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Post by rockynv on Aug 8, 2016 4:02:42 GMT -5
Actually I made more money on the deal by leaving my money in a high yield account and taking the financing. Fuel savings over driving my gas guzzling cage to work made up for the payments so the bike ended up costing me absolutely nothing while I continued to garner interest on my working capital.
Sometimes taking the financing even though you have the cash in the bank is a winning proposition.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 7, 2016 6:36:59 GMT -5
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Post by rockynv on Aug 7, 2016 6:21:12 GMT -5
Honestly, the Piaggio was the really desired scoot - however, I don't think they would have taken $500 down and payments...  And, I have a new scoot with an honest-to-goodness warranty!  For 2 years, even...  Piaggio uses Sheffield too and the local Piaggio dealer will even accept a Chinese Scooter valued at $400 in trade and give you Sheffield financing sometimes at 0% during Piaggio Factory Incentives. I did not think I had that proverbial snowballs chance when I walked into a Piaggio dealership and sat on a Sport City 250. The finance manager said lets run the numbers just for fun and see, it will only take a few minutes. I am sure glad that I just didn't play Goldilocks and walk out confident that there was no way..... The Puig Sport Fairing that I put on my Sport City made a huge difference in how well the bike performs at over 25 mph since it is designed to reduce wind resistance. It was like I had put a larger engine in the bike and took me quite by surprise the first time I hit the entrance ramp to merge with Interstate traffic. I understand they work out quite well on the Super 8. |
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Post by rockynv on Aug 7, 2016 6:11:27 GMT -5
Puma was also known as Znen Direct and some took exception when they started competing directly with the existing distributors that were already selling Znen bikes. When you start competing with your existing distributor network you are asking for trouble.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 7, 2016 6:04:51 GMT -5
Note that one must be careful with the Shinko as while they do a pretty good knockoff of the name brand tread patterns they sometimes do not get the rubber formulation correct and end up with too hard a formulation for the tread pattern.
Sava makes some tires that are great until they start getting close to the wear bars however are not worn out. The temperature that they fuse the tread belt to the carcass of the tire is sometimes a tad too hot so that the rubber nearer to the last 30% of the usable tread has much less grip than the first 70% of usable tread. When the Sava Diamond tires are new you can almost do a Stoppie like in a Tom Cruise movie riding a Sport City however when 65% to 70% of the usable tread is worn then they can become quite slick. Sava is the Slovenian arm of GoodYear.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 6, 2016 6:10:27 GMT -5
That can happen with motorcycle tires are over 2 years old and you are riding at night when its potentially cool and damp since there can now be a light sheen of oil and water on the road. This is also the tradeoff you get if you put hard compound tires to get longer wear on a bike. Bottom line on the Honda is to keep very close to the OEM size tires on the bike to keep the handling balanced and stay with established name brand tires such as Pirelli, Michelin, Dunlop or the German Heidenau.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 6, 2016 5:59:38 GMT -5
Dr Pulley Sliders matching the stock weight or 1 ounce lighter is usually all thats needed. Dr Pulley will confirm the recommended size and weight if you email them. Before you start tossing hundreds on other mods you may find the $25 invested in the sliders may be all you'll need. Sounds good Rocky. Any idea where I could get Dr. Pulley's email address ? From the Dr Pulley/Union Materials Contact Us button on their web site. I just do a web search on "dr pulley" and select any link to Union Material and trim it back to the root which is www.unionmaterial.com/ and then select "Contact Us". This opens up your email client with a blank email addressed to "service@unionmaterial.com". |
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Post by rockynv on Aug 5, 2016 21:55:42 GMT -5
You are missing the point. Engine speed and MPH are not correlated on a CVT, it is designed to maintain constant engine speed, so bike speed is not a good metric to use when breaking in. Much better to concentrate on attempting to vary the engine speed during break in, that will help assure a good ring set. A more constant speed would be more accurate and it does vary from an low idle to full red-line when you have the throttle pegged. You have to read all the words in the manual relevant to run-in or break-in and not just the poorly written translations from Chinese. CVT scooters have been around for many years now and the break-in rules were vetted out by Piaggio quite some time ago. Constant speed such as pegged at 55 during break-in has always been prohibited. No full throttle running except for brief bursts to set rings, no rocking the throttle and no operation at over 2/3 max speed is what it generally works out to in practical application or you have tight cylinders that are not broken in binding along with lean run overheating and potential soft seize conditions developing. On a 150 that equates to keeping the speed below 35 or 40 mph during the break-in period while on a 250 your looking at around 55 mph tops during the break-in. It is generally also accepted that max speed capability will gradually increase after the break-in period is over as parts wear in. It is not realistic to expect to ride a bike with a max published speed rating of 55 mph at a constant 55 mph until after the break-in and wear-in period has completed which can take a few thousand miles depending on the engine. This can make the difference too in getting only 8,000 miles before having to re-build a scooter engine and going 25,000 to 50,000 miles instead. |
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Post by rockynv on Aug 5, 2016 3:44:24 GMT -5
Dr Pulley Sliders matching the stock weight or 1 ounce lighter is usually all thats needed. Dr Pulley will confirm the recommended size and weight if you email them. Before you start tossing hundreds on other mods you may find the $25 invested in the sliders may be all you'll need.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 4, 2016 4:26:53 GMT -5
According to the owners manuals on the last 4 I looked at it does. That was 2 different Chinese scooters, an Aprilia and a Piaggio. Use a little common sense. You can red line at 20mph with a CVT, so why would mph matter? Never have seen that unless you break the other rules for all CVT bikes regardless of being in the break in period however many still rock on and off the throttle driving the belt down lower than it should be in the drive sheave which can cause red lining the engine and sometime jamming up the belt so that the rear wheel locks up or the belt breaks or put in excessively light rollers. You have to follow all the rules. |
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Post by rockynv on Aug 3, 2016 11:43:02 GMT -5
Speed doesn't matter when breaking in a CVT based engine. It has no relationship to the engine speed. According to the owners manuals on the last 4 I looked at it does. That was 2 different Chinese scooters, an Aprilia and a Piaggio. |
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Post by rockynv on Aug 3, 2016 3:58:13 GMT -5
The Aprilia 150's and above have over 460 lbs weight capacity however if you ride at speeds over 40 mph regularly the fuel economy advantage of most 150cc bike evaporates. My 250 on my 45 to 55 mph commute to work gets much better fuel economy than my 150 ever did riding the same route.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 2, 2016 21:37:17 GMT -5
A new 150 should not be ridden at over 35 to 40 mph for the first 500 miles anyway to seat the rings and valves. After that the valves and then the carb should be adjusted along with the break-in oil changed (some may require the break-in oil change at about 150 miles).
Before replacing parts or trying to run at over 40 mph for extended periods of time you need to break the motor in, get the break-in oil change taken care of, do the initial valve adjustment and then adjust the carb.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 2, 2016 12:11:54 GMT -5
Fix the heat problem with the bike. The early Burgman Styled scooters (not sure if the Burgmans too it's just that body style that I am referring to) had that issue due to placing the gas tank in the heat soak area of the engine without enough air flow and heat shielding to prevent the gas from getting so hot that it precolated and overwhelmed the venting on the fuel tank. Some lost their engines from fuel getting into the crankcase from that.
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Post by rockynv on Aug 2, 2016 3:54:23 GMT -5
The 150 setup with a single shock like a 50cc bike is only rated for 220 or so lbs which is not much good riding double except for a couple of children who legally won't be able to ride it since a 150 requires a motorcycle license in Florida.
I had the same issue with my Lance Vintage 150 since it was a single shock bike based on a 50cc frame that although it was plenty big enough barely had the capacity to carry myself and my lunch box.
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