Upgrades/Accessories

[lardlad]

I am interested to hear what Blur owners have done to their machines after they bought them. What were the best or which upgrades didn't turn out to matter much?

This is anything, add ons, new tires, windshield, whatever.

[Mikie M.]

I haven't done anything, yet. After the first oil and gearbox lube change I'll put some lighter slider type weights in the variator.
I was on the phone with a tech guy from Scooterworks last week and he said their company is evaluating different accessories for the Blur right now. He said look for items to become available in late winter, early spring.
I'm wanting a custom exhaust.
Also, I can't wait to wear a tire out. There looks to be plenty of room underneath for some fatties.

[illnoise]

The stock tires are kind of a weird size, so I dunno if fatter tires would be easier or harder to find.

I added a power outlet, but I think the new ones already have one, ha.

SW gave me an NCY fork stabilizer to test out, to be honest, I haven't really noticed a difference, but I'm not the most aggressive rider around.

I put in a bigger battery (12ah) I bought the wrong one by mistake but it fit without the battery cover, it's held down by the bigger hatch that covers that whole area, with some foam pads above and below.

But the Stebel Nautilus airhorn was my favorite investment. I followed Nathaniel's instructions here:
http://www.nathanielsalzman.com/scooter ... -air-horn/

Other than that, just stickers. and the digital speedo, but you have that.

Bb

[lardlad]

I haven't done anything, yet. After the first oil and gearbox lube change I'll put some lighter sliders in the variator. The 220i uses the same weights as the 150.
I was on the phone with a tech guy from Scooterworks last week and he said their company is evaluating different accessories for the Blur right now. He said look for items to become available in late winter, early spring.
I'm wanting a custom exhaust.
Also, I can't wait to wear a tire out. There looks to be plenty of room underneath for some fatties.

Sorry but what are sliders?

How many miles do you have? I think I am up to 175.

[Lostmycage]

Sliders are a differently shaped roller weight that slides in the variator instead of rolling. They last longer and give a smoother response because there's a set ramp for the ramp plates to slide against. It's pretty much the first thing that anyone changes out.

If they use the same roller size, I wonder if the plates are the same. If so, there's a whole slew of performance parts out there.

[blurblaine]

sliders = white castle hamburgers! get 'em while they're hot ...

'cage' really answered it correctly (like always) but i had to chime in here!

[lardlad]

so how do the newer sliders affect fuel eff.?

[charlie55]

Assuming that the sliders and rollers are both equal in weight, no appreciable difference. I would also tend to think that regardless of whether you're using rollers or sliders, the relative impact upon fuel economy when going to a different weight would be negligible, unless you somehow managed to find and install a set of 8 pound sliders/rollers.

In my experience, sliders provide noticeably smoother acceleration, and are more durable in that they tend not to develop flat spots.

[KCScooterDude]

+1 on Stebel Nautilus air horn.

I know they look dorky, but the best thing I did for fuel mileage was to install a Genuine windscreen for the Blur. HUGE difference. You can take it off if you want to look good at rallies.

I commute on mine, so I also have a Genuine rack with Givi top case. I think my rollers are starting to wear (4,000+ miles) so I'll get in there and root around this winter, maybe do a few mods.

[fs8gbe]

+1 on Stebel Nautilus air horn.

I know they look dorky, but the best thing I did for fuel mileage was to install a Genuine windscreen for the Blur. HUGE difference. You can take it off if you want to look good at rallies.

I commute on mine, so I also have a Genuine rack with Givi top case. I think my rollers are starting to wear (4,000+ miles) so I'll get in there and root around this winter, maybe do a few mods.

so just how do you know when the rollers are wearing? i have twice the mileage as you, so i probably need to take care of that eh?

[charlie55]

so just how do you know when the rollers are wearing? i have twice the mileage as you, so i probably need to take care of that eh?

For me, it was a combination of a couple of things:

- My relative RPMs at a given speed were increasing.
- I was getting a rattling sound at the point in deceleration at which the
clutch disengages (i.e. the back end starts to free-wheel.)

The RPM/speed issue was also contributed to by belt wear.

Even if your rollers look OK, they can still have some minor flats. One way to check is to roll them on a flat pane of glass, or a smooth table top. If you hear something like roll-tap-roll-tap-roll-tap, then you've got a flat spot.

Same way we used to check for bent pushrods back in the pre-OHC days.

[KCScooterDude]

so just how do you know when the rollers are wearing? i have twice the mileage as you, so i probably need to take care of that eh?

Seems like they are slipping a bit when I'm starting off. Nothing major, just a feeling that it is a bit slower off the line.

[fs8gbe]

so just how do you know when the rollers are wearing? i have twice the mileage as you, so i probably need to take care of that eh?

For me, it was a combination of a couple of things:

- My relative RPMs at a given speed were increasing.
- I was getting a rattling sound at the point in deceleration at which the
clutch disengages (i.e. the back end starts to free-wheel.)

The RPM/speed issue was also contributed to by belt wear.

Even if your rollers look OK, they can still have some minor flats. One way to check is to roll them on a flat pane of glass, or a smooth table top. If you hear something like roll-tap-roll-tap-roll-tap, then you've got a flat spot.

Same way we used to check for bent pushrods back in the pre-OHC days.

thanks charlie and kcscooterdude. i've been doing my own oil jobs for about a year now, so i guess before this year is over it is probably due to go into the shop and have it checked out. belts, rollers, etc. still, almost 9000 bdu's and not a problem yet, i f'in love this scooter!

[Rippinyarn]

I just passed 1000 BDUs on my new Blur and I'd like to upgrade some things before winter:

Bigger windshield - The standard accessory windshield is far from ideal, I think that it's better at generating noise than offering wind coverage. I want a "windjammer"-sized windshield with hand guards for this winter in Michigan.

Heated grips - see above. Anyone done anything with heated grips? I liked the adhesive ones that I put on the Kymco, perhaps I'll try that again.

Seat help - I'd love to source a cheapish sheepskin in Black for the front part of the seat. Anyone know where I could get one? it must match the stock seat color. Perhaps in February, I'll send the seat off for a re-covering...

Muffler - At some point I'm going to be interested in a new performance muffler. I like the stock one, but I'd prefer a deeper tone and the dual "pea-shooter" stock muffler seems to only use the top of the two pipes anyway.

I'm still loving the Blur, and the motor has really loosened up the last 150 miles. It seems quicker, and the throttle response is even better now. I'm getting a consistent mid-70's BDUPG and could probably do better if I could keep out of the throttle. The brakes are still silly good on this scoot. I did an emergency stop check yesterday (cleared behind me first ) and probably came down from 35 MPH in 30 feet. Impressive.

[Lostmycage]

Windshield idea.

Heated grips I'm not sure about... it would depend on the output on the stator vs what the grips draw. I can tell you from experience that without a windshield or hand guards (look into adapting some from Powermadd or the Suzuki Vstrom guards) the wind on the back of your hand will be enough to freeze out any good that heated grips will provide. I'd recommend heated gloves over heated grips any day if you don't have wind protection for your hands.

Sheepskins on the cheap. Use the "DEADSHEEP" code (that's from the sticky in the for sale section).

The Exhaust is different... It appears to be relatively the same engine cases and uses very similar CVTs, and even oil filters from what people have said on the boards here. Depending on if it's an open loop or closed loop EFI system, the Prima exhaust from the 150 Blur (I seem to recall someone selling a slightly used one) could be made to adapt to it. Then again, you could probably modify any number of after market exhausts to work - but unless you're going with a slip-on solution, getting the header pipe to go over the fan housing will present a special kind of challenge.

If the CVT weights are indeed the same as the 150 Blur's, I'd seriously advise you to look into installing some Dr Pulley sliders (same or slightly less weight that the stock rollers, don't go too light!) for a general increase in smoothness and a little more pep.

A tank bag comes in handy as well, if you can find one that fits.

[Rippinyarn]

Thanks for the advice Lostmycage, it's good stuff!
I ordered the sheepskin tonight, and am investigating the rest of the stuff. I took the Blur on the superslab today for the first time and I've realized that I need some more speed. It could also be that I rode tail-gunner the newbies at the Hyosung demo day today at my dealership... So tonight I reinstalled the windscreen and will try another gentle (read:pinned) top speed run tomorrow. Dang but I love this scoot!

[Mikie M.]

Windshield idea.

Heated grips I'm not sure about... it would depend on the output on the stator vs what the grips draw. I can tell you from experience that without a windshield or hand guards (look into adapting some from Powermadd or the Suzuki Vstrom guards) the wind on the back of your hand will be enough to freeze out any good that heated grips will provide. I'd recommend heated gloves over heated grips any day if you don't have wind protection for your hands.

Sheepskins on the cheap. Use the "DEADSHEEP" code (that's from the sticky in the for sale section).

The Exhaust is different... It appears to be relatively the same engine cases and uses very similar CVTs, and even oil filters from what people have said on the boards here. Depending on if it's an open loop or closed loop EFI system, the Prima exhaust from the 150 Blur (I seem to recall someone selling a slightly used one) could be made to adapt to it. Then again, you could probably modify any number of after market exhausts to work - but unless you're going with a slip-on solution, getting the header pipe to go over the fan housing will present a special kind of challenge.

If the CVT weights are indeed the same as the 150 Blur's, I'd seriously advise you to look into installing some Dr Pulley sliders (same or slightly less weight that the stock rollers, don't go too light!) for a general increase in smoothness and a little more pep.

A tank bag comes in handy as well, if you can find one that fits.

When you say 'Tank Bag', do you mean an 'Under Seat Bag'? I bought one of those from Scooterworks and It fits perfectly.

[Lostmycage]

Nope, I meant tank bag, although they're also referred to as tunnel bags when they're made for scooters. The one in the link is no longer made/sold, but you could find one that has similar dimensions. It comes in pretty handy.

[davelhunter]

I posted this on another thread, but thought it would be better suited here.

-Removed the reflectors from the front forks
-Took all the orange lenses out of the front & rear turn signals
-Removed the rear fender
-Took out the orange led's from the headlight & replaced them with white ones
- Installed a 10,000k HID headlight
-Softer grips (Pro Grip)
Removed the factory license plate bracket
-Installed aftermarket license plate bracket under the tail section
-Led License plate light
-Koso mirrors
hrome engine fan cover
-Aluminum floor boards
-Battery tender

Coming soon (next weekend)

-Custom seat cover
-Blue LED "street glow lights" under the body
-2 way pager alarm with remote engine start
-Replace the storage compartment bulb with a brighter LED bulb
-Scooterworks magnetic oil drain plug
-Silver turn signal bulbs
-Brake light modulator
-LED brake light bulb
-paint the oil dipstick chrome
-heated grips
-"carbon fiber" van wrap on the black hood piece

*Pics to follow soon.

[killbilly]

-Took all the orange lenses out of the front & rear turn signals

So they're just clear now?

-Took out the orange led's from the headlight & replaced them with white ones

Is this difficult to do?

-Aluminum floor boards

I'd like to see pictures of that. Were they aftermarket or did you make something new or what?

Interested to see photos of your mods.

[illnoise]

fwiw, here's another thread about Blur tank bags:

topic1076.html

[Mikie M.]

fwiw, here's another thread about Blur tank bags:

topic1076.html

Wow! A guy could pack a serious lunch in those things. Very Impressive.

[Rippinyarn]

Hey! That Rapid Transit tank bag is once again available from New Enough -- or one very similar. It's 11 inches long and that would seem to fit the Blur very well. I'll let you know how it fits!

http://www.newenough.com/parts/closeout ... k_bag.html

I ordered mine, and it will make a lovely gift from myself to, well, myself.

[davelhunter]

Picture Attached

[killbilly]

Nice, Dave.

Can you post some additional shots with detail?

I think everyone would like to see - for me, I'm particularly interested in how you handled the fender/license plate combination, and the things you did to the turn signals.

I'm leaning toward a white one, but I must say the gunmetal is fetching.

[davelhunter]

when I get home I will take some more detailed pic for you guys when I get home. Fender is really easy to do. All you have to do is pop out the 2 plastic snaps (1 on each side)'and then just unscrew the screws. The fender comes right off. Now you will have the piece of metal bracket left from the license plate. It just unbolts with a 10mm socket wrench. The whole process takes about 5 minutes and makes the bike look much better.

[davelhunter]

For the new license plate bracket, I just went to Pep Boys and got a plastic license bracket for cars and cut it shorter with a hack saw. I then purchased 2 automotive plastic snaps from Lowe's, drilled 2 holes in the undertal plastic where I wanted to mount the license plate and snapped it on.

[fs8gbe]

your bikes always kick ass dude!

[davelhunter]

Thanks! On my last Blur I made a speaker box that went under the seat, however it was not very practical since that took away my storage space and the spot for my helmet. After some thought & measurements I decided to go another route and now I have a speaker under my seat, but it does not take up any space and I can still fit my full face KBC helmet! I also mounted another speaker up front. To make this setup work you will need to go with 4" speakers. 5x7, 6x9, and 5.25" speakers are too big & will not fit. Tonight I am going to mount 2 1" tweeters up by the handlebars and mount the mini amp with ipod connection. Here are a couple pics of what I have done so far:

[fs8gbe]

can i just mention how i'm a little bit jealous?

[davelhunter]

Any of the mods I have done, I would be happy to explain to you how to do any of them. None of them cost that much to do, just time consuming. This time of the year when it is 110 degrees I would rather work on my bike in the garage than ride it!

[gearhead]

you can probably squeeze a 150/70/13 on the rear of the blur and a 130/60/13 on the front

[Lostmycage]

you can probably squeeze a 150/70/13 on the rear of the blur and a 130/60/13 on the front

Actually, if memory serves correctly, davelhunter tried a 150 on his blur 150 and it rubbed the hugger.

I think someone has tried 140's on the rear but I don't recall the specifics. At one time, Scooterworks was selling a 130 as the front tire for the Blur saying that it fit without modification.

[killbilly]

Any of the mods I have done, I would be happy to explain to you how to do any of them. None of them cost that much to do, just time consuming. This time of the year when it is 110 degrees I would rather work on my bike in the garage than ride it!

Frankly, Dave, I'm interested in learning about how you did all of your mods. As a prospective Blur owner, I'm in a situation where I have some workspace and some tools, and would enjoy tinkering a bit with it.

I'll even help you with the write-up and formatting if you want. I realize it's a commitment of your time, but I think I can say with certainty that we'd all appreciate it.

I've seen some step-by-step mods done on some other forums and they are extraordinarily helpful - sometimes a before/during/after picture with annotations makes an instruction manual look like sanskrit, you know?

[killbilly]

Any of the mods I have done, I would be happy to explain to you how to do any of them. None of them cost that much to do, just time consuming. This time of the year when it is 110 degrees I would rather work on my bike in the garage than ride it!

1) What kind of mini amp did you get? Like, something from a car stereo store or did you get something from a computer store.

2) With all the little electrical mods you've done, are you concerned about the battery's ability to handle? Does this bike even have an alternator or a generator?

[davelhunter]

Gearhed
Lostmycage is correct. I tried a 150 rear tire last year. I had it mounted on the rim. I even removed the lower rear fender/ higher but it still would not fit. If I remember correctly it was hitting on the motor or swingarm mount.
Billy
The amp I have is the same as the Mitsu "motorcycle amp" from eBay. It can be purchased for $30-$50 and works great. The one I have has a different name brand on it, but it is exactly the same. I will go take a pic in a few minutes and post it after I eat breakfast.


As for helping with the mods, I will post some diy's. Just give me a list of some of the ones you want me to do first.

[davelhunter]

Here is the amp. It fits perfectly in this spot and this way you do not lose any storage space under the seat. I wired it directly to the battery and put in a blur rocker switch ( I know it's crooked, I need to fix it) just above the amp. This way it is only on when you are using it so it won't drain the battery. I ran a 6' RCA to headphone jack cable under the storage compartment and drilled a hole coming up from the bottom for it to come into the storage compartment so I can have my ipod either in the storage area or on a suction cup mount on the gas cap when riding.

Working on the rear camera / monitor today. Will post pics when done.

[davelhunter]

Here is a link to the amp:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MITZU-2CH-500W-MOTO ... 20b33a8b6f

Regarding the power draw, I am not too concerned. I have fuses on everything and on my old Blur I was actually running (2) 5.25" midbass speakers, (2) tweeters, the stebel horn, a gps, a cell phone charger, and a full size car headunit that was 200w and I never had a problem with the battery at all or the statro, etc.

[fs8gbe]

can you hear it while riding?

[KCScooterDude]

I'm getting excited to do some mods! I put it off all summer, and now that the weather is cooler I'll be on the bike more. Thanks to everyone posting in this thread.

[fs8gbe]

also, is it water proof?
the blur 150 is my main commuter, and i'd love to not have to do the bluetooth in my helmet anymore...

[davelhunter]

The speakers are not water proof. I am lucky, here in Southern California I only see rain maybe 5-10 days in a year, so I just went with regular speakers. If you live in an area where you ride in the rain you can just go with a set of "marine" speakers and then you will be fine.

[davelhunter]

Just finished installing a 7" monitor with a removable mount & a rear view camera with night vision. No more mirrors needed! I made the mount out of some spare GoPro Helmet Cam mounts. Now I can remove it when I decide not to use it and can also adjust the viewing height, angle, etc. for sunlight glare. This is the same setup I had on my sportbike and I really like it. It was much better than mirrors. The wide angle lens allowed me to see 1 lane over in each direction. I am going to switch out the camera for a smaller one though. This one looks too big like a home security camera, lol!
See pics below.

[killbilly]

Oh. My. God.

I am in awe. It never would have occurred to me in a million years to do that but now I want to.

Curious - on all the wiring you're doing, are you tie-wrapping your wires as you pass them through the bike or what? I more or less get how you're doing stuff, but I'm still trying to figure out the following:

1) wire pathing
2) connectors you're using when you wire up to the electrical on the bike
3) how you did the rocker switch on the stereo
4) wire pathing on the video camera

Would love to know your source/requirements on the monitor as well.

[davelhunter]

Billy,
I sent you a pm with my phone #. Give me a call to discuss.

1. Pop off the silver faux midframe panel, run your power wire right along side the factory wires (right side) there are even metal tabs that hold the wires in place so you don't need many zip ties.
2. T-Tap connectors from the auto parts store to tap into existing power wires. Battery terminal connectors if you are going to run power & ground direct from the battery
3. $2.99 automotive rocker switch from pep boys. Run power direct from battery to rocker switch. Ground off the frame. Other side of rocker switch to the source (the amp)
4. T-Tap into the rear running light wire for power to the camera (this way it is only on when the bike is running), run RCA video cable up the side of the frame on the opposite side as the power wires.

[davelhunter]

The monitor has a 2nd video input, so instead of taking the chance of my Ipone falling off the suction cup mount (which I have attached the the gas cap) I am going to run an RCA cable on input #2 from the monitor to the under the seat storage area and buy a video out adaptor from Apple so I can have my iphone under the seat when running my navigation and be able to view the screen on the 7" monitor up front.

Any 7" headrest monitor will work fine:
ex. Farenheit T-700MHR, POWER ACOUSTIK PT700MHR , etc. They are all the same just different name brand.

[Lostmycage]

I'm not sure what the rated output of the Blur is, but I'd look into installing a voltmeter to keep tabs on the charging system's health with that many electrical mods. Here's an unobtrusive solution similar to what Charlie55 came up with a while back.

EFI bikes can be really finicky if their voltage becomes unstable.

[charlie55]

Damn, I'm impressed!

You, sir, are an engineer.



When's the fridge going on, this weekend?

[davelhunter]

I think I fixed it! I checked my battery with a volt meter to make sure my battery was not low. I then started the bike and checked it with a multimeter that has a "alternator" checker on it for cars to make sure that the voltage is correct. Both checked out o.k. I then found a spot in the owner's manual that stated that there is a button to push under the storage compartment to flush out the EFI. Is says it is used when the bike has been sitting for a while with old gas. Well, I pushed this button a few times and I could smell the gas coming out, although I could not see where it was oming from. I then tried starting it and it ran like a top! Perfect idle and no more sputtering. It actually felt like it pulled better than before! I then promptly went to a name brand gas station & filled up with premium. Last fill up was with regular at a no name gas station. I am happy to say that everything seems to be fine now. I am also going to pick up an iridium spark plug tomorrow. Maybe I had some dirt in my efi? Who knows how old the gas was that was in the bike form the dealer. Lostmycage, I am going to invest in one of those battery monitors though. This way I will know when to plug in to my battery tender. Thanks for your help.

[davelhunter]

The other camera was too big looking, so I went for a smaller camera with a wide angle lens. Also added some Brembo caliper decals.
I am going to go with a different size monitor, one that is wide and narrow instead of square shaped. I will post pics after I do the install this weekend. After that I am done with mods for a while:)