broken bracket on muffler that is supposed to attach the heatshield
Last changed on August 2nd, 2008 6:00 PM
I wrote this review / history to make potential customers aware of the history and problems I have experienced with my Daelim scooter. I have read many good reviews about this scooter, but here is my story.
I have owned this bike 2 years and drove 12000 km in all weather types summer and winter in N.E. Pennsylvania. If there would not have been any problems I would probably have driven 5000 km more. Though this is my first scooter I have driven 50 and 70 cc bikes for over 15 years in the younger years of my life.
July 7, 2006, I was thrilled after buying my brand new Daelim S2 250 scooter It drives pretty fast, and looks great. Then I noticed that it seemed to read high on the speedometer. For the 90 MPH it indicated as the top speed, I measured only about 75 MPH on my GPS.
Month 3, I get irritated. when I drive a constant speed of around 75 MPH (60 MPH real speed) on my speedometer the bike hesitates I have to drive faster or slower , seems to have something to do with the throttle position sensor. I E-mail my dealer and he suggests bringing it there and he'll drive it and see what he can do. Just before going there though I wash my bike and discover two of the three brackets that hold the heat shield have broken off and the shield is barely hanging on. There is a little disagreement about what I mean with the hesitation till we go drive it together and I explain how to replicate the problem. He cleans my carburetor and air cleaner but I find out on my way home the hesitation is still there.
broken bracket on muffler that is supposed to attach the heatshield
I discover that when I disconnect the throttle position sensor the hesitation goes away without loosing too much power it's less irritating to drive. I spoke with my dealer and together with the exhaust he orders a new throttle position sensor. A rep from the Daelim distributor tells me he doesn't like the modification so I reconnect it.
I keep e-mailing every few weeks to remind them. 8 weeks go by, finally the new exhaust arrives from Daelim. They did not send a throttle position sensor yet. The muffler was installed and works ok.
Some time later, the throttle position sensor arrives and gets installed. it seems to drive better.
First winter, my first drive at 10ºF temperature (-12ºC) I stop for gas but the ignition key freezes in the gas cap and I cannot get it out so had to call my wife to bring me my spare. Later that week coming back from work my bike doesn't start. I turn the ignition key, the engine turns over once and that's it. When I try to open the trunk so I can reach the battery for a boost from a friends car battery I hear a clunk, the trunk doesn't release and something in the ignition lock failed I cannot turn the key left or right.
I get a ride home from a friend with a big Dodge truck (in transporting it home I get some minor damage to the front.) I repair the damage to the ignition lock by taking it apart and putting it back the way it was intended to be. It's not a nice mechanism very fragile for the amount of force it takes to pull the trunk release cables. I do not dare to drive it at low temperatures any more.
About 1 year old. It needs another exhaust because of the same brackets breaking, takes another month to get also I need a rear tire. so I leave it there to wait for it. 4 weeks go by, I get an email , the wrong tire size was sent and it takes another 2 weeks to get the right one.
October 2007 on my way from work my exhaust pipe snaps in half its very noisy. ordered another one (the two brackets for the heat shield sheared off a few weeks before that but I was so tired of waiting for parts I didn't even ask for a new one yet.There seems no clear explanation about what caused the break the ends of the pipe still line up so it was not stress. I wrap it with a cut open soup can and clamp it down with two hose clamps so I am able to drive it to the dealer. No need to tell you that it took a long time to get the part at my dealer is there? Someone ( either my dealer or Daelim service ) decides not to replace the exhaust pipe but just weld the brackets back on it .....Hmmm I'm not that happy about that.
Exhaust pipe broken in two pieces for no apparent reason
1.5 Years old. I have not been driving it that much the hesitation is back I had trouble starting a couple of times so I put a new battery in.
I break the ignition lock again and decide to disconnect the cable to the trunk lock and remove the latches I'm sick of this bike.
May 10, 2008: 1 year 10 months old, losing a lot of power, it's also very noisy. speed is down to 75 MPH on the speedometer (about 63 MPH in reality) which makes it feel a little unsafe on the highway. The warranty is coming to an end and I decide to drop it off at my dealer.
I really would like to get more out of it than a two years after all it cost me $4000. I leave it at my dealer and he ordered an exhaust and weight rollers he thinks both are the cause the lack of power. I'm not sure if this is the problem or if it is the ignition module but I'm not the expert.
June 10, 2008: Upon further thinking about it and the way the bike drives it cannot be the weight rollers, if they where the problem it would run higher rpm's for a lower top-speed, and while accelerating full throttle it would reach high rpm's with lots of torque without accelerating much. It would behave like a car does when driving in a too low gear and that's not what it does.
The weight rollers work like this:
-The engine flings the weights to the outside, the faster it spins the further they move towards the outside.
-The more they move to the outside the more the gear ratio changes so the load on the engine increases keeping the rpm's fairly stable in a narrow band while accelerating. This part still works right.
I did check compression before going to my dealer but it was within the spec of the service manual (on the low side), I don't expect a problem there.
If replacing the exhaust doesn't fix the low power issue it has to be something else.
Daelim service has been in contact with me today (6-17-2008 thanks Michael Cavalcanti) and it doesn't really sound like they are going to do a heck of a lot. I think they are trying to put the blame on trouble I have had on bad maintenance.
1) I did the maintenance as required.
2) Maintenance does not protect the exhaust from failing
3) Maintenance does not protect the ignition system from misfiring.
4) Maintenance does not protect the ignition switch from failing,
the three things hat have been wrong from the beginning.
June 21, 2008. Stopped off at the dealer today still no news about the parts. Still not riding my bike total time not riding it because of waiting for repairs and parts has to be more than 4 months for the two years I've owned it.
July 2, 2008. It's been more than 7 weeks and the exhaust and weight rollers still didn't arrive at the dealer.......
Nice days are passing me by. The end of warranty on the engine is just around the corner.
July 5,2008: My insurance expires tomorrow so I decided to drop my new paperwork off at CBXMAN.COM, my dealer. While there I have a chat with Dennis McCartney the owner and I get some update from him. He tells me that the importer of Daelim in the USA no longer gets bikes from Daelim, instead Daelim takes care of the whole distribution of parts and bikes. The story he hears is that there are a large amount of shipping containers on a boat somewhere on the ocean on its way here. If anyone can confirm this story I would like to hear it (my e-mail address is at the bottom of this page. Where does that leave me you ask? Beats me, I have my bike back, it is horrible to drive but I didn't want to leave it there any longer. Dennis offered me a stainless aftermarket exhaust for just over $350 but I prefer original. We found idling the bike there before driving it home that the bracket of the exhaust holding the heatshield broke......... again for the Nth time....
July 7, 2008 Cleaned the entire carburetor, there was no improvement in power torque or top speed it's still about 10 to 15 Mph slower than new also did an experiment partially blocking exhaust so the back pressure increases, less noise but still low in power
July 8, 2008 dismantled the transmission to measure tolerances of weight rollers, belt etc There are some flat spots on the weight rollers but they are well within the service limit (22mm) they measure at least 22.8 the belt is well within spec it's a little dusty so I blew it clean with compressed air, reassembled and tested..... no improvement. occasionally I get a back fire sound if I close the throttle, I still think it is the ignition module.
$%@#$#%@ Bike!
July 12, 2008 dismantled all covers to get to the ignition module and inspect it, a lot of work. I notice a crack in the ignition module where the wires enter the potted plastic of the module. I decide to measure the resistances and compare it to the resistance values listed in the service manual. This is how the ignition module is supposed to be tested according to the manual. Almost all readings are different! I wonder if the book is just not up to date. I have found many inaccuracy's in the service manual already! Perhaps the module is actually bad.
July 18,2008 Got a call Thursday that the exhaust is in, installed it and decided this is it. One of the local motorcycle places has a nice motorcycle I like, while I take a big loss that is what I did.
This whole adventure has cost me about $3000 for two years and a lot of aggrevation and I'm glad it has come to an end. I hope to have more luck with my new motorcycle.
Peter van Hoof
E-Mail me at pvhoof@yahoo.com
Disclaimers:
Daelim is a registered trademark of Daelim Motors Ltd.
The events described here here have happened and are described as accurate as I can recall them however the exact dates and duration may be slightly different from the actual ones due to the forgetful nature of my brain.