First big problem with our bike Hero Duet

Yesterday we went out for an outing on our bike. It was about 90kms round trip. We left in morning and planned to be back by noon. Going was nice, with normal weather. After reaching the place and sightseeing for about couple of hours we left by 11:30AM.

We could feel the heat. It was not scorching yet, but we felt like we should have left an hour early, since it was easily an hour and half's ride back with all the traffic. So we were only 10kms away when the scooter lost power. We tried electric start first, but it won't start. Then we tried kick start, and still nothing. So we searched the net and found a mechanic and had him sent someone over.

Then after 45 minutes couple of young mechanics reached us. After fiddling with the scooter they managed to kick start it. Initial prognosis was dead air filter. So we rode to their garage, and got it replaced in about half-an-hour. In Hero Duet the filter comes as a block of striped foam. In bikes it's often a round hose-like design. It was pretty gunky from what we saw. The replacement cost us about 250Rs, that plus the mechanic visit of 150Rs, totalled to 400Rs.

At least now the scooter runs better.