Modern Buddy

I have a buddy 50. A few year back I installed a cc kit bumping it to 70 something cc and up the main ket as required. Fast forward a few years... Sunddenly I'm having problems. The scooter starts and rums fine and gets up to speed as normal.

Now when I hit the first hilleven if I have good speed say 50 mph it will lose alot of speed and drop to 20 or less mph. Once I reach the top of the hill and it flattens out ot will npt regain speed and struggles to go above 20 mph. It will only reach that amd more as I go down hill. Once I reach about 35 mph down hill it freakin moves.

As long as I dont hit a hill or slight incline it seems to be fine. Since ive changes the gear box fluid, changed the spark plug and cleaned the card and ensured all was ok inside. But no change. I'm not sure if its a rich issue it wont recover from or a slipping clutch. But before I swap jets amd open the gear box up I was curious of anyone had any ideas? Aa its been fine until this season.

Thanks for the help.

How many miles on it and what service has been done?

When was the last time you had it serviced? Has the transmission been checked?

And any associated noises, whirring noises, rattles, etc.?

I don't know how this applies to a CVT, but from the pattern of acceleration (and lack thereof) it sounds like a transmission problem... as if the bike were in the wrong gear*. If the engine sounds like it's revving really high, but it's moving slowly (like a manual transmission stuck in 1st gear), that'd support this hypothesis. Slipping also sounds plausible. Either way, it'd focus on the transmission.

*I know: the Buddy doesn't have actual gears for its transmission... I just don't know what the appropriate term is for what ratio of mechanical advantage a CVT is using.

Sorry for getting back late. To try and answer the questions. The scooter has about 2600 miles. As for maintenance every season it has had a spark plug changed, cleaned or replaced air filter, gear box fluid changed and so on. As for any abnormal noises I do not hear anything oit side of mormal. It start and runs fine other than fhe problem stated above.
Given the care of it etc... This is why im a bit confused about its performance lately. Hopefully I can open up the cover to the drive belt and remove the clutch. Generaly I will just inspect and clean as well remove any excessive grease or lube what should be and look for anything out of the ordinary.

As well I forgot to mention I had tried driving it with out the air filter thinking if may have been running rich and more air may help. I saw nearly no difference. So I then remove the air filter cover and gave it a spin. I saw some performance gain but still not like it used to be. So this why im not sure if its a fueling issue or a gear box issue.

Well I have the cover off and have a god idea after looking and reading how things works. I'm assuming the variator will tighten the belt as it moves while accelerating. I do see a good amount of dust but, nothing I feel is excessive. As I said I'll get the variator off and clutch components and give everything a good inspection and cleaning. But, my 2 year old is slowing the process down.

I think I have it figured out. Just checking for confirmation.

I found the belt was at the service limit. But why? So I checked everything else out and foumd the roller weights had no grease on them and were totaly dry and have flat spots on them. In making sense about it thse rollers being dry and when they hit the flat spots they get stuck and do not roll all the way out to engage the plate to the belt. Therefore the belt is worn down from lack of proper engagement.

I cleaned evefything and grease the roller weights and went for a spin. All is well except from time to time when fhe rollers hit the flat spots. So I'm going to order a new belt and roller weights. But try and get some heavier or lighter roller weights to help low end since it suffered after going to a larger cc kit.

It's sounds like your belt is slipping. I'd try to tighten it up and clean the surfaces of the driving plate. At 2600 miles, the belt and your clutch lining should still be good.

Oops. You posted while I was writing my post.

Something wierd is going on. At 2,600 miles, none of those problems should exist. Your rollers shouldn't have flat spots and your belt should be like new. If you have some undiagnosed problem creating flat spots on your rollers, you might consider sliders instead.

I agree. Ive been driving it today and it feels fine now. But im still ordering those parts. But I think the flat spots on the roller weights has to do with no grease being on them. From what I have read they need a light coat. So I think I'll stay with the rollers. Just glad I got it figured out.

Good job sleuthing all that out. Sounds like you have a real affinity for things mechanical. I'm thinking it's about time for me to pull the cover off and blow out any excess dust, just because.

Thanks. Been building and racing cars etc... For 15 years or close to. Just had to open the scooter out and figure out how it works inregards to this situation.

Going to search the forum but was wondering about the preferred place to order those parts. Figure I'd go with sliders after further looking into them. Then obviously I need a belt too. Found several websites but, I'd rather go with what the community uses. Thanks!

http://www.monsterscooterparts.com/16x1 ... ights.html

I assume this is the right size. please let me know if I'm wrong and what size. As well I'd like to go with a lighter slider to gain the low end back I lost after upping to the larger 70cc kit I did when I got the buddy new. Top end is nice and I pretty close to 55-60mph at times depending on the grade. But, it's slower on the take off and low end.

I don't know the stock roller weight and I'm not sure if I'd be ordering the right ones for what I need. I'd like low end to be better but, not to sacrafice the performance I gain out of the 70cc kit. Any suggestions there would be great as well.

Dang it I guess i need to know the belt length also.

Thanks again.

Another good place for these parts is Buggy Parts Northwest.
http://www.buggypartsnw.com/

As for the grease, I've never heard of anyone putting grease on their rollers. When I swapped mine out recently (on my now totaled Italia - RIP), there was no sign of grease and I didn't put any in there. There was, however, a good amount of belt dust. So I'd think that grease is a bad idea because it would cause the belt dust to cake up worse than it does on dry rollers. Anyone else have thoughts on that?

pdxrita wrote:As for the grease, I've never heard of anyone putting grease on their rollers. When I swapped mine out recently (on my now totaled Italia - RIP), there was no sign of grease and I didn't put any in there. There was, however, a good amount of belt dust. So I'd think that grease is a bad idea because it would cause the belt dust to cake up worse than it does on dry rollers. Anyone else have thoughts on that?

I was thinking the same as you. I never heard of it and wouldn't put any on myself.

Cool. I will go with out grease when I get the new ones and see how it goes. What about the slider/roller size amd weights as well as belt size and length? Thanks.

Yes, as for the grease, no grease thing, definitely no grease. In fact you want to clean the variator of any substance or debris that might impede the rollers/sliders from sliding. Just clean it thoroughly with some brake cleaner and let it be. That should do the trick.

JRSTANGE wrote:Cool. I will go with out grease when I get the new ones and see how it goes. What about the slider/roller size amd weights as well as belt size and length? Thanks.

Here's a chart with the stock roller sizes:
http://www.scooterworks.com/wiki/roller_sizes.ashx

And here's a belt that will fit the Buddy 50:
http://scooterpartsplace.com/kevlar-bel ... -sr50.aspx
(I don't know anything about this particular belt - I provide the information merely as a jumping off point for your own research)

Do not grease the rollers. That will significantly hamper the functioning of the variator! The rollers will likely just spin in place and not be able to push the plates apart. The whole thing relies on friction to work!

Thank you everyone. Parts are ordered.