I've been working on this for a little while and am finally getting around to making a build thread. Most of the pics are with my iPhone and in generally bad lighting conditions. Now that I'm further along with this I'm wishing I took more pics...or at least higher quality ones.

I've got a 2003 Ruck that's mostly stock, with the exception of a Polini variator, Posh unlimited rev CDI, and a Daytona spring. It's really very clean for a 2003, and several people I've met mistook it for a 2009 because of the condition. It only had 1100 Miles on it when I bought it.

This thread is not for the 2003. I simply did not have the heart to really start cutting that one up. Luckily a few months ago I found a 2009 Ruckus for crazy cheap. The guy I bought it from was trying to get it together and got tired of messing with it. He bought it from a 19-year-old kid that wanted to go GY6 with and basically just ended up disassembling it. I brought it home, got it running in about a week, and then left it sitting idle. I really wanted to go with a 125-150cc swap, but I flat out refused to go with a Chinese Gy6 because of the quality issues I kept reading about. I started looking at different Taiwanese scooters and eventually set my sights on the Genuine Buddy 125. Everything I heard about the Buddy, and Genuine Scooter Company (PGO, whatever you want to call it) in general, was that they were great, high quality, dependable machines. My friend Jedi_ had already installed a Buddy 125 on his Ruck with a 161 big bore kit and it was an absolute beast. I looked around on Craigslist for a couple months hoping to find a wrecked Buddy on the cheap with no luck. I had pretty much lost interest when Jed hit me up to see if I wanted to buy his engine and rear frame. He wanted to go with an even bigger bike.

I wish I had taken pics of the original process. He basically rode it over and we took everything off his front frame and installed it on mine. This is how it looked shortly after.










That's a long enough novel for one post. I'll add some of the other work done to it in steps.

Looks good

Nice. Rolling with that same setup in my Metro. Just ordered the big head kit to get the most out of my 161cc.

Noice! I really wanna ride one with the 161 kit, I need some motivation to do the same to mine.

Jed was nice enough to document the 161 big bore kit install when he did it on my engine. It seems to be the best guide available, especially considering the kit does not include instructions. Check it out:

http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15228&highlight=

This is an expensive hobby, not to state the obvious. I had lots of extra parts lying around and started selling them on TR right after I got the engine.

<Insert shameless plug> Please buy my crap :

http://totalruckus.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=50103

It was stretching my allocated funds pretty thin to get the engine and front end disc brakes, so I had to find some other means to afford the additional parts needed to get this completed. Money is leaving my paypal account for new parts just as quickly as it's entering the account from sales of old parts.

I had to upgrade the exhaust almost immediately. Jed had included a short FMF exhaust, but the end cap had been lost on a ride. I want to get this all legal, and this will definitely not pass inspection.




I thought about having a welder friend make a new end cap and buying some stuff to pack the pipe again, but it would probably have looked like crap. I got lucky though. Scooterworks had just put the Prima exhaust on sale for $169 with free shipping. You can't beat that price, and through the power of money laundering I was able to turn a used variator and Posh CDI into this:

the exhaust is pretty, hows it sound?

To me the sound is perfect. It gives it some roar, but it's not too loud. I really just wanted it to be loud enough to give me some extra visibility to other drivers, and that's exactly what I got. I'm not a big fan of the low frequency humming from most aftermarket exhausts. With the FMF pipe it was obviously loud as all hell because of the missing end cap.

I was slightly worried about the Prima pipe before getting it because there were some issues with bad welds on some Prima pipes for Vespas a few years ago. I can say though, that the welds on the Prima pipe for the Buddy look amazing, with no chance this is going to come apart.

I just received a package of parts from Dorby:




As a result, I was able to upgrade my elite wood block kickstand.








The kickstand itself was much bulkier/sturdier than it appeared online. I was not really thrilled about the cost, but I'm definitely happy with my purchase. This seems to be the best kickstand out there for low or stretched Rucks. Even then, I was still worried it wasn't going to work out because mine is lowered, stretched, and on 10 inch wheels. Turns out it still has plenty of lean. This one and the PWJDM kickstands are the only ones that allow you to run pegs on the back. I was a little bit worried about that too since I'm running Mongoose pegs which are pretty much the widest diameter possible (1.25-1.5 inches). The kickstand fit right on with the pegs, but the screw on the top of the kickstand rubbed the bottom of the peg a bit. I could have easily drilled the hole on the kickstand out a little bit to correct this, but I got lazy and just took a grinder to that part of the peg, removing 1-2mm of that gave me plenty of clearance. Once the peg is back in place you can't even see the grinder mark.

Looking good!

I've got the electrical pretty much done, with the exception of some minor stuff (high beam indicator, flasher indicator, fuel gauge, etc). One thing that took me a while to figure out was the turn signals. The front has the stock Ruckus signals, but the back has an under seat R6 taillight. I read a few different threads on TR to get LED flashers to work right with the stock Ruckus harness, as well as the standard GY6 harness, but those didn't really take me anywhere. I tried three different variable load flasher relays, including the #552, no results. After digging around on the Modern Buddy forums for a while I finally came across a guy who had already gone through the same research and found the right flasher relay. It's part number 24-0005 made by K&S Technologies.



I ended up picking one up from the website of the guy that recommended it. IMO it was really pricey for a relay ($23.50 shipped), but you really can't find it cheaper than that. I thought once I bought one from him and had the part number I'd be able to locate one on ebay or something for less, but that wasn't the case. If anybody else is doing a Buddy swap or just wants to install LED flashers on a Buddy, check out this site:

http://www.voodooscooterparts.com/Products.php

I'm glad to see you've got a build thread up.

I'm hoping to have everything ready for A Few Scooters More. Any of you Houston guys coming?

As of now, the gf and I are planning on attending. We will probably register tonight.