well further to my newbies post… I find myself stuck on the side of the road in Merton. Got here ok but after a day outside she won’t get started. I can usually kick start if the button doesn’t work, but not sure If my legs are at fault or if she’s died already.
RIP
what bike is it?
its a vespa … and it’s a piece of crap
When you’re kick starting a bike, you need to feel when it’s tdc (top dead centre)… very gently push the kick lever until you can feel resistance gaining, and just before the resistance goes again, thats when you need to kick properly.
Obviously you need to feel it turn over once to figure out how it feels when it gets resistance.
If you try that, and see if it kick starts at all. 
oh well, phone battery on the way out as well … so i’m off to the train and will deal with stoopid bike with a clear head later.
poooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Harsh…but fair 
Crap, maybe, but at least it’s stylish Italian crap:P
It probably won’t start because you just insulted it! 
Now, seriously, is it a PX?
You have to get used to the kick starting, if you’re not it can be a bit tricky, but once you get the hang of it it’s easy and much more reliable than any battery.
Not much goes wrong on those bikes. Chances are you flooded the carb trying to start it. Try:
If that doesn’t work, bump starting may work. Put ignition on, put it in first, clutch in, run (or let it go of a hill) and as you have some speed try to let the clutch out gently while apply a little throttle.
If that still fails, changes is it’s the plug. If you know how to do this, take the plug out, keep it in the lead, hold just against the engine casing and kick over (again, ignition on). DON’T HOLD THE PLUG WITH YOUR HANDS!!! hold it at the lead. You’ll see if there is spark.
I always used to carry a spare plug, and the couple of times I couldn’t get the thing started it was always resolved by changing the plug.
As I said, if it’s a PX, these bike are very reliable if looked after a bit. If you want PM me your location/details and I can come and have a look some time this week. I’m no mechanic, but 9/10 times these things can be started again without much hassle.
Oi tink it’s one of them thar ET 50’s Dries. Battery maybe?
Thanks for the thoughts on kick starting. I’ve managed to do that on quite a few occasions but today was different. But, in the end i went back more determined and managed to finally get her ticking over.
i can’t say that i did it any different than the 50 or 60 times i’d tried earlier in the afternoon (not all at once, that’d be like a gym workout or something horrid), but maybe the gods were just smiling on me… or the bike has a mind of it’s own and when threatened with the very real possibility of staying on a Merton Industrial Estate until the weekend, it decided to turn over.
Smells a bit funny … like burning brake pads, I’m sure that’s not good.
But now I’m going to the pub … (not on the scooter) to drink some hefty quantities of booze and try and forget i might have to deal with it all again tomorrow.
Can I join the RAC/AA? is there a scooter roadside assistance program?
AA do roadside but the bike/scooter must be less than 10 years old, don’t know about the RAC.
I left the AA, because they were such dick heads when it came to bikes, and joined the RAC.
Used them 3 times in 15 years for a broken wiring harness twice and a broken clutch cable.
The first harness break they trailered me home and then sent out a techi to fix it. The second the guy that came out fixed so fast it was embarrassing.
The broken clutch cable they subbed to a mobile motorcycle mechanic who made up a cable in a multistorey car park.
Nothing but praise for their service, nothing but destain for the AA before them.
As others have said, those 50s have almost nothing that can go wrong with them, but the batteries do die about once a year. I would try starting it with jump leads from another battery. If it runs, get a new battery for it ASAP. Were abouts in Merton are you?
Maybe you flooded it with fuel trying to kick start it.
I always used recovery services that came with insurance. The ones Carol Nash use are pretty good (unlike Carol Nash’s insurance and legal services which are shocking) and I haven’t needed to use the H&R service (outsourced to Europe Assitance).
They don’t do very much on the road side though, they just stick it in a van and drive it home.
For breakdown cover I use this lot http://breakdown.insurancechoice.co.uk/compare.php only used once so far and no problems in the recovery home. As I only use the bike in the UK I went for their bronze cover at only £29 and that is on an 18 year old bike.
