Question... are the "cheap sliders" and Dr Pulley sliders the same other than durability? In other words, if I have in 12g cheap sliders, then changed to 12g Dr Pulley sliders, would it affect my RPMs differently at all?
Thank you Alleyoop, very detailed and useful info! I think I measured around 3000-3200 rpm is where it's grabbing right now with my old clutch, Koso variator, and 3x12g sliders + 3x11g sliders.
The reason I'm mixing the sliders is..well if you remember before I said one kept flipping on me in my old fake Koso variator... it happened again even in the real Koso you sent me, so you were right that one of the sliders were bad. The bad one has duct tape on it now, so I know which one it is...
Symptoms of flipped slider was: ROUGH takeoffs stuck at 2k RPM; bike wanting to take off on me when starting it with just a small blip of gas; 15mph loss in top speed; an overall feeling of engine weakness starting around 35mph; an obvious "gear change" around 15-20mph that wasn't there before.
...So I thought I'd replace that bad one with one of the Dr Pulley ones you sent me, but I know you can't just replace ONE because throwing it off balance, so I did the stagger thing: 12g, 11g, 12g, 11g, 12g, 11g. Seems to be doing great and all is back to normal... but I'm really surprised because my RPMs haven't seemed to change? I thought my 11g slider + Koso variator test turned out to be wayy too light and lost top speed, but now I'm wondering if I got something mixed up, so I should probably redo that test!
Thanks dyoung, I'll keep that in mind. I actually have already ordered and received a new clutch but am waiting to put it in after I'm not so needed as a taxi around here, just in case anything would go wrong... don't want to make anyone miss an appointment! I'll go ahead and take pictures of my old and new clutch once I get doing it.
My idle is set to my bike's recommended spec of 1500rpm. Though when it's cold out it wants to idle 2000rpm... not sure if that's a problem. I did have it set to 2000rpm once upon a time because it kept my headlight lit up bright instead of flickering at idle... had it that way for some months. That was back when my headlight worked!
My bike has been having very rough takeoffs (from 0mph to 7mph) and it's been getting worse and worse as time goes on. I believe I'm now hearing my clutch slightly squeaking too at idle? The roughness is only during initial takeoff and usually gets noticeable after I've been riding about 10-15 mins, and the whole bike will shake shake shake shake and give a grand finale SHAKE (with a quick squeak), and then the rest of acceleration is normal and smooth. I noticed if I'm on a fast road and go 50-55mph for a bit, it seems to "cool it down" and it takes off very smooth temporarily.
I recently sprayed canned air into the clutch holes (with clutch still on the bike) as an attempt to fix it, and a good amount of dust came out and kept coming out as I kept changing angles and spraying again. It didn't seem to help. It's become such a horrible shake that I feel the bike will just crumble underneath me if I give too much gas on takeoff.
I've tried taking off more aggressively than I usually do as I heard slow starts can cause this, but it doesn't seem to be helping.
When I look at the clutch with CVT cover open, I see the clutch constantly tries to push itself forward in small jerky motions while the bike is idling, which makes my rear tire spin slightly too if it's off the ground. It's not enough to push it forward on the regular kickstand or when I'm on it. My idle is set to 1500rpm when warm, and I tried lowering it way down to 900 rpm to see if it'd stop, but the clutch and wheel still continues to move the same.
I noticed when messing with different variators/rollers, any combination that makes it initially takeoff at low revs makes the bike jump MORE. Vice versa, combinations that cause higher rev takeoffs, the bike still jumps but not as strongly.
The clutch is stock I believe, and I've had my bike 6 years.. maybe just time for a new clutch? I'm assuming it's the clutch anyway?
I know what you mean. But I think at the top of the helmet it might be hard to find an angle that shows the road and the gauges and the gauges will look far away due to the wide angle lens. Have you looked into chest mounts? You can hook them up to your body with them and it might give you the angle you're looking for.
Sorry by chin mount I meant chin area of my helmet... so it's attached to a GoPro mount at chin area. Here's some pictures of my current setup. And yes that looks to be a genuine version of it. There's many fakes on Amazon and eBay so the company started printing SJCAM on the cameras. That's the WiFi version so you could also connect it wirelessly to your phone/tablet/pc to check your camera angle, remotely start recording, etc. You should look up "techmoan" on YouTube; he has some really good reviews of this camera.
If you look close you can see the lav mic through my visor, on the far side. That's where the wire is coming from and going to the sound recorder next to the helmet.
Last Edit: Jan 27, 2016 14:27:39 GMT -6 by rosiemoto
Alleyoop, I switch between 2 devices for cameras, depending what I'm doing. The video on this thread I just used the Samsung Galaxy S3 phone (without the phone service) in my hand. It has a focusing lens and similar quality to our $200 camcorder, but can be shaky. While I ride I record with SJCAM SJ4000 mounted to my helmet (chin mount) and an external audio recorder with lav mic going up into my helmet near my mouth. Lately I've been mounting an external battery to my helmet and running the camera to it for many hours of battery life. I'm supposed to be making a video of my setup... so if you watch my YouTube (RosieMoto), stay tuned for that
Thanks. When I order a new one do I need to worry about lubricating it or can I just put it in as is (I saw people on YouTube going nuts cleaning and lubing theirs)? If I do need to lube, will spreading hi-temp bearing grease on it be okay? I'm a total newbie on lube stuff.
I noticed while looking for a new one that there's different sizes... how do I figure out the size to get? Do you just measure the tube that the cable is in?
Alrighty here is everything I've come up with! This is test results on a Peace Sports VIP chinese 150cc 1P157QMJ with everything stock except the variator and rollers that I'm testing here. Clutch and contrasprings blahblah etc all stock. However NOTE that my fan pulley is SMALLER than most scooter's for some reason... so my variator fan is not 115mm but is instead the same size as my stock variator. Results might be different with 115mm fan... not sure. Also some things to know is I don't "tuck" and the roads here are all flat (no downhill). My mph is measured indicated at the speedometer, not GPS. If there's strong wind I'll go both directions with and against, then average it.. but it's usually only a 2 or 3mph difference anyway.
What's important/priority to me; what I'm looking for, and my mindset - Low cruise RPMs for fuel economy and less stress on engine on bigger roads - Top speed with extra breathing room so I can keep up when traffic is moving fast. - Throttle position to maintain cruise, because it feels awesome to be barely pulling the throttle. - Acceleration off the line so I can beat cars from a stoplight if I need to get in their lane ASAP, BUT I wouldn't mind losing a small amount of acceleration if it makes everything else better.
STOCK VARIATOR (108mm or so?) RATINGS: Takeoff: 5/5, Cruise: 3/5, Top speed: 3/5 THOUGHTS: Takeoff RPM and acceleration is good, but very obviously runs out of gearing at 40mph (RPM then climbs steadily)...feels like I'm "locked in gear" often because of that. Cruising at higher speeds needs more throttle than with bigger sized variators, and RPM starts hitting 7k around 50mph...too high for me. Max speed I ever hit on this variator was ONCE on a lucky day...60mph, but I think it's more like 56mph consistently. 11g Dr Pulley sliders: I don't dare to try... it would be way too light. 12g cheap sliders: TOO light still; lost top speed; feels as if belt is slipping. WOT easily went over 7k RPM, and cruising felt weak; needed too much throttle to cruise, which makes RPMs constantly high. Top speed: 52? 13g rollers (stock): Acceleration is strong and steady RPM all the way. No "gearshift." 15g rollers: Low cruising RPMs good for fuel maybe, but WOT acceleration was weaker at 5.6k RPM max. Top speed didn't increase over the 13g rollers. ** I don't have sliders heavy enough for the stock variator... high speed results may be better with sliders.
K&S VARIATOR: (larger than stock, but smaller than Koso?) RATINGS: Takeoff: 5/5, Cruise: 3/5, Top speed: 4/5 THOUGHTS: It seems to act similar to my stock variator as far as how it's affected by weights, but this one has increased gearing/more top end. Not a bad thing at all actually. Takeoff is 4-5k RPM which gives me a smooth/steady RPM transition from takeoff to acceleration. Top speed: 60-61mph. I'm not sure when it runs out of gearing yet. 11g Dr Pulley sliders: Same as in stock variator; it would be too light so I didn't try. 12g cheap sliders: too light, lost top speed... 56mph. 7k+ rpm WOT 13g rollers: slightly too light?/slight slip feel when cruising, but top speed is there (60-61mph). 6.7k rpm WOT acceleration. 3x13g rollers + 3x15g rollers: acceleration still good, 6.2k rpm WOT, lowered cruise speed, but lost some top speed: 59mph. 15g rollers: Knew right away too heavy; WOT acceleration at 5.6k rpm; didn't even make it 100ft before I said "nope." Note: I really want to think the K&S variator wants 14g rollers or 15g sliders. I might order the 15g sliders eventually, but I can't determine how well it cruises (as in how much throttle is needed to cruise) until then. ** I don't have heavy enough sliders to test sliders inside the K&S variator... results may be better with sliders.
KOSO VARIATOR 115mm (genuine version): RATINGS: Takeoff: 4/5, Cruise: 5/5, Top speed: 5/5 THOUGHTS: High speed cruise monster! My favorite variator of the 3; I'm often cruising 10mph higher than I'm expecting at certain throttle positions and actually have to slow down! Cruises about 50mph at 35% throttle... it feels great. Takeoff RPM seems a little low, between 3k and 4k rpm. I haven't yet figured out what speed it runs out of gearing. 11g Dr Pulley sliders: Too light, lost top speed (56-57mph I think), revs stay high at cruise, WOT is 7k rpm or more. Has that slipping feel. 12g cheap sliders: Good WOT acceleration at 6.4k, 61mph top speed. Cruise 43mph @ 5.2k rpm; 50mph at 5.9k rpm. My favorite setup. 12g Dr Pulley sliders: To be updated... 13g rollers: A little heavy. Weaker acceleration. Runs out of gearing at ~43mph and easily hits 6.5-7k at higher speed like 50-55. Feels like stock variator after 43mph. Top speed is 57-58 @7.2k. Accelerating WOT revs at 5.6k. 15g rollers: Since 13g is already too heavy I won't bother!
Conclusions: My favorite combo so far is the Koso variator + 12g sliders. The Koso with ROLLERS gave me less favorable results (a little better than stock). In my experience, sliders seem to help off-the-line acceleration, top speed, and high speed throttle position very noticeably, but you still need the right weight to get those advantages. I wasn't able to test the K&S and stock variators with the proper weighted sliders for them, so the best I can do is look at the results in a "relative to each other" way. Koso variator and 12g Dr Pulley sliders should be total $40-45... definitely worth it in my opinion, for the gain you get in top speed and overall "effortless" feeling it gives the bike even at higher speeds.
Last Edit: Feb 22, 2016 19:02:36 GMT -6 by rosiemoto
I was riding today and suddenly my speedometer went from working fine to nothing. I just had it replaced a year ago. My original one lasted almost 5 years.. not sure what's going on. I pulled over and took it apart at the wheel, and I see the little needle on the inside spin as I spin the wheel, so I guess that part's working. (Although...just in case it's related/important: if I start to spin the wheel by hand in the other direction, it takes a bit before the needle reacts and spins. After it reacts, if I stop then start spinning the wheel again, it reacts instantly. It does this in both directions.)
So I put the wheel side back together and I hear a plastic-y clack clack clack, like the sound of plastic slipping off plastic, which goes faster as I spin the wheel faster. I opened up the cluster area to see if the cable spins up there and it has zero movement. Also if I use my fingers to spin the speedometer cable from the cluster side, it doesn't spin.. or I feel like I'm forcing it to turn because it wants to turn back. It feels like it's stuck in there. This is new territory for me so not sure if I need a new cable, or does it just need lubed, or?
All I've got for lubricant is "MasterPro Hi-Temp Disc Brake Wheel Bearing Grease"
