Feathering the throttle for maximum acceleration

[NathanielSalzman]

I've noticed something riding the last few days that you folks might find interesting. It's something that makes total sense in retrospect, and something that I'd noticed before but hadn't put into practice until now. Basically, it's the reality that if you want the best acceleration out of your scooter, you don't just twist it wide open. You find that sweet spot right between where giving it more throttle doesn't get you any more juice, and letting off means you actually slow down. By finding that edge, and then riding the upper end of it, I'm getting noticeably better acceleration. I'm also climbing hills better.

This, of course, makes perfect sense. Especially on a small engine like this. Under load, there comes a point where you can throw all the air and fuel at it you want, it's not going to spin any faster. And all you're doing is making those explosions you're getting less efficient, thereby actually hurting the amount of power available to you. So by riding that threshold between power and deceleration, I've been able to squeeze more actual RPM out of the motor and leave traffic wondering "what is that thing?"

Food for thought.

[Racenut]

In this day and age where just about everything else we drive is electronically controlled and fuel injected, it seem most people have no idea.

[charlie55]

I'm glad someone else has noticed this, as I was beginning to think that it was just a matter of perception on my part. You're right, there does seem to be spot on the throttle at which even a slight 'rolling on' almost feels like the boost you get after a forced downshift and a kick to the pedal.

I've also noticed that there seems to be an ideal amount of throttle "snap" that'll get you off the line more crisply.

Given the threads about vibrations preceived at various speeds/RPMs, I gotta guess that this all sorta ties in. Variators and rollers probably aren't perfectly symmetrical, belts are affected by temperature, and it's not a dead certain guarantee that all of your clutch surfaces will grab at exactly the same point in time.

-Charlie55

[babblefish]

You're perfectly right in your observation - 150ccs' don't make a lot of low end grunt. By rolling the throttle on vs snapping to full throttle, you're allowing the engine to rev higher into it's powerband before it see's the full load of you and the scooter. This happens because the variator stays in "low" for a longer time plus the centrifical clutch is still in it's "slip" mode thus allowing the engine to build revs. Very much like a high-stall torque converter for a car's automatic transmission.

[GFridrich3]

This is the same way people with CVT's in their cars race. Its not full throttle, its maximizing the gear ratio to keep the engine running at max speed without raising the transmission into a higher gear ratio. I actually noticed this phenomenon early on when i got the blur, that when i wasnt trying to crank it, i would accelerate faster for longer just playing with the throttle and listening to the engine. When I got on it hard, i could hear when it would engage the variator thrust and then feel the scooter lose its oomphf sooner than it should have.

[[email protected]]

i noticed that as well on my buddy if i play the throttle ican achieve faster speeds

[newslinky]

i noticed that as well on my buddy if i play the throttle ican achieve faster speeds

Sweet pic!