Lowering the RH 50...

Lash LaRue · Post by **Lash LaRue** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:03 am

Has anyone lowered a RH 50? Any tips? Also I've been looking but what is the top speed on a unrestricted 50?

spr0k3t · Post by **spr0k3t** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 4:02 am

I've lowered mine... still in process to finish the lowering but here's a few pointers for you.

Lowering the rear is simple. Change out the rear shock and done. You can use a rear shock from a Yamaha Jog lowering the rear by 2 to 2.5" depending on the shock you choose. A really good one is by NCY. If you want external gas and lots of adjustment options, check into the RacingBros Bazzoka shocks... insanity in a bag.

Now then, lowering the front, not so easy. I'm still researching this one myself. There are some front forks which are in mid beta phase being tested by Jeremy and his crew over at Enviromoto. There are details about it in Project Frenchy thread. From what I gather, the front forks lower the Buddy50 by 1/2". If you are looking for more than that, it will require a custom cut. Other areas you can lower the scooter is by changing out the tires. Before I changed my rim to 12" front, I had a 120/70-10. The stock front tire is 120/90-10 with a total height difference getting close to a full 1". The result is another 1/2" drop on the front.

Another area you can lower the scoot is by shaving the seat down. This can give you an additional 2" overall seat height. May not be enough of what you are looking for, but shaving the seat down and rebuilding with multiple layers of different foams turned out really good. I tore it down nearly 4" total and rebuilt 2" for at least some riding comfort.

One of the big problems with lowering the RH, the center stand and kickstand. The kickstand barely holds the scooter off perpendicular, so a slight gust would blow it over easy. When on the center stand, it tilts heavily forward making it easy to knock off the center with the right bump. I'm thinking it's going to take at least 1" smaller kickstand and at least 2" smaller center stand to make it optimum.

Flat - No/little wind
Top speed unrestricted stock BMPH: 42-45
Top speed unrestricted stock GPS MPH: 38-41

What can be accomplished with the Horizontal Minerelli Long is insane. Look into what Polini has accomplished with their 28-30bhp Big Evo. Price wise you are looking close to 5K for that amount of engineering though.

Lash LaRue · Post by **Lash LaRue** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:39 am

Wow checked out the 28-30bhp Big Evo, crazy.... I thought that lowering the front was as simple as cutting the springs in the front shocks...

spr0k3t · Post by **spr0k3t** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 11:43 am

I know people who have done that on other scoots, but I've never found a good guide/how-to for doing that just yet. So I haven't tried myself. I would love to replace the springs with a heavier weight before cutting myself... but I don't know any details.

VinylDoctor · Post by **VinylDoctor** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 5:44 pm

turn it into a chinese tooth chipper.

az_slynch · Post by **az_slynch** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:23 pm

spr0k3t wrote:I know people who have done that on other scoots, but I've never found a good guide/how-to for doing that just yet. So I haven't tried myself. I would love to replace the springs with a heavier weight before cutting myself... but I don't know any details.

Try pulling a spring out, measure it and check a McMaster Carr catalog or similar. If you can match the outer spring diameter, you could order a shorter spring with thicker coils and try that route. Or, talk to a local machinist and see if they have any suggestions on where to obtain a spring nearby.

McMaster Carr: http://www.mcmaster.com/#compression-springs/

bigbropgo · Post by **bigbropgo** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 12:32 am

^ cool link. I want to lower also. But worried about bottoming out.

Lash LaRue · Post by **Lash LaRue** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:51 am

Cool...

spr0k3t · Post by **spr0k3t** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:11 am

Awesome information slynch... I'm going to check with my dealer to see if they can get me a damaged buddy 50 shock... generally the damaged parts can be free at times, so we'll see what we can come up with.