New Tao Tao 50 cruiser owner

[mastamn]

Hello,

I have been looking at purchasing a Ruckus for some time.
My father thought he would be a cool 70 year old and surprise me with a Tao Tao 50 Cruiser.
Pretty neat toy but I am not able to get any factory support as expected and am unable to find much on the web.
I stumbled across this page and thought I would ask some questions as Tao Tao will not return my calls or emails.

The scooter rides very rough. (front end vibrates and shakes while cruising).  I am curious if other owners of this model have any tips or tricks on how to improve the ride quality.  I am looking for the recommended tire pressure  for front and rear along with any suspension setup suggestions.

I plan on purchasing a ruckus so my pops and I can cruise around together.

Thanks,

-Matt

[jackrides]

I do not know that model. My Tao tao cy50A uses 30 PSI front and rear. Check your front steering bearings as follows: Sit on the scoot, hold firm on the front brake, and try to rock it back and forth. If you feel a knock or see movement, the bearings are way too loose, and that is dangerous. (Happened on mine as delivered.) Next, have someone sit on it while it's on the center stand and hold the bars firm. Your job is to get down, grab the front wheel front and back, and see if you feel or see movement when you push and pull (opposing motions at the same time). If you do, that's bad. Take the wheel off and fix it. Next, spin the wheel to see if it is out of round. Remaining is out of balance wheel. That is fairly simple, but takes a lot of words. My scoot also rides rough, it goes with the territory.
Scrappy Dog Scooters sells a decent manual.
Welcome to the forum! Good people here.

[90GTVert]

You can find manuals for free here, but most Chinese scoots won't have service manuals specific to them. Many tasks will be the same or similar from scoot to scoot, but make sure you have a manual for something with your engine (which should be the 139QMB/1P39QMB)
www.49ccscoot.com/manuals/manuals.html

I usually go with 32psi front and rear for light riders and may move up to 36psi for heavy riders or 2up, sometimes even 40psi in the rear. Some scooters have a sticker on them somewhere showing recommended tire pressures.

[aeroxbud]

Welcome to forum mastamn

[culcune]

One of the problems with Chinese scooters is that they are sold to most people direct from the warehouse without going through dealers. This means that out of the box, the bikes are not properly PDI'd the way, say a new Ruckus sent to a Honda dealership would be. There are generally no manuals that come with the bike, the catch-22 being that they are supposedto go to authorized dealers who know what they are doing. They are obviously not complicated, by any means to assemble, but unless one works at a dealership, there may be things that get missed. I once bought an enduro, and a friend bought a 50cc scooter, so we got a discount on shipping. The scooter was fully assembled, but evidently there was a main bolt that needed to be tightened in the steering, necessitating the removal of body panels. She had ridden it for a few weeks with play in the steering, and it wasn't until I could get around to helping her, plus the fact that I knew the wholesale dealer/distributor, that I could figure out it needed tightening. Fortunately, it only went about 30+ mph, but there are always those freakish accidents that we hear and read about.

[badpumpkin]

Welcome, I've got two tao taos. They are the cheapest scooters. I have two tao taos and it's only because of this forum that they run like little ninjas.

[Senna1Rossi]

Welcome