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I have 130/60 x 13 stock tires on my Motobravo Super Hornet
I'm thinking of getting 16in tires.
Basic Google fu does not confirm that my bike can take 16in tires.
Just by eyeballing it, I think there's plenty of clearance, at least diameter wise. I'm not positive how fat I could go without major modifications, especially on the rear.

How do I find out for sure, so I can avoid buying and returning parts?

Any thoughts on how this will affect ride comfort and stability?
And what about acceleration and top speed? will I need to tweak the transmission to compensate?
Or do I have to change the suspension to get a different size wheel?

Hey so this is a noob question but what can I realistically expect from different classes of scooters?

Most seem to think that 150cc should be practical for traffic going up to about 50mph.
But some seem to think a well tuned 150cc should cruise comfortably close to 70mph.

That's the benchmark I'm going for - comfortably taking it on the highway, which means I need to be able to stay above 65mph up some moderate hills. I'm not that concerned with acceleration - I would expect to accelerate at the same rate as a typical car, which seems easy for any scooter.

I don't understand the discrepancy, but for me, the difference between comfortably handling traffic up to 50ish vs 70ish is critical. It means I can take it on the highway routinely, or not - and around here it's impractical to avoid highways.
Is the discrepancy because 'realistic' and 'comfortable' 50ish = technically hitting 70ish on a downhill?
Or totally different standards of how much you tune and maintain your machine?

Do I have to buy a 250cc? Can I get the big bore kit and convert my 150cc to somewhere between 180 and 232cc instead? Or do I just need to learn how to properly tune it, get the ideal sliders for the transmission, CDI, and so forth?

By the way, I weigh about 190lbs. So maybe it's partly my fat butt slowing me down and the people claiming 70mph cruising speeds from a tuned 150cc are skinny kids?

I'll probably eventually go to a 250cc anyway, as well as a proper motorcycle with a manual transmission... and eventually I'm sure I'll get fed up with Chinese made. But I'll probably always keep one bike with a CVT just because it's fun. I'd just like to know whether to spend money on the 250cc sooner, vs hanging on to the 150cc for 1-3 years.

If it's possible to get my bike practical for highways, I'm curious what the side effects are if I add a lot more displacement. The engineers who designed it had a 150cc engine in mind.... what risks am I taking if I change bore and stroke and transmission, so there's possibly >150% of the originally intended displacement and altered gear ratio? I guess I'm worried it would catastrophically fail because I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that on a cheap Chinese frame/suspension/exhaust or something.

I'm actually not sure what size tires I've got. But just by eyballing it, it looks like my bike would easily accomodate at least 3in larger diameter. The clearance appears to be there, everywhere. Which if I understand basic physics correctly, is a lot like a big change to the gear ratios in the transmission? Same torque at the drive chain being applied to a larger wheel = higher top speed. Possible decrease in acceleration, but, that would depend on the workings of the CVT, which I don't understand well enough... it should pretty much automatically compensate to a large degree, right? So.... I could maybe just put bigger wheels and maybe change the roller/slider weights?

Oh and one more thing:
From what I understand, 2stroke engines are a lot less reliable/higher maintenance, generally speaking.
Or is that incorrect? Because if there's a street legal 2stroke engine I could swap in, without sacrificing reliability, that'd be of interest. As long as it's not a lot more expensive.

Fair enough .... Keep it cheap. That answers several questions actually. Thanks.

I'm an extreme noob.
I just got a 150cc and I'm loving it.

I am taking to riding pretty naturally I think. I'm also mechanically inclined and enjoying wrenching on it a little. I'm okay at working on small engines and cars... I have zero experience welding or fabricating, however, I'm definitely interested in learning at some point, and willing to do so as part of building my dream bike.

So, my dream bike:
I absolutely love the look of the Sachs MadAss bike. I'd like to build my dream around its unique frame... I'll call it a sideways "Y", you really have to google some pics of this bike. The fuel tank is an integral part of the frame, by the way.

I also love the ease of operating my bike with its CVT..

I'd really like to cruise comfortably in highway traffic - apparently, this means I want a 250cc. The consensus seems to be, you can tune a lighter bike but it's really just best to start off with this size engine.

Unfortunately, the Madass comes in 49cc and 150cc (although a lot of people have up-engined.) And only the moped comes with CVT option.

I like the minimalism of the Madass - I do want a few comforts that aren't stock: fuel gage, tach, probably a more comfy seat for two and some storage racks. Performance twin exhaust pipes and a good suspension. Those are pretty common mods for MadAss owners.

What's the legality of building a custom bike in the USA? if I get a 250cc engine off the internet, a CVT, and either a Sachs MadAss frame or fabricate my own (mainly to have a larger fuel tank) how would I go about getting a title? Are there safety regulations I have to worry about? I'm not concerned with selling this, however I can foresee letting friends take it around the block.

How difficult is it to figure out a project like this? And how expensive?
I'd be willing to put .... oh, say, 500 hours, and $3000 into this (parts and title) and be extremely happy to have a street legal bike .... but if it would take more than 3x that, I'd consider it probably not a good deal for me at this point.

Also, what do you expect as the lifespan of a custom build? I read an article that quotes the DOT as saying any motorcycle has a lifespan under 20k miles - that makes sense from the DOT perspective of depreciation. But I'd expect that I'd probably learn a lot and build a 2nd or 3rd bike as a refinement of the same concepts. I'd also expect to replace the engine and transmission in the long run. But, is it realistic to think that if I care for it lovingly and store it in a garage, I might be teaching my grandkids to ride a custom built bike 60 years after I build it? or is that completely farfetched?

Also, is it practical to think of doing this with a cheap Chinese engine and transmission, or would it be wiser to go ahead and pay for components made in Japan (or elsewhere - stock MadAss parts are made in Malaysia I believe but assembled in China)?

Also, is a build around a water cooled engine a lot more complex? Should I start off with an air cooled build even though that almost mandates a smaller engine size?
I was thinking I'd go with cheap, proven components, but perhaps I should be looking at higher quality racing components? I do think I'd love an unusually lightweight bike in proportion to its power.... however, I weigh about 190lbs and I picked up a stranded friend who probably weighs about 220.... knowing what it is like to carry 400+lbs of passenger on a 150cc, I'm not all that concerned with shaving 20lbs off the curb weight.

One question I'm pondering - maybe I should just get a LOT more general experience before I try something as adventurous as a custom build? I don't know the differences in riding a Ruckus vs a Ninja, how 10" wheels feel compared to 16", and I'm sure there are a LOT of choices between components that maybe I can't make prudently at this point?

Sorry to be so long winded.
Just to reiterate for clarity:
My dream bike is built around:
250cc engine
MadAss style, sideways "Y" frame and minimalist "naked" aesthetic
CVT auto transmission
The basic question is just how difficult and expensive it'd be to tie those three components into a street legal, reasonably reliable bike?

Ok thanks. I've been running 10% ethanol as well as low octane actually. So I'll make sure to get ethanol free.

Ok thanks for the input everyone.

Can we maybe make a sticky thread for all the things you should do to a new scooter???

OK so sorry for double posting up there. Here's a maybe smarter question:
I just came across a site called MonsterGY6.com and they have kits to tweak a 150cc... a $200 kit includes parts that I honestly don't fully understand, but it looks like a coil, clutch, CDI....
How much will this affect performance? And what is a can of worms I probably shouldn't open?