Piaggio Typhoon '05 - WKRP Rally, 12k RPM, awards & future.
Jan 12, 2016 16:54:10 GMT -5
90GTVert, derbiman, and 8 more like this
Post by drc174 on Jan 12, 2016 16:54:10 GMT -5
Hello everybody,
As a European with a taste for the two stroke and a fetish for the tiny 50cc, who moved to the US a few dozen months ago, I was on withdrawal from two wheels.
i was involved prior in numerous projects revolving around the Belgian, French and german Scooter scene, with multiple magazine reports etc.
Returning to college and its living standards, it was hard to step off my 1200 BMW GS and get back on a bicycle. The lack of 50s around Ohio was.. crushing. I got lucky and found a beaten Typhoon for very cheap.
The US lights are APPAULING.
Although I am on the tall and heavy side with 6.7" and 200lbs, i could scrape together a good 40mph.
NOT. FAST. ENOUGH.
My girlfriend got into the whole scooter thing to, and I snapped. I became 6 years younger again. Called up friends and family at home to gather all the parts from my old projects they could muster together and had them shipped over, including some new parts as well of course.
Exhaust was the first thing that had to go
As I lived in this tiny studio apartment, and we decided to make the full project happen, we realised.. I would sleep next to a bare scooter for a while.
Sweet!
She got into it pretty fast.
Nasty engine
NOTE: This is not advertisement. These signs came in handy for keeping the carpet clean.
Visually, we kind of pieced it together over time. I wanted to label the red bottom part with beer labels, so we started gathering.
Luxembourg's, (my country) National brewery sent me 2000 labels, a bit overkill! Shout out to the THE BEST Pils in the world (personal taste of course)
Got more stuff:
EU lights
Malossi MHR CVT
My treasure!
THE THING!
Some other stuff including Transmission thingies, carburator stuff, electrics and some tools. I love my FACOM.
Tires arrived:
I wanted to go more 80's look so I covered the front in yellow.
THE LABELLING HAS BEGUN
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Handlebar came through, put together:
And then, THE BABY!
Here is the video of us fiddling it in, also gives you an idea of how small the space was and how limited I was in tools.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em3SxKdm1uw
We then got into customizing some stickers. 174 was always my racing number
As I cut of the rat tail at the end, I ran out of places to attack the license plate.
Hence, I got into 3D printing. I am by no means an engineer so it was all trial and error.
Some paint jobs
The brake discs needed machinging to get clearance for the new fork
I also designed a mount for the Speedometer holder. I got no pictures of the design but a video of the print.
And then, out of nowhere, everything just... ended up together.
First day out, with the Mighty-O's from Cincy!
I got naughty:
I let it ran very rich at the beginning and low on RPM.
We then took off to a day at the track, so my now fiancee could get some practice and me some well deserved fun. I am not going to bore you with all the pictures, but some of the best:
So far, it has been fantastic fun and it is both a head turner and nervous and amazing handling bike. I wish I would have spent some more into an actual decent exhaust, but that might change with an upcoming project after a talk to a local two stroke nut.
Current setup, engine wise is as following:
Suspension is thee bomb with:
If you got those questions, shoot them out. It is and was a fun project, I love my girl for being so passionate about every second working on it.
Here are some of the pictures from the MOSC, Cincinnatti's one and only Mighty Ohio Scooter Club. My scooter survived, with two people on it, over the course of two-three hours. We had no issue keeping up, passing and impressing the folks on their 150+ engines. Great crowd, great scooters, great friends!
At the end of the day, the connecting bolt from cylinder to exhaust broke off and left me with an unsealed exhaust, loads of noise, but it finished fine.
As a European with a taste for the two stroke and a fetish for the tiny 50cc, who moved to the US a few dozen months ago, I was on withdrawal from two wheels.
i was involved prior in numerous projects revolving around the Belgian, French and german Scooter scene, with multiple magazine reports etc.
Returning to college and its living standards, it was hard to step off my 1200 BMW GS and get back on a bicycle. The lack of 50s around Ohio was.. crushing. I got lucky and found a beaten Typhoon for very cheap.
The US lights are APPAULING.
Although I am on the tall and heavy side with 6.7" and 200lbs, i could scrape together a good 40mph.
NOT. FAST. ENOUGH.
My girlfriend got into the whole scooter thing to, and I snapped. I became 6 years younger again. Called up friends and family at home to gather all the parts from my old projects they could muster together and had them shipped over, including some new parts as well of course.
Exhaust was the first thing that had to go
As I lived in this tiny studio apartment, and we decided to make the full project happen, we realised.. I would sleep next to a bare scooter for a while.
Sweet!
She got into it pretty fast.
Nasty engine
NOTE: This is not advertisement. These signs came in handy for keeping the carpet clean.
Visually, we kind of pieced it together over time. I wanted to label the red bottom part with beer labels, so we started gathering.
Luxembourg's, (my country) National brewery sent me 2000 labels, a bit overkill! Shout out to the THE BEST Pils in the world (personal taste of course)
Got more stuff:
EU lights
Malossi MHR CVT
My treasure!
THE THING!
Some other stuff including Transmission thingies, carburator stuff, electrics and some tools. I love my FACOM.
Tires arrived:
I wanted to go more 80's look so I covered the front in yellow.
THE LABELLING HAS BEGUN
Handlebar came through, put together:
And then, THE BABY!
Here is the video of us fiddling it in, also gives you an idea of how small the space was and how limited I was in tools.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em3SxKdm1uw
We then got into customizing some stickers. 174 was always my racing number
As I cut of the rat tail at the end, I ran out of places to attack the license plate.
Hence, I got into 3D printing. I am by no means an engineer so it was all trial and error.
Some paint jobs
The brake discs needed machinging to get clearance for the new fork
I also designed a mount for the Speedometer holder. I got no pictures of the design but a video of the print.
And then, out of nowhere, everything just... ended up together.
First day out, with the Mighty-O's from Cincy!
I got naughty:
I let it ran very rich at the beginning and low on RPM.
We then took off to a day at the track, so my now fiancee could get some practice and me some well deserved fun. I am not going to bore you with all the pictures, but some of the best:
So far, it has been fantastic fun and it is both a head turner and nervous and amazing handling bike. I wish I would have spent some more into an actual decent exhaust, but that might change with an upcoming project after a talk to a local two stroke nut.
Current setup, engine wise is as following:
Suspension is thee bomb with:
If you got those questions, shoot them out. It is and was a fun project, I love my girl for being so passionate about every second working on it.
Here are some of the pictures from the MOSC, Cincinnatti's one and only Mighty Ohio Scooter Club. My scooter survived, with two people on it, over the course of two-three hours. We had no issue keeping up, passing and impressing the folks on their 150+ engines. Great crowd, great scooters, great friends!
At the end of the day, the connecting bolt from cylinder to exhaust broke off and left me with an unsealed exhaust, loads of noise, but it finished fine.
