2002 Bajaj Chetak sold

There was a second person who wished to look at my 2003 Bajaj Chetak scooter, but missed it. I gave him first dibs at it as well as a price cut, because he just missed my scooter. I sold my wife's scooter to him for $1700, which is a fair deal.

Below is the Craigslist listing. It sold in 24 hours.

2002 Bajaj Chetak w/ 4K miles &many upgrades - $1850

Before reading on, please note that this bike has a clutch and is a 4-speed on the handlebar - left handgrip and lever.

Two years ago my wife was 3 months pregnant and into the garage her 2002 Bajaj Chetak went and stayed except for a weekly ride around the block to keep the oil moving to reach the engine gaskets. Now with our daughter she is just not riding at all and the bike needs to go to new rider who will ride it often and proud.


My wife is the original and only owner. The bike has never been crashed. It did have a fallen motorcycle hit it while parked, but the damage is minimal and Barry G. of SF Scooter Center gave it a clean bill of health. It's beneath the floor matt and even when you see it you'll laugh at how small it is. Body is in really good shape, especially for the bike's age. It has always been garage stored. Less than normal wear for a bike its age.

Before you gawk at the price, consider that a brand new Stella 4-Stroke runs for $4200. This scooter is way less than half that price and has only 42XX miles on the ODO. Beyond that it will rally any Stella 4-Stroke all day long. If you wonder about the value of this Bajaj call Barry at SF Scooter Center and ask him. He has sold 1200 of these scooters and is very familiar with them. He would sell this scooter for over $2100. Title is clean and is registered as non-op since my wife wasn't riding it - to save us money (but you will have to register it anyways so no difference to the buyer).


History: about 500 miles ago, Kent L., who was the official mechanic for Bajaj USA, performed a comprehensive tune-up and safety check on this bike. It runs solidly and is extremely dependable. It is a first kick bike. It will easily pull you SF hills. Bike includes chrome rear luggage rack and chrome crash bars upgrade. The bike has received well over $350 in upgrades in order to ensure a long-hassle-free life for you, including new float bowl at gas tap, two brand new tires, spark plug resistor cap replaced with NGK one, new spark plug, brand new battery, halogen upgrade headlight bulb, battery regulator/rectifier (the 2002 ones broke down and did not recharge the battery properly) upgrade, and a 2003 Bajaj flywheel (the 2002 flywheels had a tendency to break). As of July 25th, 2011 oil was changed, new headlight bulb installed, and a new battery were put in.

To sweeten the deal, I'll thrown in a brand new "Cuppini (Italian-made) legshield trim" set, which you can install on the Bajaj to chrome it out more. Price it out and you'll see it's over $50 to buy and ship it to you.



With low-miles/similar condition, Bajaj Chetaks like this sell for around $1600 without the upgrades. Upgrades and recent tune-up is about $450 plus $50 for the legshield trim puts a fair value around $2100, but I'm letting this bike go for a lot less. If you buy a used scooter you are still going to have a tune-up and probably new tires, maybe a battery, etc. You don't need anything at all with this bike.

$1850 cash and it's your's. I have title and DMV bill-o-sale on hand.



Note: engine cover not on for Craigslist photos as I was riding without to let the new flywheel settle before I hit it again with the torque wrench.

Good bye to my 2003 Black Bajaj Chetak . . . lament

On July 20, 2011 I sold my Bajaj Chetak for $1500. Considering I paid $2800 out the door for my scooter I am not super happy with the price. I spoke with Barry G. at SF Scooter Center and he said he would sell my Chetak for $2500 and it is a great bike. The new Stella 4-Stroke sells for $4200. Bajaj sellers need to begin to raise their prices to reflect the great bike it is. $2000 for my bike in the condition it is in is fair. Currently, the economy sucks and the prices are low.

San Jose Vespa posted to Craigslist:

2006 BAJAJ CHETAK
4 stroke 150 motor
4284mi
this is a manual 4 speed scooter
clean bike, serviced and running perfectly
$1,599 + tax, title.

Here is my bike on Craigslist:

Unemployed teacher selling his noble steed.

Original and only owner. 2003 Black Bajaj Chetak. 4-stroke - no oil mixture in gas. 4-speed manual shifting. Shifter/clutch-lever is located on the left handle bar. 80 plus miles per gallon. First kick. Runs very very strong (my Bajaj mechanic told me it's the strongest Bajaj he has ever ridden). Garage stored. Registered through Spring 2012 (cost me $76 for the year). Ready to ride with no additional investment. Never dropped nor crashed. Includes rear rack, chrome legshield trim, and front fender chrome. Also included is stock plastic hub caps and the passenger handle bar for beneath the seat. Additional parts available through Barry at SF Scooter Center.
I just invested $155 in the scooter this weekend. On July 8th, 2012 I installed a brand new battery and tune-up including carb rebuild, oil change, spark plug resistor cap upgrade, new spark plug, new halogen upgrade headlight, and new tail light bulb plus blinker bulbs at just over $65. I put on brand new tires at $90.00. In my mind, I am selling my scooter for $1345.00 plus the cost of tune-up, battery, and tires at no profit -- just my cost; therefore a total of $1500.


Odo reads at 7203 miles. I recognize many of you are looking for scoots with low miles, but what people won't tell you is that when older scooters sit and are not running the oil is not cycling and reaching the seals/gaskets in the engine and therefore dry and crack resulting in a loss of engine compression and possibly creating a leaky engine. What this means to you is that the engine will need to be rebuilt. An average of 800 miles per year is not a lot of riding on my scooter.

My scooter runs an honest 55 mph and I have hit 61 mph on it. I would happily put my scooter up against any Stella 2-stroke and I know the Bajaj has less issues and is more reliable than a 2-stroke.
Serious inquires only. No low-ballers. I am offering a very fair price for the scooter considering the recent tune-up and new parts. The parts I installed and the tune-up most buyers would need to make those anyways with a used scooter they buy, but I did it for you. $1500 cash and the scooter, clear title, stock plastic hub caps and the passenger handle bar are your's.

Scoot Quarterly's review of the Bajaj Chetak & Legend 2002

Click on picture to enlarge.

Tune-Up

Our mechanic charges us $40 per hour. My wife's Chetak needed a major tune-up, which cost us $120 total. Our mechanic provided us with detailed notes on everything he came across, repaired, or recommended doing in the future. See his notes below:

I hope that these notes will be helpful for other 4-stroke scooterists, whether Bajaj or the new Stella which is supposed to arrive in stores in the near future.

Maintain your bike. The routine tune-ups will keep you running longer.

What the hell is in my oil filter?

Two days ago I changed my oil on my Chetak and you will never guess what I found in the outside of my oil filter?! It looks like two torn pieces of engine seals. They are a back paper-like substance. I have over 6,000 miles on my bike; therefore I know these two torn pieces are not recent.

As an added precaution, I always check my oil filter for slivers of metal, possibly from clutch wear and alike. To do this I stick a white paper towel inside the oil filter so I have the silver metal or any other alien form pops out from the white paper towel background.

After that I use compressed air to blow the filter clean from the inside out. This frees it of all debris.

I emailed my mechanic, who worked for Bajaj USA at their corporate office and at a Bajaj dealer (also Vespa, Lambretta, and everything else) as a head mechanic, and this is what he had to say:

"Be honest with you, I have been a mechanic for almost ten years and I have seen a lot of crazy stuff coming out when performing oil changes. Normally, I will not worry about it unless the engine sounds weird or runs like crazy.

Do you have any problem with the engine? Any oil leak? Any idle issue? If not, then don't worry about it since those pieces are already broken or came off."

With that response, I filled it up with new oil and will ride the bike and pay special attention to it as all of my answers are "no" to my mechanic's questions.

FOLLOW-UP FROM MECHANIC AFTER SEEING THIS PICTURE:

Jeremy,

Looks like those things are the engine case paper gasket. Do you have any oil leak out from your engine? If not, don't worry at all.

What happen are..... those engine paper gaskets for most of the time are larger than what it is supposed to be. And sometimes due to the engine design, gasket can't cut out exectly or match the engine cases because if everything matches the paper gasket are not strong enough to seal, hold and keep the oil inside the engine. For some cases, when the extra stick out paper gasket inside the egine has soaked oil for too long, they will be soft enough and tear themselves apart. That is what you see in the screen filter. And that is why engine will leak oil when they get old. And of couse, the material to make the paper gasket is also important. For bajaj you don't expect they are top qualities.

So for now, if you have any oil leak, you know what happen.

Hope this information would help you.

Kent

Our Chetaks

My wife's Chetak is a 2001 butter yellow and I have a 2003 black Chetak. I still need to add the chrome legshield to my wife's bike plus her Chetak emblems. We both have rear racks. She scored a good deal on alum. racks from Target on clearance for both our bikes. She has a large one and I have a small one. It is easy to attach to the rear rack -- just a quick twist of the eye screw.
My wife also owns a 1967 Vespa SS180 and I own a 1962 Lambretta TV175. Next she would like to find a Series 1 or Series 2 Lambretta for herself. I would like a Vespa GS160 or a nice "quick" P200 for a daily rider.