A good variator for hills?

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G-Man
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A good variator for hills?

Post by G-Man »

I have been happy with my RH 50 so far, but on some long hills, my speed sometimes drops to 20mph. This is very noticeable when my girlfriend can easily maintain 30-35mph on her 4-stroke Yamaha Vino 50 Classic.

Granted, she weighs about 70 lb less than my 195 weight, but I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good variator and roller/slider upgrade that will help on the hills. It seems that the revs don't stay high enough to keep the engine in the power band when going up the long hills.

I've seen reports on the NCY Teflon variator, then there is Polini, Naraku, Dr. Pulley. Does anyone have any experience with a variator-only upgrade that would help in this case?

Fyi, I'm not interested in doing any other mods at this time. And if anyone has seen an improvement in hill climbs on a Buddy 50 or RH 50 with no other mods, other than variator/roller change, then I would like to hear from you!
G-Man
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Post by G-Man »

I should add that my scoot has been fully de-restricted.

Any suggestions?
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Stitch
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Post by Stitch »

Have you tried playing with the roller weights?
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viney266
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Post by viney266 »

Are you SURE it has had both restrictors removed? I am shocked a 4T is passing you. Though the Yamaha is probably the best 4T out there.
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G-Man
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Post by G-Man »

Stitch wrote:Have you tried playing with the roller weights?
I have not tried anything yet. But given that some performance variators are very inexpensive, I was thinking about a new variator with Dr Pulley sliders. I would like someone who has changed theirs, with better hill performance results, to chime in. If I can achieve the same results with just roller weights, then I am all ears.
G-Man
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Post by G-Man »

viney266 wrote:Are you SURE it has had both restrictors removed? I am shocked a 4T is passing you. Though the Yamaha is probably the best 4T out there.
Yes, absolutely sure. The scooter will do an indicated 50mph on flat ground. It is just some longer hills where the engine revs start to drop, and the speed can go down to 20mph. Note that at the bottom of said hill, I was doing about 40mph, but it slowly drops to 20 or so. This does not happen on every hill, just the right kind of gradient. I think it is a combination of my weight, hill gradient and attack speed. Sooo, if I can tweek the transmission a bit, I would like to do so.

My girlfriend's Vino is very torquey. Mine is faster, but hers can get off the line quicker and can climb hills more easily, it would appear. The Vino has a nice engine. FI, liquid cooled, smooth, but ultimately has less power and is not as fast. The weight limit on it is only about 200 lbs also.
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agrogod
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Post by agrogod »

A 2000 contra spring with 6 gram weights may be the better way to go.
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G-Man
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Post by G-Man »

agrogod wrote:A 2000 contra spring with 6 gram weights may be the better way to go.
Ahh, thank you. I have just looked up some older threads here and see that a stiffer contra spring may help with my hill climbing; those looong, slooow, hills.

I was hoping to achieve a solution with just roller weights and a variator change, but maybe it is not possible with those components alone.

agrogod: you had advised someone previously of a 1500 or 2000 contra spring for hill climbs. Have you, yourself, tried any of these combinations, in relation to better hill performance? I trust your advice, based on the number of posts you have made, along with insightful information.
G-Man
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Post by G-Man »

agrogod: I just found your post about a 1500 contra spring and hill climbing.

topic26949.html

I think this may be the way to go. I don't want to make a drastic change, and my hills are not that steep, so I'm thinking maybe this one, over the 2000 spring.

So what roller weight would you suggest for a 1500 spring? 5.5 grams maybe?
Bobbed06
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Post by Bobbed06 »

I am new to scooters, but not to CVT transmissions. In my past experience with Kawasaki V Twin ATV clutching I seemed to find that I left the drive pulley/weights alone and changed ONLY the rear driven pulley center spring.

I would use a stiffer spring, which mimicked a larger rear sprocket on a chain drive quad. So the larger the rear tires I ran, the stiffer the spring I would select for the driven pulleys.

I would suspect this would be the case on the scooter as well. Top speed may be affected some.
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