Since the derbi.... Winter Break Update #2

I put expansion cones in the dumb derpi and now it does 40. Still has only one broken brake lever - need to fix that. Maybe later. Got dio 1500 clutch springs coming for it as well as the nuts I need to make a puller. So, I need to source a stronger contra and throw those springs in. Then I need to do some porting. Hmmmmm.

Did the flame trap on Brownie (no biggie) and ended up needing to do replace the alternator tensioner, water pump (leaking) and re-plumb the oil pressure sending unit on Old Yeller.

Worked on the cb125 and 100 some. Welded a replacement for the broken tank mount on the 100, washed and waxed the tank and did fork oil on both bikes. The cb125 was pretty hilarious.

Did a blow down test on the 125 and it leaked really bad past the rings. Took it apart and guess what? The rings were in a billion pieces. Hard to believe this bike still did 55mph before I tore it down and didn't grenade. The rings were such small pieces, I can't believe they didn't turn and ruin the cylinder. Amazing. I've left the cylinder head sitting with ATF in the dome for about 36 hours now - none has leaked. Thinking this things gonna be a ripper when I get it slapped back together.

The vespa does stoppies now too. So I did that (still have a speedo too woot), re-re-reinforced the exhaust and repaired the rear rack. Reinstalled the foot pegs and STILL having wheel clearance issues with the footpegs installed. Whatever. I'll deal with that tomorrow. I started a thread to deal with the partial pad contact on the vespa brakes and my concern to their longevity. Terry Dean mentioned cutting the pads so they don't hit each other when they wear and I end up with no brakes - good call Terry. Apparently it's fine to run them like this though.

Used my torch for the first time to cut the bracket out for the Vespa disk brake conversion. Worked great. Wish the hoses had gotten here in time to do the exhaust work on the derbi. That would have been fun. My dad came outside to watch and make sure I didn't blow myself up. He also took some video. I'll get that posted later.

Still left to do this break is plenty. Here's the list:

Brownie

• Stud nuts for the A/C compressor (a couple are missing)
• Rear pads
• Tidy the electrical
• Install and wire fog lights

General

• Disassemble engine and repair first speed engagement
• install clutch springs so clutch disengages better
• tidy wiring
• vinyl repair on the seat
• disk brake exploration (drums)

Derbi

• Clutch springs
• Stronger contra spring
• new lens for the headlight

Maxi

• re-assemble top end (raided for metric coupling nuts)
• reinforce frame
• braze/weld bung onto tank so I don't have to use stoppers anymore

CB125

• Reassemble engine
• minimize massive head oil leak
• ride

CB100

• reinforce and clear coat side covers
• inspect before 300mi trip to Desirae's place

Swinger 1

• Go through the engine...
• Considering throwing an E50 on there

Prima

• get that piece of junk fixed and sell it for cheap

Puchonda

• swap SL70 parts in for manual clutch and mechanical advance ignition
• make frame repairs
• increase exhaust backpressure

Gates AX39 Tri-Power finally bit the dust

Alrighty... update. I maxxed out my motor adjustment two weeks ago for max top speed since I was going on a long distance highway ride.

100mi into the ride and we stop for gas... belt starts slipping pretty good and won't start without the decomp pulled. Ride it another 60mi and the header breaks on my piece mealed together circuit pipe. Limp it back home 40mi.

In all fairness though, I have put a ton of miles on this belt - many of them doubles miles. I can't really complain about this belt. I need to try a malossi (because I hear they're the best!) but I've got a warranty replacement on the gates, so I'll at least be trying another one of those...







It's been real with the stock transmission parts, but I think I'm going to be considering getting rid of my stock vario if I can't get the cheeks I got to not bind and balance - def picking up a euro rear.

My current cheeks ride great for about 20-30 mins, after that ONE weight starts sticking after WOT runs. Variates great until then, but gets stuck. Never had this problem in city riding. I'm really anxious to try the polini anyway and see how much of an improvement it is.

The new cheeks I have are the high travel stock cheeks referenced in one of the other vespa threads on mopedarmy - these are cheeks with the 17xxxx p/n on the cheeks. They have roughly 3mm extra travel (I concurred with Allen Halk's measurements). Stock this variator doesn't variate as far as my notched lower travel variator, but the weights are indeed hitting the wall, and the ramps more aggressive, so I'll have increased travel and accel with the new notched vario. Hopefully, doing some things differently to this one yields a variator that doesn't stick.

One thing that is tempting me away from doing another stock notched vario, is that with a stock un-notched bottom ramp, the bike vibrates a WHOLE lot less. I'm thinking this is the vibration that broke my subframe in south carolina and my header two weekends ago. When I put the notched vario in from Allen - it was night and day smoothness difference. If I can do some ghetto cheap dynamic balancing on the notched vario this winter, I may go ahead and run it. Something tells me this is far harder than I think it is though...

Joe is looking to hook me up with some euro parts this winter, so let's hope that pans out ;)

Really looking forward to disk brakes, new notched vario and some smokies trips in the spring.... Can't wait!

Also, brownie turns 30 soon! Gonna have to do a history on him during winter break to let people know how special he is... My mom just found a bunch of paper work pertaining to him, so it should be an interesting write up looking at documentation I've never seen before :)