Stripped Down Triton Strikes Again

[90GTVert]

I was out riding earlier today and saw a group of guys on scooters go past on another street. I caught up to them and we ended up pulling over and talking. They were all 50's, most (if not all) modded in some way. They wanted to see if I could keep up with the fastest scooter in their group, and of course I was glad to oblige. ;D

We all pulled out and I got behind the fastest of them. He turned down another road and then he leaned down and started speeding up. I gave it 1/2-3/4 throttle to keep up and by the time we got to 40-45MPH I came to the conclusion that this was the race. I went WOT, still sitting straight up, and pulled past him. I let off so he could pass and then followed him to a place to park.

When the other guys caught up they said, "Did we see him pass you?" in a suprised manner. He said, "Yeah, he pulled right by." I asked if he was trying to race when we first turned and one of the other guys said, "Yeah, we don't cut you no slack and we don't care if it hurts your feelings." I replied with, "Oh, I was just giving it enough gas to keep up until I thought you were racing and I pulled by." The fastest scooter looks like 2strokd's scoot. It has a 70cc kit, pipe, variator, and roller weights at least.

I let 2 of them try my scooter down a little 1/8 mile strip. Both of them think it's crazy. They started asking me about working on their scooters. Now I have one of them stopping by to give me cash to order a variator for his scooter sometime this week. He's got a 139QMB with an 80cc kit, 150cc carb, head, cam, vavle springs, MRP exhaust, and I think it had an open filter. He said it tops out at 40-45 and he wants to pick up a little. I found a Naraku high speed variator kit, and he want's that and me to install it. I told him I really haven't got to work on the 4 stroke 50's yet so I'm not really sure what works and doesn't on them. If it's got enough power, I'm sure upgears would be nice. I'm just not sure if it puts out enough to warrant an upgear kit. He's somewhere near my size too, so you really gotta be careful about losing takeoff power.

If I had parts I beleive I could have had 3 jobs to do right now. They actually wanted to drop 3 scoots off to me today, but I don't have anything around to install.

Anyway, it was fun. They seem like cool guys. I can't complain 'cause it looks like I might pick up a few bucks outta this deal and I got to beat 5-6 scooters at the same time.

[stepthrutuner]

There aren't many scooters around my neck of the woods. I saw a black guy on what looked to be a new 150 China job a few weeks ago(I was in a cage at the time). I used to see a woman who works at the local newspaper ride her 50 Ruckus to and from work on the street in front of my house but haven't seen her in several months. There are a couple of guys that have super scoots(at least one Silverwing) and of course the lady whose Zuma I've worked on a couple of times but she's not into performance. I wish someone would let me work on their scooter. I could sure use the cash.

[90GTVert]

There aren't that many scooters in my area either, at least not that I see much. I olny see a couple on any kind of regular basis. That's why I chased these guys down, I was happy to see some other scoots. The only reason I've got to mess with even a few scoots is that I ride so much. I take a ride almost every night and end up doing 1,000+ miles per month around every local town I can reach easily when the weather is good.

Bob is lucky. He's literally surrounded by scooters. It's a beach town with lots of tourists and scooter rentals and since they are so common and fun to get around on down there a lot more locals mess with them.

[2strokd]

lol, sounds like a good time. And you picked up some work to, sweet!

[Bob]

there are alot of scoots down here most of them are rentals. ive got a few friends that i ride with, two of them are into scoots hardcore. Most of them just ride em and dont mod anything. I guess im an exception...lol

[2strokd]

Same here, allot of scoots but most just ride em and dont care if the are stock. Some ride like they are embarrassed. Some people have created a bad image for scoot riders , they act like everybody riding one is being punished or something. I always talk about how fun they are and how much they save ya over driving a car. I even complain sometimes when i have to ride in a car(if its a slow boring one). I will say something like "man i cant wait to get back on my scoot, this car rides like crap, or my scoot is allot funner than this lol". Most people understand and get a kick out of it, others look at me like im fffnn nuts but turn out they havent even been on a scooter .

[90GTVert]

I get mad when I can't take the scooter too. Like gettting ready to head to a freind's house, and they call and say they need you to carry something that you just can't manage on a scoot. D'oh.

I just got off the phone with another guy I met yesterday. He wants whatever I can do for $300-400 including labor. He has a minarelli and said he had a guy do soemthing with the clutch he thinks, like 6 1/2 gram or soemthing. I assume he's got 6 1/2 gram roller weights, maybe a clutch, springs, or variator. Who knows? I told him a big bore kit would be his best bet to start off with and some transmission tuning to match. If his other mechanic really did add 6.5g rollers to a stock scooter he would probably be amazed by just the difference in 4-5 gram roller weights. I'm thinking Polini Contesta, clutch springs, rollers, contra spring, make sure the carb is in tune, + 2 hours labor to hopefully put him around $370, maybe a tad more if he needs jets. If he wanted to back that price down I could go with a mild 70cc from autotech and cut it down to somewhere around $300. Labor may be more than I think, but I told him I'd be fair with him. I may end up spending a few hours on it since I wanna make sure the ports are chamferred and stuff like that. If I end up picking up more business, I guess I'll need to create a flat rate price list for different jobs. Just kinda hard to tell with some things. I mean, I may install 4g rollers and a 1000RPM tq spring and it may be perfect, or I may have to change it a few times to get it to do what he wants. Tuning a carburetor can go from real quick to drawn out. Runs great, pull the plug, looks great, done or runs crappy, fiddle for hours, changing jets and settings.

I wanna be fair, but I feel like I need to make these things go pretty good, since they are all looking to beat piped 70cc scoot already. I get nervous that they won't be happy with it. It's not like I've tried all kits available to tell you that this one does this and that one is faster than that one etc...

[90GTVert]

2strokd : I know you had ping issues with your Contesta. Was that just from the longer reach plug, or had you removed gaskets or anything when you had that trouble? If you have any tips for that kit, they will certainly be appreciated.

[Bob]

the past few years ive always been on two wheels, i too get some what distraught if i cant take sometnig out it doesnt have to be a long ride i just got to get out there and ride.

[2strokd]

Are you going to get one? That would be a good idea i think . I blew the base gasket it came with, it was aluminum and very thin, about .25mm. Remember i messed up and put it in upside down , it blew it out at the boost port. Im using a .50mm base now with a short shank plug and having no problems with spark knock or idle. It has good power up to about 9,500 then its slow to gain rrr,s (better luck with bigger carb im thinking). I really dont mind it not reving so high (past 10,500) so i dont have to worry about the bottom end so much.
I never checked the port timing but i did run w/out a base for a little while and it didnt run so good.
The peak HP isnt as good as the others out there but the torque is good. I cant really compare it with other personally though .
Remember this kit is a 46mm bore. For its size it packs a hell of a punch off the line, hills went from a challenge to fun, pulling weight isnt a problem. It will pull my son Paxton and i almost as fast as it will me alone.
I think with your knowledge and your parts you would have a stop light to stoplight demon ;D

[90GTVert]

I think I'm going to take a look at Stage 6 stuff too. See what I can get a better deal on. I think the Polini or Stage 6 stuff will outperform the AUtotech stuff. I hope so at least. My only experience with a 70cc is an MRP and it would cruise around 50MPH with my big ace on it. I really think MRP and Autotech cylinders are nearly identical. Autotech just doesn't seem to mark his stuff up as bad. I dunno what I'm doing. I'm all nervous that it won't meet his expectations and none of those guys will deal with me again.

[90GTVert]

I looked at the Stage 6 kits. The sport kits that are supposed to be comparable to the Polini Contesta or possibly moving towards the Corsa are all aluminum from what I've seen. I'd feel more comnfortable dealing with cast iron cylinders unless the person wants all out racing stuff. At least I know I can hone out a cast iron cylinder and get a piston, although expensive for this kit, instead of replacing the whole kit in the even of a siezure. Both kits should still be fine with a stock carb, but either could probably benefit from a 19mm Arreche or Dell'Orto if more pwoer was desired. Both should work OK with a stock exhaust for now. Neither of these are really aggressive, so they should be able to remain reliable. If he opts to go with the lesser kit, I could add a variator in something or maybe modify his exhaust if it's still stock. I'm guessing he'll probably just want the best I can do for that money and I would choose the Polini if it were mine.

[2strokd]

Aahh i see. I wish i had a Autotech cylinder to compare to mine, you are probably right though.
There is a big block, then there is a built small block that will smoke it if your thinking cars, or anything with an engine as far as that goes.
If i had to choose a different kit i would go with a cast iron Stage 6 if it were to be a daily rider.
It tuff to choose there are so many Minerelli cylinders to choose from at Scoot-attack.
Im sure what ever you put on it he will be happy with your work.

[2strokd]

Here is a Athena kit for $180 free shipping. looks like a set of CF reeds come with it also Item number: 170349871259

BTW they are on E-bay lol

[2strokd]

Then ya got this one for $80 shipped, im not brave enough to try it though Item number: 220447276544