(PT. 11) The drive belt SHREDS on the most HATED scooter on the internet (Living with a Tao Tao)

In my experience working as a technician in independent motorcycle shops I worked on everything from CVO Harley Davidsons to Honda CT90s. But there was one bike that always stood out with exceptionally poor quality. The Tao Tao 50cc GY6 (139QMB) scooter. And now I'm going to put this scooter to the test and find out if they really are little money pits, or if the issues with the bike are a result of the people who buy these kinds of scooters.

So I purchased a Tao Tao "Pony" ATM 50 and my plan is to make it my main means of transportation for 6 months. Yes from June 1st to January 1st this little scooter is going to be my daily driver. I'll be logging all of the miles, issues and expenses of keeping this scooter running in a log. Doing this will allow me to present a true cost of ownership at the end of this experiment.

The Tao Tao Pony 50 is based on the generic GY6 139QMB platform. They were sold under many different "Brand" names like Wolf, Bintelli, Fly, Rocketa, MotoBravo, Italica, and Dongfang just to name a few. You may be riding one and not even know it!

On my way home from work one rainy evening my scooter's drive belt shredded without warning. I then pushed the bike to a parking lot where I weighed my options. I was only 5-6 miles from home where my tools and spare drive belt were (I knew from experience these bikes come equipped with sub-par belts). So I decided to hail a Lyft ride home, had the driver wait as I ran inside and grabbed a bag of tools and my spare belt, and back out to my scooter.

This is another situation where if I were not a well-versed scooter technician this would have been an extremely expensive breakdown. If I did not have a spare belt I would have had to wait until the next day to get one from a motorcycle shop. In that time my scooter would have been left unattended in a parking lot and would have been easily stolen. My other option would have been to have my scooter towed to my house or a shop which would have been VERY expensive.

Ultimately I was able to get out of this one without much expense, but I DID notate the cost of the Lyft ride in my spreadsheet!

There are people who ride around with a spare belt under their seat, but for me that would reduce the amount of cargo space too dramatically. You would then need to travel with an impact driver because removing the variator nut is nearly impossible with hand tools alone. Then you need to make sure your impact driver is always charged and problems trickle down from there.

The parts I've used in this experiment are so far are:
Bel-Ray 10w40: https://amzn.to/3d623vR
Bel-Ray 80/90 Hypoid gear oil: https://amzn.to/2N3yFft
NGK CR7HSA spark plug: https://scooter911.com/shop/ngk-cr7hs...
Brake line: https://www.scooterworks.com/Blue-Lin...
Performance Exhaust: https://amzn.to/2GfzQs4
Carburetor Jet Kit: https://amzn.to/32UtBTu
Drive Belt: https://amzn.to/3hC3rt2
Headlamp bulb: https://amzn.to/37huSVn

I make my adjustments to the mixture screw using this Digi Synch Manometer/Synchronizer: https://amzn.to/37B81nl

Follow my experiment in real time! Here is a link to my Tao Tao log/Health Report!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

If you want to keep up with this project between videos be sure to follow me on social media!

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#TaoTao #Gy6 #50cc