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Magnum CVT
by: Big Al - Feb 21, 2011 23:04:45 GMT -6
Post by Big Al on Feb 21, 2011 23:04:45 GMT -6
I want to inspect the CVT on my Magnum and have a question about taking the cover off. I removed all the bolts and thought the cover would pull off easily, but it won't budge using my hands. I'm wondering is there something I need to be aware of before I break out the rubber mallet and start trying to break it free. Like are there guide pins I need to be aware of, or is there gasket sealant that might rip the gasket apart? TIA
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Post by Big Al on Feb 12, 2011 16:50:22 GMT -6
Just thought I'd throw up a couple more pictures in case someone wants to get a better look at these bars. Also notice the aftermarket mirrors. I thought the vibration would be really bad since the mirrors are long stem, but surprisingly the vibration is not all that bad. You can see in them pretty good so they're functional. Thought I'd throw in this rather blurry picture of my wife coming back from a test ride after getting the scoot fixed and with the new bars. She likes it.
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Post by Big Al on Feb 11, 2011 21:38:31 GMT -6
I should follow up to this post. Got the Magnum running again. Basically cleaning the carb did it, but I had a couple of other issues I had going on too. Like I installed the automatic choke wrong when I put it back on and a wire had come loose from the coil. All that has been corrected. In fact, I rode about a 40 mile round trip test ride at 55 mph with no issues.
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Post by Big Al on Feb 11, 2011 14:20:03 GMT -6
Wow, today during my lunch break I installed some new handle bars on the ol' Magnum which have a 7" rise and 9" pullback. I was liking the way they looked and felt at a stand still but couldn't try them out yet because as y'all might remember from my previous thread the Magnum bit the dust and I was have trouble getting it to run. Well, I called into work and told them I was taking the rest of the day off and rolled up my sleeves to tackle the Magnum. Just to refresh, it died and was behaving like it had a blocked port in the carb. I removed the carb a couple weeks ago, stripped it down and cleaned it the best I possibly could ... reassembled and installed. No go. It would not start at all and I discovered that at that point it wasn't getting any fire either. Fast forward to today. So I take off work and first thing I notice is that I mis-installed the automatic choke. Corrected that. Then looking around I noticed a wire had come loose near the coil. I'm assuming this happened when I had the trike towed. Corrected that. Charged the battery and after about a dozen attempts it fired right up!! Let it warm up and took it for a ride around the neighborhood and it seem to run just as good as it did the day I bought it. Still rattles like crap but it is road worthy again. The new handlebars are working pretty good too. They do seem to be a little narrow, but then I'm used to my ape hangers on my Harley so that doesn't make me the best judge of how they would feel to someone else. Now I got to get my 50cc SYMply working and all my vehicles will be road worthy. Oh, here's the new handlebars installed.
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Post by Big Al on Jan 30, 2011 7:28:47 GMT -6
Great anecdote Leo, thanks! Besides technical advice this is one of the reasons I like this forum. Great stories from people like you.
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Post by Big Al on Jan 29, 2011 20:21:15 GMT -6
Some people just don't get it. You can theoretically dip your cigarette in a bucket of gas and it will just put the cigarette out because cigarettes generally are not hot enough to ignite gasoline. However, anyone with more than two functional brain cells would not challenge that theory. The fact that she proceeded to light another cigarette (with an open flame no doubt) shows she really does not have ANY functional brain cells.
Not long ago I was at a gas station filling up my motorcycle and when I released the pump lever the fuel did not stop. I cranked the lever a couple of time but it was still dribbling out at a pretty good rate. So I look around trying to find the emergency cut off like most gas stations have and could not locate it. I laid the hose on the ground and ran into he store and they turned off the pumps from inside. When I went back out (you can probably guess this) some idiot is standing next to my bike in a puddle of gas with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and ask me "what's going on" when I walked up. I told him he'd better get that f@@@ing cigarette away from all this gas or I'd shove it down his throat. He walked off mumbling "sorry".
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Post by Big Al on Jan 29, 2011 18:38:06 GMT -6
When I bought my wife's Ice Bear Magnum I read many horrible reviews from buyers who complained about various issues and I was of the mind that they probably did not perform a proper PDI and/or their expectations are were too high. Then I read a couple of reviews of the updated version of the Magnum and how the suspension was improved and many small issues seemed to be resolved. My wife has two limitations, the cycle has to be automatic and it has to have at least three wheels, I did not have a lot of choices out there.
I consider myself mechanically inclined because I completed a technical trade school for small engine repair when I was 16 and have been servicing my own motorcycles, motor scooters, and cars since I was 11 years old. Now I'm 54 and have completely customized my own Harley engine and all. In other words I can maintain a vehicle. I figured since the price was so low, and the only other product that comes close to meeting my wife's requirements is the Piaggio MP3 which was at least 3000 dollars more we'd settle on the Ice Bear. Humongous mistake!!
Right now the Magnum is sitting in my garage with less than 300 miles on it because I already had to have it towed home (180.00 towing fee). I have no doubt it is a carburetor issue, not enough fuel, but repairing it is a moot point at this time. Since purchasing this scooter it has made a horrible clanking noise from within the CVT/Transmission area and I have had the variator, clutch and transmission out and went over every item with a fine tooth comb and could not find the cause of the noise. At this point, I don't care because the noise is a moot point.
The front end makes such a horrible rattling noise the scooter is an embarrassment to ride. I know the source of the noise. The high beam headlight shroud came from the factory broken inside the sealed lamp assembly. Fixing it is a moot point at this time.
The brackets holding the rear fender on broke from vibration. I manufactured my own to replace the broken ones, but the fender is cracking around just about every bolt that holds it on ... so any further repairs are a moot point.
When we first get this scooter on the road it would wobble horribly at lower speeds. I discovered the rear tire was out-of-round and ordered a new one. Got the new one on and resolved that issue.
The first time I opened the right side glove box one of the plastic hinge pins that hold it on broke, so now it is unusable. Sure, I could replace it, but fixing it is a moot point now.
The fuel gauge does not work. It will indicate when the tank is full, but will not drop below the 3/4 mark. I know how to fix this, but I'm not going to because it is a moot point now.
I had to glue the hand grips on because they would continually slip off, I had to get better mirrors because the one that came with the scooter were bent and did not allow a good view around the driver, The seat latch does not release correctly, I had to replace the plastic screws for the windshield with metal ones because they stripped after having to take off and install the windshield so many times.
I have tried to convince myself time and time again that this is a good trike and that if I can nail down all the issues it will be fun for my wife to own and ride. I cannot fool myself anymore. Buying this product was the worst financial decision I have ever made in my life. I have spent way too much time on the wrench and spent way too much money fixing and replacing things that I cannot justifiy owning in another day. I got robbed, and I just have to pull my head out of the sand and admit it.
I kept using the term "moot point" in this thread so let me explain. I am going to have this Ice Bear Magnum picked up and taken to the dump. I won't sell it to anyone or even give it away because I would not do that to another human being. So it is history. Next weekend I am taking the wife to a Piaggio dealer near here and let her pick out the MP3 she wants (I'm liking the 500cc one myself)..
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Post by Big Al on Jan 29, 2011 14:46:21 GMT -6
The wife and I were out for a ride earlier today. About 20 miles into the ride her Magnum died when she was rounding a corner. She restarted it and as soon as she turned the throttle it died again.
Got it towed home, and I cannot find any loose or missing vacuum lines and don't see anything amiss. It starts and idles just fine, but as soon as you turn the throttle even slightly it dies. Now, we DID put 87 octane fuel in it early today even though the sticker on the tanks says 93 or greater ... but from what I understand about detonation and octane I don't see that octane would make this type of symptom.
I need some advice. I'd like to get this running pretty soon. TIA
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Post by Big Al on Jan 28, 2011 20:28:08 GMT -6
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Post by Big Al on Jan 26, 2011 21:30:34 GMT -6
Thanks, I think I will go with LED's then. On my Harley adding LED's requires a load equalizer so the scooter sounds like it will be easy and straight forward. What I'm think now is adding amber LED's in the area currently occupied with the reflectors and using them as turn signals, then mount something below those for tail/brakes. Which leads to another question. Normally I would use a dual bulb to achieve this, but I'm not sure what is available for the LED's. How does an LED achieve a brighter light when the brake is engaged?
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Post by Big Al on Jan 26, 2011 21:22:59 GMT -6
Thanks. I put in another bulb and double checked the wiring and connectors, even the clip that holds the bulb in (which isn't insulated) and didn't notice anything amiss. I ran through all the lights, horn, starter and everything that had a wire to it to make sure everything is working correctly so I will let it go and see if it happens again. Thanks for the quick response by the way, I appreciate it.
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Post by Big Al on Jan 26, 2011 8:05:47 GMT -6
My wife's Magnum keeps blowing the right-side low beam bulb. It doesn't blow right away, but it will blow within a day or two. I'm sure it is over amping for some reason, maybe a short somewhere. Is there a common troubled area I should look at? I wish I had a wiring diagram for this so I don't have to take the whole scoot apart to trace the wiring.
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Post by Big Al on Jan 26, 2011 8:01:15 GMT -6
This will be kind of a multiple question sort of thing. My wife's magnum came with those cheesy reflectors on the fender which I want to replace with functional lights. Perusing the forums I remember seeing a thread around here where someone DID add lights to the fender and I cannot seem to locate that thread. But if I remember correctly, even that thread did not answer all my questions.
The area I want to mount the lights in is the same area occupied by the reflectors now. Each side is an flat oval area roughly 4" by 2".
First, I need to find a source for this type of lighting. I prefer to have dual red so that one bulb will run the brake and tail and the other the signal.
Next I need to know if the current draw would be too much and if I would need a load equalizer.
Perhaps a link, info, or suggestion if anyone has any. TIA
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Post by Big Al on Jan 26, 2011 6:26:21 GMT -6
..and a scooter is ridden by either a girl, gay or an old man or old woman...but never a man with tattoo...i fall on the old man category...lol hope i answered your question right..lol I'm DEFINITELY in the old man category! But I must admit I owned my first scooter when I was 12 years old so you might throw youngsters into that category.
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Post by Big Al on Jan 25, 2011 14:11:52 GMT -6
What is the definition of a scooter? I own and ride a Harley-Davidson Sportster and belong to a forum for Sportster owners and the question most asked there is "what is a biker" and I swear if there is a 1000 responses to that question you will have 1000 different answers. So I am hoping that the definition of a scooter is not so ambiguous. The Wikipedia definition is basically any motorcycle you step through to mount and has a platform running board. This is basically how I always felt about it only I might add that the motor is positioned under the rider. The thing is, I have seen a lot of vehicles being called scooters that do not fit this definition. Is there a universally excepted definition? Oh, by the way, I call my Sporty a scooter all the time and it does not even fit my OWN definition of a scooter. Here's a pic of it. I really want to get me my own FOR REAL scooter. To me they are a lot more interesting. I keep eyeballing my wife's scooter with a desire to disassemble it and put it back together with every upgrade I can get my hands on! ha ha I think that would freak her out though so I best get my own soon.
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