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Post by earlwb on Oct 2, 2014 15:36:01 GMT -5
A number of years ago, I remember seeing someone who had a pretty neat three wheel car that used a Triumph 650 or 750 engine in it. It had that cool space age look and worked really well too.
But having a small personal transportation machine that is enclosed to keep you out of the rain is a a pretty good idea. So it is quite interesting to see how different people come up with different designs.
Now then the side by side two wheel design like they use with the Segue reminds me of the Corbin monocycle. It works really great until you need to stop in a hurry. Then you get to gerbil rather spectacularly.
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Post by earlwb on Oct 1, 2014 15:50:11 GMT -5
Yes it has been pretty popular over the years. I think that the best one was someone putting a 1000cc four cylinder motorcycle engine in a Vespa. Another popular one was people modifying the little Honda Ruckus scooter by putting in larger engine units. But yeah, you want to find a titled and registered scooter you can use to good effect for your modifications. But if you never plan on making it road legal, then anything goes.
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Post by earlwb on Sept 12, 2014 6:51:02 GMT -5
Well I concur, no title, no sale. it could very likely be stolen. But also many people bought scooters off the internet and either didn't get the MCO with it or didn't know what to do with the MCO and how to get it converted into a title. Or were just too lazy to do so. Others bought the scooters to joyride and didn't need a title as they never rode it on the highways. Also some people bought scooters to use for getting around large areas like the drag strip for example or large flea market areas, etc. Unfortunately if you do not have the MCO you cannot get the scooter registered and titled. Some states still allow unregistered 50cc or under size scooters on the roads and these scooters get stolen a lot because of it. Some people get 150's and pass them off as being 50cc scooters too.
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Post by earlwb on Sept 12, 2014 6:44:30 GMT -5
The desert should not be a problem for the scooter. Now then the dust in the air means you need to change the airfilter more often. The 150 size scooters have a small air filter on the CVT drive on the side where the variator and clutch is with the belt. You are probably best to simply remove the little filter as it is small and clogs up fast, you would have to clean it every couple of days otherwise. Just leave a small gravel or rock screen over the hole for the CVT drive to keep out the little rocks though.
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Post by earlwb on Aug 4, 2014 22:10:40 GMT -5
You are welcome. If you are a bit tight on money, going with a used ride would maybe be the way to go too.
I remember a few years ago reading about some teenagers in Holland or The Netherlands that had mod'd their 50cc rides with big bore kits, etc. Later they got caught in a speed trap going over 30mph. The police impounded the scooters or mopeds besides giving them citations. When they went to get their rides back out of the impound lot, the police had pulled the cylinder heads off the engines and kept the cylinder heads too. So they had to put the rides back to stock or find a new big bore kit. Now I doubt they would do that in the USA though.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 25, 2014 21:21:30 GMT -5
You would really be better off looking for a 150cc scooter, maybe a 125cc one.
As mentioned 45mph is at or over the redline or max RPMs for the engine. Thus the engine won't last very long doing it.
As mentioned already you would have to put in a big bore kit, tuned pipe, carger carburetor, etc. to go over 30mph. The companies limit the speed to 30mph because of the various laws in different states classify them as mopeds or equivalent.
One problem depends on your state and how well they enforce the laws, if you don't have the motorcycle endorsement, then if they catch you going over 30mph, they can write you up for it and even impound your ride too. We have had folks complain before about what happens when they get caught. Also getting a 150cc ride and putting decals, etc on it to make it look like 50cc works until you get caught by the police going 45 or 50 mph. It usually gets ugly then.
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Post by earlwb on May 22, 2014 11:15:50 GMT -5
But really there isn't such a thing as a "Real Bike". If you ride a motorcycle, eventually someone on a Harley will say you ought to get a real bike. The Indian bike riders will say you ought to get a real bike if you are on a Harley. Then if you get a Harley, a guy on a touring bike will say you ought to get a real bike. Then if you got the HD touring bike, a guy on a custom chopper style bike will say it it you too. You cannot win. Heck the Sport bike guys will say you ought to get a real bike instead of your "Geezer Glide" too.
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Post by earlwb on May 19, 2014 16:12:45 GMT -5
Well it might be that the variator is stuck all the way out or the clutch is jammed so that it doesn't engage too. It is possible a gear broke, but I am inclined to think it might be more simple though. Maybe the axle nut came loose and the wheel is not engaging in the tabs or dogs on the axel too. Or the splines in the wheel stripped out.
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Post by earlwb on May 9, 2014 22:36:59 GMT -5
You are welcome. I think that the only rubber tire valves I might trust are the ones you see on the Honda Motorcyles and scooters. Those would likely hold up well. I also noticed on some large V twin Honda motorcycles that they had a brace on the angled tire valve to help prevent it from moving around at speed too. If I remember right the small hole sized straight rubber tire valve stems as used on some trailer wheels might be Ok too. The valve stems we normally see come in two hole sizes. But really, there are so many shoddy and defective parts coming out of China, that it isn't good anymore. A few years ago some importer or Chinese tire valve stems wound up with a disaster when the government forced a recall on all the defective tire valves they were selling to everyone. Several million tire valve stems too. reference www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2008/06/recall-of-faulty-tire-valve-stems-expanded/index.htmThis is that lousy rubber material that they use, it literally starts to fall apart as soon as you open the package. |
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Post by earlwb on May 8, 2014 13:03:27 GMT -5
Those rubber base tire valves are dangerous. The rubber tends to deteriorate rapidly and the brass valve stem tends to pop out. It does tend to happen when you are zipping along at a fair clip too. It makes for some exciting saves on the scooter when you have the tire suddenly go flat on you too. What happens, if you could observe the tire valve at speed, is that the valve stem flexes back and forth as the wheel rotates and up and down some too. That flexing causes the stem to come loose in the rubber and come out or pop out. That causes rapid air loss. I would suggest replacing the tire valves as soon as possible with better quality tire valves. You can see where the valve stem started to come out of the rubber base on this one here:  The metal valve stem really has nothing to help hold it in the rubber either.  I used a straight and a angled metal base valve stem to replace the rubber ones on my scooter. I would use some non-permanent threadlocker on the double nuts inside the wheel so they are less likely to come loose on you too.   |
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Post by earlwb on May 5, 2014 16:41:53 GMT -5
Nope, I think the fragrance is fairly mild, so it doesn't really offend much if any.
I plan on putting a little into the fuel tank of my trimmer engine to see what happens. Maybe my lawnmower too.
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Post by earlwb on Apr 29, 2014 11:05:13 GMT -5
I have some of that stuff, but I haven't tried it in anything yet. I was going to see what it did when used in a radio control model airplane gas engine.
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Post by earlwb on Apr 29, 2014 11:03:27 GMT -5
The rope method works OK, but it has to be on the compression stroke to prevent bending a valve. Plus the rope needs to be clean or new if possible, and you need to keep a length of it outside so you can pull it out. Yeah I have seen people stick all of the rope they had inside and then wonder how do you get the rope out afterwards. With some engines there is a possibility it could bend the rod but usually this isn't a problem.
Normally one should use a variator tool. You can make the tool easily enough as well. It doesn't require more skills than what you can do with a drill and a hacksaw and maybe a file too.
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Post by earlwb on Apr 29, 2014 10:59:26 GMT -5
I fabricated my own DIY variator wrench tool for holding the variator or the clutch still so I could loosen the nut. The rope method works on the variator but the clutch is a different issue. A long breaker bar is a requirement in any case. Do use the six point sockets, don't use the finer toothed sockets, as the nut is made from softer steel and the six point socket grips the flats and not the points that are easy to round off. Actually for all of the bolts on the scooters it is wise to use the six point sockets on all of them.
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Post by earlwb on Apr 28, 2014 14:30:12 GMT -5
I think that when the engine was being assembled the bolt head got stripped off by the air wrench. Likely a worn socket tool. The bolt head was likely defective to some extent as well which would contribute to it. They aren't deliberately putting in anti-theft bolts or screws yet, as far as I know. But if you could unscrew it by using the manifold piece then it was a defective bolt and it wasn't screwed in tight in the first place.
The factory has the assemblers use air wrenches as much as possible and they preset the torque settings for the bolts or screws being used at that point on the assembly line.
The variator nut and clutch nut are the ones that they really torque down on hard though.
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