from injuries. Be sure to check the quality and durability of the jacket and be sure that you are comfortable wearing it.

ELBOW PANELS 

Sometimes you can buy elbow panels separated from the jacket. I recommend to do it so. This elbow panels are mostly made of steel, titanium, carbon fibers and hard polymers. Usually when a motorist fall off while driving his elbows are the one which will have contact to the ground because it will help to reduce fracture chances on the arm.

GLOVES

Motorcycling gloves are typically gloves made of leather. They may have gauntlets to protect the rider's wrists from injury, and help reduce drafts while riding in colder climates. Motorcycling gloves typically have reinforced palms intended to protect the rider from abrasion injuries in case of an accident.

PANTS / SHORTS

Pants also gives the rider a comfortable sitting on the bike. You can use either leather pants but be sure that they are thick enough to prevent shear to your lower of the body. Mostly there are shorts that can be bought with padding already equipped in the back part and in the hips part. If you plan to wear a short with padding be sure to buy knee padding also.

KNEE PANELS

These are like elbow pads that can be bought separated. Mostly its hard to find leather pants with already knee pads set that is why I just recommend to buy this stuff. It can help to avoid the fracture in the feet and scratches in your knees. It comes with a hard polymer or steel for the knee and a separate pad for the low part of the feet.




BOOTS

Boots are worn by motorcycle riders and passengers to prevent or reduce harm to their feet and ankles while riding and in the event of a crash. They are designed using materials and seam construction that are impact, abrasion, cut, tear and burst resistant. Tough, strong, moderately flexible boots with stiff soles provide the rider protection from a number of risks. It also gives a comfortable shifting and braking for your feet.

LONG LASTING ENGINE

With this post I will you give you some tips to make your motorcycle engine last longer and with just low maintenance cost. Some of riders don't mind about its motorcycle condition until he figured it out after an engine failure. More often we forgot to check the engine condition and just ride our motorcycle without knowing its problems and limitations. To start with, I will give some tips and reminders for you and your motorcycle engine.

ENGINE OIL

Motor oil, engine oil or engine lubricant are used for lubrication of internal combustion engine. These lubricants helps to minimize the wear on moving parts of the engine, clean the engine, prevent corrosion, improve sealing and give cooling purposes for the engine by removing heat from moving parts. I advice you to change the oil regularly to maintain the cleanliness and coolness of the engine. I also recommend to use only 800 ml. of oil. This is to allow a small amount of air inside the engine for the oil to be stirred up by the moving parts. I sometimes saw motorists who put 1 L. of oil and I disagree with it.

GEAR OIL

Almost all of scooter owners forget to change their gear oil and that is the most common problem. They usually encounter problems with the gearing without knowing what are the reasons behind it. Gear oil provides protection specially for transmission. Changing gear oil is not often like with the engine oil. You can change the gear oil maybe quarterly or based on how frequent you use your scooter. For those who don't know where the gearbox location is, it is located at the crankcase near below the shock absorber mounting. Remember the gear oil because it has a huge benefit for your scooter.

GREASE

Maybe you would ask me if where you can apply grease on your scooter. I had just figured it out about a month ago after I brought my scooter to my mechanic. He asked me when did the last time I applied grease on my torque drive. Yes, you need to apply grease on your torque drive to lessen the friction between your torque face and center springs. Grease helps minimize the heating of your torque drive and gives the belt a smooth flow. You can apply grease on your scooter quarterly or ask your mechanic for further advice.

TUNE UP/CHECK UP

Every time you drive your scooter, your engine works hard with its limit giving you the power and efficiency to move a place in time. But did you do something to give the favor back to your scooter? Bring your scooter to your mechanic for its check up, not only with the reason that your scooter malfunctioned. Give time to check the condition of your scooter engine. Check its condition, engine starting, carburetor tune and other things. If you want your scooter to have a long lasting life, give him  even a little amount of time. 

SAFETY RIDING 101

I will give you some general guidelines about on safety driving with your bike.

First thing to do is to check your bike before driving it for your safety. You can check the pressure of your tires, front and rear. You also wanna make sure that your oil level is good. Check it at the side of your engine or you can just open the oil dipstick to check it. Next is to check that all your signal lights are working, headlight, stoplight, brakes, horn and etc.

Warm your bike up and be sure that the operating temperature is normal, should be less than 200 degrees when warmed up.

When riding your bike these are the things you should remember.

Be Visible

Be aware of blind spots specially while riding behind trucks or any wide vehicles because they have troubled seeing motorcycles and had a long time time to react. Don't be afraid to use your horn when there are motorist that doesn't see you. You can also put some reflector decals to your bike to be seen easily by other motorist.

Proper Dress Up 

Always ware a protective gear for you. These will help you lessen your injuries in case of accidents. Wear quality helmet with light colors and also eye protection gear. Dress up bright to be seen easily. Choose long sleeves, jackets, pants, boots or shoes and also gloves.

Apply Effective Strategies

Give yourself space and time to react on what is happening on the road and also give the other motorist time to react on you. Watch for turning and stopping vehicles. Avoid weaving between lanes, you should stay on the lane where you are most seen by other vehicles. Use signals in advance to prevent conflicts from other motorist.

The last one is to follow all the rules in the road specially speed limits. And remember not to drive when your under influence of alcohols.

EXHAUST PIPE CHOICE

Every engine needs an exhaust pipe to allow the burned mixture of air gasoline to come out from the main chamber of the engine.Aftermarket exhausts may be made from steel, aluminium, titanium, or carbon fiber.

Every type of engines vary in kind or type of exhaust used. For example a twin cylinder engine can have two separate exhaust system or it can have also a single exhaust section known as two-into-one.

But for our scooter with only one cylinder, it only comes with a single exhaust system. So the question will be what are the things to remember for a perfect choice of exhaust system.

Here in the Philippines we have two types of exhaust pipe and they are called as Power Pipes and Open Pipes (Mufflers). Lets start with the Power Pipe exhaust system.


POWER PIPES

What is a power pipe or how do it look likes ? Power pipes looks like also a little the same with your stock pipe. They only comes with different designs and styles. They consist of a more bigger pipe than the stock, heat guard and a little opening in the end most.


Use of power pipes will defend on how powerful your engine is. Not all power pipes are compatible with the engine.
 So you should how you will make your engine run in its best performance with the pipe.  

Just be sure to know what is the power of your engine and could the pipe you would choose will be compatible for it. You can ask your mechanic on what will be their choice for your engine and choose on what will be your choice too.

OPEN PIPES (MUFFLERS)

Maybe some of you already know or does have an idea about what is an open pipe. We are generally talking with pipes with noise performance. These pipes are the one with big elbows and large opening tip that produces a very loud noise.

These pipes are highly recommended on racing events because it can give you the strong and powerful performance. With its large pipe and tip opening it allows the burned gas to go out easily from the engine. But in contrary it also gives you headache with it sounds. 

Some government agencies already gives regulations about using this kind of pipes and sometimes prohibited in some areas.


It is your choice to pick for your exhaust system. But I hardly recommend you to use the power pipe rather than open pipe.

Mags or Rims ?

MAGS:

Good side:
1. Good Appearance
2. Easy to clean
3. Can equip tubeless tires

Bad side:
1. If you buy a low class type it is easy to damage
2. Hard to look for someone to fix it in case of damage
3. Heavy

RIMS:

Good side:
1. Light (in case of alloy rims)
2. Easy to fix

Bad side:
1. Hard to clean :D
2. Can't equip tubeless tires




In terms of price both types of wheel have almost similar in price. When you need to buy a Mags you just need to buy a spoke type mags, a tubeless tire and just ask someone to put it up. In rims you will need to buy Rims, Alloy Spokes, Hubs and Tires, then ask someone to assemble it and put it up. In that case both types of wheel vary only a little bit in price.



In my side, I am using a mags for my scooter because it can assure me to have a safe ride and problem free. But I am also planning to buy a Rim set for the reason of I want to travel more faster to save more time. 



If you are planning to buy any type of wheel just be sure on brands and beware of imitations.  A High class type of wheel with a high price can save you more when it comes in maintenance than Low class with cheap price but need more maintenance.

Replace Oil Regularly

Changing the oil regularly is one of the most important things you can do for your engine. If don't read any of the other ways to protect your engine (but we really hope you do) make sure to do this one. Oil keeps vital engine parts well lubricated so that they won't overheat. Your engine can't function without it and if you go too long between oil changes it can cause permanent damage to your engine over time.

Suggestions for when you should change your oil will vary, but the most recent standard for modern scooters is to change the oil every 500 miles. Some engines can go longer while some older engines may need it sooner than that. Since we're talking about proactively protecting your engine, make sure to look up what your scooter's manufacturer suggests for your specific vehicle's oil change interval. If you can't find your scooter's manual, do a quick search online to find out when it should be changed.