Midweek

The new bike is supposed to arrive at the shop on Tuesday. If so, it should be ready on Wednesday. These things arrive on pallets, mostly assembled, at the dealership, where they get their final assembly and the once-over (based on various sources, it's likely just a matter of mounting the handlebars, front wheel, etc.). I trust this particular shop to do a good job of that both because I've dealt with them before and because their primary market is college students whose parents would raise legal hell if e.g. the handlebars came off in Little Johnny's hand and he bruised an elbow.

When I ordered the bike, they said they would try to get me the version with yellow fairings (it comes in other colors as well), but wouldn't know if it was in stock until they asked. They now tell me that yellow was available. Hooray!

I just ordered a "modular" helmet -- full face, but it flips up instead of being one piece -- from Walmart. It will arrive some time next week. I'm not sure I'll always wear it, as I like the open air and my half-helmet seems like a reasonable compromise at town speeds, but the price was right and it should be very nice for Florida's version of "winter." I was wanting a yellow one, but didn't find one of acceptable quality in my price range. Especially one that has a internal flip-down "sunglass" visor and comes with a free pair of gloves. So matte black it is. I have another pair of gloves, and a phone holder, and a handlebar pad, on the way as well.

I haven't started ordering parts for the bike, since I won't know what all fits/works until I have the bike and/or the bike's user manual in front of me. This particular model seems to be new enough that there's not much about it on "Chinese scooter riders" forums, etc. I may order oil and gear oil, but there's really no hurry. I will probably have the scooter shop do the first "post-break-in" maintenance of that sort.

One thing I'll buy if necessary: A USB-powered digital speedometer. The Chinese scooters are notorious for their speedometers being 5-10 miles per hour "optimistic." I've got a speedometer app on my phone, but if there's room I'd rather have something both accurate and permanently mounted -- and the bike has a USB port. That's assuming my mechanic friend doesn't have some trick up his sleeve for calibrating the stock speedometer.

Once it's broken in and I have specs or can manually take measurements, the modifications begin:

• Performance air filter (tune the carburetor);
• Performance exhaust (tune the carburetor);
• Remove any extraneous emissions equipment (tune the carburetor);
• Upjet the carburetor or put on a bigger carburetor (and tune the carburetor);
• Oil cooler if I have any overheating problems;
• Slightly fatter tires at some point, but that may just be when the factory tires start nearing replacement time;
• New handlebars and handgrips if, for any reason, I don't like the factory ones;
• Bore kit or bigger engine if I'm still not happy with top speed, but want to stick with this bike.

My expectation is that all of that stuff will get done over the course of a year or more (probably more on the tires).

At some point, I also expect I'll decide to go "real motorcycle," and I intend to keep/get this thing in good enough shape to get decent money for it on the used market. But hopefully we're talking at least 2-3 years down the road.