Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Hey guys,

I'm at a crossroads. I need more speed, but don't want to A) spend much money and B) have to do much maintenance. (me and the rest of the world, I know...) Just to bring you up to speed on my current ride, I've gone through a ton of problems of constantly running lean, even after re-jetting when I installed the R1 exhaust, and the aftermarket chrome airfilter, so I put the airbox and stock pipe back on. Sold/gave away the R1 and filter. I currently get around 37 or 38 mph out of my stock+variator setup. It's pretty unsafe on the 45mph speed zones here, with cars doing around 50-55.

So I'm torn. My options:

1. get the 9:1 gears and 7gram rollers like everyone says, but realize that's another $100 for a top speed of probably 43, which still won't really fix the problem. 47ish is the minimum
2. big bore: around $200 + gears + rollers = total of around $300+ $250 motorcycle license* = $550. This also brings a good amount of time tuning and stuff which I really don't have time for.
3. sell Elite for around $500 and get a 150cc scoot that'll get 65ish without much work


options 2:
would my scooter be fine without replacing the carb, manifold, clutch springs, exhaust, and everything else I read about, or would all of that need to be changed if I went big bore? If so, that's another $400ish, if I estimate right? If that's the case, I'd have to be spending $550+$400=950. If I sold my Elite instead, that would give me a budget of around $1500 if that makes sense to you. *my dad's requiring me to get the necessary license if my scoot is over 50cc, even if the DMV never would know

option 3: what would you suggest for a fast, good, reliable 100cc or 150cc scoot? I tried a friends genuine buddy blackjack this past weekend, and it was AMAZING, but about $4,000, so that's out of the question.... found this
thoughts?



I know this is a ton of text, thanks for reading and for your help.
-Jesse

Visit my website i will get you going 65mph for next to nothing

What parts would you reccomend?

If you have to do maintenance, you should not be doing mods, unless those maintenance items can be upgraded for a bit more. You can't expect a bike the doesn't run well to run better when you change half of the parts and don't know where to start tuning.

You said all the supplementary mods would cost $400, and that brings you up to $950. Are you buying a $550 big bore?
You don't need a license for a big bore, unless your friendly neighborhood cop likes to tear down motors and calibrate his digital caliper on the side of the highway.


100cc-150cc that I usually see around here are all chinese. I guess GY6 bikes have a big following, but I've seen a few cranks that are toasted under 1k miles. I would NEVER waste my money on those. Plus you have to get a motorcycle license.


If it were me, I'd go for maintenance + upgrades on the elite.
bore, carb, manifold, gears from limp1144 = 250 + shipping
All you need is an exhaust ($125-350+ lot of leeway depending what you want)
Rollerpack on ebay $18

808BMW wrote:If you have to do maintenance, you should not be doing mods, unless those maintenance items can be upgraded for a bit more. You can't expect a bike the doesn't run well to run better when you change half of the parts and don't know where to start tuning.

You said all the supplementary mods would cost $400, and that brings you up to $950. Are you buying a $550 big bore?
You don't need a license for a big bore, unless your friendly neighborhood cop likes to tear down motors and calibrate his digital caliper on the side of the highway.


100cc-150cc that I usually see around here are all chinese. I guess GY6 bikes have a big following, but I've seen a few cranks that are toasted under 1k miles. I would NEVER waste my money on those. Plus you have to get a motorcycle license.

If it were me, I'd go for maintenance + upgrades on the elite.
bore, carb, manifold, gears from limp1144 = 250 + shipping
All you need is an exhaust ($125-350+ lot of leeway depending what you want)
Rollerpack on ebay $18

He had a hard tunning just a pipe and variator before this.now if you throw in a big bore and carb now he will have more things to tune and worry about plus maintain. your best bet is to get the 150cc scooter so you can keep up with traffic.plus if you decide to get a motorcycle you will already have your endorsment for it.

Yeah if you can't/won't tune it you should never change anything

If I were to get a motorcycle license I'd just buy an enduro or something. Way faster than a scooter, and used will easily be in the $1000-$2000 range anywhere. If you take your test with the scooter, you'll only be approved for belt driven motorcycles, so it's not like you can get a real motorcycle later because your "already have the license" since you wouldn't be approved for chain driven.

You said all the supplementary mods would cost $400, and that brings you up to $950. Are you buying a $550 big bore?

my math for the 400 was from daywot's parts... the other $550 was 200 for a bore, 250 for a license, + rollers and shipping = around $950 total

You don't need a license for a big bore, unless your friendly neighborhood cop likes to tear down motors and calibrate his digital caliper on the side of the highway.

My dad will make me. I understand they'd never know, but that's what he said. I'm not going to argue with him...

If you have to do maintenance, you should not be doing mods, unless those maintenance items can be upgraded for a bit more.

What do you mean by this?

He had a hard tunning just a pipe and variator before this

I did, but that was because I had never touched a motor before I got my scooter. I've learned a ton since, obviously. Probably will be a lot of new stuff to learn working with a bore/carb/mani also, but I don't mind learning. It just got really annoying when I took everything off and on (exhaust, variator, jets) 10-15 times to find out that the parts I was trying to get to work simply wouldn't for the stock setup I was running. That isn't fun tuning to me, that's frustrating annoying tuning. I don't mind the tuning, as long as it's a one time, set the bike up, get it tuned right, swap jets, swap rollers, break it in, and then be set. I want it to be dependable and low maintenance once everything's installed and tuned.


Thanks a ton for the help guys, for real

anything but stock will NOT be low maintenance.Again tunning a carb pipe and bigbore is going to be just as fustrating as what you were dealing with before.

i think that the big bore is a great idea but....... in this case i would do the 150cc scooter. it will cost the same in any way you do it. if you get your endorcement, get a friend with a 400cc or bigger and take it so you wont have problems later. I have a no restriction lic because i took it on a 750cc and i ride a spree.

good luck

p.s. if you do the upgrade to your scooter you will learn ALOT and you will be a haus in the scooter world, but you better like tinkering forever.

Just FYI that is A STEAL for a budd125

they sell for near $3000 new and his price is 1400 OBO.. looks cherry too, and they are freakin solid great scoots

55-60mph performance, great acceleration and 90mpg

NOT chinese made, Taiwan imported by PGO with 2yr warranty new

we sell a lot of them at our shop and I highly recommend them to many ppl

I emailed him yesterday, and he said someone had JUST picked it up

remember jesse i still have parts to make it go fast

I'm aware, I am just trying to be mindful of how much time it will take to get things tuned right, and the fact that I'm moving into an apartment with little to no tools.

Also trying to weigh that against the fact that I have enjoyed learning about motors doing the little bit of tuning that I have

Limp1144 wrote:remember jesse i still have parts to make it go fast

Nice website. Very nice, good job. ya if you are going to buy parts get them here

videonut

Greetings:

Young Jesse is college-bound; Submitted:

time it will take to get things tuned right, and the fact that I'm moving into an apartment with little to no tools.

Ah, the Boudoir Mechanic, one of which I are...

Picture a cold, rainy night in October. You need to work on your ride to make it to your Origami 201 class in the morning. Would you prefer to carry your new Chinese-made Buddy-Boy 150 upstairs to Jesseland, or your current svelte 140-lb Elite?

Wheelman knows which one he'd choose...

Seriously, do a mild mod with a respected Italian 47mm bore and get a V8 or equivalent 72cc pipe. Keep the stock carb, upjetted to whatever the kit demands - say a 96 if you stick a pod filter on it. Put in your quality Italian 7-gram rollers and enjoy dependable 55+ top end all the school year long. You only have to tinker a lot if you're scratching the ragged edge of performance limits.

Anyonecan be quick and reliable with 150cc. (Well, unless it's Chinese...) The grins I get squirting out ahead of traffic on this innocent-looking Honda "50" are priceless. YMMV.