Pure Unobtanium

mickey · Subject: Pure Unobtanium Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:14 am

Hit clutch? Over $100 to ship it from Taiwan. (Just the shipping, alone.) Sliders? Nobody has them. Malossi 28-gram rollers? "Backordered.....but we do have lighter ones if you like." (As if the weight were incidental.)

Does anybody have ANYTHING for a Silverwing?

I do have, in my actual possession, a set of Malossi clutch springs. Oh, boy. And it's possible that I might soon have a pair of spark plugs.

Are there, like, a million Silverwing racers in North America grabbing up all the parts before the season begins, or what?

Somebody PLEASE take my money. Here it is. I'm holding it out in the palm of my hand. Take it.

[/rant]

Cosmic_Jumper · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:32 pm

Mickey

I kinda doubt that you'll see any performance difference between 28 gm Malossi rollers and OEM 28 gm rollers. It's kind of like the difference between Ronzoni spaghetti & San Giorgio spaghetti.

You've really got to change the weight of the rollers to 'alter' the variator's performance. Ideally you'd want to drop the roller weight down to something between 28 and 21 grams --21 gms giving the most dramatic performance.

Then, of course, with the two sets of rollers weights you can mix 4 of each to get yet another 'ratio' (if that's the right term here). Given the 21 & 28 gm example, mixing the two set would give you the effect of a ~24 gm roller set.

The above is valid for changing rollers to rollers. Changing rollers to sliders is something else altogether. There's a more noticeable difference when changing from 28 gm rollers to 28 gm sliders. And presumably a yet greater difference if changing to even lighter weight sliders.

FWIW; have you tried contacting Union Material directly for the Dr Pulley Sliders or Rollers?

mickey · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:08 pm

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

Mickey

I kinda doubt that you'll see any performance difference between 28 gm Malossi rollers and OEM 28 gm rollers. It's kind of like the difference between Ronzoni spaghetti & San Giorgio spaghetti.

You've really got to change the weight of the rollers to 'alter' the variator's performance. Ideally you'd want to drop the roller weight down to something between 28 and 21 grams --21 gms giving the most dramatic performance.

Then, of course, with the two sets of rollers weights you can mix 4 of each to get yet another 'ratio' (if that's the right term here). Given the 21 & 28 gm example, mixing the two set would give you the effect of a ~24 gm roller set.

The above is valid for changing rollers to rollers. Changing rollers to sliders is something else altogether. There's a more noticeable difference when changing from 28 gm rollers to 28 gm sliders. And presumably a yet greater difference if changing to even lighter weight sliders.

FWIW; have you tried contacting Union Material directly for the Dr Pulley Sliders or Rollers?

Union Materials is happy to provide whatever I want, if I pay to ship it from Taiwan. Shipping for the HiT clutch is well over $100, which is a deal breaker.

I've got the Malossi clutch springs, and I've got some 26 gram rollers on the way. That should give me a wee boost. I just don't want to lose any high speed fuel economy. Mostly I'm just cleaning things up and getting ready for the season. I've got a lot of belt slap and vibration, and I suspect it's just a matter of getting things spiffy and lubed up.

Cosmic_Jumper · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:03 am

mickey wrote:

Union Materials is happy to provide whatever I want, if I pay to ship it from Taiwan. Shipping for the HiT clutch is well over $100, which is a deal breaker.

I've got the Malossi clutch springs, and I've got some 26 gram rollers on the way. That should give me a wee boost. I just don't want to lose any high speed fuel economy. Mostly I'm just cleaning things up and getting ready for the season. I've got a lot of belt slap and vibration, and I suspect it's just a matter of getting things spiffy and lubed up.

That hefty shipping cost was included in the even heftier price of the HiT Clutch.

If you can get a decent price (w/ shipping) for Dr Pulley Sliders & Rollers by going direct to UM in Taiwan why don't you consider ordering a few sets and then resell them.

There seems to be lots of riders looking for those Dr Pulley upgrades on several of the forums I follow. However, as you've correctly noted, they are made with Unobtanium

tankyuong · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Thu Feb 25, 2010 7:27 am

Whatever happened to the J Costa hype?

mickey · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:23 am

tankyuong wrote:

Whatever happened to the J Costa hype?

I'm curious about that myself. They claim it improves acceleration while also improving fuel economy, but every testimonial I've read says you give up a little cruising fuel economy and raise the RPMS. That's counterproductive to my goal.

Cosmic_Jumper · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:10 pm

tankyuong wrote:

Whatever happened to the J Costa hype?

mickey wrote:

I'm curious about that myself. They claim it improves acceleration while also improving fuel economy, but every testimonial I've read says you give up a little cruising fuel economy and raise the RPMS. That's counterproductive to my goal.

In addition to that there is the need to change the J Costa Pins every 9-10000 miles. That's less longevity than the belt, and near the life span of many rear tires.

Anytime you play with the variator you'll cause the RPMs to increase. I think that the entire point of tweaking the variator is to bring the scoot's operation closer into the optimum RPM range.

If you want better fuel economy ya gotta get a "Darkside Overdrive", i.e. Sumitomo rear tire, OR change the variator rollers to a heavier weight

mickey · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Fri Feb 26, 2010 12:31 am

Or I could by a motorcycle and shift gears myself. I'm just saying....

Cosmic_Jumper · Subject: Re: Pure Unobtanium Fri Feb 26, 2010 6:44 am

Mickey

Check out "The Italian Site" Tech Archives. There are several entries about DIY lightening the weight of OEM Rollers. And one entry about drilling holes in the clutch shoes to reduce their weight and increase the clutch performance.

http://66.163.168.225/babelfish/translate_url_content?.intl=us&lp=it_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.silverwing400.it%2findex.php%3foption%3dcom_content%26task%3dblogsection%26id%3d6%26Itemid%3d44

While Babelfish delivers a very muddled translation, if you persevere you can work your way thru it to get the gist of the entry.

BTW The translation calls variator rollers Seams