The Good Scooter News and the Bad Scooter News

The good scooter news is that that "bogging down, wants to die after being stressed a bit" problem seems to be gone. I just took it on a 12.8-mile ride, pushing it as hard as it would go at several points, and it never acted like it had a problem delivering power.

The bad news is that it still tops out at 40 miles per hour, and that's on nice, long, level stretches of good road. That's up from 37mph before I did the things I've done to it, and it's not bad, but I wish I could get even another two or three out of it.

The non-cosmetic things I've done to it:

• Replaced the air box with a "performance air filter" right next to the carb;
• Adjusted the carb fuel/air mixture and the idle;
• Changed out the existing CDI box for a "racing" model that says it has no RPM restriction;
• Upped the weights in the CVT transmission from 5 grams to 6 grams.

I think that's it. I still want to have a look at the exhaust system and make sure there aren't any restrictive measures there, and maybe look for and remove restrictions leading into the carburetor and go to slightly larger carb/jets.

But, you know, 40mph isn't bad for a 50cc scooter. It will get me reasonable distances in reasonable times. I still plan to wait on putting the big bore kit in, and may not do so at all, beccause I'm getting more and more certain that come spring I'll want to just go ahead and get a motorcycle license and either a 300-500cc motorcycle or at least a 150cc or 250cc scooter. Something that will handle freeway speeds.