50cc hill climb problem solved

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The J-Man
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Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2020 9:56 pm
Location: NE Georgia

50cc hill climb problem solved

Post by The J-Man »

Well, not totally, of course. It is still just a 50cc scooter!

Sorry for the long post, but if it helps anyone ...

My new 2018 Roughhouse ran fine for 470 miles of mild flogging and hilly riding. Suddenly a few months ago on a long hill I normally climb at 25-30mph the engine bogged down, the exhaust note dropped an octave lower in pitch, and I gradually slowed to about 5mph with the throttle wide open. Going downhill afterwards it seemed to run fine, zipping up to 40mph on the speedo. Problem continued for next few weeks, but not ever quite as bad. Maybe dropped to 10-15mph climbing same hill.

Dealer said it was the carburetor being clogged from bad gas (it had indeed sat for long periods of time; though with religious use of Stabil and Techron!) and they disassembled and cleaned the carb at the dealer 500 mile service, for which they charged me extra.

But the problem continued!! And it got worse. Over the next couple of hundred miles not only would I gradually lose power going up hills, as before, but at the same time the rpms began surging up and down by several hundred rpms. Sometimes if I stopped and restarted it would accelerate fine for a while back up to speed, and then start loosing power all over again. But always on the flats and downhills I could easily get 40mph on the speedo.

Definitely sounds like a fuel problem. And I checked everything that could possibly be checked fuel-wise. But I had a hunch.

So at a mere 770 miles on the odometer I just replaced the stock variator roller weights with stock-weight 7.5 gram Malossi roller weights. And the problem instantly went away. The Scooter runs like new again. Here's a photo of the rollers I took out. They look pretty bad to me, but then again they are the first used set I've ever seen. No serious flat spots or anything like I expected. One of them is a bit knackered in a ring around one side of the roller (see arrow) and they all have strange black marks on them. (Not sure if at 200kb max. upload size you can see any of this.) But apparently the rollers were hanging up in there and/or wandering around aimlessly and dropping my rpms out of the power band.

Go figure!

--The J-Man
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buzzvert
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Joined: Sun Jul 28, 2019 11:44 pm
Location: Longmont, CO

Post by buzzvert »

Feeling more likely it was your clutch or variator jammed and something not allowing the CVT to V. Variator roller and slider weights are dirty and worn 15 seconds after they're installed, and that chewed up one may be more indicative or whatever is chewing up, versus the roller itself.
The J-Man
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Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2020 9:56 pm
Location: NE Georgia

Post by The J-Man »

I'm definitely open to other interpretations, being new to the world of scooters. I cleaned everything carefully while I was in there and didn't notice anything scratched or damaged. Then when it was all put back together, I watched it without the cover on and everything seemed to be clutching and variating like it should. Plus, the problem I had is gone. On hills that slowed me down in the past, even when the scooter was performing well, I'm actually able to accelerate (slightly, very slightly). I will say that with the Malossi 7.5 gram rollers (which I read on this web site was the stock weight for a Roughhouse) I have slightly more power overall, a slightly faster top end (40-45 on the speedo), and a much smoother acceleration and power band without the hesitation and rev change (almost like a gear upshift) that I used to get around 15mph. Not bad for the small change + shipping I paid for them. I'll add info to this post/topic if anything changes in the future.

Gotta scoot!

--The J-Man
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