Faults:
The first think I immediately noticed with this scooter is that the fuel gage did not work. In Calling Baja, they told me that after the first three fuel tanks worth of gas, it should start working. I called them back after filling it the fourth time because it didn't work, and they said there is a two-year waiting list for the parts needed to fix it. Not a big deal since I just check it every time before I ride it.
Also, the speedometer is not accurate. It's about 8 or 9 MPH off on the positive side, so I have to guesstimate how fast I am truly going.
The battery doesn't charge very much while the scooter is running. In fact, just about an hour before writing up this survey, I installed a trickle-charger so that I can plug it into the power socket one a week.
General Comments:
The scooter keeps up with traffic well. Even though the 147cc engine is only just under 12HP, it really is peppy, and that's is with me, a 226LB rider on it. I've even passed cars while going approximately 45mph.
The size is great. On top of being a bit overweight, I am also 6'2", and I don't feel like I am too big for the bike. My knees don't hit the handlebars like they do on the 125cc version of this scooter.
The scooter starts up nicely as long as the battery has enough juice left in it. Even if it doesn't, I can use the kick starter, though that takes some doing. To start it with the kick starter, the fastest way to do it is to squeeze the rear brake lever, push in the starter button, then kick the kick starter. With me being tall, this is not a hard task, but might be for the shorter person.
When I purchased this scooter, it was advertised has being able to get up to 100MPG, but in reality, it gets between 70-85, which still is not bad. That's what made me purchase this scooter. It got better fuel economy than my car, and most of the time, I didn't need to carry much, so, under-seat storage was fine, and when I added a scooter trunk, I was able to haul around even more.
25th Aug 2009, 22:25
Mine has performed pretty well over 600 miles. Wouldn't keep running after start recently, but I traced that to a clogged low end jet and blew it out. Runs fine now. I must say customer support is awful. I asked a couple basic mechanical questions like: how to set valves and where are timing marks. Person at Baja didn't have a clue and expressed no interest in helping. If you buy one of these, be your own mechanic.