pre-bug upgear

[torinoman]

Hey group! Quick question about gearing.

Current build is a 2001 Zuma pre-bug, Tops Black Trophy 70cc, Yasuni eco pipe, jetted stock carb, stock air box, Tops variator, 7g rollers, 1500 contra spring, and 1000 clutch springs. Stock clutch otherwise. Bike runs in the 46-48 mph range at around 9500 rpm. Not bad, but as usual, I want a little more. 

My question is will I have enough power to pull some better gears? I know my acceleration will suffer a little, but I don't want it to be a total dog. I live in Arkansas, so hill climbing ability is a thing too. I weigh about 220lbs. If I did my math right, 13/44 will be the smallest jump available from stock. Whatever stock primary gearing is. (Can't seem to find those numbers anywhere.) I know I would benefit from a bigger carb, Just don't want to go down that rabbit hole yet when a gearing change could yield better results and my current carb is jetted SO good!

Thanks!  

[pili]

I went with the 15:50 Athena gears and on mine (Malossi Sport kit and Wild Lion pipe, stock CVT), the loss of bottom end punch was barely noticeable. You might find better performance with a lighter contra; I switched to a 1000 and pretty sure it helped a little 20-40 MPH. One of the better mods I've done as commuting on 45-50 MPH roads is now quite doable.

[Zino]

Just run slightly lighter weights to get the same shift points and you wont even notice a difference on take off
I dropped a half gram when I added gears

I ran 42 /14 gears with a similar set up to yours malossi sport wild lion and was in low 50's

[Zino]

here are the gear ratios for the Zuma

49ccscoot.proboards.com/thread/1265

[torinoman]

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like I'll be ok power wise gearing up then. I have no problem going a little lighter on the rollers. That will help another small issue I have of my pulley shifting a little bit before the clutch grabs. If I lighten up any springs in the clutch it falls out of the power band.
Do you think 13/44 is the gear I need? I'd really like to have another 5 mph of more if it's feasible. Again, I don't want to lose the hill climbing ability!

[Zino]

The 13/44 will work perfect for you and get you in the 11 to 1 range
The prebug has the same gears as the 2008 zuma

You will still be able to wheelie it

[torinoman]

That's what I want to hear!

[torinoman]

Just pulled the gear cover off to find out the pre bug is different from a bug eye. Shaft and cover came off the same but the next gear, the one on the axle, seems to pressed on or something.
It doesn't budge! Anyone know how to get the next gear off?

[torinoman]

Nevermind. I figured out you have to take the wheel off.

[Zino]

take pictures to help the next guy

[torinoman]

I'll work on the pictures. I did take some.
Everything is back together. I'm not overly thrilled with the results, but it's ok.
Zino- you were spot on with the 1/2 gram lighter roller comment. That kept my launch and hill climbing RPM very close to where it was prior to the swap. Hill climbing ability is unchanged. Take off suffered slightly, but worth the drop of 500-700 rpm cruising. Top end speed increased marginally. Maybe 2 mph. I suspect I just need more engine to make full use of the gears. With the reduction in rpm it should have a great downhill speed though!
The gears seem to be meshing a little hard in my opinion. I can feel slight resistance when turning the clutch bell.
Changed the oil after a 10 mile or so ride and found some very fine metal particles. Is that normal? I'm trying to convince myself that this setup just needs to break in a little.

[torinoman]

stock gears






bare case with everything out

[Zino]

The gears need to wear in
You should pick up a few more mph on the top end