variators so whats the best?

[wallygummer]

If I only swap the belt and varator whats the best one ? and size of rollers as to keep good accelaration but have a higher (110 kph now) top end for highway use! sorry if this is old hat but have these basic questions been answered?

[ScooterMan]

I don't know about the "best" but I use the stock roller weights in my NCY variator and get 79mph when the rev limiter hits.

[mikelx5]

the yuminashi cant be pushed to the limiter iv e never hit even doing 85

[Mgalutia88]

Yuminashi is great for top end. Daytona is great for acceleration and a top end of at least 77mph. I have a yuminashi variator. With an aftermarket exhaust, K&N r-1100 filter and takegawa ficon2 I can run uphill at 65-70 mph and hit 80mph without too much trouble. I have trouble going faster than that though.

[waspmike]

the yuminashi cant be pushed to the limiter iv e never hit even doing 85

Stock gearing? It never hits the limiter?

Wally what model?

[nribeiro]

With wind on flat you can do 120 or more with Yuminashi vario?

[Mgalutia88]

He was talking about 85mph not kph.

[nribeiro]

I know. So in miles per hour I cant reach 74 on flats and my top speed It's 80 and the limiter kick's in but only downhill. I'm looking for a vario that is already tuned for this purpose or can maintain 74 on the powerband.

[Mel46]

Does Takegawa have one? I have heard good things about Takegawa parts.

[nribeiro]

I don't really know. When I bought my PCX a lot of persons told me that JCosta variator it's a good vario. True since it is very fast until 80kph or almost 50mph. After that it has a flat spot on acceleration until 100kph or so and then to 110 and that's it. After that to reach 120 or 130kph only without wind or downhill or tail wind!
A slight front wind will not me let reach more than 112kph for example. In my opinion at 110kph my PCX already passed the power band.

I've talked with a guy that had JCosta and now he have Polini vario. He told me that is the same than JCosta but without flat spots on acceleration. It's more linear... Other people I see videos with fast PCX's have Polini but don't know the tricks they probably have because I think they do or they tweaked very well the transmission.

[waspmike]

I don't really know. When I bought my PCX a lot of persons told me that JCosta variator it's a good vario. True since it is very fast until 80kph or almost 50mph. After that it has a flat spot on acceleration until 100kph or so and then to 110 and that's it. After that to reach 120 or 130kph only without wind or downhill or tail wind!
A slight front wind will not me let reach more than 112kph for example. In my opinion at 110kph my PCX already passed the power band.

I've talked with a guy that had JCosta and now he have Polini vario. He told me that is the same than JCosta but without flat spots on acceleration. It's more linear... Other people I see videos with fast PCX's have Polini but don't know the tricks they probably have because I think they do or they tweaked very well the transmission.

I think that at 80 kph the engine rpm has caught up with the road speed so that from 80 on wards it is just the engine. Also J Costa lowers the rpm slightly at "cruising" speed for relaxed cruising. This happens at different speeds for different scooters, maybe this is what you are experiencing?

This is not a PCX but shows I think exactly what you are saying. RPM drops to 7,000 and stays there all the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6BUPmApb9E

Yes aerodynamics has a huge role to play at higher speeds and I think on this forum top speed seems to be surfacing as the primary driving force over and above , passing, hillclimbing etc..

[nribeiro]

I don't think it's my case but could be wrong... In my opinion and for what I can feel from the PCX it's like the engine isn't producing more power and probably is decreasing like over 9000rpm and only with some help like downhill, etc, etc can go faster.
The others I saw can reach more easy 120kph or pass it so....
If there is a way to keep the rpm's at around 8000 or so that is the powerband until 120 or more should help but I don't know what. Unless I play with diferent mod's with other vario.
A shortened vario boss increase or decrease rpm's? I did that on mine. I've gained 2kph.

[waspmike]

Max power for a stock engine is at 8500 so even if the variator allows you to turn at over 8500 you won't get anymore power if riding into a headwind etc.. Downhill, with gravity assist, where you need less Hp from the motor, yes extra RPM will give you higher speed.
If you want more power above 8500 fit a different cam and move the power further up the rev range?
I do not know if fitting a different exhaust will move the power much further up the rev range, but below seems to suggest a very small amount.

The old PCX125 power is at about 8000. Even though the limit is about 9300.



You can see how the power drops off above 8000 by the time you have got to 9000 you have lost 2 hp and at 9250 you have lost almost half the power.

Which is maybe why some variators lower the rpm but still move the belt as far as possible to the outside of the pulley?

[Mgalutia88]

Malossi also makes a decent variator but takegawa and daytona both make variators that allow you to reach 75-78 mph. The daytona have stronger acceleration. I have a daytona vario in the mail with an advance pro drive face after much conversing with Pcxdemon. I will create a thread on this this coming week when it's installed.

[nribeiro]

I have after market pipe so probably it's different for me where the peak power is?
I will be glad to see your opiniom about that vario and face.

[maddiedog]

With all the mph figures being thrown around, I'm going to add a disclaimer to anyone reading, your experience will vary... That's between PCXes (125 vs 150) and even for PCXes of the same type.

I have the Takegawa speed up variator on my first-gen 2011 PCX 125, and saw an additional 10mph over the stock 55mph. I don't see anywhere near the mid-70s or 80s, even after a big bore kit, a new belt, and different gearing. It hits the redline before then, and the ECU toggles the FI at around 65 on the speedo, 70gps (my speedo reads slow because of the gearing upgrade).

[Mgalutia88]

Maddiedog do you have a cheap tach yet? A tach for tuning helps.

[maddiedog]

My ears work well.

I need to get one.

[waspmike]

So which variator is the best and why. My observations.

After my seven year interest in variators and after researching English and foreign language scooter forums, it is not always scooter specific. It is less related to outright performance and seems to be based more on the roads and the type of riding done.

I have discovered from their experiences and opinions that:

• If one lives and rides predominantly in the city and the riding is block to block, light to light and the requirement is off the line acceleration then Malossi seems to be the variator of choice.

• If one lives outside the cities and rides on country roads where one is one and off the throttle because of traffic and corners or if one lives in hilly country then acceleration out of corners seems to be more important. Then J Costa seems to be the variator of choice

• From this forum, because some other forums I am a member of are not PCX specific, where it seems there are many that live where they ride a lot on wide open road, freeways or urban expressway where sustained high-speed cruising and top speed is the valued attribute. The Daytona/Advance Pro combination seems to win out. That and Yuninashi maybe, as they are PCX specific and appear to be aimed at improving top speed at the expense of acceleration.

Where you may ask does Polini fit in here, well they did not appear to be mentioned as much as the others in regards to different types of performance.

So why the differences? Difficult to pin down but the J Costa “pigeonholing” maybe the easiest to qualify as that company/technology was pioneered by a circuit racing scooter champion so it is easy to see how they might be biased towards attributes that benefit circuit racing type riding.

The research continues…

[Reaper]

Some say the Daytona vario kit is the best, but it comes only for PCX125, my bike is pcx150 2013, and I still can't decide what to choose.. Yuminashi speed v.2013, Daytona the cheaper one, Takegawa, or Malossi... It must work with the stock engine and with the big bored engine in the future..