Joys of Maxi scoot ownership

[Pukmeister]

Keys and phone under the seat on a Mk3 ? .....never done that.

That's what the two front storage cubby holes are for.

[MrGrumpy]

Well, the classic error is to lock your scooter keys under the seat, but I cleverly managed to lock my house keys in there! I never use the cubby holes for much - not secure in any way and the lids have a way of coming open unless you are very careful in how you close them!

[Pukmeister]

I never use the cubby holes for much - not secure in any way and the lids have a way of coming open unless you are very careful in how you close them!

Indeed, you are correct and I usually prefer to throw my keys and phone in the top box, leaving my scooter keys in my hand (you need them to lock the top box).

I've only had a badly secured cubby lid open on me once, I've been pretty careful about checking they are well closed ever since.

[Dave Weller]

I fit an emergency pull tie hidden to the latch if possible.

[capitano]

I fit an emergency pull tie hidden to the latch if possible.

I did that on the seat lock of Mrs Capitano's Peugeot scooter and we never needed to use it.

I didn't bother on my Gilera Nexus, and had to PM JT on the Tscoot forum to get the seat opening hack.

[MrGrumpy]

I fit an emergency pull tie hidden to the latch if possible.

Is that so easy in these days of electronic locks / smart keys etc? Whilst the incident happened on my mk3 Tmax, on my mk6, the seat is opened by an electronic switch, and you need to have the scoot switched on via the smart key for it to work. Is a manual alternative still viable?

[roadster]

I fit an emergency pull tie hidden to the latch if possible.

Is that so easy in these days of electronic locks / smart keys etc? Whilst the incident happened on my mk3 Tmax, on my mk6, the seat is opened by an electronic switch, and you need to have the scoot switched on via the smart key for it to work. Is a manual alternative still viable?

Ultimately the catch for the seat is still mechanical if you can see a notched metal spike which engages with a mechanism below the hole it slots in to. Find the electromagnetic solenoid which releases that and there is bound to be a way of pulling it open. In a similar way all the modern cars I have seen provide a way of unlocking the tailgate in case of battery failure because the battery is often only accessible via the tailgate.

[MrGrumpy]

I was slightly disappointed that the AA man knew of no back door way in to the Tmax. I guess he was a car man - if I'd have locked myself out of my car, I suspect he'd have had it open in 5 mins!

[John A]

I think this is the way to manually open the seat on my bike. It's made me think how sensible it would be to get a copy of the key that's in the remote:

[Pukmeister]

My bloody Mk3 Tmax seat latch is such a pain in the arse to operate, half the time I end up engaging the damn steering lock. I've lubed the cable and lock but its hardly any better, its always been stiff to operate.

I often have to remove the ignition key and flip it 180 degrees to get it to operate, or wiggle the damn thing from side to side. All the Yamahas I've ever owned have crap ignition switches.