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Bill Leuthold is in third place on a 2007 Vespa GT. I had to laugh at his mentioning that the SMax was running him down from behind in the event. Shouldn't a 250cc scooter be able to out distance a 155cc scooter? It's pretty revealing that a Yamaha is as fast as a much more expensive Italian scooter.

If it were mine....I'd remove the emissions system, and ride it for a while as is. An air filter and upjetted carb will help, but it doesn't hurt to let your scooter break-in a bit first. A lot of so called upgrades are not necessary, and a waste of money in my opinion. No matter what, or how many modifications you make....your scooter will still be a scooter. Ya can't make a silk purse, out of a sows ear.

My little sow's ear has just over 10,100 miles on it......still running great with factory original CDI, coil, and even the original spark plug. There is no sense in trying to fix something that isn't broken, or try to improve something, that doesn't need improvement.

Probably should have noted that my stock bulb is a ba20d/s2 type not an h4

Here's my results from going from 12g sliders to 11.5g sliders. In a nutshell: Low speed acceleration (0-30mph) is the same. Acceleration at midrange speed (30-45) was improved (I felt more pull). Top speed dropped 1mph, and high speed acceleration (50mph+) seemed more sluggish.

SETUP:
- Koso variator
- 11.5g Dr Pulley sliders (3x 11 + 3x 12)
- 115mm variator fan (generic)
- Stock clutch stuff (generic clutch bought from eBay)
- Stock chinese belt 842-20-30 ($9)

RPM behavior: When WOT, rpm stays at 6,100 after clutch grabs, then around 30mph RPM starts climbing to 6,500 and stays, then at 45 slowly goes up again and hits 7,000 at top speed (57mph). So, RPMs from 30mph up to top speed are 500 higher than the 12g.

Throttle response: feels nicer during acceleration, but worse when cruising. Cruising feels like you're in 3rd gear instead of 4th, and needs more throttle to keep the bike up to speed. I found I was going 38mph instead of 43 with the same amount of throttle I normally cruise at. Everything about 50mph felt lacking. On the other hand, acceleration was noticeably improved in midrange speeds.

---A note about Koso: After reading a review, I now understand with a stock setup, the Koso variator may/will cause the belt to ride lower in the clutch pulley at idle/takeoff, which is like taking off in 2nd gear. This may not be a huge deal unless riding 2up like I commonly do, or if you're a 250lbs+ rider.

Final ratings (out of 5 stars):
- *****: Takeoff acceleration (0-10mph @ 4,000 rpm)
- *****: Low speed acceleration (10-30mph)
- ***** Medium speed acceleration (30-45mph)
- ***** High speed acceleration (45mph+)
- ***** Top speed (57mph)

Next test: Same setup, but swapping to K&S variator + 13g rollers (yes ROLLERS next time, not sliders!)

(Eventually I'm going to compile ALL my testing info neatly in one spot like I did some pages ago, and stick it on my first post to make it easy for those interested to see and keep up with. I'll keep updating it as I do more experiments.)

Many do not realize if you take the slack out of the throttle cable you have way better response and control. And in some instances with too much slack you can not reach full throttle.