Parts that fitted: the log worth keeping for a Chinese scooter

The problem it solves

Identifying a part for one of these machines can take an evening. Almost nobody writes down the answer, so the next time the same part is needed the whole exercise starts again — and by then the panels are back on and the old part is in the bin.

There is no catalogue for your machine. Whatever you worked out about which belt, which rollers, which bearing, which seal, you worked out yourself from measurement and a seller's answers. That knowledge exists in exactly one place, and it is not written down.

This log is deliberately narrow. It is not a service record — there is a separate sheet for that. It records one thing: the exact description you ordered, where from, and whether it went on. Over a couple of years that page becomes the parts catalogue nobody ever published for your machine.

It is also the thing to hand over when you sell. A machine with a page of known-good part descriptions is worth meaningfully more than an identical machine without one, and it costs nothing to produce.

The mistakes this sheet exists to prevent

• Recording the supplier's listing title instead of the part's actual dimensions or markings. Listings disappear; measurements do not.
• Not recording the parts that did NOT fit, which is half the value.
• Sharing the log as a compatibility list. It is a record of one machine, and passing it on as fitment advice is how bad information spreads.
• Keeping it on a phone that gets replaced, rather than with the machine.
• Leaving out the engine family number, which is what makes the record meaningful to anybody else.

How to use it

1. 01Fill in the identity block once. Without the engine family number the log means nothing to anybody else.
2. 02Record the exact description or marking you ordered, not the listing title.
3. 03Record the failures as well as the successes. Knowing what does not fit is half of knowing what does.
4. 04Keep it with the machine and hand it over when you sell.