Re: Front Brake Failure - Temporary
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:04 am
During deceleration, you can feel the centrifugal clutch disengage at low speed. I feel like mine disengages at lower than 9mph, but I've never looked to check that.qed wrote:As you stop or at 9mph?
DO NOT DO THIS.gn2 wrote:If you release the brakes and don't open the throttle you will freewheel because the clutch has not been re-engaged by the centrifugal force from the increased engine rpm.
So with a bit of rider input it is possible to choose whether to have the drive engaged or disengaged on a long descent.
Given enough of a hill it should be possible to get a PCX to go faster with the engine switched off than with it driving the rear wheel...
If you coast downhill with no throttle, get to speed, then try to apply throttle, the centrifugal clutch will attempt to engage the final drive while it is at speed. The huge difference in speed between the slow-spinning centrifugal clutch (since the engine is at low revs) and the fast-spinning final drive (since the bike is at speed) will result in an enormous amount of torque on your engine and drive components momentarily, will lock up your rear wheel for a moment, then act normal (but with the engine engaged).
I speak from experience. To save gas, I tried coasting down a hill once with no throttle. At the bottom, I added throttle to make it up the next hill, the rear end locked up, the scooter bucked HARD and almost threw me. If I had been riding two-up, I would have probably gone over the handlebars at 30mph. ALWAYS drive your scooter with the engine engaged -- NEVER start out coasting, always apply throttle until you are moving. After you're moving, you can coast all you want, because the engine and drivetrain are connected as they should be.
Better safe than sorry (or without brakes!HawaiiJ wrote:Ok, my problem is resolved.
). I'm completely jealous of how cheap that repair was. You couldn't even get a new brake disc for that cheap here.