scooter help in nottingham

[omega]

ive got a malaguti yesterday 50cc scooter that seams to have died.only had it a couple of days and the seller dosnt want to know so its down to me.
engine turns over but wont fire,checked the plug and theres a good spark.now someone reckons it might be the reed valve[whatever that is] in the carburetor.now as everything is well hidden and hard to get at [unless theres a trick] i dont want to be left with a pile of bits and not knowing where they all came from.iam okay messing with cars but iam a bit out of my league here so any help welcome.if any one wants to pop round thats even better.[even if its just to laugh and say why did you buy that!]
cheers

[twoblackcats]

A bike needs 3 main things to run.

1. Spark (bright blue FTW)
2. Fuel (that's air as well, check nothing's blocked in the airbox as well as the carb)
3. Compression - Tester are available though the feel of the kick start or putting a pinky over the plug hole may suffice.

If you know your way around cars you'll be fine. Taking pics as you go can help as does laying the stuff out as it came out on a workbench/piece of cardboard/kitchen table ;D

Good luck and have fun

[jonw]

Could be a few things.

Either a broken reed valve (in the base of the cylinder by the inlet) of a gummed up carb. Unfortunatly you'll need to remove the plastic to see anything on these. As above, isn't hard if your used to cars, just take picies of the plasitcs.