Modern Buddy

St Tropez conversion to Pamplona / Blackjack:

NOTE: See pictures added at bottom of post from Tyler State Park

Mechanical adds:
171.3 Cylinder Kit (61mm)
Sliders (Dr Pulley 11g 18 x 14)
Iridium Plug
Variator
Clutch Arm Springs (1500 yellow)
Clutch Compression Spring (1500 yellow)
BANDO CDI & Coil
Stator
Sprag Clutch Replacement (little springs gave out @ 13,300 miles)

Blackjack adds include:
NCY Performance Forks
NCY Adjustable Performance Shock
NCY Big Brake Kit
Prima Exhaust Pipe

Blackjack black body parts added:
Lower Front
Front Fender Front
LH Side Cover
RH Side Cover

Other:
Cuppini Buddy short windscreen
New 170i inspired racing stripe
Rear Chrome Rack
Brake Light Modulator
Heidenau K61 tires 100/90 front & 110/80 rear
Chromed Wheels
New American sealed bearings in front wheel
Powdercoated rear brake drum matt black

Sweet! It looks great!


You must be really pleased with how your project came out. Did the larger tire fit under the rear hugger without any problem? I had considered chroming a set of wheels as there do not seem to any aftermarket alloys available, but after the dealer scratched up my wheels at the last tire change, I decided against it.


How's it pull wth that big bore kit?

We are pretty happy with it and really happy to about be done. We lost a lot of riding time as one project kind of led to the next over most of 6 months.

If the chrome is done right - we have been told it will be really hard to mess them up. For the Buddy there are no chrome aftermarket options unless you have it done yourself. Genuine really tried to sell us a set of new Pamplona wheels and not chrome our St Tropez wheels. We are really happy with them. Vespa Dallas suggested we do this back in February when I first started the body swap.

The jury is still out on the engine mods - going to have Dallas Vespa fine tune it (they did not do the mods) as I think it is rough and the carb has a flat spot bad enough that if I take off quick, following the dead spot it snaps and I am pulling a wheelie and not on purpose either.

i keep reading the title as, jack and coke. nice work, look tight.

Thats some crazy, mixed-up Buddy you got there!
In a good way.....

See latest shots at bottom of thread...

With moving to 173 what kind of performance differences are you seeing on your scoot. Faster, more torque, gas mileage, etc?

bgwss wrote:With moving to 173 what kind of performance differences are you seeing on your scoot. Faster, more torque, gas mileage, etc?

Too soon to tell factualy.

We have a definite boost in performance, off the line, getting up to 55 or so. I don’t feel I have my top end, yet just got out Monday evening for about 80 miles and was behind a Ford 250 following a water truck and rolling the hills noticed a higher pitch RPM than I have heard before and looked down at the speedometer just as I was about to clean 80 BMPH. My reaction was to back off – after that I was holding 72 pretty steady. I really want just a little bit more on the top end without any struggling.

It goes in to be tweaked now that I have ran several hundred miles on it. There is a definite flat spot on taking off that kicks like a mule – or you pop a wheelie. Just feels hard on the bike so I am really trying to baby the starts.

Sounds freaking AWESOME! Anyone with a Blackjack or any 150 with a Prima performance pipe is only getting half of what you get in a throaty growl when you do all the mods with the big bore kit. I just realized that tonight as I test rode my wife’s 150 with only a Prima pipe added. She has some growl, yet nothing like the sound and feel of mine!

We are headed to the Austin rally late September so when we return from that we will have a good idea on mileage and total performance. Stay tuned.

MYSCTR, which big bore kit did you go with? The bolt-on 61mm kit by NCY from Scooterworks or some other?

http://www.scooterworks.com/NCY-Buddy-1 ... 8C517.aspx

Did you also go with a larger valved valved cylinder head? Decompression Tube Assembly ?

I vacillate between installing a big bore kit over the winter (would be fun to do), or just adding a bigger scooter for longer highway rides (more bikes!).

HowHH wrote:MYSCTR, which big bore kit did you go with?

Yeah I would be interested in knowing that as well.

Yes - the Genuine 171.3 (not 173 - my mistake), so in essense a 171 kit. It is alum and that could have a concern with overheating yet would take some doing to have that problem.

No head or tube - at least yet. Went this far, may have to just go all the way this winter. There was a reason for not doing the head, yet I do not remember at this time. Will bring it up to our local dealer. I think the tube is worth looking into.

They get the scooter next week to work out the kinks - then we will see how she rides.

Any problems with fitting the beefier tires? I really like the chrome and new tires together,great work dude!

BuddyLicious wrote:Any problems with fitting the beefier tires? I really like the chrome and new tires together,great work dude!

Thanks! We love it too.

No problems on the width - plenty of room. I wanted to go a bit wider, yet could not get a Heidenau K61 tire in a 120/70 (or 130/70) for a 10 inch wheel size. We are hoping just a little more width will help with a longer life.

Chrome Buddy Wheels

We have had several requests about the chrome wheels - so here is in short what we did and the cost:

We opted to do all the labor by first removing the wheels (remove the speedo, disc brake and bearings on the front, the muffler and brake drum for the rear), then remove the tires and valve stems, them wash and take to the local guy in Garland we were referred to. The chrome shop has gone through several owner changes so it was a bit of a gamble.

The guy charged $150 for both wheels and did the bead blast, nickel and chromium dip and polish, we had to have the front wheel done a total of three times before it came out as good as it did. I would do it again, yet use another company, even at a higher price as the Buddy wheels are a bit tricky as where the two sections of steel on the front wheel are joined creating a deep joint makes it very hard to coat properly and may not last. We heard of a company in San Antonio that is supposed to have their act together chroming motorcycle wheels.

The local Buddy dealer quoted us about $450 to do everything and 2-3 weeks to turn it around. Considering the work invlolved this is not a bad price especially if you can't do the work yourself. We ended up out of pocket at $330 including new USA bearings ($22), new Heidenau K61 tires ($140) and new aluminum angle valve stems ($18).

They do really look good yet we know they are not top of the line chrome so we will see how they hold up over the next few years. All I know it is way better than rattle can "chrome" paint we tried first!

The brake drum we did in matt black powdercoat just to make the chrome wheel or rim stand out. Probably a good thing as it is cast iron anyway and may not have chromed very well.

Hope this helps as a giude for anyone wanting to do the same or at least get an idea of the cost to do them.

REALLY nice job....isn't modification wonderful...stock has always been a dirty word in my house

bgwss wrote:With moving to 173 what kind of performance differences are you seeing on your scoot. Faster, more torque, gas mileage, etc?

Yep... all of the above!

Faster: Plenty quick even when we switched to both 1500 RPM (yellow) clutch compression spring & clutch arm springs. Reality check came when I switched rides with a 125 stock and suddenly I felt like I was really slow off the line even wide open. NOTE: The red 2000 RPM clutch compression spring had way more snap on take off (with factory clutch arm sprngs, yet (a) we lost too much top end and (b) we wanted a smoother take off.

Torque: Seems like with the yellow/yellow set up we have now we have plenty of snap at any speed through 50-ish mph from a dead stop. After about 100 miles, it really seemd to be responding well. I only had one chance to open it up and hit 70 bmph without any problem - then had to brake and shut it down pretty quickly.

Gas Mileage: Yep - we got gas mileage - just no idea if it is any good. My guess is maybe 65 mpg... off the top of my head yet I won't put much stock in it until I have run several tanks after we quit tweaking it.

Overall: Just a quick check in. We are at The Good, The Bad & The Rally in Austin and having a blast. Speaking of a blast, the 'Ugly' is the weather decided to throw one more blast of summer at us as we hovered at 97 degrees today and Sunday is calling for 103! The 'Good' has to be the turnout. We are #'s 114, 115 & 116 and there are plenty more than that. There are a TON of Buddy scoots including two women on Blackjacks and they are tearing it up! We saw our first 170i tonight at the movie and it was the Brown & creme which I love even though we heard it was the least liked color.

Enjoying the ride...

A few new quick pics... finally broke 12K, picture at 12,100 miles!

Added the brown seat to match the grips and floor mat - looks so much better! Time to ride and enjoy it!

pictures removed - see below

There doesn't seem to be enough contrast between the colors of the seat and the body. Is that just the light?

see better pictures below

Have to get better pics - it looks smooth!

Oooooh. Can't wait!

Nice pictures.

see better pictures below

I like the smooth flow of the colors - not a sharp contrast.

Oh yeah. You can see them working together way better in that shot. Gorgeous!

Few pictures from this past weekend at Tyler Start Park, Tyler, Texas

Great pictures....!!!!

THIS however, is/may/should (?) be listed as 'Scooter Porn'!! WoooHooo....

What started as a 2008 St Tropez after the first 10,000 miles was transformed into what we called the Pamp-Jack, the only (known) Buddy with chromed wheels, so much fun to ride and a really fun project has now been traded.

There is nothing like your first - and this one did not disappoint! Was an incredible blast to ride. Still have a picture taken at Tyler State Park on my office wall so I get to see it every day... and remember the good times!