2020 Honda Ruckus

[bringtheruckus]

So I bought a 2020 Honda Ruckus new last year. The warranty is about to be up and i am looking at some aftermarket performance upgrades. I can get to 40 mph  on a good day with the wind to my back , but 30 to 40 is a long ride. I love using this thing to commute to work. I want at least another 10 mph with better acceleration. I have watched many youtube videos over the last year. i have a few questions. What is the best aftermarket exhaust for the Honda Ruckus? Should I get a jet kit or a bigger carburetor from Scooterswapshop? Any other ideas, please tell me. I have done no mods so far.

[jbjhillbilly]

Polini variator, 5.5 gram rollers or sliders, Yoshimura or Two Brothers exhaust. But if you’re going to GET a new exhaust, you should do an airbox delete with pod filter as well; no need for a bigger out without a bigger in. There are kits for it.

Brandon and his crew at Scooter Swap Shop know what they’re doing - you can buy their carb with confidence. But you can also just upjet.

MNNTBX, Steady Garage, and Mojo are quality shops as well. These are some of the people who helped built the tuning scene. There are others, and still more that left.

There is a bit of a learning curve to making a Ruck go faster. But there’s a solid 15 years of work that’s been done for you. There’s a few folks from here from the old Total Ruckus site that shut down a few years ago. They know a thing or two about tuning.

This document is what tuners consider THE primer on tuning scooters. It explains the relationships between the different systems.

www.facebook.com/groups/1460440217591402/permalink/1842655042703249/

I think we have it here as well.

[bringtheruckus]

I am not on FB, but thank you. I would love any information from you guys. I am looking at the Yoshimura. Just not sure if I should jet or get the bigger carb. While looking at CDIs, I came across "Honda Ruckus Plug & Play EVI Performance CDI/Coil Combo" on Rollingwrenchdenver.com. What do you think about that product?

Also, I was thinking about some smooth, lower profile tires and wondering what I can do to reduce a little weight. Thank you for your time.

[jbjhillbilly]

Here's the GET Faster 101. Read it. Then read it again. It's good info on scooter tuning.

49ccscoot.proboards.com/post/320297

Happypancake! is an old hand at the GET engine, as well as a few others here (they'll come out to play).

The Roll Wrench CDI is nice, but it's expensive. And CDI is the very last thing in the tuning line-up. CVT, carb, and air/exhaust come first.

[oldscool63]

Check out the "Small Engine Velocity" channel on YouTube. The guy who makes the videos is a SERIOUS Ruckus guy and has done some really cool mods.

[aeroxbud]

Welcome to the forum.
Love the look of the Ruckus. But we only got them across the pond for a couple of years.

[geoffh]

,I,m a Yamaha user so I will the others to help with the upgrades, for what it,s worth 30 to 40 is quite doable with a 49cc base,40 to 50 will need serious work and will shorten the life of your engine and reliability overall,it,s new scoot be gentle with it golden rule of modding is only change one thing at once.

Geoff

[woodini]

Welcome! I love my ruckus 👍🏽 That’s all good advice so far. I’m running a stock carb (up jetted) a velocity stack intake, mnnthbx sp exhaust, scooter ninja variator (can’t remember what weights), ncy clutch bell as well as street tires and I can cruise 43 maybe 44. Going to try different weights next time and eventually GET a cdi. Maybe squeeze a little more juice out of her. Yes Happypancake! Probably has some of the best GET motor knowledge and he’s a good dude

[bringtheruckus]

Apr 25, 2021 4:45:55 GMT -5 aeroxbud said:

Welcome to the forum.
Love the look of the Ruckus. But we only got them across the pond for a couple of years.

Thank you. I appreciate the time and advice from all of you. 

[bringtheruckus]

I am in central North Carolina. It is very hilly, here. Not many flat stretches. After doing some basics (intake, airbox delete, exhaust), I thought that I would address the variator, drive face and CDI. After that, I thought about dropping weight, lighter battery. I figured by lowering the seat, I would get less wind resistance by putting myself more in line with the vehicle, rather than over it. Some flatter tires, with less rolling resistance and possibly lighter.
Either way, I am here to learn and I thank each of you.


For the record, I weigh about 165#s. From my reading and watching YouTube, I am thinking that 5 grams is the way to go.

[woodini]

Mnnthbx dorf is the go to seat frame!

[bringtheruckus]

I have been reading on this stuff all week. Thanks guy. I am riding the ruckus over to a friends house tomorrow. I am taking the Yoshimura exhaust, airbox delete kit and jet kit that I just got in. I have never done anything with a carburetor in my life, zero experience. My buddy says he is not touching the carb and that one is on me. I am watching carb videos today to get ready for that. DO you guys think that slick tires will make much of a difference?

[woodini]

The tires will make some difference. This was my first time screwing with a carburetor also, but it’s pretty straight forward really, soak up the videos. 👍🏽

[jbjhillbilly]

Take a picture of the carb hoses before you go at them. You’ll be much happier having a reference picture to hook them back up with.

I find it easier getting the carb off by removing the intake as well - 2x10mm nuts. Then use a 12mm wrench to loosen the throttle cable. Ideally you only need to loosen the lower bolt and slide it down the cable to back the assembly out of the bracket hole.

Loosen the air hose pipe clamp.

Now you should be able to pull the whole carb and intake off of the engine. Put a clean wadded up paper towel in the engine so debris or parts don’t fall in. Failure to do so will result in mockery and derision.

The carburetor is intimidating, until you open it up and unscrew things for the first time. Then you wonder why you were so scared of it.

A Phillips screwdriver to GET the bowl off, 7 mm wrench, and the correct size flat-head screwdriver are all you need to get the jets out. Don’t use pliers, and don’t use too big or too small a screwdriver; the metal is soft and can gouge easily (not like tissue paper soft but soft metal).

The airbox is pretty straightforward. Some screws and bolts.

The Yosh is also pretty easy. The only difficulty might be the angle you need to GET at the header nuts on the bottom of the engine. When reassembling, tighten the nuts, but don’t go full gorilla on them. The actual torque value in the manual for a 6mm flange bolt w 10mm head is only 9 ft/lb, but weirdly they don’t specify what the header nuts should be. Regardless, don’t go insane on the things, or you’ll snap the bolts off.

Go slow, take pics, bag and label stuff.

[bringtheruckus]

I went to the Yoshimura site and looked the pipe up. I down loaded the pdf. -Torque stock header nuts to 7 lb-ft (10 Nm).