Diary

Shortly after writing the small piece below my Leo lost power (october 2003). I've been riding ~100km and the last 50km or so was almost flat out with a good strong wind from behind. So I was almost flying (or as close as a 14ps scooter gets to that) and arrived without incidents at the ferry in Ebeltoft. But when I came to Odden it didn't run well and struggled just to get to 80km/h. I couldn't hear anything odd from the engine so I rode the last ~100km to work. Then I tried with a different sparkplug, cleaned the air filter etc but it did not get any better so later that week I rode it the ~200km home again.

Home I tried again with carb. cleaner etc but it did'nt deliver full power. But since I could not hear anythinh odd from the engine I suspected it was simply worn out. Since the Leonardo has a bad reputation for wrecking the engine at such low mileages - like many others with only one cylinder - I was not to optimistic with regards to it being possible to repair it at a reasonable cost. Id had after all done 63800km. So I took the train the next week and started looking for a different ride - I considered many different possibilities including Suzuki Burgman 400 and Aprilia Pegaso as well as many others

So it was mostly by impulse I bought an Yamaha XT600Z Ténéré. It was a Swiss 3DS (one square headlight) from 1988 sold as new in Denmark in 1994 by Fisker Motorcykler and had just received a factory new engine after the first blew up at only 37000km. I bought it privately from the first and only owner and thought that with the new engine and full service history it could not be the worst choice :-) I did'nt have proper clothing with me and rode it home in shoes, jeans and a almost windproof jacket and a borrowed cross helmet and a pair of wool gloves. After 45km the sun was down at it started snowing, but I kept going and arrived at the ferry like a snowman. I then called my wife and and she agreed to drive the 100km down to Ebeltoft with my riding gear. But she had forgotten my boots so the the last 100km home was also in soaked shoes, but luckily the snow was melting so the roads where not to slippery. It has served me well the last 2,5 years and i've done close to 50000km on it without major problems - I've not had to use the recovery service, not even once. On average I've almost used that for the Leonardo once a year while it was running (2 broken belts, rear wheel bearings, loose nut in vario after service and after the exhaust was leovinci freeway was stolen)

In November 2005 I finally got around to open the engine (Pictures with description in Danish) Its classic Leo damage - but luckily the valve did not break so I only have to replace the valve and the rocker that runs on the camshaft and pushes the valve. The bearing that runs on the camshaft is also toasted on the exhaust side. I think the bearing on the intake side is still good enough but is has some play sideways.

Besides - I got an offer that I couldn't resist so I've also bought a "new" Leonardo 125. It is from 1997 but has only done 6300km (Pictures of my new one). I thought that if my repair should fail I can always just swap the engines :-) Remember we have very high vehicle taxes her in Denmark so it would probably cost 1500-2000 Euro to register it. In 1998 the list price of a 125ccm leo was 5400 Euro

Things take time - and sourcing cheap replacements parts can also be a problem so I did'nt have it back together again before marts 2006 and it started! But as soon as the engine warms and the auto choker shuts off, it died again goes out. Maybe not surprising since it has been standing still for a long time so I tried to clean the carburetor a few times. It showed sign of corrosion in several places but the needles, floats etc seemed ok. But it did not help.

I then took the carburetor from the new (1997 7000km) and fitted it with the main jet from a third carburetor since it was in better condition than the one from my original one (remember I bought a 150 wreck several years back and used the i.e the starter bearing)

Now it is running - jubii - and I've done ~75km on it - the top speed is again over 100km/h measured by GPS and average over both directions to copmpensate for wind and up/downhill (The earth aren't flat afterall :-)

I rode about 3000km with the leovinci 4road without the plug-in silencer and can't avoid wondering whether that may have cased the engine to run to hot. So I've but the silencer in and settled with the thought that many other Leonardo has had the same trouble with only half the mileage.

But I've started a small list of things to do...

• The fan in front of the radiator is dead - it is only in warm weather and to much traffic I've heard it running so not much of a problem.
• There is to much play in the engine-swing. That is between the tube and bearings in the engine case. I've already replaced it once before at 38680km (See winter work 2002 )but it is very much needed again
• Fixing a carburetor so the 125 is complete again - It also deserves a service with new oil, valve adjustments etc...

I have'nt updated this page in more than a year, and i don't expect to update it to much either in the future. I Simply don't have the time. My plan is still to try to add something from time to time and maybe even complete the "my leo" pages.

If you have'nt allready then please join the leonardo forum on yahoo - Then a lot of others will be able to help you. If you can understand german there is also a very good german forum. See link page for details.

The last year I have ridden 200000km. I have 2 malossi belts fail on me at 7-8000km, replaced the vario to a new from aprilia along with the rear pulleys. I've also just gotten a new exhaust and this time its a Leovince 4 road which is in stainless steel.

I know (and also gotten some mail telling me) that I'm not to good at updating these pages, but I'm simply been to busy (lame excuse :-) with the family and work (Had 75 hours overtime just in May).

But a few things has happened. Andrea from Rome recommends the Pirelli GTS23/24. It is also in Pirellis High Performance group of tyres along with the ST 66 and the EVO 21/22 (not available in 140/70-12). So Pirelli does also rate them better than their standard tyres like SL26 (that are fitted standard on many Leo's) and SL36.

I've also updated the My Leo page with a list of the brake pads I've worn down.

Two month ago I ordered an Givi D236S windscreen. It has finally arrived and it does provide better protection of the torso than the scandard screen. It is however still so small that the air it pushes up passes below my helmet so the noise is not worse than before. But I'll probably still fit a big windscreen again next winter.

I've had my Leonardo since 8/98 and ride all year long. The Danish winters are tough on the fine Italien mechanics so after four winters and almost 40000km it looked a bit sad. I had thought about shining it a bit for a long time (and actually repainted the rear frame in the middle of 2000). But what kicked me into gear was that the bearings where the engine mounts to the frame gave up. So since I had to take the engine out of the frame to replace them I could as well do some repairs while I was at it.

Well - what I've done is strip it down to the frame. repaint whats needed and put it back together again. It has taken me around 30-40 hours and cost me ~750 Euro. But much of the cost has nothing to do with the rebuild. I would have needed new tyres, brake discs and rear shocks soon anyway. The work it something anyone can do as long as they have access to a place where they can spread out the pieces for a month :-)

A list of what I've done

• Replaced ball bearings where the engine fits the frame
• Replaced the axle that goes trough the above bearings (there would have been a play under the new bearings)
• Replaced wheel bearings - front and rear
• New tyres Heidenau K58 (front and rear).
• New extra long mirrors (+ ~1,5cm) from ScooterCenter.
• Replaced brake discs with Braking discs (front and rear).
• New Braking brake pads.
• Painted brake calibers with special two-component paint.
• Replaced rear shocks with new Bitubo ZVB. I had sent the old ones to Alpha Technick to get the seals replaced, but the post managed to break one of the shocks on the way. I have filed a complaint to get damages, but it can take some time ...
• Changed oil in front fork and tried to repair the damage to the chrome - sanded it down and sealed it with super glue.
• Enduro style front for protectors.
• Changed transmission oil - The airing tube was damaged and water had gotten into the oil.
• Replaced the vario with one from Betella. I've ridden 6000km with a Bettella before but that had a defect in the material, so this Bettella is the replacement i got on the warranty (from ScooterCenter). The original vario is very worn with deep grooves after the belt. I have for the same reasons replaced the outer vario disc (flywheel) with a polini some time ago.
• Powder coated: wheels, transmission cover, plate behind exhaust, center stand, luggage rack and the wing.
• Got my gianelli exhaust welded, because it has cracked by the front fitting. Afterward I gave it some Plasticote exhaust paint that has to "heat dry" in a oven (or go for a long ride :-).
• Painted the frame and side stand with Hammerite paint (brush).
• Put "Tectyl" anti-rust into the frame.

Almost all bolts that I had out I replaced with stainless steel bolts and finally I gave all the black plastic on the scoot some bumper black. But I still have two things to do... After the crash last autumn (Went down with ~50-60km/h avoiding a car that drove out in front of me) the plastic is scratched and i plan to paint it and I need a new windscreen.

I've probably also forgotten a few things on the way :-)

More pictures and detailed description on the way - In the meantime you can have a look at some of the pictures here on yahoo.

Another year has passed and its time for a small status again. I drive more and more in our car so I've only done 8500km on the scooter. I still prefer the scooter but a car is more practical to get the 3 of us across the country to visit family and friends. So the car has done around 20000km last year.

But as I said I prefer riding the scooter even at this time a year. Yes it can be a bit cold when the temperature is around freezing but at least I don't have any windows to defrost before I can start :-)

We spent Christmas and New year away from home so the Leo was grounded for 10 days. Even if I had been home I would probably have had to let it be since we got some good snowstorms the last days of 2001. Dense traffic and lots of snow is not a good cocktail. One can easily ride a scooter in snow, but the risk of being hit by a car is too great.

Last Tuesdays the temperatures was above freezing during the day so a lot of the snow melted and the last two days the roads has been better. There is still some snow and ice around on the smaller roads but the tarmac is cleared on the major roads. The temperatures has been around -15°C to -5°C so its still a bit chilly. As can be seen on the picture above the weather also shows on scooter.

But it has started for me every morning - even after standing still for 10 days out in the cold. Because of the cold the battery does not have its full capacity and the starter can hardly turn the engine. But it have luckily enough been able to just turn it enough to get going. Maybe my next ride should have a kickstart :-)

When I had the scooter checked at 36000km I had told the mechanic that I would check the vario myself. Mostly because I knew I could do it and I could save a bit on labour, but also because I had a Bettella vario in there which I knew needed new rollers that the shop didn't have (9.0g instead of the official Aprilia ones at 9,5g).

When I picked the scooter up after service Peter (the mechanic) told me that he thought that the vario was to noisy and I better check it real soon.

When I listened to it I could hear that he was probably right, but I hadn't noticed it since the noise had probably increased over time. But then I crashed and it took another week before getting to it...

But on 2001/10/30 I had access to a fully equipped garage from a fellow Leonardo rider and with an air-driven impact wrench it only took minutes to disassemble the vario - and it was not a pretty sight. The material of the variator had given away so that there was a "play" between the "tube" that runs on the crank and the variator itself. On the picture you can see a 0,40mm leaf put down between. So the rattling in the transmission had a cause...

The day after I wrote to Scooter Center (where I had bought it) and within hours came a reply. I should just send it to them and they would send me a replacement as soon as the got it. So I got it shipped the same day and, it arrived by them two days later where they sent the replacement right away. The return parcel was delayed by a weekend but still arrived on the fourth day after dispatched. So once again i have to praise Scooter Center for their first class service and fast turn-around.

So right now the scooter is running with my original vario that I replaced at 30000km, because it had gotten grooves that affected performance. It is also still running with the stronger Bettella spring and spring slider and the polini flywheel. So with new 9,0g Malossi rollers it is actually running ok. Maybe it is running with a bit high rpm, but my guess is that the stronger spring maskes the difference, so the belt doesn't get stuck in the grooves.

But back to the new Bettella vario. I first noticed that the rollers had a different color. The old ones were blue and the new ones are white. So I weighted them. The total mass of all 6 are 58g or ~9,6g a piece. The old ones are down to 52g or ~8,7g but they have properly been at 9,0g when there were new. I can't see any difference between the new spring and the old one, but maybe the new one are stronger or else Bettella has just decided to change the weight of the rollers to get better fuel economy (lower rpm) instead of max. performance.

The next thing I noticed was, what might be a difference in the variator itself. The new one has a tube fitted in the cast disc. I.e on the new one there is a tube fixed in the disc that glide on the tube on the crank. I didn't see that on the old vario so maybe they have changed that ?

To make a long story short I blocked the front wheel, which slid away below me, while doing 50-60km/h. I got away without breaking anything but the scooter took some damage. click on the full story if you want it and the pictures.

I ride during the winters and it shows, so I plan to have some things like wheels, transmision cover etc. painted real soon. So I only asked for an adjustment of the valves and some fresh oil/filter.

I've gotten hold of another update from Aprilia for the tolerances of the valves.

	Current Tolerances (2001)	Tolerances (1999)
Intake valves	0.05 - 0.09mm	0.05 - 0.13mm
Exhaust valves	0,10 - 0.14mm	0,10 - 0.18mm

Peter (Søborg MC) adjusted the valves to 0,09mm and 0,13mm. Last time he set them at 0.10mm and 0.15mm since that was within the tolerances he had from the danish importer. I paid 1.5 hour for the inspection.

I've just changed the brake pads once again. The front ones were all gone, but there was almost 1mm left on the rear ones. I've only ridden 4700km on these in the last 6 months. I've often ridden longer on Lucas brake pads, so the reason they did'nt last longer is probably that I've been riding in the city most of the time. The picture is a tower of used pads on my leo. I think that there should be 34 pads ...

Søborg MC were as usual very busy and the danish importer also slow to get the parts send. So my leo was (again) grounded for 10days. I think that I've been visiting the workshop a bit much lately and I hope that I won't see them again before the next regular service at 36000km.

Today I have owned my leo for 1000 days, and it decided to celebrate it by leaking the cooling water. It is only a small leak so I have not noticed any dripping where it is parked, but there was not much water left in the expansion bottle. It is leaking from the thermostat and it looks like corrosion.

In addition the oil pressure swith is not working (the one for the warning lamp). I discovered that shortly after the seal broke. It probably wasn't working when the seal broke, so I'm just lucky that there was enough oil left in the engine to not completely wreck the engine... It has taken me some time to check out the cause. When I found out that the warning lamp was not working I just checked the oil level. But today I checked it out and it the sensors that it broken (Does not connect to ground - the wiring and warning lamp is ok)

The danish importer did not have it in stock so I had to wait several weeks for it and the price was 35€ for just a piece of "plastic".

I had just cleaned the scooter with a low pressure cleaner, but the pleasure was enough for the rubber to break in several of the folds. But this one has lasted almost as long as the first one I replaced on 19991028.

With the broken rubber hose the scooter couldn't idle at all, and in wet weather the spray from the rear wheel goes directly into the air filter (had to be changed as well). While I waited for the new one i had tried to seal it with tape

I had gotten a screw into my almost new rear tyre. When I saw it I was in Hillerød (~45km from home). I then had a few options.

• Take out the screw and hope that it was'nt all the way trough.
• Call for road assistence.
• Just ride it and hope that it would keep tight.

I choose the third option and just took the highway back to Søborg MC at full trottle. (Yeah i know that many would call that foulish... but i did'nt know how long i had been riding on the screw so why not risk a few more kilometers ...)

Søborg MC fitted a plug from outside with a special tool.

Another thing was the cost of the shaft seal. I paid 311,25dkr (42€) for the seal. I found that a bit steep, so I've surfed a bit and found an online price of only 12,90dm (6,61$). So I've paid more than 6 times what i could have bought it for from Motorrad Geiwiz [D]. I could also have bought a complete set of shaft seals (4) for only 49,60DM (20€) from Zweirad Zähringer - Centromotori [D]. The rest of the invoice was okay with 1,5 hours and 0,5l oil and a bit for various grease etc. (The 1,5 hour included the replacement of the rear tyre for which the exhaust has to be dropped).

But with economy aside I'm not sure what to think about the service from the workshop this time.

• Its a bit suspicious that the scooter breaks down only 25km after a service, but that can of course be a coincidence.
• I had to wait for more than a week for the new seal (Probably mostly the fault of the importer)
• The scooter was not rideable when I came to pick it up (still oil on belt and clutch). They thought it was clean enough and that the belt would burn off the remaining oil

As you can read below I've done a few things myself so this was a fast and cheap inspection. The valves was still within spec. and had changed very little since last inspection (exhaust valves 0,15mm, inlet valves 0,10mm). Then it got new oil for both engine and transmission. My rear tyre is also down to the wear-mark (after 6000km) but the new tyre was in backorder so it has to wait a bit.

In total 2 hours and 899,37dkr incl VAT. - My cheapest inspection yet.

30000km is also a good mileage to take stock about the expenses to spare parts etc... The main figures are that the costs has been:

0,35kr/km	Petrol
0,96kr/km	Service & Spare parts
0,40kr/km	Insurance

You can see these and other numbers on the statistics page.

(An Exhibition in Herning Messecenter, with almost all the models that will be available this year in Denmark. And of course also a lot of clothing, spare parts etc.)

I had decided to take a shortcut by ferry from Odden to Århus, so the round trip would only be ~400km instead of ~600km. On that route Mols Linien sails with a catamaran ferry which travels at 45 knot. But the ferry only sails every 3 hours so I had decided on getting up early for the first one at 8:30 and then get the last one home at 19:00.

I had not heard the weather forecast and got down on the street at 6:30 to -5 °C only wearing a set of normal clothes and my rukka goretex. I had expected it to be at least 10 ° warmer. There was also a thick layer of ice on the scooter including the windscreen. If I had been a bit more awake I would probably have looked out the window before going down to the scooter and brought a bottle of warm water (for the windscreen) and have worn at least an extra fleece jacket under the goretex. But since I was almost still at sleep I just drove very carefully down to the nearest petrol station very I threw a bucket of water onto the screen (from both sides) to get rid of the ice and off I went. I have ~110km to the ferry and for the first half hour I was fine, but then I got into a frosty mist and I got to cold for comfort. The road was also icy so I had to slow down a bit. Luckily I had left home early enough to have some time to spare and even with the lower speed on the last 40km I had 20 min before departure. Unfortunately the dew froze on the windscreen again while I waited for the ferry, so I had to ride almost standing to see over the screen when riding onto the ferry...

On the ferry I got the warmth back and when I came to Århus the temperature had increased to a few degrees above freezing so it was not to bad for the last ~90km to Herning

In Herning there was a lot to touch and look at. With regard to scooters the most interesting models were: Yamaha T-max, Piaggio ET4 150, Piaggio X9, Gilera Runner 180 (with the new 4 stroke engine) and the BMW C1. Aprilia had one of the biggest booths, but unfortunately the new Atlantis was missing. But they showed the SR50 DiTech (without panels so one could look at the details) and I redisovered my love for the Pegaso. My next ride could very well be an enudro style bike and then the pegaso is a real strong contender.

They have of course been shown on shows all over Europe by now, but this was my first hands-on too them. Unfortunately no test riding (except on a few other models on a small indoor track) but it gave a feel of riding positions and their build quality and attention to details.

The ride back was uneventful. When I got back to Odden I was the first vehicle of the ferry. I managed to keep ahead of the pack for 20km before I was catched by a corvette that passed me with more than 150km/h. Btw. the leo also passed 30000km on the way home, and I have booked inspection for it on Wednesday.

Almost worn down to the metal (~0,25mm left) but there was a hole in one of them. When the pads are manufactored the brake disc is cast onto a metal plate with one or more holes. On the Ferodo pad it is one hole in the middle. On one of the pads the preasure has been to high and the pad pressed trough the metal plate. The ferodo pads lasted this time 5701km which is my record on ferodo and close to my record of 5935km on SBS and the still had several mm left when I changed them.

They rear pads were again not worn equally, but also not as bad as the last times. The difference was within 0,25 and there was ~1mm left. But it is clear that the rear disc is worn a bit. It is thinner near the center than by the edge. It is so evident that it is difficult to remove tha caliper, since the pads has to be pressed back to get the caliper off. Since it isn't easy to see how much there is left without taking the caliper off I changed them anyway.

The Polini flywheel arrived today as promised by Polini Center Nord, Motoline Gmbh. But I don't plan to use it right now, since the old one seems to be working fine.

I customer in Hillerød called for support, so it was a good time to take a test run with the tacho on the 60km round trip. The engine idles at 1600rpm, and the clutch catches at ~3000km. Then it goes very fast to ~7500rpm and the vario keeps the engine at just below 8000rpm up too ~80km/h. From there it depends on the road (uphill/downhill). On a flat the engine ran at 8300rpm to 8600 rpm and still kept it over 8000rpm at slight uphill. I'll do the test again when I've ridden a few 100km to see how it behaves then.

The parcel arrived today - only 2 days after I send the order. That is good fast service. Both by the scooter center and by the German and danish posts.

Unfortunately the didn't have the Polini flywheel in stock, but the rest is here. I would have appreciated if the had told me that in the order confirmation, so I could try and locate it from an alternate source. But they have giving me an excused for not telling me. The also told me that the flywheel had been in backorder for 8 weeks from polini and they didn't know when it would arrive (Polini probably makes a batch a few time a year, so it could be a long wait ...)

Instead I phoned Polini Center Nord, Motoline Gmbh. They had it in stock and sent it right away.

I don't have preassured air tools myself which are needed to work on the vario and clutch. But I've written a bit with a new leo owner (Torben Knappe) that has a share in a workshop. I think that he's workshop is bigger than my apartment :-). He has bought a used leo with a mileage of ~14000km.

My new parts was a good opportunity to meet face2face and let me abuse he's tools. He is a busy man but had time this evening, so I decided not to wait for the flywheel. I thought that I could always replace it later if the aprilia one was to worn. It was last replaced at 16140km because I broke a wing off it.

With the airtools it was no problem removing the bolts that holds the vario and clutch in place. The vario disc was of course even more worn than last time I looked at it (Vario and Polini rollers). The flywheel has a groove big enough too see and feel where the belt runs at high speed, but it was not very deep.

The belt was not visibly worn even trough it has done ~13500km. I measure its width to 18,4mm and the new Malossi belt to 18,5mm (According to the workshop manual one first has to replace it at 17,8mm.) I replaced it anyway, but keep the old one as a spare.

The clutch was visibly worn but it still had ~5mm left on the shoes, so it will probably last another 20kkm.

Then it was time to replace the spring in clutch assembly. On the end is a 38mm nut, and we didn't have a tools that would fit so we used a pair of tongs for pipes (adjustable spanner?).

The whole operation took an hour, and could have been done in half an hour if we have had the 38mm tool. (But I will before next time :-)

I know that a new belt has to bed in, but it was like getting a completely new scooter. Accelerating from standstill the scooter very quickly revved much higher than before and the vario kept the revs very constant all the way to 80km/h (City ride - didn't want to risk my licence) One of the next days, I'll fit the tacho and get the actual values.

I've finally gotten my act together and ordered a new vario for my leo. The performance of the old one has been bad for the last 6000km but I have not been able to decide whether to go with Polini or Malossi. So I ended up buying Bettella. What made my make up my mind was that the Bettella vario includes a Spring Slider. that is an axial bearing between the spring and the rear pulley. It removes the torsion in the spring, and improves the reliability and the linearity of the operation - or so the say. They have filed for a patent on it, so they believe in it :-)

The only place I know of that sells Bettella is Scooter Center Köln [D] But besides the vario I needed a few other things.

Page	Order #	Description	Price DM
p61	R11878	Luftfiltereinsatz	10,00
p65	P244112	Riemenscheibe	79,00
p70	B080306	Betella variator mit gegendruckfeder und springslider	279,00
p73	8930152	Teflonspray	28,90
p82-83	M619593	Keilrem	75,00
p92	A180040	MVT digital drehzahlmesser	159,00
p100	FDB889	Bremsbelãge (vorne)	20,00
p100	FDB680	Bremsbelãge (hinten)	25,00
			675,90

An order # starting with a B means Betella, M means Malossi, P means Polini and the FDB means Ferodo. The teflonspray is for the rollers in the vario. Scooter Center Köln [D] recommends using that instead of normal heat resistent grease.

I've also been looking for a tacho (rpm viewer) for some time. I know that the digital sort is very cheap in USA (~40dm) but with postage and taxes the get as expensive as the MVT one I ordered. The reason I wanted one is that I want to make sure that the engine is running at the optimal rpm, after I change the vario. I'm especially concerned about the rpm at full throttle and max. speed. I sometimes go at full throttle for more than an hour and I don't wan't to kill the engine by running it with to high rpm. The engines max power is at 8500 rpm so the rpm at max. speed should be close to that.

I send the order by email early this morning and before noon, I got the reply that my parts was on the way.

On 13/12-2000 a strong wind tipped my scooter in the middle of the day. It was parked in the same spot as always (while I'm at work), but the wind must have come from an unusual direction. The result was some scratches on the left side of the scooter and a broken/bent windscreen. As you can see on the pictures it was a rather large piece that broke off. The fittings was also so bend that I couldn't turn the steering without the screen hitting the plastic. I had bought the windscreen on 09/01-1999 for 1523,00dkr (~200€), so it only lasted 2 years :-(

I then used the beginning of January to decide whether I wanted a new Aprilia windscreen or just buy a cheaper after market one. I really missed the screen for winter riding and ended up buying a cheap one for 126dm incl. p&p (~65€) from RollerShop2000

It is a Fabbri (Bologna, Italy) and almost the same size as my old one (a bit wider at the top) but is a bit different in shape. RollerShop also sells one that is lower, but since it is the same price, I figured that I could just take a bit off the big one if I wanted a shorter one :-)

The fittings for the screen was not painted that well, so I gave them a spray with Hammerite paint. I have fitted it as low as possible to get the best possible protection for my hands, and it is still high enough to protect my head.

So now we have started on a new millennium and today's date is 010101 (When you only use two digits for the year). This will properly cause some confusion this year, since you can't se whether that is year/month/day or day/month/year :-)

I bought a car in January last year, so I did not use my leo as much as the year before. I only did 10700km on two wheel and 13000km by car. I still prefer the leo for daily commuting, but it can't compete with the car for weekend trips to the other end of the country.

Of the 10700km the 1666km was for work for which I was compensated with 4405kr (tax free :-). The year before I did 4700km for work out of 13000km, so my own riding has actually increased a bit. My own riding split approximately in half between commuting and other things including joy-rides.

Today I replaced the rear shocks with the Bitubo that I bought a while ago. But before mounting them I removed some rust and repainted the rear frame.

I've finally written a bit about the sigma bicycle computer that I fitted to my scooter on 9/8-2000.

My Bitubo rear shock absorbers arrived today from http://www.rollershop24.com. I ordered them on 6/8-2000 and it took 8 days. But they had send it to the wrong address, eventrough they had confirmed by email that they would send it to the right address :(The sent it to my home address enstead of my place of work)

So because of the way the danish post works it took a few more days for me to get the parcel. When the post did'nt find anyone home on monday, they sent me a note that there was a parcel for me. That note came by post on tuesday, but I came home after the postoffice closed. So I had to leave early from work to collect the parcel on wednesday.

Unfortunately I'm not to impressed with the finish/quality of the bitubo shock absorbers. On one of them the paint of the spring is damaged in 4 places, while the other had damaged paint in one place. I'm afraid that they will rust very fast (Se some of the spots on the second and third picture to the left). First I just thought about painting the bad spots myself, but because of the springs motions I'm afraid that it wont't stay on. So I have asked Rollershop what I should do ?

I have also found out what the difference is between the rear chock absorbers for the 125cc and the 150cc leonardo. The 125cc version has a single long spring while the 150cc version has two springs with different tension, seperated by a plastic disc.

The german importer is Alpha Technik and they have gotten the TÜV approval for them. The parcel included a small red boklet with the documentation, so germans can have the chock absorbers put into their farzeugbrief (or what its called). Here in Denmark the rules are not that strict. But if the police starts to ask questions, the booklet should be enough to validate that the shocks fits my leonardo and are safe for road use. You can also buy Bitubo directly from Alpha Technik.

I have had some problems with the acceleration for some time now. I think that I started to notice it shortly after the 18000km inspection, and when I had the exhaust replaced at 22785km, it was so evident that the mechanic noticed it. At the 24000km inspection the mechanic checked the vario, and the only explanation he could find was that the discs in the vario are showing signs of wear. The are not below spec. yet, but the are clearly damaged, and they are expensive to replace. Now after the incident with the roller that turned sideways it has gotten even worse.

Enstead I have put in some 9.0g Polini rollers and it helps. It does not cure the problem completely, but because of the lighter weights (Org. rollers are 9,5g) the motor revs a bit higher and that is enough to keep it accelerating happily across the 40-50km/h range.

The polini roller are available in 8,4g 9,0g 9,5g and 10,2g and I have bought them from http://www.rollershop24.com

Look here for a longer decription and some pictures.

Well there should'nt be much to off just another weekend trip, but we had a few near accident worth mentioning (). (And there are lot of mosquitos this time of year - See the picture)

The following was originally posted on news:alt.scooter

Friday the 28/7 I was riding towards the ferry from Odden->Århus (Denmark), with my wife as pillion. The last 50 km is a small road with lots of speed limits as low as 50km/h and 60 km/h. There is always a lot of traffic, and because of the distances with the lower speed limits all of the traffic slow down.

So we were riding in the middle of a string of cars with approx 60-70km/h. The red Saab 900 behind me had been there for at least 10km when he suddenly decides he wants to overtake. It was in a slight left turn and before a small hill and I had seen an oncoming truck, so I did'nt dream that he would try to overtake there.

I first saw him when he was almost alongside me. I then thought he would slow down and take hes place behind me again because he's front bumber was only a few cm before my front wheel. Enstead he decided just to turn right so I had to follow towards the edge of the road and brake.

Ofcourse I should have been more attentive and seen him coming and I was lucky that the car behind also managed to brake in time. I could hear a few screaming tyres behind, but everyone got the speed down safely. I then followed him the last 25 km to the ferry, where he several times was "out looking" for possibilities of overtaking the cars in front.

So when he stopped in the queue to the ferry booth, I pulled alongside and asked him if he needed new glasses. Hes reply was: What are you taking about ?". I then reminded him about the "incident" 25 km before and "Årh, I had to turn right because of the oncoming truck". Then I got angry and asked him why the f*** he tries to overtake when he can't see long enough ahead and used a lot of words I don't know how to translate to english. The idiot had'nt even realised that hes manouvre was dangerous "#¤"#¤!!%%.

Later after we got to Århus by ferry an oncoming Polo decided to make a left turn in front of me. It was just after the light had changed and the girl in the Polo, thought that she had enough time to make a left turn before we should pass. I had to brake really hard (and used the horn) to avoid her only missed her with about 1,5 meter. The only positive thing about the incident was that her friend in the passenger side had seen us coming and looked very scared of getting a scooter trough the door. Lets hope the she tell her friend to take it more easy. I was not that I was accelerating hard because 14PS and 350kg does not move that fast from a standstill and I was only up to ~50km/h and had only pulled a few meters ahead of the car behind when we had to brake ...

Then in the evening I was riding alone on an almost deserted country road when a couch turned onto the road in front of me. When I saw him approach the crossing I flipped the high beam on and off, to make sure that he would see me. When he came to a complete standstill I thought that he had seen me, but he decided to turn onto the road in front of me anyway. I was doing ~100km/h and evaded him by going the wrong way around the second part of the traffic island. When I passed him, he was'nt even finished with he's turn. There was absolutely no traffic behind me, and the road was clear as far forward as I could se (more than 1km), so I can't imagine that he could overlook me. I think that he just did'nt care, since he had the biggest vehicle !#"#$. Then I use the horn as retribution - I kept the horn sounding for the whole evasive manouvre.

After such 3 incident in a day (and ~225km) one wonders if its time to switch to a big 4x4 :(

On my way home from Esbjerg on 25/6 the vario suddenly acted strange. I had then been riding ~100km at full speed (without stops) and only stopped to pay for the passing of the Great Belt Bridge. While stationary at the booth I noticed that the engine was running at a very slow idle. Then when the gate opened it almost could'nt accelerate, so I pulled over and was afraid that someting in the engine was blown

I put it on the center stand, and let the back wheel spin free. There was'nt any odd sounds or noise from the transmission and the engine responded normal to the throtte. Except that something had happened to the transmission so that it stayed in a high gear. I decided to see if I could ride it home (The last 120km). I have an insurance with breakdown coverage, but since it was late sunday evening, I just wanted to get home and did'nt feel like wating for a recovery truck.

It was possible to ride it. But because of the high gear it almost could'nt accelerate below 40-50 km/h. My guess is that it was running at less than normal idle up to ~40km/h, but after that it behaved normally. The last few kilometers from the motorway to my home was a nightmare - there was a lot of red traffic light. It is not possible to keep above 50km/h when that's the speed limit and the lights are against you.

The next morning I called for a truck, since I did'nt want to damage the leo any more by forcing it to run at low speeds (very low rpm) with the clutch engaged. Unfortunately the shop did'nt have time for opening it before tuesday.

The slide pieces was worn out. The are supposed to be changed along with the rollers (Remember that yourself, when you have the rollers changed !). But mine was so worn that one of the rollers had turned across and prevented the vario to close down to the lowest gear.

The did'nt have the slide pieces in stock (Not many danish leos with so high a mileage as mine) and ordered them from the importer (T.M.P). The slide pieces arrived on friday and I was running again. So 3 small pieces of plastic which cost 157,50kr put me in my car for a whole week :(

Jens Erik Bech suggested a ride on 17/6 to see the cathedral in Lund. It is in Sweden now but it was built when that part of Sweden belonged to Denmark.

Since the bridge to Sweden (Øresundsbron) first opens on 1/7 we took the ferry from Helsingør (DK) to Helsingborg (SE). The list price for a return ticket for a motorcycle is 170dkr but the girl in the booth took the Leonardos for mopeds, so we paid less than 1/3. People can call it a moped all the want, as long as it saves me money :)

Because of an accident on the highway just outside Helsingborg we drove in the general direction of Lund on smaller roads. We filled the leo's at a petrol station where the list price was 9,95 SEK/l (~1,20 EUR) for both 92, 95 and 98 oktan. They will soon need another digit on their price tags...

On the way there we passed Barcebäck which is a nuclear power plant (How nice of the swedes to place it 19km from the danish capital Copenhagen - but they are close to shutting it down.)

But we got to lund (which is a nice town) and looked around, but I forgot the camera in my bag ... But have a look at Lund turist pages. Their pictures are probably taken by a better photographer than me anyway.

I have decided to let Søborg MC service my leo again. It was original bought from them and the also did the 1000km inspection. They are also closer to my place of work (I can walk from there when the leo is serviced).

As well as the normal inspection I had both tyres changed to Sava MC16. It is the first time I have one of those on the front, and it needed 50g on the rim to be balanced proberly ... (The rear got 30g). I think that 30g and 50g is a bit much, so I suppose that I'll try another brand next time (Maybe Heidenau).

I have had SBS brake pads on the front for the last 6000km, but their grip is not as good as desired. So I had them changed to Ferodo eventhrough the SBS had enough left for a few more thousand kilometers.

The only major comment from them was that the valves was much out of their tolerances. The inlet valves tolerances was almost 0 and the outlet valves was also to small and different. I've been told that normally the valves bed in during the start of an engines life, and that after 24000km they should not change much. That they can get that much outside their tolerances during 6000km since the 18000km inspection worries me... But the engine runs noticeable better now.

Søborg MC used 4 hours for the inspection.

I've lost one of the two bolts that mounts the exhaust pipe holder on the motor and are supporting the rear wheel. The exhaust pipe holder is the plate on the right hand side on which the exhaust and the brake caliper fixing plate with the rear wheel ball bearing is fastened.

First I just thought that my dealer had'nt tightened it properly, when the exchanged the exhaust. But by closer inspection I found out that the had switched the two bolts (and washers/bushings). The upper of the two bolts also holds the rear mudguard, so it has as T bush, so it can be tightened without pressing to much on the plastic of the mudguard. The lower just has a normal washer. By exchanging the two bolts, the normal washer crushed the plastic of the mudguard - and got loose and fell out. The bolts is also of different lengths, so you can potentially damage the motor by schwitching them ...

I paid a full hour to them for exchanging the exhausts, so it should not be because they were in a hurry ...

I was then around the shop, telling them how unhappy I was that the could make such a mistake. It is afterall vital to the safety that all the bolts in the frame and suspension are there and are tightened proberly. I talked (or maybe it was more a speech) to both the boss and the mechanic that made the mistake, and they were very sorry about the mistake. But they have also made smaller errors in the past. Here are a few examples:

• Forgetting to put a few screws back into the fearing.
• Routing the rear brake hose the wrong way, and not fasten it to the rear mudguard with the rubber block.
• Changed spark plug to a normal one, eventrough I had told them in writing not to do it. That is because I prefer to use the NGK platinium plugs, as Aprila has recommended to use with the carburetor kit.
• Changed brake pads that was only 1200km old and almost like new (They had changed them along with tyres 6 weeks before)
• Forgetting to change the rollers when changing belt. (It was written in their calender that my leo should have it changed. I ended up paying for them to disassemble/assemble the transmission twice.)

The exhaust arrived today from ZMG motorsport and I had Hovedstadens Scootercenter put it on for me. The used almost an hour for exchanging them. I guees that the bolts most have been very rusty ...

It is hard to judge if the Gianelli Exhaust makes a difference in performance, without having anything to measure it by. But I think that it might have given a bit better acceleration and maybe also one or two km/h extra in topspeed.

The sound is not loud. I don't think that it makes much more noise than the original exhaust (It makes less noise than my defect one that rattles). A side by side compariseon with a stock leo will tell - have to do that sometime. But the sound is more deep.

I've just (accidently) tested how much rubber there is in a pressurized can of Fix-a-flat. I have had one in the helmet compartment since my puncture last year. This morning I gave my wife a ride to work, and when I put her helmet down to the other stuff down there I used a litle (to much) force to close the seat :(

I did not hear it (Was wearing my helmet), so I first found out later in the day, when I opened the seat again. Result: Rubber everywhere including on wy wife's helmet - Not recommended !

Today the odometer showed all 2's for about 2 minutes, while I took the picture :)

Today I found out the my rear brake pads were not worn equally. The outer (farest away from the wheel) was worn down to the metal but the inner had still half its original thickness. It is not easy to inspect the inner pad so I just check the outer and change them when they are worn down to less than 0,5mm (Yes I know that you're are supposed to change then at 1mm, byt there are not to thick to begin with).

I don't know why it was not worn evenly, but I've cleaned the caliper and put a new set of pads in. If these will be worn evenly, I'll suspect that the caliper was not properly cleaned last they was changed, or that some dirt had come in between the piston's, scream plates and brake pads.

I have gotten tired of listening to the exhaust rattle, and hav ordered a Gianelli Exhaust from ZMG Motorsport [D]. There is more detail on the parts page.

I have joined Leonardo Club Italia. The picture shows myself using the membership card as a mirror. The picture is taken by myself without any tricks - except getting the angles right between the light, me, the card and the camera. Besides the membership card, I have also received a T-shirt with embroided logos, A sticker and a sign to sew onto clothning. I have scanned the sticker and are now using it as a logo on the links page.

20000km reached on friday the 2000/03/10. I bought the Leo used on 1998/08/17 with 450km on the clock so I have ridden the rest in 19 month, which is an average of ~1000km/month.

The calender now says February 22 - And it is still very cold in the morning. The last few days we have had around -5°C in the morning (~8:00) which is normal for this time of year. You can see the ice on screen, seat and luggage box. I normally leave my helmet and gloves in the luggage box for the night, but this time of the year I then freeze my fingers on the way to work. You can't avoid a bit of moisture in the gloves, and when that freezes, they gloves are very cold to wear...

Last year I rode the scoter for 13000km of which 4700km was for work, compensated by my employer. I used it almost every weekday except for:
1 week skiing in Norway.
3 weeks summerholiday camping in Denmark (we did more than 1100 km on bicycle)
3 last weeks of december. I got married on 19991211, and after that we were on holiday in Eqypt (highly recommended this time of year) for a week and after that we spend cristmas with our familys.

So if I subtracts the weeks the scooter was parked, I averaged 300km a week. We plan on buying a secondhand car as a supplement to the scooter so I doubt that I will ride as much this year.

The cost of keeping it running has been rather high - almost 20000kr (after subtracting the compensation) for insurance, petrol, servicing and spare parts.

The worst storm this centery hit Denmark this afternoon with windspeeds up to 50m/s. The insurance company's estimate that they have to pay out more than 3000 million danish kroner. Event through I have parked the scooter as safe as a could the wind tipped it. The windscreen and luggage box took most of the fall, but I still got scratches on the body plastic.

For a look at the weather in Denmark visit DMI's pages

In addition to new oil, oil filter and (wrong) spark plug. They fitted the Braking front disc and my Schwalbe Powertrack tyre from last winter. The front wheels ball bearings were in bad shape and were changed. The rear tyre was also worn down and was also fitted with a Schwalbe Powertrack. Because of the new disc I also got new brake pads for the front even through the old was not worn down. This time I try pads from SBS.

They used 4,25 hours and the total cost was 3133,53 kr.

The disc arrived today - 3 days from order, that is fast. Congratulations to Scooter Center Köln, they have now earned their place on my link page.

I still needed a new disc, and since the original Aprilia disc cost more than double the std. size disc from Scooter Center Köln, I decided to give them a second chance. So I faxed the question of availability and price and the responded promptly (by email), that it was in stock and the delivery time is approx. a week. So I ordered it. P&p is 15,-DM and the insurance for the packet is 9,-DM so it totals at 123,-DM.

In my experience Scooter Center Köln responds very fast (within a buisness day), to questions asked by fax, while an email can sit around for more than a week.

Today I faxed Scooter Center Köln again for an estimated delivery time. This time they told me that it is not available for the Leo £#$%#&# !!!. It is one thing that they can not deliver (That is not entirely their fault), but why the f*** did they not tell me so I could order another disc? So at this time I can NOT recommend buying anything from them.

Today I have ordered a Braking Oversize Disc (OOKII37) from Scooter Center Köln. The price of the disc is 279 DM, 9 DM insurance, and ~15DM p&p. They did not have it in stock, so I don't have a shipping date yet.

Today I changed the rubber hose between the airfilter-box and the box under the seat, because it had developed a hole in one of the wrinkles.

My best mileage so far is 25km/l (with passenger), which I achieved on a 100km trip along the eastern coast of Sjælland to Helsingør (and back). One of my collegaues had entered the Helsingør Marathon, so it was a good excuse for a ride. He finished in ~2:55 ). The spedlimit varies from 50 km/h to 70 km/h and there is always a lot of traffic, so since I was riding with a pasenger, I just took it easy and followed the traffic (most of the time anyway).

Since the scooter had lost a bit in topspeed I decided to get the rollers and belt changed. The service manual state that they have to be changed at 12000km, but both my dealer and "Leonardo Freunde Hamburg" states that the belt is good for 20-30 kkm. And "Leonardo Freunde Hamburg" says the the rollers are good for around 15 kkm.

You could see that the rollers was beginning to get flat spotted, but they could have lasted until the next regular inspection at 18kkm. (The real reason that I wanted it changed right now, was that I tried to look at the rollers myself. But I did not have the right tools and broke a piece of a wing off the flywheel. So I was afraid that the lost balance, could harm the bearings)

They still had more than 1,25 mm left but the outer one had lost 25% of the pad - go figure. So I had to change them.

Time for a change.

Visiting SVM in Silkeborg again, but I had to go around the customer in Hillerød, to pick up some parts first. This time there was a bit more to do, so I rode over there the night before I should work there, and I stayed with me parents-in-law in Tapdrup near Viborg. But I was not able to finish it in one day anyway, so I stayed another night in Tapdrup.

Two of my colleagues left in the middle of the afternoon for a fair in sweden. But at 8 in the evening the found out that they missed a few things for our stand. The did not have time to get home and pick it up themselves because the ferrys between Denmark and Sweden stops around midnight. So I voluntered meet with them on the swedish side of Øresund. So I rode up to Helsingør to take the ferry and was there 5 minutes before departure. At first she would not sell me a ticket, as the late night ferrys does not take passengers on foot (They don't want drunk swedes to miss the ferry and fall into the harbour...). After a bit of argueing she could see the grotesque in the situation that I could buy a ticket for my scooter and ride it aboard, but could not be allowed to walk onto it. So I took the ferry to Helsingborg. My colleagues was a bit late, they had a 200km drive down to the ferry and the traffic was worse than expected, so if I wanted to catch the last ferry home I did not have enough to wait for them there, so I left the packet for them and took the ferry home again. The got packet and got ready for the fair just before it opened.

Normal inspection, but without spark plug and brake pads. They changed the spark plug at 11024 when I got the carburetor kit and I have changed the brake pads myself.

The back tyre had started to leak again and it was almost worn down (a bit more than 1mm left). I decided to try Sava MC16 this time. It was one of the few options they had in stock. I also let them change the front back to the original Pirelli SL26 (The front Schwalbe is less than half worn, so I keep it to next winter).

In addition I got the official Aprilia carburetor kit installed. It consists of new manifolds, new "buttom" for the carburetor and another spark plug. Now it starts easyer, when it is cold and wet. I got the kit on warranty, but had to pay for its mounting myself ...

I had bought some cheap saddlebags from Louis, but they got to close to the exhaust and caught fire (yes with 1/2 meter flames). I was lucky. The only damage to the scooter was the right blinker which burned with the saddlebag (incl. my girlsfriends clothes. My own stuff was in the other side).

I have a couble of pictures of the burned items, but not of the fire itself. I had other proirities than taking pictures.

We were just out shopping, but they did not have what we wanted so we took a ride south of Copenhagen. For once the weather was nice so we enjoyed a lot of small roads (///Margeritte routen//). The picture shows me at Stevns Klint after approx. 175km (approx. 75 from home).

Now it was time for some new brake pads again. I changed them myselves (Lucas from Louis).

My longest one day journey so far. I was visiting SVM in Silkeborg to upgrade our system on a machine they had home for renovation. So I left home at 6:00 in the morning, so I could be in Silkeborg around 9:30. Then 4-5 hours of work and then home again. The funny thing is that the printing machine owner is just 30 km from here, but they wanted the upgrade done while the whole machines was renovated.

We had been visiting Jette's family in Viborg for the easter holidays, and were on the way from them to visit my parants in Esbjerg (A 150km ride). We were around halfways when we needed a refill. But when I turned into the gas station, we heard a metallic "schirk" from the rear wheel. Well the back wheels ball bearing had gone again. It was so wrecked that small pieces of the balls fell out, when knocking on the bearing.

Know while taking a closer look at the back, I realised that the back left shock absorber had also given up and was spilling its oil

I had collected a 4cm long nail in my back tyre. I removed the nail and inflated the tyre with a "Dæk Pilot" (a presurised can with some sticky stuff inside).

Time for some new brake pads. I changed them myselves (Lucas from Louis).

This years first long working trip. The weather was nice, around 10\degrees Ca and sunny. I was just down visiting PLM Holmegård near Næstved and adjust a system

The leo got fresh oil, and I got the stamp in the warranty booklet. But the mechanic had changed the brake pads again. It was only 1200km since the mechanic last changed them and they were ofcourse less than half worn. I was pretty angry, but he had done a 6000km inspection. And his paper sayes that it includes a change of brake pads. His "really good excuse" was that the brake pads could not last another 6000km until the next scheduled inspection. Of course not - not even new pads holds 6000km on a leonardo !!!. There was not much do to but pay for the 3 hours and spares :(

The scooter was sold with Pirelli SL 26 tyres, and the may be okay in the summer but they are not good in the wet and cold (or snow). So I decided to shop around for some tyres which is more suitable for winter use. I've read (de.rec.motorroller) that many german's are happy with Heidenau Tyres, but I could'nt find any around here. So I ended up with a pair of Schwalbe Powertrack in 140/70-12 and 120/70-12. The back one was the same size as the original but the front was smaller than the original, which was 130/70-12. The smaller diameter did not change the handling much, but the speedo got even more inaccurate. The back tyre was almost worn down, so it was dicarded, but I saved the front one.

When the mechanic (Hovedstadens Scootercenter) took the rear wheel off he noticed that the outer ball bearings was in bad shape (The one under the exhaust). They did not have any in stock, but after phoning around they found a pair, so I could get the bike with me. I think that it way too soon for a ball bearing to quit !!

In addition was the brake pads worn down completely. The was less than 0,25mm back on the pair with most left. On my speedfight I had been driving more than 7000km without even thinking of changing the brake pads. But the higher speeds of the leo is obviosly harder on the brakes. So I have to keep an closer eye to them...

I had decided to wait for the tyre change since I expected it would take less than half an hour, but I ended up paying for 1.5 hour :(

From the Speedfight I had a Givi Simply 42litre box. Givi makes a special adapter plate for the leonardo, but I had the universal plate that I used on the Speedfight, so I bought an Aprilia Luggage rack. This was my first direct comparison between Peugeot and Aprilia prices. The Aprilia rack cost more than twice what I payed for the Peugeot rack, eventhouh that the Peugot Speedfight rack is more complex in structure.

The first owner had changed the oil and filter before I bought it, but I wanted the stamp in the warranty booklet

I bought the scooter for 37500dkr. It was originally registered on 19980513 so it was 3 months old. The previous owner had not really used it. 450km it not much and the scooter had been parked indoor with he's other bikes, so it looked like new, except that he had put a lot of stickers on it. So the first thing I did when I got it home was to remove them. It is not a grand prix bike, so there is no reason to try and make it look like one... I removed the stickers by warming them with a hair dryer, and simply pulling them off.

By buying a used leo I saved 5000dkr.

But by buying the scooter I was not finished for the day. My peugeot helmet was stolen shortly before I sold the speedfight (The thief broke into the helmet compartment under the seat), so I was riding around with a 10 year old helmet I had from time I was riding a small Suzuki K50 (30km/t or maybe a bit more....) back in the mid-eighties.

The speedfight had an integrated "boa" lock from ABUS, which had saved it from being stolen (The thiefs broke the stearing lock, but the didnt get through the boa lock. The stearing lock cost me 1200dkr to replace, but the main part was that I still had it...). So in addition to the helmet I wanted a good lock.

So I needed a new helmet and a good lock/chain. I ended up with a Caberg Unlimited helmet, Aprilia's own boa lock, a Buffo disc lock and an Senty Alarm.