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Post by beerkeg on Sept 6, 2013 13:03:43 GMT -5
I've had the bike for a short time now and did manage to get it properly registered and licensed in Wisconsin despite problems with the local DMV office. Several guys here talked about changing sprockets to give higher gear ratios thus increasing top speed and reducing engine rpms. I did consider this as the bike has a lot of torque in all 4 gears and it could use a smaller rear sprocket maybe. I have found that here in the city I don't get to 4th gear much and when I do it's usually for a short time due to the frequent stops I have to make. I find that it has good speed and acceleration is brisk enough even starting in 2nd or 3rd gear and no need to run WOT at all. I like having the torque when I need to quickly speed up to avoid a situation or evade a problem. So I'm leaving it alone as of now. The bike is running great and so far I'm happy with it. Found a couple of minor things that I dislike. One is the small, short throw turn signal switch and it's beeping alert thing. It's too easy to switch to the opposite indication if not careful to stop the slide in the middle. This switch is also very close to the horn and I accidently hit it often. I am considering changing the mirrors to the type with indicator lights built in which would make them easy to see and remember to turn off. On the right handle bar is the front brake lever which is partially blocked by the added on turn signal lights. I have very large hands and find the light in my way at times. This is a light weight bike at 180lbs and it does not absorb road bumps as a heavier bike would so the ride is not as smooth as I'd like but the roads here are in poor shape. There is an intermittent chain clank that I have not yet found. Over all I like it very much and would buy another if I needed to. I got the bike from Superior Motor Sports and must say they have been excellent to work with all the way through despite a few claims of bad service I read here. I have not tried to see what the top speed is, as others have said on this forum, this bike is too light for speeds much over 40mph. As an urban commuter she's great despite my agreement with the short gearing in all four gears. It does require quick shifting but I have found that easy to do and no problem downshifting so far. Having said all this I'd give this bike a positive review.
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Post by prodigit on Sept 6, 2013 16:20:45 GMT -5
Very nice! Chances are, if you would change the rear sprocket, to 4t lower, that you won't need to go in 4th gear. And acceleration is just about the same all the way down to 36 or 37T due to less gear shifting.
Your bike has the same gearing as mine. I found it un-usable. too bad the shocks are terrible. But on the positive side of things, once they wear out, they will become softer. Also, you could check to see if you can't adjust the rear shocks to a lighter setting. sometimes you can adjust the rear spring tension by 4 or 5 settings. Me, being 160LBS, always set it to lowest setting, but even then, on most bike lowest setting is for 180-200LBS persons.
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Post by beerkeg on Sept 7, 2013 22:10:23 GMT -5
I had my son over today and he took a ride on her. He's a much more experienced rider than I am. He came to about the same conclusions that I did and we did discuss maybe going down a few teeth on the rear sprocket also. He pretty much agreed that was maybe a good idea but suggested that I get it broke in first and let the tranny loosen up a bit and then think about that. He thought softer shocks might improve the ride as well and he weighs a good 225. He felt some of the road shock was just being passed to my rear end. He was surprised that the bike had as much torque with his weight on it. He took a fairly steep, long hill near here in 3rd gear without slowing down any. He said he felt the bike was too short for him, he's 6' 2" and was sitting back pretty far and felt a bit off balance because of that. I'm just going to bide my time and ride her as she is for a while and let things break in. By then it will be time to go to winter storage anyway so a good time to find the chain noise we hear and to do a sprocket change is we decide to do so. I'm under 150lbs now after cancer battles so I get bounced pretty easy. Despite losing about 45 lbs of fat and muscle I'm still strong enough to handle this light weight bike. A heavier bike would give me problems I think. Thanks to all you guys for the input and wisdom!
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Post by alleyoop on Sept 7, 2013 22:27:14 GMT -5
You may want to consider adding a BEEPER for your turn signals and also a hooking them it up to your brakes. Hooking them up to your brakes is nice because if your sitting at a stop light waiting for the green and all you hear is BEEP BEEP BEEP. So when you have the brake on it does not beep but the turn signal is still blinking, as soon as you release the brake when the light turns green it starts beeping again to remind you to turn them off. Alleyoop Here is the beeper I put on: itistheride.boards.net/index.cgi?board=tt&action=display&thread=14And here is how to hook them up to the brakes. itistheride.boards.net/index.cgi?board=tt&action=display&thread=39
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Post by cat0020 on Sept 8, 2013 9:48:30 GMT -5
I found going to 16t front sprocket on the exact same scooter more useful than switching out the rear sprocket. Far more useful 1st & 3rd gear, more clearence for the chain to clear the swingarm pivot; instead of grinding the plastic swingarm pivot shield to shreads. Still plenty of torque for passing cars and getting out of way of danger. After putting more than few hundred miles on the 16/41 sprocket setup, I'm getting close to 122-123 mpg, with plenty of acceleration and speed to keep up with local traffics. I weight about 160lb with full riding gear on me. I removed about 6-8lb of stuff from the OEM scoot, changed the pilot and main jets and drilled a 1/4 below the exhaust port. Probably going to try a mechanical fuel pump to smooth out the weird fuel line routing that cause fuel starvation at wider throttle opening.
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Post by prodigit on Sept 8, 2013 16:10:22 GMT -5
Sounds about right. I get 115MPG with my 15/31T sprocket setup and 127cc engine. On my bike I could not change the front sprocket, because I haven't yet found a fitting 16T (that uses the 6-grooves/ribs on the axis, instead of the multi groove systems).
These types of engines have their best torque around 6.5k RPM, so it makes no sense to even use of those last 2k RPM, as you may see that reducing a rear sprocket, or increasing a front sprocket will still result in the same top speed. I went down 10 tooth on my rear sprocket, and my top speed is still the same, but I'm suffering a bit 'cause of lack of torque.
It makes most sense to change the front sprocket, upping one or two teeth; because front sprockets are cheaper, easier to replace or install, and don't require chain shortening. But in case that you can't change the front sprocket, changing the rear is just as good. When stock you have a 15/41T, and you'd change it to a 16/41T, it would be about the same gear ratio as going to a 15/38T setup, but like cat0020 mentioned, it makes more sense to change the front sprocket when you can, than changing the rear (front sprockets go for ~$20-30 shipping included, rear sprockets go for ~$50-65).
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Post by cat0020 on Sept 8, 2013 21:20:09 GMT -5
The 16t front sprocket was $15 w/free shipping on eBay, arrived in mail within 3 days; less than $1 a tooth.
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Post by beerkeg on Sept 9, 2013 15:27:46 GMT -5
[replyingto=alleyoop]alleyoop[/replyingto]AlleyOop. Mine came with a beeper but it really is not loud enough in busy traffic situations to be heard and I do forget to turn the signal off or push the switch too far and turn on the opposite signal. I'm considering tall rear view mirrors with built in Signals that will be visible in my side vision. More reliable than hearing the beeper. I like the idea of tapping into the brake light too. I had a medical appointment today and rode the bike to and from. Had a long stretch where I used 4th gear and yep she does wind out a bit at higher speeds so likely to make a sprocket change when I get her ready for winter storage. Still have just uner 75 miles on her. Shifting gears is getting a bit easier, not sure if they're loosening a bit or if I'm just getting used to it, maybe both. Still better than 3/4 of the first tank of gas left so she's doing good on MPG. I'm running it on octane per the manual.
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Post by cat0020 on Sept 9, 2013 18:42:27 GMT -5
I just run with 87 Oct cheap fuel, low compression ratio thumper doesn't need high Oct fuel.
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Post by prodigit on Sept 9, 2013 23:11:11 GMT -5
+1 cheap fuel will do just fine. The chinese always overrate their crap, thus oct fuel equals 87oct fuel in USA. See [[Octane_rating]]
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Post by cat0020 on Sept 19, 2013 16:15:03 GMT -5
No more updates for this one?
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Post by beerkeg on Oct 3, 2013 10:34:22 GMT -5
An update on this bike is at hand. I have a few more miles on her now and can say I still like this bike a lot. I do not use 1st gear at all and use mostly 2nd and 3rd in city traffic where I make such frequent stops. I have pretty much mastered the semi automatic tranny and have no problems shifting up or down. I will likely eventually change a sprocket, not sure of front or rear yet just to give her a bit more range and reduce engine rpms in all gears. It is not a problem in my usual riding although I have hit a few spots that I actually was able to use 4th gear and found it could be geared higher. Oil changes have shown virtually zero metal flaking in the old oil. Shifting is still tight and I still miss a gear now and then with poor foot placement. I have adjusted the front brake to be a bit tighter and need to do the same for the rear as the pedal is pretty soft. I have had to make one panic stop and am happy to report that the drum brakes worked just fine with locking wheels evenly and no tendency to have the rear end come out from under me. It just feels a bit spongy in the pedal. I have used the basket a little bit and have used the center storage rack to carry a 10" android tablet used as a reader. That works fine but find the center rack presents a difficulty mounting and dismounting the seat as these old legs don't want to lift that high anymore so the center rack is going off the bike. A rear carrier is a good possibility and I actually have one from my Benelli m50 which could bolt on easily. It's black and silver and my bike is blue and white so the color is ok as the seat is black and white. I have not yet had saddle bags on it as my bags would touch the muffler on the right side. I am hoping the ride softens a bit as it can be quite harsh on old bones with numerous injuries in the past. I feel the rear shocks could be softer and cannot comment on the front leading link suspension which also seems quite hard but perhaps necessary to be so. Gas mileage has been excellent. I am close to 100 mpg. but my measuring has not been really accurate. I'm running 87 Octane now and it's doing just fine with that fuel. I have not had to adjust the chain tension yet although I think it may need it as I hear some clanking now and then that sounds like the chain hitting the covers. This bike has a lot of torque in all gears. Over all this bike has been a far happier experience than the nightmare Benelli M50 turned into. I still feel I just got a lemon on that one and it's going up north to the summer place as a slow speed pleasure rider. I also have a friend there who is a genius with these bikes and he's going to make a winter rebuilding project out of it by totally rebuilding it. Hopefully it will all work better. I would definitely recommend the BMS 110 Bi Metro to others and Superior Motor Sports treated me great all the way through the process of buying the bike. They price matched a dealer I felt uncomfortable with and shipping was fast and easy. The local delivery was simple and right into my garage despite being on an alley with narrow space and low hanging electrical wires. The driver put the bike right inside my garage, he waited as I inspected for damage and was professional and very courteous as well as personable.
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Post by shalomdawg on Oct 3, 2013 14:48:05 GMT -5
howdy bk, i don't know your particular scoot but for turning OFF the turnsignal on all the scoots i've had , one simply pushes IN on the switch rather than trying to slide it to the middle. push directly toward the bar and it should cancel. you may have to piddle with it a little till you get familiar with the action on your particular scoot.
lotsa miles and smiles to ya ken
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Post by urbanmadness on Oct 3, 2013 20:57:02 GMT -5
howdy bk, i don't know your particular scoot but for turning OFF the turnsignal on all the scoots i've had , one simply pushes IN on the switch rather than trying to slide it to the middle. push directly toward the bar and it should cancel. you may have to piddle with it a little till you get familiar with the action on your particular scoot. lotsa miles and smiles to ya ken Not all do that. Most do, but I have a 250 in the garage that you can't cancel the turn signals by pushing in on the slide. It's like the most annoying thing ever!
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Post by beerkeg on Oct 3, 2013 23:12:18 GMT -5
Yeah My Honda had the push to cancel thing which was nice but this one does not appear to work that way. It is annoying but only when I actually remember to cancel! I hope to find some tall mirrors that will intergrate turn signals in the mirror and be visible out of the corner of the eye which would really help me remember since I cannot hear the beeper most of the time. Maybe I could get one of the old buzz rings for the left hand grip and I'd feel it buzz as it beeps. Like most riders I find things I like about the bike and things I don't like. I hope to soften up the rear shocks somehow to be a bit easier on these old bones. Mostly I find it's a lot of bike for the price and the quality seems darn good so far. I suspect that Chinese bikes will get better and better, they're certainly capable of building quality.
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