The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

Pcxdemon wrote: but how would you know? What have you done to yours and how much money have you spend to be able to say that?
I can still get over 200km out of my tank with everything done to it, so its still economical by economy standards and considerably faster than stock.Why i waste my money? 'Cos its a hobby i guess. I don't waste my money on alcohol or drugs so gotta have something to dwindle my thumbs. You should say thank you for sharing my mod experience as Ive must have spend lots of money and time with this....
Its easy to sit on the fence and throw comments all the time but if you want your comment to carry some weight than you need to have first hand experience
with modding 'your' Pcx and share your knowledge.....Other bikes don't count as this is PCX forum. So participate valuably on another non modifying topic or sht the f up!

Even if GN2 or anyone else yammers against your modding...

I thank you and greatly appreciate you sharing your experience. While your experimenting isn't economical, I agree -- it's a hobby. It's the same reason why I spent money on my Ermax undertray, or new blinkers, or the new Ermax shield I ordered last week. I've got extra money, and I like to spend it on my toys. Furthermore, your experimenting certainly expands our overall knowledge of the PCX, especially since you've tried just about everything. Your tinkering has lead to mods that improve your ride, and further tinkering may lead to economical mods that are the "holy grail" that might add speed without much cost or sacrifice.

Ignore the haters and carry on... And everyone else, be civil, I don't want flame wars like the other forum.

Now, back to your earlier post...

Pcxdemon wrote:Ive tried Kitaco 110kmh,Daytona 125kmh,Takegawa 125kmh, variators with different weights and Dr Pulley sliders and then as a last option took my stock variator and had a play with that one . Ive tried 10g rollers which gave me better acceleration + extra top speed to 116kmh, sliders top speed 122kmh. ( stock rollers are 15g ).
So you could say that if you get your self some Dr Pulleys sliders you should be able to get extra 6kmh ( i say 6kmh extra as my top speed is 122kmh,will differ to yours because i am running i-map with my limiter raised by 300rpm) - ( i recommend 10g in size ).
My belt goes right up to the top of the pulley now literally.
Can anyone understand this gibberish?
By the way i tried Givi screen briefly and found it fairly good, acceleration was good,gets to 110-115kmh easy but felt like it didn't want to go any faster afterwards like to 122kmh. My Kitaco aero screen worked better there....There is a new screen on Webike for $56 made by Madmax. Looks like same size as Givi so it may be a real viable option instead of Givi for someone not wanting to spend double the amount $$. Im considering one just cos its sooo cheap
Also i got Torque Cam few weeks back but had some issues,its back at Webike now for the exchange.

In order to see any gains at all, did you have to run with the i-map, or do you still see gains with the stock ECU? I'm trying to determine the most economical way to have gains here. It sounds like the Dr Pulley sliders make a good difference though -- more acceleration and better top speed is a good thing. And, that's with just modding the variator, so you're not stressing the engine any more than stock... Hmm, leaves you with something to think about.

Thank you Maddiedog ,
I have a friend who picked up my spare Takegawa variator and has no other mods than a smaller Givi screen. He is very happy with the set up,gets to 110kmh very easy and can reach 120kmh on the highway. Although he ways some 130+ kg he still gets good performance out of the mods. He also mentioned that his fuel milage slightly improved ( before the Givi screen was added ) by some 20+km.
Does the engine get stressed just because you change the vario? I would say depends how you ride the thing!
Your cruising speed is dropped by 1000rpm so if you're riding normally and taking advantage of that set up in economic way than you are better of, but because
you're also running lighter weights you're also raising you're WOT rpm to above what stock set up is. The advantage in that is that you are getting better acceleration of the lights and up hill speed. At the moment i can do 60mph at 8000rpm where you blokes will be bouncing of you're limiter at 9200 so you can tell me which engine is getting more or less stressed?!
My I-Map has raised my limiter to 9500rpm hence giving me bit extra top speed some 5k on top, but also its throwing bit extra fuel in the engine over 8000-9500rpm,its purely there to compensate for leaner sports exhaust to prevent premature ring wearing etc etc but also i have to say it does add slight increase in power as a combo as well.
Im getting rear Torque driver soon with two different settings available and cant wait to get my hands greasy to have a play with that ( labour free as i do all the work my self if someone wondering......
On the end,YES it is still a 125cc bike and i have improved it considerably over stock,maybe its just Placebo effect but my speedo didn't lie when i was hitting 120-125kmh fairly easier. Bigger difference will be achieved when i replace to bigger throttle body,cam and head with bigger valves..
So when someone says just go and buy your self bigger bike ( i like the Pcx ) if you want to go faster than i have to ask how much money will that cost me?? Probably $3000-4000+ out of my pocket and even then i wouldn't be able to resist modifying that one also....If there was bigger Pcx on another hand that would be diff story!


Cheers

There is a bigger PCX but I believe Honda only sell it in Japan.
It's the Faze 250, looks like the PCX took some of it's styling from the Faze.

Well I appreciate your modding pcxdemon, it takes a lot of time and money to do what you did. I can't wait to get to modding my pcx. I will be getting the takegawa silent sport exhaust and probably the imap. Thanks for all the updates you have given us. The pcx is awesome and modding is a blast. Keep it up!

I recently changed variatior for the Jcosta one..... GARBAGE !!!!! Then yesterday i took the garbage out and replaced it with the malossi variator (2000) with 10.5gr rollers.
Acceleration is fantastic and top speed i dont see much difference from the stock same top speed as with the original 15gr oem honda rollers.

Yogibabu wrote:I recently changed variatior for the Jcosta one..... GARBAGE !!!!! Then yesterday i took the garbage out and replaced it with the malossi variator (2000) with 10.5gr rollers.
Acceleration is fantastic and top speed i dont see much difference from the stock same top speed as with the original 15gr oem honda rollers.

this is the sort of review i like, straight to the point and gets the information across perfectly

Esdain wrote:

Yogibabu wrote:I recently changed variatior for the Jcosta one..... GARBAGE !!!!! Then yesterday i took the garbage out and replaced it with the malossi variator (2000) with 10.5gr rollers.
Acceleration is fantastic and top speed i dont see much difference from the stock same top speed as with the original 15gr oem honda rollers.

this is the sort of review i like, straight to the point and gets the information across perfectly

I tell it like it is no need to bullshit and lie. Thats why we are here at these forums, to get the info we need:)

I reckon that if you want to get about a bit quicker, then get michelin city grip or pirelli diablo tyres and a tall screen. The screen cuts the drag (and also makes riding more pleasant) and the tyres out perform the IRCs by a long way, enabling you to corner without having you heart in your mouth waiting for the rear end to give a nasty surprise.

IRC tyres are fine, it's all in your head.
Mine have never slid on a decent surface, any slips have been down to something slippy on the road which would have made any tyre slide.

gn2 wrote:IRC tyres are fine, it's all in your head.
Mine have never slid on a decent surface, any slips have been down to something slippy on the road which would have made any tyre slide.

I am with gn2 on this. Nothing wrong with the IRC tires at all and tyey offer plenty grip a decent surface.

Never slipped in mine either. I think it's all a confidence issue. I've had days where I take turns hard and fast and days where I take them slow because I feel like the bike will slip out from under me. I'm sure that buying a tire that says it has "superior grip" gets in your head and gives you some added confidence.

ese12105 wrote:Never slipped in mine either. I think it's all a confidence issue. I've had days where I take turns hard and fast and days where I take them slow because I feel like the bike will slip out from under me. I'm sure that buying a tire that says it has "superior grip" gets in your head and gives you some added confidence.

Those days are not just in your head though, weather conditions of not just today, but also the past few days can play a pretty big role. The first rain after a few dry summer weeks is extra dangerous for example, because of all the road grime that gets mixed up with the first load of water. The rainy days after that are safer. Also, rain + cold is a lot worse than rain when it's warm. And of course there are those mornings where everything seems okay, but the streets are damp instead of dry, which can make the difference between slight sliding (a squirmy feeling) over road markings or manhole covers, and not noticing them at all.

The bike tyre which will not slide on a wet manhole cover is yet to be made.

The IRCs are okay. I don't really like them, I'll be trying something different with my next set. I lose traction too often with them, they feel harder and more brittle than the tires I've ridden with on other bikes.

My city grips will beat IRC no question.

Got timed out of an edit of above Here is what I was adding:-

What I'm really trying to say is that performance is only really about getting from A to B quicker rather than say, a faster 0-60 time. It seems that engine and drive train mods have little or no effect, so tyres and screen, suspension, and weight reduction (cut back on the pies), and, perhaps most important of all, brakes, are the way to go if performance turns you on. There is also a safety benefit with some of these tweaks.

Yogibabu wrote:I recently changed variatior for the Jcosta one..... GARBAGE !!!!! Then yesterday i took the garbage out and replaced it with the malossi variator (2000) with 10.5gr rollers.
Acceleration is fantastic and top speed i dont see much difference from the stock same top speed as with the original 15gr oem honda rollers.

Sorry I'm a bit late here as my account activation got hung up somewhere.

I am one of Maddiedog's "gearheads that sell performance parts"

Could you be more specific than ..... GARBAGE !!!!!. It didn't allow the engine to rev, your acceleration didn't increase etc.?

Again to quote Maddiedog"

"If anyone here ever actually buys a JCosta variator, they should do before-after acceleration, mpg, and top speed comparisons from a scientific viewpoint, rather than an "OMG IT WORKS" standpoint, it would finalize this whole mess once and for all"

I'm only a small player (I know but everyone needs a hobby) so to pay a $550 for a V-Box just for one test is out of the question. Veypor would be possible but it has to be semi permanently attached to the bike so that is sort of out. Not because of the installation but more the time the whole procedure would take.

What I hope to do early next month is to put a J Costa equipped 125 up against a new stock 150. The 150 is organized I just have to find one of my customers in Pattaya with a 125. That and buy some beer.

It's like this.
With a fixed power output you can change the gearing.
Longer gearing gives higher top speed and lower acceleration
Shorter gearing gives lower top speed and higher acceleration
If you want higher acceleration and higher top speed you must increase the power available.
A JCosta on it's own can only change how the available power is delivered, it's no miracle cure.

gn2 wrote:It's like this.
With a fixed power output you can change the gearing.
Longer gearing gives higher top speed and lower acceleration
Shorter gearing gives lower top speed and higher acceleration
If you want higher acceleration and higher top speed you must increase the power available.
A JCosta on it's own can only change how the available power is delivered, it's no miracle cure.

I agree with everything you say. But the engine produces maximum torque at a given rpm so the variators job is to keep the engine rpm constant at that value while it varies the gear ratios during acceleration. Now PCXdeamon may jump in here and say 8000-8200 is better than the 7000 quoted in PCX specs. but that is just tuning and overall performance vs everyday rideability.
Next is that there is a1/8" unused area on the periphery of the variator on the stock unit so by manufacturing a variator that is slightly larger and can also use this area allows the belt to move further out which gives a higher overall gear and higher top speed or more relaxed cruising.

How much better? I had a phone call only today from a customer who said he didn't think it was doing anything until he took it off! and subsequently put it straight back on again. He said his PCX felt sluggish without it.

Aftermarket variators DO work and they DO improve performance. Now if I can get a 125 and a 150 together in the same place!

I am sure you are as bored with all this as I am. There is no financial gain for me in posting this.

mikewasp wrote:Aftermarket variators DO work and they DO improve performance.

mikewasp wrote:I'm only a small player (I know but everyone needs a hobby) so to pay a $550 for a V-Box just for one test is out of the question. Veypor would be possible but it has to be semi permanently attached to the bike so that is sort of out. Not because of the installation but more the time the whole procedure would take.

What I hope to do early next month is to put a J Costa equipped 125 up against a new stock 150. The 150 is organized I just have to find one of my customers in Pattaya with a 125. That and buy some beer.

So in two posts you as a JCosta vendor say two things

1: that a JCosta improves performance
and
2: that you have yet to do any tests to see if a JCosta improves performance

Why am I not surprised?