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Post by dev150cc on May 22, 2014 18:36:58 GMT -5
Terrible news, I'm sorry to hear it. I got rear-ended on my scoot this week by someone not paying attention.
Family needs first...scooters will always be there when you're ready.
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Post by dev150cc on May 22, 2014 14:27:03 GMT -5
Hi John, a bit beat up from rolling over and over down the road, but nothing broken.
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Post by dev150cc on May 22, 2014 0:36:42 GMT -5
That's what I was thinking. Actually I got hit on my scooter yesterday, so I don't know if I'll be on that scoot anymore. But this knowledge will transfer right over to another . Anyway, I was thinking that 11's might work be good to try. Maybe a mix of 11 and 12. 13's were definitely too much for that scoot with me on it.
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Post by dev150cc on May 21, 2014 9:45:07 GMT -5
Kat, I'll do that.
Those lighting options are impressive. It is amazing what options are out there today compared to 10-20 years ago.
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Post by dev150cc on May 21, 2014 1:47:51 GMT -5
Thanks Leo. My back will need you prayers in the morning. I'm getting too old to be rolling around on pavement. I took great consideration to a lighting schema like you have, and I have a trunk picked out for that purpose. If the time comes again that I have a scooter under me, I am going to investigate this option fully. I'll be lit up light a diesel rig at a truck stop bling night. Born and raised in Houston. Happy to have California driving weather though
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Post by dev150cc on May 21, 2014 1:07:49 GMT -5
Thanks you guys.
Kev, that's like sliding off your bike and into the lion's den going into the intersection. Strangely my leg muscles are sore, but that's probably because I was doing ice skating spins on the ground I'm in no shape to be doing.
Thanks Spandi. I like that idea. Wish I would have though about that. If I get another scoot, I'll focus on getting lots of lights in the back, with a modulator. It's the achilles heal in our safety. I just happened to be talking to a motorcyclist at a red light about how our back exposure is so tough to guard against.
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Post by dev150cc on May 20, 2014 23:08:54 GMT -5
Some of you guys saw me struggling with a weird issue recently. Got it fixed last night! Went out for about 50 or so miles to test ride it.
Drove to work this morning. On the way home, I was first in line in my lane. As I approached a light that had just turned red, I settled into position and started looking around at traffic. Noticed the person behind me was still coming on strong. I decided to try to move to the empty left turn lane next to me, but she got me before I could clear the lane. All I remember is feeling the hit and rolling over several times. I just relaxed and rolled, hoping no cars were coming. That was kinda surreal. Got up and didn't feel any of my body parts missing or broken, then got out of the street.
Wear your helmet (preferably full face). Wear strong riding gloves. Wear a jacket and even riding pants that will take the blunt of your tumble. I was only wearing jeans, but came out ok. My legs feel beat up and I have a scraped knee and general stiff muscles. If that's all I come away with, I'll thank the big guy upstairs.
Now, that bike was finally starting to get right where I wanted it. Since she hit the back tire almost dead on, I'm thinking the CVT and anything related to rear wheel is toast. No idea if that sort of blow, then hitting the tarmac, impacted other critical areas. There are the typical broken bits.
I won't get into the monetary stuff, as I'll work with her on that. The police came by and we all talked about what happened, and I'll talk to the other driver about what to do about the money side of it.
I will say I'm not keen on trying to buy parts and hope the bike is not misaligned now, engine didn't take a hit, etc, so considering going to bike #2 or just taking a break for a while. My wife was not as freaked as I thought she would be, but I told her the person hit me and I just fell down and it was no big deal - it's better that way.
Anyway, I'm happy to say all my fingers and other body functions are working to write this thread. Yall keep your eyes out - scan, identify, predict, decide execute. I did all of them and still took a hit, but that extra step I took to execute may have softened the blow for me.
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Post by dev150cc on May 20, 2014 2:09:44 GMT -5
Ok folks, figured it out this evening when I got home. In short, it was a coil or plug boot progressively going bad over the course of several miles on 2 test runs. Since this thread bounced around a little, let me roll the tape back and provide the highlights.... Scenario: bone stock bike in great running condition. Variator had 17 gram weights. Topped out at about 50 indicated on the speedo. Belt broke (*I think I know why, see below) I took the opportunity to install a Koso variator and 12 gram weights while replacing the belt. Trial ride 1: good ride. Lost some bottom end with the new variator and weights. Gained a few MPH on top end. At about 10 miles in, the engine started skipping out when I tried to accelerate past, say, 30mph if I was too aggressive with the throttle. Felt distinctly like an overheat. Limped it home at low speed, afraid I had burnt up the head. Figured it was just running lean, as is the reputation for the factory setup for these scoots, typically. Unclear if/why related to a variator and weight change. Pulled the main jet - 102. Trial ride 2: installed a 115 jet (from 102 stock), checked vacuum and fuel hoses, etc. Test right started out right out of my driveway with the same engine skip when accelerating from 20-30'ish with anything but a feather touch to the throttle. Tonight I got home from work and targeted the variator to exclude it as an issue. Put the old variator and some 13 gram weights in. Fired up the scoot and heard the old variator rattling a fair amount. Not good, pulled it out and put the Koso back in with the 13 grams. Fired it up, ran smooth. CVT glided up and down while on the center stand. Took it down the block and the engine skipped again upon mid-range accelleration if I was too aggressive with the throttle. I was happy this eliminated the variator as an issue. Moved on to the spark path. I replaced the spark plug and the coil/boot combo with spares I ordered. Test ride: success. Smooth up and down the throttle range, both quick and slow. So in the end it seems either the boot was falling apart inside, or the coil was progressively dying, and it just happened to coincide with the variator work. * Other things: that old variator, when I put it back in to compare with tonight, made some rattling sounds. I took it out and noticed how loosely the ramp plate fit. It was downright sloppy and you could hear the weights getting jarred inside. Makes me wonder if the original weights were rattled to bits, and the variator performed roughly, killing the previous Gates belt. I'd put my money on it at this point. The Koso: After my successful ride tonight after the coil unit change, I rode with the 13 gram weights for about 20 miles. It was ok. But I felt it was lethargic. I came home and swapped the 12's back in. Notable improvement in getting off the line - not exactly a rabbit start, but good enough for me to hang with expressway traffic. There is a boring wind-up in speed from 25 to 50 indicated mph, but once I got to 50, it advanced a bit more responsively for another few miles per hour. So I'm very happy a this point. If I could have just a bit more punch off the line up to, say, 30mph, or fill that 30-50mph slow rise, I think I'd have the perfect setup. But very happy so far. I rode about 50 miles tonight after getting the coil issue resolved. Up-jetting to 115 made no difference in spark coloration. The spark plug I swapped out to looks pretty much the same as the original plug I replaced. This picture is under a fairly bluish light, so it looks whiter than it should, but it's definitely not the coffee color Jerry and others note as the ideal for a GY6 plug. I'll make do, as I don't feel good going bigger than 115. I made a phone video but it's in swf format. You can see it on my flickr account if you cut/paste. At about 6 seconds and 9 seconds in, you can here the drop - that's not me, it's the engine doing that. This was a short jaunt down my block. No good video, just listen... www.flickr.com/photos/74745751@N00/14247882693/So, thanks everyone, for ideas. I had a hunch the other day it could come down to spark cutting out, but had to eliminate the one major intentional change (variator) before systematically moving to other possibilies. I'm glad I up-jetted as well. I'm sure it was running lean before and the 115 jet gives me some assurance I'm not overheating the engine due to gas starvation. Now that this is sorted, I'll get back to riding and trying other things like getting that carb dialed in for optimal performance.
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Post by dev150cc on May 19, 2014 18:33:13 GMT -5
HAHAHAHA, now that is also a completely different description. But I know sometimes it is hard to explain that is why I sometimes ask for a VIDEO or PICTURES of the problems. But let me ask this after the belt broke did you take the clutch apart and clean it all out? Pieces of rubber and or material could be in-between the contra spring, or behind the outside pulley and or dust inside the sheave causing it to bind and make it hesitate when the Pulley gets to a certain spot and will not open smoothly. So I would take it completely apart and clean it all good and a little grease on the pins and pin slide area. Alleyoop In know, lol. And taking a video at half throttle on the road is out of the question without a good camera phone holder gizmo. It's ok, I'll get there. I completely disassembled the clutch to inspect and clean. It's in great shape and I found no particles, miraculously. Springs all pass muster as well. When I get home, first thing I'm going to do is swap back to the original variator with 13 gram weights and test that. If the occurrence still happens, check spark parts. If it still happens start with fuel starvation. I'm running out of stuff to check...
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Post by dev150cc on May 19, 2014 15:44:40 GMT -5
Hi Alley, acknowledged, looking back my descriptions could be more accurate. Actually it's opposite - it's fine taking off from zero. It's once I get out of that zone and try to get up to cruising speed ( say stepping up to 30-40 mph ) , that's when this occurs unless I gently increase throttle. It will go faster, but not if I rush it. But yes, pilot is 35 and it's bone (sp edit) stock other than the new variator and weights.
The test is worth doing on its own merits, but I don't think I have a carb issue (it was running great until my belt broke and I swapped variators). I'm going back to the variator swap and will go back to stock and start over from there - isolate one variable at a time...
Thanks for the suggestions folks, it helps having other ideas to prevent tunnel vision. Let me test the stock CVT setup first and take it from there.
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Post by dev150cc on May 19, 2014 15:04:36 GMT -5
Right, noted. I may go by the shop and pick up a 110. I've seen everything the past couple of weeks reading my eyeballs out I'll get back to the carb once I figure out this issue.
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Post by dev150cc on May 19, 2014 13:44:03 GMT -5
Alleyoop - I'm probably not using very good technical speak. Sputtering isn't really accurate. Just if you try to goose it or grab a decent handfull of throttle to get moving, either the CVT isn't grabbing or something, but there is that momentary "miss" unless I ease the throttle a bit and feather it up. I'll fall back to my statement that prior to my belt breaking and me swapping out variators, it ran like a champ, just lacked some topend. But a champ nonetheless.
urbanmadne - pretty much my plan, though 102 is really light. I have a 107 I may fall back to, but I'd rather run a little rich first than too lean while I get things sorted out.
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Post by dev150cc on May 19, 2014 12:45:47 GMT -5
I checked the carb out - everything is good there, including installation. I may work with the needle later to fine tune, but it was running well prior to my belt break recently. I'm focusing back on the variator and possible spark related (thinking not at this point). I'll try to get the CVT back to where it was before the belt break and variator change, then take things from there. Trying to be systematic about things, as well as lube, adjust where needed opportunistically along the way. This is going to be an awesome scooter some day I weight in at 215.
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Post by dev150cc on May 19, 2014 9:55:28 GMT -5
I've only had two test rides on the new variator and 12g weights. On the first ride, I was able to get out and quite a bit more before I had the sputtering issue. At that time, I had it at about 60mph indicated, which is faster than the original variator and 17g weights. But it was a slower rise to that point without as much punch to the lower/mid. The issue became more pronounced after a few miles and I feathered it home (my thought at the time was that it was overheating, so I didn't open the throttle more)
This second trip last night, I was within the neighborhood. I brought it up to maybe 3/4 throttle on a longer stretch. I think no matter where on the throttle, if I gave it a twist, would sputter.
My plan for tonight will be to swap new plug, new coil/wire/boot, new CDI and test. I'll pull out my timing light and hook it up so I can see if I'm missing a spark cycle.
If that checks out, I'll put the old variator on with the heaviest combination of weights I have to get it back to what it was previously and see if I have a CVT issue.
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Post by dev150cc on May 19, 2014 1:34:03 GMT -5
Let me add what I do find regarding the Koso variator and 12 g weights. From stop, I do rev up quite a bit to get it going. It's only once I get going decently that I hit that point where a marginal twist of the throttle requires feathering to avoid sputter.
I do recall getting some pretty good top end when I had it out for the first test ride the other day, but soon ran into the stuttering issue that I thought was overheating. Funny, I didn't have that immediate stuttering like I ran into today....
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