enjoying your Spree

The place to discuss rides, accessories, or whatever is tangentially Spree/Elite-related

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reynoldston
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by reynoldston »

I have to agree no comfort on a Spree. I don't remember what I paid for them new in 1986 but you get what you pay for. I have to admit that a long ride on the Harley can also become uncomfortable for me and I even bought a custom for that bike.
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vintagegarage
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by vintagegarage »

I think Sprees are comfortable. Maybe it depends on your size and weight. I could get along with only a Spree, as the housing development I live in has 25-30 mph speed limits and I can cross the 45-50 mph highway that fronts it at a stoplight. Crossing that main road leads to another 25-30 mph development and additional shopping areas. I think a Spree is the most fun when zipping around the neighborhood, taking every turn at WOT. Without being in the way, I can scooter at 30 mph to Bank of America, Suntrust Bank, three other banks, Dollar Tree, Walgreens, CVS, Great Clips, Burger King, Dollar General, Pinch-A-Penny Pool Supply, Publix, Winn Dixie, Ace Hardware, free recyle bins, four gasoline stations, and finally this year, O'Reillys Auto parts. McDonalds and Walmart are 3 miles away on a 45 mph highway, but the highway has a slow lane on the right so it is relatively safe to go there on a Spree, but it is pretty impolite, as you are for the most part, in the way. Instead, to go to McDonalds and Walmart, I usually take something that will go 35-40 mph, like one of the Elite SRs, or one of the Metropolitans. When I go to Love Honda for parts, I need to go 55 mph. That is when the Vino 125 and Honda MB5 become important. Frankly, I don't see a comfort difference between a Spree and any of the other scooters. As everybody knows, the key to enjoying your Spree is having a front basket (LOL!) so you can bring everything home.

Because of a pretty high rainfall rate in Florida, most of roads have crowns on them, so when you stop at an intersection, you need to start out on a slight uphill to climb the crown on the crossroad. Because of that, I gave away, sold, or junked, all of my SB50s. While they could all go off the end of the speedometer at WOT, they couldn't climb the crowns from a standing start, and having to "Flintstone" them to get going at an intersection, especially with traffic waiting for you wasn't much fun.

I now pretty much only use my Ford Transit Connect for road trips to pick up newly purchased scooters, and for hauling big trash to the dump.
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eclark5483
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by eclark5483 »

vintagegarage wrote:Because of that, I gave away, sold, or junked, all of my SB50s. While they could all go off the end of the speedometer at WOT, they couldn't climb the crowns from a standing start, and having to "Flintstone" them to get going at an intersection, especially with traffic waiting for you wasn't much fun.
You can give the Spree credit there at least. And that is the difference between those 84-85 and Iowa Sprees .vs 86-87. That 12T gear, while lower than the 13T, is way more suited for takeoff. The SB50 has the same gears as the 86-87's. Bout the only way to improve the takeoff on the SB50 is downgrade to 12T Spree gears. With proper tuning, you won't lose much on the top end.

I totally have more fun on the low geared Spree compared to my boy's high geared one. If I used my son's more often, I probably wouldn't want the high gears. The reason I put them in, is because of that Flintstone takeoff, not for the top end. When dealing with a special needs kid, that weak takeoff is more suited to his riding style. It lets him ease into it as he goes, whereas most of us would prefer a quicker off the line launch.

The Taz high gears are fun, but in order to take advantage of what they offer, I have to take his bike all the way to the outskirts of town, since speed limit in my general area is 20-25.
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vintagegarage
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by vintagegarage »

All of my Sprees are 1986 and 1987 models.. so I am not sure what you are talking about They are reasonably zippy off the line.. not like something with a variator, but way different than the SB50s I had. The one NX50 I have has a variator but pretty low horsepower and it is a bit quicker off the line than a Spree, but with a lower top speed. My sense was all of the SB50s I had had higher gears than the Sprees. I don't think any of the 4 Sprees and 3 SB50s had been modified, and I was wondering if the gear charts in Wikispreedia were correct.. anybody have any more info in this regard?
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by mousewheels »

I was wondering if the gear charts in Wikispreedia were correct.. anybody have any more info in this regard?
All collaborating info for the wiki is present in the SB 50 Service Manual and parts fiche.

The SB50 has larger reeds, a slight port timing edge and a different exhaust. Those are the differences thehigher top end is attributed to.
SB50_Transmission)Ratio.jpg
SB50_Transmission)Ratio.jpg (165.67 KiB) Viewed 5795 times
SB50_Transimission_Gears.png
SB50_Transimission_Gears.png (141.99 KiB) Viewed 5795 times
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benji
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by benji »

So, would a sb50 jug do better than a spree jug? I know I'm comparing 2 hp to 2.5hp haha, but I still love the idea of swapping little parts and making it faster. I may even find some lower 84-85 gears for my 86 if I keep it. I don't really care about top end on the spree haha, it's not worth it Imo. I'd rather get to 25 NOW haha. a slightly more powerful cylinder and lower gears would make this thing alot funner up hills and around town.
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vintagegarage
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by vintagegarage »

Maybe the port timing of the SB50 is what makes them so slow off the line. The chart does indicate some 86 and 87 Sprees have lower gearing, but I don't think my Sprees are AA models.
Last edited by vintagegarage on Sun Nov 12, 2017 11:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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eclark5483
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by eclark5483 »

You'd wanna do like I did on my 87'. I used a Taz BBK with his carb adapter (+Polini), paired with a head from an 84' (85' will work too), and 12T gears. I wanna change out my springs to some Mallosi's so it launches around 4k-4500k. Right now I'm using 2500rpm Leo Vince jog springs. Bites down at... I wanna say 2200 or so. A bit better than stock, but not where I want it to be. When I'm at stop lights and punch it, that thing will romp even with my weight. Picks up better than my daughter's 139QMB TaoTao with the 80cc BBK, A9 cam, Polini CVT. Don't know top speed yet because I'm still breaking in that ported piston, but I've had it up to 30 so far.

Right now I have it winterized with 1/2 VP-110, 1/2 93 Premium, and in storage. Gonna put maybe 50 miles or so more on it in the spring, then really open it up to see what it can do... then off to the dyno for HP/Torque & A/F readings and final tuning. Spree's don't have a CVT, but I think I can make some tweaks for a more consistent dyno arc and hit 5+hp with that ported piston.
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eclark5483
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by eclark5483 »

vintagegarage wrote:If I am reading the chart right, some 86 and 87 Sprees are geared lower than SB50s.
Those would be Iowa Edition Sprees. Manual says they only do 25, but the kid I bought my 87' from had his up to 30 and all his dad did was change to a higher jet. But then, he was a skinny little runt, so I'm sure that helped. He got the Blue TaoTao I sold him up to almost 55 where my buddy could only manage 51-52 out of it. Lucky little skinny punk.
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by mousewheels »

vintagegarage wrote:Maybe the port timing of the SB50 is what makes them so slow off the line. The chart does indicate some 86 and 87 Sprees have lower gearing, but I don't think my Sprees are AA models.
1) Weight is another acceleration detractor for the SB50. An SB50 when fully fueled is 18 lbs heavier than the 84-85 Spree and 16 lb heavier than the 86-87.
Sprees were 92 lbs for early, 94 for 86-87.
Elite SB50 was 108 lbs + 0.33gal more fuel capacity. At around 6lb/gal, that's another 2 lbs.

2) The 86 Spree demographics for A and AA are interesting -- about 108k A version and 93k for the AA. So there are a great deal of late model Sprees with the acceleration gears. Restrictions were often removed over the years. But gears - not so likely to be upgraded.
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benji
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by benji »

How does one know if it's an a or aa? I've got 2 86's it seems like I gotta 50/50 shot haha
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eclark5483
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Re: enjoying your Spree

Post by eclark5483 »

Look at the VIN 60s designate A type, a 61 designate AA (Iowa)type
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