Free printableMaintenance and recordsTSP-MA-04
Pre-ride check card for a Chinese scooter or moped
Sixty seconds before you set off, on a card small enough to leave in the storage bin. Written for the faults these machines actually develop.
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TSP-MA-04 · version v1.0 · September 2026. Opens in your browser's PDF viewer, where you can print directly.
The problem it solves
The general pre-ride checklists that exist are written for large motorcycles that have been maintained by dealers. They ask about things these machines do not have and skip the things these machines actually do — fasteners that back out, mirrors that rotate, a centre stand spring that unhooks, cables that stiffen and a rear tyre that goes down slowly for weeks.
There is a well-known pre-ride mnemonic taught by riding schools, and it is a good one. This is not that, and it is not a competitor to it — the organisations that publish it are the governing bodies for rider training and their version is free and better than anything we would write.
What this card does instead is narrow. It lists the things that specifically go wrong on cheap imported machines that are usually maintained by their owners: fasteners that were never torqued properly and work loose, plastics held on by a screw that vibrated out, a throttle that stops snapping shut as the cable stiffens, and slow punctures nobody notices because the tyres are small and stiff.
It is sized to fold and live in the storage bin under the seat, because a checklist in a drawer at home gets used once.
The mistakes this sheet exists to prevent
- Checking tyre pressures only when a tyre looks flat. Small scooter tyres look normal well below their proper pressure.
- Testing the brakes for the first time at the first junction rather than at walking pace on the drive.
- Assuming a fastener that was tight last month is tight now. On these machines that assumption is how footpegs and exhausts come off.
- Ignoring a throttle that has started returning slowly instead of snapping shut.
- Riding on with a mirror that has rotated, because adjusting it means finding a spanner.
Who it is for
- Anyone who rides one of these regularly, especially in traffic
- Owners of a machine that has just been worked on — the first ride after a job is when things fall off
- Anyone who has just bought one and does not yet know its habits
What is on it
- A sixty-second check in the order you can physically do it, walking round the machine
- The fasteners specific to these machines that are worth a weekly hand-check
- A short weekly list separate from the every-ride one
- Space to note what you found, so a recurring fault becomes visible
How to use it
- 01Print it, fold it, and put it in the storage bin. It is no use at home.
- 02Do the every-ride column cold, before you start the engine.
- 03Do the weekly column properly once a week rather than badly every day.
- 04Note anything you found. A bolt you have tightened three times is telling you something.
Use it with the registry
Other sheets you may want
- GY6 maintenance schedule and service logA service record you build yourself from what your machine actually needs, rather than from a schedule invented for a machine nobody can identify.
- First day with a used Chinese scooterWhat to do in the first hours, before spending money on anything. Most of it costs nothing and all of it saves money later.
- Chinese scooter storage and recommissioning checklistPutting a machine away for months, and getting it back out again. The second list is the one people forget they need.
Free to print, copy, and share — including in forums, clubs and workshops. If you find a mistake on this sheet, tell us and it gets corrected. Quote TSP-MA-04 and the version so we know exactly which sheet you mean. All printables.