Hamara Bajaj

This is my daily rider right now. It's a 2002 Bajaj Chetak. It wasn't running very well when I bought it. The previous owner bought it new and rode it to work every day for a couple of years. When his new job was further than he could go on the scooter, he parked it in his garage and it sat there for a couple of years.

When I went to look at it, he could start it up but it wouldn't run for long. He said he "messed with these screws on the engine"  to try and get it running, but he didn't have any luck and he was moving to Hawaii and he was just selling it. I got it for a good price. Plus a helmet and some oil and a new throttle cable.

I took it home and changed the plug and replaced the vacuum and fuel hoses. I pulled the carb which was really gunky but not corroded. I cleaned it out and set the mixture screw back to the factory setting. Once it all back together, it ran a little better but was still choking out.

I got down and checked the oil. I could see that it was dirty but I kept putting the dipstick in at a wrong angle because it kept coming back with oil all the way past the high mark on the stick. After the third time, it occurred to me to look into the oil reservoir and I could see oil right up to the lip. It was overfilled. I drained the oil and looked through it. It was really dark, but not too metallic. No mouse skeletons or anything. I refilled the reservoir slowly, checking the volume over and over until it was the correct level.

The engine started right up. I adjusted the idle and it sat there chugging away quietly.

It had some electrical issues that I sorted out by replacing all the bulbs in the lights. The horn is still odd. Rather than blasting when I hit the button, it beeps a little when I release the button. It's been suggested that it's the tuning screw in the back of the horn assembly. (I think in writing this out I may have stumbled on a possible cause. The Chetak has a turn signal beeper that is very loud and annoying. I disconnected it and left the wires hanging. Now I am wondering if this interrupts or somehow affects the current for the horn. I'm learning!)

It's my first manual shift scooter. I have driven manual in cars and trucks so I got the concept but it has all been Twist and Go up til this point. I can ride and shift just fine but I can tell that A. I need to adjust the clutch and B. there's a lot more nuance to be learned. I still jerk like a donkey on it sometimes. In fact, the neighbor kids call me Donkey Jerk when they see me. Although now that I think about it, they were calling me that before I got the Bajaj...

I like it. I like the sound of the gears changing and the control I have over acceleration. It's fast enough. I had it at 60 (in a 45! Bad me.) It starts up right away with either the starter switch or the first or second kick.

What I DON'T like is the chrome rack on the front (or most excessive chrome work and mirrors. Sorry scooter history purists...) I appreciate the protective nature of the cowl bars but the rack is like a rattly semi-useful parasite or a shiny chrome monkey hanging on for a ride. But what else am I going to do with it? Put it inside my house to take up space? Sell it on eBay? I already have the thing, shouldn't I keep it?

I do use the rack occasionally but the thing I really enjoy about the Chetak is the manual transmission and the tough guttural sound of the muffler (someone somewhere is saying, "why don't you just buy a motorcycle?" Shut up, already). So I'll be riding along thinking "Yeah! this thing sounds awesome!" and I will look down and see the rack and it stares back at me and rattles and says in a whisper I can hear over the engine, "Station Wagon!!" and I realize I am going 40mph and not the "F*CK YEAH" guestimated 80mph I had going for a bit there. Screw you, rack. You can't take me down like that.

I did wrap a bungee cord around it and that helped the rattle but I haven't figured out a good clean solution to silence the lock on the glovebox which rings like a little jinglebell on speed. It probably doesn't help that this is the music I hear in my head every time I get on it to ride: