Faults:

In the 11 years I've owned the Baja SC50, I've had to change the CDI module once, and I left gas in it for 2 months, making me have to replace the carburetor.

Other than basic maintenance that comes with any scooter, I haven't had any problems. All scooters are very temperamental if you don't have basic knowledge of the working of an internal combustion engine or cannot use basic hand tools; you could spend a lot of money maintaining a scooter, with mechanics charging upwards of 30 to 50 dollars an hour.

Any parts are available, with the same platform being a TaoTao 50cc scooter, which are plentiful and inexpensive. You can easily rebuild the whole thing via Amazon if needed, for low cost.

General Comments:

My scooter still looks new, although it has been garage kept and only laid over once. The clearcoat is good and the paint is still vibrant.

Noise is low, and as long as it's started every few days, it won't be a pain. Sitting too long seems to be the major factor for this or any scooter, lowering the battery life and fouling the plug with stale gas.

All scooters are a trade off for low registration fees and cheap easy transportation; I'm getting 80 MPG compared to the price of owning a car.

Faults:

Baja scooters seems like a pretty good scooters for very nice price, until they break down. Basically those are single use scooters. First couple of months were great, the scooter was pretty zippy and fast (especially when you put more air in the tires, use premium gas, and synthetic oil) - mine went over 40 mph couple of times, although I had a wind helping me go forward. I used to ride it everyday to work - around 10 miles one way, and I used it during the weekends because it much faster to get around town than using a car. I was really enjoying it, then out of the blue the scooter wouldn't start.

I quickly learned that PEP Boys DO NOT provide the warranty or any other service for this scooter. If something brakes you will have to contact Baja Motorsport directly. They will try do do anything to avoid taking it back. For starters be prepared to spend 2 days waiting on hold, listening some BS message how great Baja service and support is from Patagonia to Northern Canada. I'm not trying to exaggerate. Once I was on hold continuously for three hours. I think they have only one guy answering all the calls because every time I managed to finally get connected, it was always the same person.

They are not happy to hear about warranty repairs. They will keep stalling, ordering, back ordering parts, calling you back, I mean NOT calling you back until you will give up.

I went on fixing the scooter myself. Once you unscrew any kind of screw, there is a great chance you won't be able to screw it back again. Half of them snapped, on the other half the thread got worn out - they fell out themselves. All rubber seals are so thin and fragile, I advise you not to lift them. My fix was pretty simple, just faulty electrical connector, never-less I had to take apart almost every plastic part of the body and some other components.

Be prepared that any simple repair even changing the spark plug requires taking almost half of the scooter apart. It's an engineering nightmare. All the wires are just "hanging" in there, some of them are just taped with electrical tape instead of using proper connectors. Screws are so soft you can bend them in your hands. Oh well, you get what you pay for. For $800 you can't expect much now days.

My advise is: don't buy this scooter. I know, the price is tempting, but keep it mind that year later it will be worth like $200, if you'll be lucky enough that it's still running. I would say, save some money or get a loan and get Honda, Yamaha or Vespa. The resale value on those scooters is great and they are build to last. On top of that they have much better service, and its much easier to get parts.

PS. Baja Motorsport discontinued Baja SC50, many parts become unavailable even through third party resellers.

General Comments:

Cheap, don't be tempted by the low price. Rides OK until it breaks.

Single use scooter.

Faults:

The body fell apart and the warranty wouldn't cover it. I have to glue or bolt the panels together. This happened three days after purchase, and no I did not hit anything or abuse the scooter or fall down. Normal vibrations did this. Also, the cover for the Vin plate came off, and a fuse in the scooter was broken and had to be replaced right when I got it home. The horn quit working within a month of purchase, and has not yet been fixed.

The throttle cable broke in December 2007 (I bought it 2 months prior), and has broken again in August 2008.

The safety off switch that is supposed to turn off the scooter when you put the kick stand down stopped working in December 2007. I'm still waiting for repairs on that..

The scooter quit working right, it started getting sluggish and not picking up speed...

I found out, their emission control basically prevents the engine from getting oxygen, it's trying to run on exhaust gases, and this clogs it up and smothers it basically..

The warranty, that year warranty? Doesn't cover labor, or pick up by the repair guy... Baja doesn't refund, and the people they sell through, don't refund either.

General Comments:

It's a piece of junk. It's poorly made, and the company knows this, and they don't stand behind their product.. It's junk. Don't buy Baja Motorsports products unless you just want to get ripped off.

Also, this scooter is easy to crash. You cannot ride it in wet weather, and the brakes aren't that great, and it's not really safe in traffic, because it hasn't got enough pickup (due to the emissions "control") to get you out of a jam.