hello everyone, did you miss me? no? oh.
anyway! ciao is sitting at the shop and i’ve started converting it back to street use. that pretty much just means i’m putting lights on it.
i’m using magnomos’ old headlight because that’s what i happen to have laying around. besides, the terry dean edition mf headlight sticker suits ciaociao.
if you’ll remember, i’ve got some dinky little cdi system from a kids dirt bike powering the bike, so no lights. once i get my battery back from alan, i’m going to build a little battery box and mount it back by the rear wheel.. i’ll take pictures that better explain it as i’m doing it.
not sure what i’m going to use as a tail light just yet.
also, here’s a better picture of the damage done last time ciaociao ran..
i’ll never use malossi variator bits again! well, except weights and rear springs i suppose..
anyway, that’s all i’ve got for the moment. now that ciaociao’s going to be my daily rider, i’ll be changing a lot about it, so there should be more fun times ahead. new pipes, new bars, maybe new paint.. watch and see!
finally! here are a couple photos of the damage done at the last polini cup.
as you can see, a huge chunk of the rear cheek broke off! i think i mentioned in one of my last posts that i saw something just fly up into the air and keep going until it disappeared.. it was that chunk!
it started making noise, but i kept going through the twisty part of the track and as i rounded the last corner i the noise got real bad and suddenly the motor just froze. at first i though i killed the motor, but nope! the belt riding up high on what was left of the rear cheek as it started to variated caused the cheek to bend inward and lock into the frame! it’s really jammed in there, too!
this is why i don’t use malossi variator parts any more, other than weights and springs for the rear pulley. i don’t know what it is, but the malossi parts are weaker. i round out the notched holes on both the rear cheek and the face plate, the center shaft that slides over the crank has fell apart on me, and now this! polini for life! until i eventually get around to putting a french bike variator on there, that is..
anyway, that’s it for now. treats carries the rear polini cheek separate now (which is crazy, every polini dealer i asked said i would have to order a whole new variator just to get a cheek!), and it’s only like $15. i don’t have the extra cash, but once i do ciaociao will ride again!
ciaociao is already down in sacramento waiting for me, i left it there after the reno rally.
by the way, my “reliable” bike seized a main bearing at the reno rally, so i did the rest of it on ciao and ciao had no issues whatsoever! it has became my most reliable moped!
the belts i ordered from malossi direct showed up, plus the one from treats i’ve been carrying around with me, i should be good on belts for a little while. those malossi belts are awesome, but the shred apart after a while. the one i’m currently running is starting to fray a little, so i think i’ll be replacing it soon.
i also need to pull the carb off the intake plate and put some loctite on the threads of the mounting bolts, the carb likes to start to wiggle loose after a while. it doesn’t even seem to notice the air leaks, but it’s something that needs to be addressed.
anyway, more to come when i’m in sacramento! goodbye for now, seattle!
installing malossi clutch springs on a vespa is a total bitch. i am hating life right now.
once i get them in, though, all i have to do is tighten everything down and install the decompress cable and i’m ready to try and start it! omg!
also, fuck a vespa clutch. 
more (with pictures) later.
i’m back from portland (so much fun!) and just won a nos grande transmission case for 99¢ on ebay.
a grande case isn’t as nice as a si case, the si case has a larger oil reservoir and a much larger brake pad, but si parts are really hard to come by.
i can swap brake pads no problem, but it sucks i won’t be able to pump as much oil into my tranny to keep things cool and slippery.
oh well, as long as i get it together proper (with a thick gasket this time) i shouldn’t have any problems.
besides, you can’t beat nos parts for 99¢! well, $6.99 after shipping, but still really cheap.
i took down the malossi gear installation page for the time being so that i can redo it with better pictures and better info. that should be back up in a few days.
tonight, mf and myself are jumping in big mo and heading to portland for the puddle cutters’ two year anniversary ride. i’ll be on orangeciao with a nice, stock rear end back in it.
i ran that transmission into the ground!
i am kind of mad at myself for letting it go that far, but at least i can say i broke it good?
new tranny is installed, stock gearing though. malossi gears are on the way.
Filed under: carb, dellorto, electronics, frame, intake, malossi, paint, performance, transmission
sorry to you guys that follow this. i have been lame about updating. it’s been busy around here! i feel like i need to update more mostly because other than jon’s blog, this is pretty much the only moped build blog that ever gets any updates. at least as far as i know.
well, i have paid for another set of the malossi gears, and they should be on their way soon. i’m going to be buying up a third set as soon as i can too. one set for orange ciao, another set for ciaociao. i was so impressed by the performance gain the gears gave me in la on orange ciao, that i really hate to go back to stock on that bike. that’s why i’m still running around on the broken malossi gears!
speaking of broken malossi gears, i think i should update my installation guide to inform everyone of what i think went wrong, and what i think i need to do to avoid it a second time. i’ll do that soon.
as far as the rest of ciaociao goes, i haven’t made much progress. i need to get on mikemike more about getting with me to machine the remaining electronic parts, and also to weld up the seams on the frame, and get that cross bar in there.
jeb said he has a dellorto si kicking aorund that i can check out to see if it will work for me. the carb for me is either a 20mm si, or a 21 phbg. once i figure out what i’m doing there, then i need to make an intake. that shouldn’t be hard/take long. i hope.
anyway, my goal is to have this bike done (sans powder coating) for the puddle cutter rally in june. i will be riding it in it’s rough and raw stage for that rally. i think i’ll be back in reno (at least for a bit) some time between that rally and creature rally, which means i’ll be able to strip ciaociao down and drive it to sac to have it coated by nate and rafter. save on shipping, and i’ll be able to test ride and tune the crap out of the bike before pumping more money into it for powder coating.
anyway, that’s my update for tonight. there’s more that i could go into, but i’ll save it for another post.
so, before leaving, i put the malossi geared transmission, my malossi variator and the malossi belt in orange ciao to get a feel for everything. with the stock bottom end, a polini kit, 13/13 carb and proma circuit, that thing was hauling some balls! that is, until a washer in the transmission split in two and half of said washer sucked up into the gears and tore out a few teeth.
yeah, i blew up my malossi gears. honestly, i don’t know why that washer broke. it wasn’t the one that i was told some kids leave out, but i think when i rebuild the tranny with a new set i’m going to leave out that washer for sure. also, i’m wondering if my gasket maker seal was too thin? the original paper gasket is pretty thin too, but perhaps with the torquing of the bolts, it caused too much pressure on the washers? i’m going to either make or buy a new paper gasket next time around. maybe i’ll make a thicker one, just to be safe.
at any rate, that was an expensive fuck up. that bike was ripping until i killed it, though!
i’m ordering two more sets of those gears, another variator and belt, and some clutch springs some time soon. i want orange ciao to have the higher ratio gears, and i want a set for ciaociao. they are a HUGE improvement over the stock! well, as long as they don’t blow up on you.
anyway, stock gears for orange ciao for now. i’ll take some pictures of the damage when i tear that tranny apart again.
i was able to limp to choke while in la, where i tore it apart, cleaned out all the metal shards and rebuilt it with fresh oil and a new gasket maker seal. i ran it a few times since then, but it’s kind of scary.. it makes a ton of noise, and you can feel when it hits the spot where teeth are missing. there aren’t any two or more teeth in a row gone, so i’ve been limping around on it until i get around to putting stock back in it. soon, i hope! i don’t want it to lock up on me!
the pipe showed up today! other than a little easily fixed shipping damage, the thing was everything i expected! such a rad pipe.
the “carbon look” alum baffle is pretty weird, but awesome, and the whole thing is pretty damn light for such a big pipe. i’m quite surprised. this ciao is going to end up being pretty freakin light in the end.
i’ve been putting the most of my attention on orange ciao lately, old orange is the one that’s going to la for rally time. i installed ciaociao’s transmission on it, the long rides at the rally ought to break the gears in nicely, have them all ready to rip once ciaociao is good to go. i’m also going to use the malossi belt i have for ciaociao and get another one later on. maybe even the variator. i was planning on getting a variator and belt for orange ciao anyway, and i could probably benefit from using them at the rally, so we’ll see.
ok, it’s bed time now. i’m sick and i hurt. good night.
