Slight Return (busted crank)

I have lost track of my black Bajaj Chetak. It resides in the East Bay (SF Bay Area) now. That's a lll I know. I have been lending a hand as-needed to the owner of my wife's yellow Chetak. At first the brand new battery crapped out as did it on the black Bajaj Chetak. The owner, Jon, of the yellow one recharged per my recommendation with a heavy duty motorcycle battery charger and the battery has been problem-free since then. I really like the look of white walls, but since then have learned that the walls (sides) of the tires are four times thinner = shorter life. Jon installed Continental Zippies on his Chetak and honestly that is one of the best tires to put on your bike. You can score good deals of them at Motorcycle Superstore. The last call I got from Jon was the engine is dead. He checked the spark plug and inspected the flywheel. He had the CDI and electrical tested. No problems there. He brought it in to Barry G. at SF Scooter Center and Barry found that the flywheel nut spun freely. He removed the flywheel and found a broken crank. This reminded me of a conversation I had with Steve of MotorSport Scooters years ago where he was rebuilding a lot of Bajaj engines due to broken cranks around mile 10,000. Jon does not even have 5,000 miles. A shop wanted $1000 for fix or to swap out a new engine for him. The ladder would be good so Jon could sell his engine for parts. Jon is a college student on a budget and has no garage, no tools, nor is he comfortable wrenching. I recommended parting the bike to him. I suspect his bike is worth more in parts. Many people on the Retro Bajaj list are looking for parts.

I also spoke to Kent, a mechanic former for Bajaj USA, and he said parts are no longer made and getting more and more scarce. Kent recommended walking away from the bike and moving on to a new one.

Jon needs the Chetak to run for one more year and he is on the college budget so Barry offered a weld solution. For $100 the flywheel was welded to the crank and should hold up for one more year at which time Jon will most likely sell. On some vintage bikes I have seen the farmer's weld has worked a long time.

Replace 2002 Bajaj Chetak Flywheel

The 2002 model of the Bajaj Chetak has the reputation of the rivets shearing off and the flywheel hence going bad. It did on my wife's bike so I upgraded the flywheel to a 2003 one.

Facts not in slideshow:
(1) Note the difference between the 2002 and 2003. The flywheel holding tool mounts to the two holes (not threaded) on the front of the flywheel. The 2002 tool mounts to the back side of the flywheel and the 2002 flywheel does not have those two holes in front.
(2) When you remove the old flywheel count to make sure you have the correct number of broken rivets. Note that in the slideshow there is a picture with 3 rivets in front of the removed flywheel and 2 stuck to the magnet inside the flywheel for a total of 5 rivets.
(3) Make sure you line up your new flywheel to your stator (as long as you have not moved your stator, if so, you need to reset the timing - when ever removing your stator use a sharpie to make a line so you can line it exactly back up as it was) as in the slide show at 1:20. Look for the arrow and marker marks.
(4) After you install your flywheel, ride a few times. Let the engine heat up and cool down. The flywheel will settle. The use a torque wrench to tighten back down. Do not over tighten or you run the risk of braking an item or two.
(45) SF Scooter Center told me to torque to "43 ft lbs".

Broken flywheel results in power loss

My wife has a 2002 Bajaj Chetak, which ran well and was maintained per manufacturer schedule. Rode streets and a 5 mile stretch of high way daily. Felt a power loss on the highway as if I ran out of gas. Went 100 feet with power sputtering. Clutch in . . . engine died. Would not kick over. Has compression. Flywheel side might be the source of the funky air release sound when I kick the kick start.

Trouble shooting with the help of the Retro Bajaj Forum.

Replaced the spark plug resistor cap. Spark plug appears decent, but will replace as it's only a $2.00 test.

The big concern is the scraping sound the flywheel makes and the fact that bike will not fire up, as you will note in this video:



It appears that almost all of the flywheel rivets are missing from my wife's scooter as you can see in the video or the photos. I have been told I all I need to do is have the flywheel re-riveted. I suppose I could also have it welded so that never happens again.


The steps I will follow to repair the flywheel can be found here with pictures included.

For a list of other common issues for the 2002 Bajaj Chetak visit the Retro Bajaj forum.