Q: I’ve a Yamaha BWS100 with just over 7,000km on the clock. I use it everyday to work and back and I still think it’s the best scooter on the market, because it’s a two-stoke and they’re just not around anymore.
Anyway, over the past 500km the BWS seems to be getting slower off the line, which is a problem when you’re trying to get away from the cars.
My friend had a look inside the drive cover, taking off the pulleys, checked for sticking clutch rollers and the belt seemed to be fine as well. Once he put it back together it seemed to be better, but for only a short while, then the big ‘bog’ returned.
So in desperation I thought I’d run this persistent problem past you guys because your technical section seems to help out a lot of people, and good news on your birthday as well, keep it going.
Paul Westhuizen
A; To be honest Paul, Bill knows more about the BWS than most so I think I’ll hand you over to him to see if he can help.
Noddy
A: Hi Paul and I’m glad you love your BWS as much as I do, and you’ll be pleased to know that I know what the problem is. It’s down to nothing more than the grease you, or you friend, has chosen.
Over time the grease that allows the primary clutch to move along the steel bush wears off, causing the clutch assembly to ‘stick’ and not engage properly at low (pull off) rpm.
As you mentioned it was better once your friend had fiddled with it, because I’d imagine he greased that steel bush during re-installation, but of the wrong type and that’s why it was better, but for only a short time.
So take off the primary clutch and you’ll see the long steel bush that the two halves slide upon. Clean it up nicely with ‘wet and dry’ paper and find the highest temperature (not highest load) grease you can find. I’ve found that Castrol make a Moly grease for high temperature, which works the best in mine. That will most certainly give you your drive back and I also replace the grease in my BWS around every 1,000km because of this ‘boggin’ fault.
