The Sunday following the Something For Nothing Rally was not a good one for the Buddy. Ski and I decided to ride up to Jerome after church to search for a halloween costume again. About halfway up, the Buddy just "up and quit". Just like I'd turned the key off. And in case you ask; no, I didn't. I turned it around and coasted back down the hill (at the speed limit, I might add) to the #1 Convenience Store at the bottom. I sent Ski on up to Jerome by herself to look while I tried to determine the source of my problems. By the time she got back, I'd narrowed it down. I had good compression and I had plenty of fuel. That left spark.
I utilized my Genuine roadside assistance card to get a tow-truck to take me home. The truck they brought could have carried, oh, I don't know...maybe 40 or 50 Buddys! When I bought my Buddy, I received, along with my two year warranty, one year free roadside assistance. And it works! Thank you, Genuine! I had just gotten the card in the mail the day before!
I did a little checking Monday and discovered I had power to the keyswitch, power to the starter relay, NO power to the coil! What the....?
On Tuesday, I called Ron, the mechanic at Scoot Over and he guided me through the testing procedure. Along the way, I got a crash course on Capacitive Discharge Ignition systems. It seems that within the stator (the source for all electricity on my scooter) are three coils. One is the charging coil; which keeps the battery charged. The second is the source coil, which supplies power to the CDI unit itself (which is just a large capacitor, or short-term storage facility). Then, finally, there is a pulse coil, which gives the signal to the CDI to release it's stored energy to the coil, thereby causing the sparkplug to fire. The pulse coil on my scooter no longer have any signals at all. So the CDI had plenty of energy, just nobody to tell it what to do with it. Bottom line? No spark, no go.
I called Shelby to let her know the prognosis and we tossed around the ideas of me getting the scooter the 250 miles to Tucson or of me replacing the stator myself. Well, I don't own a pick-up for transporting, nor do I own a flywheel puller for the removal of the flywheel. Then inspiration struck. Shelby...not me. There is a shop in Flagstaff (only 50 miles away) that is in the process of becoming a Genuine dealer. The shop is called 'The Flying Dorffini' and is a repair shop that specializes in European motorcycles (you should see the WW II BMW's there) and motorscooters. Wade Dorffi and Curtis Smith are Certified Techs in BMW, Triumph and Ducati motorcycles among others. For more info, you can e-mail them at flyingdorffini@msn.com. Anyway, Shelby called Wade, who agreed to do the warranty work, then she called Genuine who agreed to authorize Wade to do the warranty work! That Shelby is ONE smart cookie! That customer service is why I would recommend Scoot Over above all other scooter shops I know of. So I borrowed a friend's pick-up on Thursday and took the Buddy to Wade. I have had to ride Ski's Helix all week. Don't know how much longer I can hold out......I'm jonesing BAD!! As nice and stable and as nice as it rides and as fast as it is, a Honda Helix still corners like a Greyhound Bus. I miss my little Buddy.
C-ya...ride on!
--Keys
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