New Rl500 Owner

[RacingSnake]

Slight hitch here :(
Buggy turned up this morning.... well, it turned up on the back of a lorry, with no (big) tail lift, no fork lift and no ramps.
So the buggy has gone back to the courier depot on the lorry
Worse still was whilst snooping around it it has 2 broken/scratched wings

To rub salt into the wound, I'm now sat back at work awaiting a call from the depot on their next 'move'...
They phoned me about 20 mins ago and rather abruptly said "Our driver is outside your house and no-one is in!", he was rather taken a back when I said I had had a 25 minute conversation with the driver about an hour ago and sent him back to the depot with the buggy because you seemed to think a residential address would have a big forklift?, plus my g/f IS in the house anyway!".
He did apologise, but I was bloody annoyed.


On a similar note, 'OnRoadBuggies' have been great, had a couple of calls from them, sent them photo's of the knackered wings, and they've ordered me 2 replacements.
Not the best start to my ownership, or infact to the week

Fingers crossed I get a more favourable call later.

[RacingSnake]

Well, I am still buggy-less! so close yet so far!
It's gone back to the depot, and they wouldn't arrange a re-delivery unless the supplier requested it.
I've had many a call today, with both the suppliers, the courier depot, and in fact the 'first' courier depot too.

After much effing and jeffing, I'm going tomorrow to collect it myself from the Reading depot.

So, I shall post up tomorrow morning with hopefully some good news and some pics!

[Corporal Punishment]

Wow, that sounds pretty crappy when you're waiting for your new toy. Bet you're livid GL with collecting, I'd be intersted to see how it all goes...

[Big Jim]

What, you don't keep a forklift at home? I thought every household had one these days

Dozy buggers

[Tdmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Big Jim

What, you don't keep a forklift at home? I thought every household had one these days

Dozy buggers

Yeh,,, parked rite beside the cherry picker for cleaning the house windows

[RacingSnake]

Right chaps, it's now in my garage

They wouldn't deliver it so my first ride was a bit of a baptism of fire through the middle of reading town centre!

Will post up a bit more later, but at the moment (short of a few bolts need tightening) first impressions are really good

[RacingSnake]

Okay, it's packed up for the night now
My god is it cold outside! lol

Anyway, what a fun little buggy!!
However my first and foremost observation... what an awful gear selector it's like fishing in soup... I sat there like a right muppet at the petrol station trying to get it first from H to N, then again from N to H
I must do something about this, I mean it's seriously inaccurate... sometimes the selector will appear to move to a different position but actually do SFA to the actual gears.

I see what the problem is with the battery, being conscious of it, it is a really bad design flaw, even after only 20 mins of driving, the battery was very very hot. so I have to get a heat shield sorted.

Does anyone know how to change the speedo into mph? currently it's in kph, I can call the dealer tomorrow but if anyone knows tonight I can go and give it a go.

As for (sparks?) rear gas strut mod, I can absolutely see why you did that, that wheel carrier and wheel ius deceptively heavy!!.

Anyway, I've focussed on the negatives here, which I shouldn't have, I'm really chuffed with it, and my missus loves it too, so smiles all round
Will now see if I can sort out some pics!

[sparks]

Glad to see you have finally got it,with regards the speedo you just press the set/reset buton[ think its that one] you will have to do this every time you start it, with the gears first check all the joints on the gear linkage are tight, then pull back the rubber gator on the gear stick and put plenty of grease in there, also what i did was make a plate that stopped the gear-shift going to far back past where reverse is[ you will see what i mean when you look under the gator and try changing gear] hope this will improve your driving experiance, look forward to some pickys

[tim crichley]

hi guys i to am a new rl500 owner. well had it about 3 months now got it from Howard at extrema sports what a nice guy . well when i got mine on the sat went over everything with a spanner and lock tight all ok now I'm a mechanic so it was no big deal . Sunday came and took the bug out for a run well after only 26 miles the cush drive went so turned around went home got home turn the buggy off and the bloody thing would not start again the starter relay had gone as well . so got on the phone to the dealer( howard ) told him and he was sound the very next day all my parts delivered to the door under warranty well it was do to me to do the work as i didn't want to take it to a dealer some 40 miles away .and because i was doing the work howard the nice deal gave me some Dr pulley rollers worth £100 so i can tell you wanted to get them in fast . so all that work and she was back on the road for a day then the front shocker went and lost all its oil and the back shock lost its oil .so back on the phone to the deal ( you guess it howard ) and the next day the parks landed on my door fitted them ok went out to test and the bloody front wheel bearing locked up and put me on the foot path well by now i was mad just spent 5 grand on a pile of sh## . so got it home striped it down and the bearing had given up no lube in the bearing at all . so anyway after a few hour pulling the hub off went and got them my self now here is a mod for you that i have done to the bearing hub [font="Arial"][size="4"]ON THE HUB THERE IS A MILLED OUT SECTION FOR A SEAL NOW RL OR WHO EVER HAVE NOT PUT ONE IN NOW YOU NEED A SEAL IN THERE TO KEEP WATER AND MUD GETTING IN THERE AND MAKING A PASTE WITCH WILL EAT YOUR BEARING AWAY. now i got mine from and engineering place for £3 . so now the the Dr pulley rollers , well when i finally got it all back in running order went for a run with the new rollers in .well i tell you now it was no fast top end well 1 mph give or take but the take was . so i was not happy with the 1 mph increase so i went and pulled the exhaust off cut it open and my god its full of CAT WADDING AND BAFFLES so got myself on ebay and won myself a bandit 600 exhaust after some welding and cutting i came out of the garage with a exhaust that fit my buggy bolted it on and went out to try ,and my god what a difference it has made top end before was 51-52 but now 57-58 and the take off is great its wheel spins on the road and it does not have to be wet plus it sounds great much nicer tone to it

[tim crichley]

also must say i had a pgo 250 before the rl 500 and i used it like a doggem with all the other buggys and it never let me down