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I've had cold starting problems with my 2007 Xciting 500. Here's what I most recently did. My regulator/rectifier only put a maximum of 13.2 volts to the battery. Type of battery didn't matter, new, old, or even lithium. Charge voltage didn't rise above 13.2v. The stator output is fine, about 25vac across each phase at idle, 60vac when revved. In my experience on other scooters and motorcycles, the voltage at the battery should rise up to the low 14s, usually about 14.5, when the battery is fully charged. So I got a new replacement Kymco regulator, and it behaved identically, i.e. not more than 13.2 volts. I saw some discussion about replacing Kymco regulators with an old Honda regulator that is a Shindengen 232-12 (used on CM400 and CX500 models, and maybe others). I got one from Ebay for $12 including shipping. The Shindengen regulator is a 6-wire unit, while the Kymco is a 5-wire, and the 6th wire (the black wire) needs to be connected to a switched 12-volt source. The Honda regulator has different electrical connectors. I cut them off and used the connectors from my replacement Kymco unit, soldering them to the Shindengen wires (same color wire: 3 yellow, 1 red, 1 green), so I wouldn't have to alter the stock wire harness. The black wire I spliced into the brown wire of the hazard unit, which is right next to the rectifier. (The brown wire provides 12v to the tail lights.) I used a bullet connector on the black wire, so I can unplug and remove the new rectifier if it should become necessary. The new regulator works great and gets the charging voltage up where it should be. Voltage at the battery is 13.5v at idle, rising to 13.9v in a couple of minutes as the engine warms, and I expect it will rise above 14 after a while, though I haven't road tested yet to see. I'm pretty sure this will give the battery a little more oomph when it's cold, although I'll have to wait for next winter to find out. I should mention, in case anyone is interested, the mounting holes of the Honda unit are slightly further apart than the Kymco, but the aluminum case is pretty soft and easy to modify. I notched out the material inside the bottom mounting hole, using my band saw, until I could get the top hole lined up and secured it with just one nut on top, which seems to be plenty.

When I bought my 2007 Xciting 500 from a guy in Richmond, it had a fairly new set of Michelin City Grip tires on it. I like the way the tires perform, and they still look fairly new. The previous owner also provided a brand new set of City Grips, which are sitting in my garage. I got to thinking that when I finally wear out my tires, probably years from now, the new set will likely be deteriorated from sitting so long. Anyway, maybe someone could use them now, rather than having them waste away in my garage. Anyone in the Fredericksburg, Virgina area need a free set of tires?

So I've installed a new starter and with battery voltage applied directly to the starter, the engine only makes about one turn and stops when it gets to the compression stroke (at least that's what it sounds like). Nothing wrong with the starting circuit. Does this even with a car battery. With the engine side cover off, I can turn the engine over with a wrench, but it has quite a bit of resistance at the compression stroke. I'm thinking the decompression mechanism should make it easy to turn. With the spark plug out, it turns over easily, with the starter or wrench. So I'm going to next look at the decompression mechanism on the exhaust cam.  (The part identified in the service manual as the "decompression system" on page 8-9). I can't think of anything else. Anyone ever done this?

Bill in Fredericksburg, VA