My (new) Chetak

[toughcorgi]

Well, I bought a 2002 Chetak with 1500 miles on it-- for $1200 from a guy in Peoria, IL. Love the thing...it's got tons of power to pull me around, and that's saying a lot-- I'm a 6'1" 230 lbs. gym rat. Love the manual shifting, since I live in a very hilly area of St. Louis..

Looked at the Stella, but couldn't swallow the three grand price tag, and preferred the cleaner-burning 4 stroke of the Chetak.

Looking to add a POC performance pipe next week.

[scooterconvert]

Welcome Toughcorgi. I own an '03 Chetak and I bought mine used as well. Like you, I weigh about 235 lbs and I'm 5'11". I love my scoot too. I'm happy to see another Bajaj owner on here. I am also curious to hear about your experience with your new pipe as I haven't modded mine yet at all. We'll be in touch. Welcome to the forums.
Mike

[indy]

I may be looking to upgrade from my TNG Venice to a Chetak. What do
you like/dislike about them? How's the power/mileage?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Indy

[Aviatrixie]

I've heard that a Next R and a MultiVar with white torque spring and 5.1 gm rollers will convert a Venice to a Chetak... except the Venice will accelerate faster. ;)

I'm teasing, of course!


I may be looking to upgrade from my TNG Venice to a Chetak. What do
you like/dislike about them? How's the power/mileage?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Indy

[scooterconvert]

I may be looking to upgrade from my TNG Venice to a Chetak. What do
you like/dislike about them? How's the power/mileage?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Indy
I love my scoot. I like the manual shifting, (I'd probably be just as happy with an automatic). I like the power of the four stroke - I pulled a car with it once. I like the glove compartment and the compartment on the fender. If I had to say anything bad about it I would say that I don't like the beeping when the turn signals are on and I don't like the front turn signal assembly. I also get a little tired of explaining to people the Bajaj story when they ask if it's a Vespa. I've had it for about 2000 miles and it's been a great scoot. Bajaj advertises 110 mpg but I get about 70. I'm sure if I rode a little more conservitively, I would get better mileage. I wish the gas tank was a little bigger. In short, I don't regret buying it at all. I think you will be happy with it if you buy one. Also, automatic scoots seem to have much better acceleration than manual scoots.

[Lennox]

tell us more about pulling the car!!! :eek:

[scooterconvert]

We were moving our shop and one of our cars wasn't running yet. We didn't want to push it all the way down the street so we strapped it up and I pulled it while two of my coworkers steered and navigated. It was cool to do once but I probably wouldn't do it again.

[marylandmark]

Also, automatic scoots seem to have much better acceleration than manual scoots.

Really? I would have thought the exact opposite.

[indy]

Thanks for your insights. I'm thinking of selling my pickup and going primarily
by scooter...cheaper on gas, maintenance, insurance, and everything else.

I believe the cvt auto's are quicker from 0-25 or so but they lose ground
on the top end so it's a trade off. I get about 70mpg on my venice but
I'm running wot most of the time too. The Chetak sounds like just the thing
for a daily runner; it has all the pluses of the old Vespas without the steep
price tag, and it's brand new with a two year warrantee to boot.

Hmm. Much to think about I have. (yoda, lol)

Regards,
Indy

[XPS1210]

Thanks for your insights. I'm thinking of selling my pickup and going primarily
by scooter...cheaper on gas, maintenance, insurance, and everything else.

Regards,
Indy
and the scooter can haul sooooooooooooo much more cargo... LOL!


I think it's kinda funny people would sell their cars and trucks and only scooter... Can't imagine that where I live... I'd have no transportation 7 months out of the year...

[indy]

I wouldn't be carless. My wife has her Xterra and I have a '48 plymouth
that I could drive in really bad weather. I'm just trying to thin the herd a
bit and move towards a more conscientious mode of transportation for
the daily commute (all of 2 miles) an running errands. I'd say that 99% of
the time most folks are driving their car/truck empty with only themselves
in it. I see gas hitting the $3.00/gal mark in the next year or two at most.
From 16-22 years of age my only form of transport was the two wheeled
kind; you just get used to it. I'm 36 now and I guess I've come full circle
again. I still have my riding suit from back then. I haven't really settled
here nor their yet just thinking through some options.

Regards,
Indy

[toughcorgi]

I absolutely love my Chetak. I have a 2002 with 1700 miles-- The thing runs flawlessly. The four-stroke is powerful and torquey, and even though I'm 220, it pulls me up steep hills with ease; also, I can get it up to 50-55 no problem.

Being that it's made of steel, the scooter feels solid on the road-- I prefer it over my buddy's Aprilia SR50 (bored out to 70cc), even though the Aprilia can smoke it off the line...the Italian speedbike just feels flimsy and plasticky and rattles like a mf.

Honestly, I do tire of the shifting sometimes, like when I'm running around St. Louis and every 50 ft. I come to a stop sign-- but I like the shift control on all of the steep hills around here. I have more speed control that way.

Have to agree with the previous post about the horncast being ugly-- I'm solving that this summer-- the Stella PX200-style horncast fits the Chetak, and I'll add some old-school Vespa turn signals...I've already seen some Chetaks with this mod, and you can't tell them from a Vespa Sprint.

Just added Sava whitewalls last week, and I'll be attaching a chrome rear and front rack this weekend. Also, I have a POC II pipe from Pride of Cleveland Scooters ordered, which adds about 1.6 horsepower and gives it an exhaust note that sounds like a 60s Austin Healey sports car.

I've been riding with some Vespa/Lambretta diehards, and they really like the Chetak.

[mrklaw]

I seriously considered a Chetak, but I ended up getting a Stella. I wanted a 2-stroke engine and I didn't like the Bajaj styling that much. There was a Chetak at The Scooter Lounge that was 2-tone and it looked really good. It had the horncast and cowls from one color and the frame from another. I think the colors were red and white. It looked nice.

[toughcorgi]

Yep--- I hate the ugly front "cross" on the front of the Bajaj-- I'm going to replace it with a...STELLA horncast, basically a PX series horncast, from Scooterworks. It's my big summer project.

I'm not going to stick phony Vespa emblems on-- I'm not trying to create a pseudo Vespa, I just like the front end of 'em better.

I installed a POC performance pipe on the Chetak yesterday, along with a chrome rear rack, Sava whitewalls, and a shorty windshield...the thing looks great, and sounds like a Harley. It's a bit too loud, but I'll work on the tuning.

A buddy in my scooter club ordered a 2002 Vespa PX through an outfit that orders the parts seperately and then puts the thing together. Cost over six grand, but I gotta say, it's absolutely gorgeous. Still, I think I would have just purchased a Stella instead.

I was seriously considering the Stella, and had I been able to buy one of the GB150 limited edition models, with British racing green paint and tan seat, I probably would have. The Baja, however, was bought for just over 1200 bucks, and only had 1500 miles. That left me lots of dough to spend on tuning the thing and buying accessories. So, guess I'll have to deal with the ugly ass front end for a while. But not for too long.

[scooterconvert]

Tell me more about the pipe! Do you have faster accelleration or top speed or both? I might put a pipe on mine sometime soon but I want to hear your opinion first.

[toughcorgi]

The POC mkII, to be exact, from Pride of Cleveland Scooters, is made of super-high quality stainless steel- the thing should last forever.

Installation took about an hour and a half, with a friend who had installed one before (Seth Bernstein, who place 3rd in last year's MASS scooter racing).

I think it looks and sounds great, but it IS excessively loud. Harley loud. Complete with downshift sputtering, small backfire blasts, and a puff of flame from the tail pipe once in a while, so it's flashy cool, besides adding around five to eight more m.p.h. to my speed.

The pipe is fun, but I do wish it were a wee bit quieter. I know the thing is "restuffable", in that I may add more sound insulator to the pipe to quiet the thing some more.

I do like that I'm more visible, due to the noise, I mean, cars HEAR me, then SEE me. It's like another safety precaution.

I'll report back if I'm able to quiet the thing.

I believe, besides Phil Waters' POC site, that --link removed--has them for $210 plus shipping.

[indy]

There's an '02 Chetak for sale near me with 1000 miles on it for $1600. The owner
said the clutch may need to be replaced due to a recall, anyone have info on this
recall they're talking about?

Regards,
Indy

[toughcorgi]

I do-- the clutch seems prone to "gum up" sometimes, esp. if the bike's been sitting long. The tendency is to just start it with the electric starter, and the clutch, if sticky, will pull hard before releasing. This causes great wear on it-- the trick is to, before starting, pull the clutch lever, and gently press a couple of times on the kickstart before using the electric start, if the bike's been sitting overnight.

Also, the clutch cable, a cheap replacement, has a better, stainless steel replacement, about six bucks.

I had a problem on my '02 with the flywheel, and had it replaced for two hundred bucks, with the newer, better version.

I paid $1200 for my '02 with 1500 miles. With the minor fixes, it was still a great deal. I'd offer $1300-1400 and deal with the problem.

It's a great bike.

[scooterconvert]

The service manual for the Chetak is available on the Bajaj USA website for download. It makes a nice reference when doing jobs like that...if you like to do them yourself.

[indy]

Thanks for the advice and the info on the clutch. I have heard about the clutch
sticking issue before on these, but haven't heard about any recalls from Bajaj.

Regards,
Indy

[mrklaw]

I didn't know that you could replace the horncast. I just looked on Bajaj's Photo Gallery Page (http://www.bajajusa.com/custom_scooters.htm) and saw that a bunch of people have replaced them with vespa horncasts. I wonder if there is a howto somewhere?

[toughcorgi]

If you go on the Bajaj Yahoo group site, a member, Mark Denoncort, created a fiberglass replacement horncast for the Chetak. Many of us on the site are trying to convince him to fabricate several of the horncasts, since we'd like to buy one. The center of the Bajaj horncast is much wider than a regular PX one...if a person used a PX horncast, it would be slimmer, of course, but there would be many more holes to fill and paint.

Replacing the horncast wouldn't be terribly difficult. It's all the filling and repainting of the nine or so holes one would face that would be difficult.

I'm looking in to it as a summer project.