2006 Roketa Cayman 150 (MC-27-150)

[90GTVert]

A brief history :

My friend bought this scooter new in 2006 from Extreme Scooters online and had it shipped to my house. We assembled it and really didn't do much else to it right away. To date, it's still never had any sort of PDI process. I did install a K&N pod filter for him and build a few different custom mufflers for it. He added a strobe light. Otherwise, it's stock. He rode it around with me on my Triton for roughly 1500 miles. I put 1000 miles on it when my scoot was down for a month one summer waiting on a part. It used to be ridden as if it were a 50, with no tags.

The owner took it to his house briefly. He let his girlfriend ride it around in the yard and a parking lot. He said she was doing pretty well. Then her mother came over and she wanted to show her mother that she could ride the scooter. Apparently she decided to show off and went WOT in the yard. It spooked her a bit, she hit a tree root, and ended up falling. It's a fairly small yard and my friend said she was only going 5-10MPH, maybe 15MPH tops, but it bent the steering stem. He bought the stem and I or we replaced it. To my recollection, it was only scuffed beyond that.

In 2008, the owner got his motorcycle license and tagged and insured it. He rode it up the road a few miles and I don't think he rode it since, because he also had a Suzuki Marauder and Honda CBR600RR and he mostly rode the Honda. I would occasionally start it and let it run and maybe take it around the yard, just so it wasn't sitting. Eventually I gave up on doing that, because I realized he had little interest in riding it. After sitting for months, another friend wanted to borrow it for his motorcycle license skills test. I charged the battery, cleaned the carb, adjusted the valves, and made sure it ran alright. That friend took the test on this scooter and then it again returned to my garage sitting in the corner. Within a year or so, another friend wanted to use it for the motorcycle test. In case you're wondering, these guys all owned sport bikes and it's way easier to do the skills test on the 150 than a sport bike or pretty much any other bike that's legal to take the test on. So once again I got the scoot back on it's feet, the test was passed, and the scooter went back into the corner.

It sat in the corner under a cover with stuff piled on top of it from whenever the last use was, probably 2009-2010, until recently. The owner said many times that he'd like to come up and get it going and ride it a bit, but it never happened. I was given the scooter for Christmas this year, 2015.

How it sat for years.

[90GTVert]

I freed the Roketa from the corner yesterday. The amount of cobwebs and dead spiders makes it obvious it hasn't been touched in a very long time.



It was put away fairly clean, but managed to even get dusty under the cover. In the third pic below, you can see that the cover and the scooter were becoming one.



Here's some info from the tags on the scooter and current mileage. I never noticed or paid attention before that it's made by Motofino.



Wheeled it up on the bench.



Both tires were flat or at least very low, so I pumped those up and I'll have to check if they will continue to hold air. The paint is flaking off of the front wheel. I went to blow the cobwebs off with the compressor and paint flew everywhere. The master cylinder cover's paint was also falling off and I noticed that there is no resistance on the front brake lever. I'm assuming these parts came in contact with brake fluid.



The seat is beginning to come apart at the seems a bit.




My goals with this scooter for now aren't huge. I want to get it in shape well enough to pass a MD state inspection and to run well enough to use for a motorcycle skills test so I can try to get my motorcycle license and operate it legally. Beyond there, I'm not sure what I'll end up doing with it.

I need to see if I can find any detailed info about motorcycle inspection requirements in MD, because there are things I'm uncertain about.

I believe it must have a rear mudgaurd installed. The stock one was removed and the turn signals were relocated for a cleaner look shortly after the scoot was bought new. It still has a fender, but it was cut back so it's only long enough to protect the open filter a bit. I'm not sure if it must have both the mudguard and a complete rear fender or not. I may have a mudgaurd around.



I know it will need a new battery. The current one is the original and is totally dead. I'm thinking about a Motobatt or MMG, but I'll have to see what the price difference is for those vs a standard replacement for a 7A-BS.



I'm not sure if this is common with any other models of 150s, but when this scooter was assembled we had to cut the carburetor access panel to make it fit. The carb sits too high, or the panel sits too low. Turning the automatic enricher won't create enough clearance to fit under there either. Nothing has been altered with the seat bucket, carb mount, suspension, etc...to make this happen. This is how it was stock. I'm not sure if this presents a problem with inspection or not with the engine area being open to the under seat storage area.



The current muffler is modified, as you can guess by the screws in it. It's not really loud, but louder than stock. I don't know how strict they are on mufflers. If I have a stock one anymore, I'll install it.



It had a strobe light mounted under it that flashed red and white. I don't know that it really matters for inspection since it could be turned on and off via a switch. I removed it last night anyway, just in case. I can find more fun ways to get myself into trouble than a strobe light anyhow.



It's had fuel in it for I guess 5 years or so. What a lovely smell that was when I removed the gas cap. It's still got the stock fuel system so I took the petcock off to drain it. I'm tempted to thread the tank so it can accept a 1/4" hose barb and install a manual petcock, but I'm not really sure what the laws are on modifying an OEM system. Part of me says go for it, but AFAIK it still works so if it will keep working till I get it inspected then I can modify it later.



I pulled the carburetor off and was a bit surprised to see a Walbro. It doesn't seem like there's any fuel in it, but it smells terrible so I'm sure it's a mess in there.



That's as far as I got with it yesterday.

[spaz12]

As usual, nice writeup. I'm certain the 150 guys will love these.

[ams417]

A little paint and polish and it'll be good as new. You'll have fun with that, even if it is a 4 stroke.

[niz76]

Interesting looking scoot!- not sure I've seen one like it before. I'm sure you'll have her purring in short order!

[spaz12]

Do my eyes deceive me? Do I see a mount for a brake caliper on the pipe side of the scoot? Hmm


EDIT: That's probably for the missing fender.

[90GTVert]

Dec 27, 2015 20:30:12 GMT -5 spaz12 said:

Do my eyes deceive me? Do I see a mount for a brake caliper on the pipe side of the scoot? Hmm


EDIT: That's probably for the missing fender.

Yup, that's for the fender.

[90GTVert]

I had a pleasant surprise when I removed the bowl from the carburetor today. It looks like for once I was smart enough to drain the fuel from the carb before a scoot sat for an extended period of time. I still disassembled it and ran a bunch of cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner. The only things that concern me a bit about the carb now are the old rubber gaskets. The diaphragm is fine, but the rubber o-ring type gaskets are dry/hard. Hopefully it all seals.



I had a 115 main jet and 38 pilot in there with the K&N. Since I plan to use an airbox, I moved down to a 110 and 38. I found the stock jets from this scooter and they were a 104 main and 36 pilot. I must be forgetting a trick or I just forgot that these 150s suck. The engine mount and intake are so close that it's not a lot of fun getting the carb back on. Either I'll get the hang of it, or carb tuning will be a real blast.

It was 70 degrees this winter day, so I took advantage of it. While the carb was being cleaned, I covered the intake with a plastic bag and rubber band and then washed the scoot. Not a great job, but at least it's not covered in dust and spiders anymore.



I did find the mudguard, front fender (which I totally forgot about needing), stock muffler, and stock airbox. 1 nipple is busted off of the airbox and one is cracked though. Not sure why. I see they're only $30 for brand new ones shipped though, so I'll prob just buy a new one so everything can connect as stock and hopefully that won't be an issue for inspection.

[90GTVert]

I found a MD State Inspection Checklist at the link below that seems to match some info on the MVA site. Unfortunately, you need their code book to know any details and that is apparently only sold to authorized inspectors. Not sure why that has to be classified information.

msichecklists.com/product/motorcycle-maryland-state-inspection-checklist/


I forgot all about side reflectors before I looked at the checklist. This scooter never even had them stock. You can see in the link to Roketa's site that they are not present. There aren't any holes in the front fender for reflectors or in the underseat panel. Both of my 49cc Tritons had them though. I have 2 amber reflectors on the Venus that I can transfer over. I've tossed any others I had, so I ordered 2 red reflectors on eBay for the rear side. The red ones are intended to be rear side reflectors, but on Tritons and other similar scoots they're more like center reflectors. I think I'll try to find a spot more rearward when I mount them.

www.roketa.com/product/36066/0/2626.shtml


I see that they list passenger hand holds on the inspection list. Unless they're gonna count the spoiler, there are none. Hopefully it's something that is not required, but checked if present.


Parts For Scooters carries the rear fender for $13 shipped so I'll just replace it rather than hope they accept one that's chopped back. I decided to just go with a cheap battery for now, so I bought this one. I still need to order an airbox. With all of the stuff listed, that's about $75. Right now the only other thing it may need that I know of are front brake parts, but I'm hoping they'll just need to be filled and bled. Something I read about MD inspections on a MD page said shops can charge 1.5 times their usual labor rate to do inspection related things. Most seem to be near $100/hr regular rate, so I'm guessing the inspection will be my biggest expense.

[190mech]

How about remove those 'franken screws' from the muffler and install some pop rivets,they'll look more stock-er..

[90GTVert]

I found the stock muffler, so I can install it. I may rivet the other though since it'll prob end up on there later.

[ryan_ott]

Where do you go for MD inspections, state facility or private garage? If private garage they may not look into the bike that much. Maybe stop by one and ask what's needed to feel them out. Here in PA all inspections are done by private garages. My guy doesn't even see my bikes or car for that matter. Lickem and stickem they say. $20 for bikes $60 for cars

[90GTVert]

Private shops, but the only two near me (just happen to be side by side with each other) are both dealerships. One's a Honda dealership and the other is a KTM dealer. I'm probably going to the KTM dealer. I know when I worked on scoots, I had some people tell me the Honda place wasn't too friendly about Chinese stuff. Prob neither one wants a Chinese scoot to deal with, but if they're licensed by the state I don't imagine they can refuse an inspection like they can with repairs. Doesn't mean they can't hate the thing and be tough on it. I'm not saying they are anything less than fair, I'm just a bit nervous about the whole idea of trying to get this thing to pass an inspection that follows the book to the letter.

I'm not sure how it will go with them. With my Mustang I took it to a guy that went by the book when I bought the car and it failed for something really minor. The battery was secure but the PO had done something that wasn't original or something like that and I had to buy a Ford part and replace part of the hold down, then he passed it. It's been 14 years, so I forget exactly the part or issue, but very minor. Then when I got pulled over for exhaust, I went to a different shop. He started the car, looked under to be sure it had cats, opened the hood and mentioned the lack of smog pump that should fail it and then signed it off anyway.

[90GTVert]

I just ordered the rear fender and the little tube that goes on top of the fan cover that's missing on this scoot. I was on PFS and wandered into the cylinder heads and CVT parts. Had to tell myself to stop that.

[niz76]

Dec 28, 2015 22:09:36 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

I just ordered the rear fender and the little tube that goes on top of the fan cover that's missing on this scoot. I was on Parts For Scooters and wandered into the cylinder heads and CVT parts. Had to tell myself to stop that.

Lol I keep eyeballing that $200 Hoca "2t lightened flywheel setup" and have to keep telling myself to stop! I could swear I saw a 4t 180cc Malossi BBK somewhere....