this is really the only picture i got that was moped related at all from the reno rally.
the bike did well, made all the rides and everything, but it seemed slower than usual. while blasting down a hill during the long ride, i noticed that i’m only half way variating!
i think it’s because of the weakened spring in the rear pulley and light weights i have to use. i found another clutch and am going to rebuild it using my red malossi spring and throw it on there, do some variator tuning, and see if i can’t get my full range back.
despite missing a good chunk of transmission range, ciaociao was one of the fastest, if not the fastest, bike in reno again. that’s what i love about riding in reno, the rides aren’t all super fast and hectic, they are mostly slow and fun!
anyway, i had to leave ciaociao in reno due to not having a ride back to sacramento for it. austin is supposed to bring it back for me sometime. once he does, i’ll swap clutches and see what i can seee.
got the stupid $15 piece i needed to put ciao back on the road! that dumb pulley back!
still need to address the collapsed rear spring.. only one of the coils still functions. i ran it last race like this and it did ok, i just had to lighten up the weights a lot.
there being only one coil of the spring actually functioning, the rear pulley likes to bounce. it’s hard to explain in text, but the same thing will happen with a french bike if you have the spring too soft.. the weights will cause it to variate quick, then the spring will push back and you’ll have your motor bouncing on the spring. on a french bike the belt can come off when that happens, on a dual variated bike it’s mostly just annoying. still usable, though!
man, it’s weird to be back on the ciao. i’m not used to it anymore at all!
i swapped out the drag bars for some bmx lookin things that rafter gave me. i had to weld about a half inch to the ends to make them wide enough for my grips, but that wasn’t a big deal. not sure how i like them. more comfy, for sure, but dunno if i dig the look.
those forks have always bothered me, too. they are too long. digging through the pile of trashed forks, i found an old set of ebrs that clamp the fork tubes up top and bottom, like the more expensive ebrs do. the forks are trashed, but the top plate appears to be good! except the chrome is rotten as hell, but whatever, i’ll just sandblast it.
i’m sure it’ll look stupid with the fork tubes sticking out the top, but whatever, i’ll work it out in the end.
anyway, more later! i’m going to build a battery box/license plate holder/tail light thingy here pretty soon! it’s gunna be neat!
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!
i was suuuper close to buying the rear variator cheek from treats today (so cheap!), but i couldn’t do it! race season starts in just a couple months and i need every spare dollar i have to make my new race bike happen! it’s a bummer, but rest assured, ciaociao will see the road again soon!
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!
well i’m going to post some photos from the last race, though i figure most of you who read this have probably already seen them.
the ciao did pretty good considering my rear malossi spring was broken and i had to try and compensate with lighter weights. i’ll explain more about that later when i dig out my camera and get some photos of the damage.
and now some pictures
jimmy’s one of my favorite people to ride with and i love when i can keep up with him on the track. his motomatic bike is just too much for me to hang with once we get out of the corners, that dual variated 103 has too much top end for ciaociao!
this is alan, he’s one of my best friends in sacramento and is on the motomatic race team. he kills it out there on his polini e50. his bike may not be all that competitive in the open class up against superderbs and megahobbits but it cleans up in the polini 65 class!
i think this was taken right after i heard a loud CRACK come from my motor somewhere and all the crazy noise and vibrations started happening. i say that because i’m looking down at my bike and not at the track in front of me.
this is half a track away from the last picture, right after my broken front pulley cheek (that was the CRACK) jammed itself into the frame and stopped my motor. everyone thought i seized but that kit will never seize! i coasted down to little less than walking speed then bailed off the back and let the poor ciao topple over. i wasn’t mad or frustrated though, under my helmet i was all smiles, that was the funnest race all season!
there was this really rad photo from one of the practices of i think tommy and jimmy going at it and way in the back ground you can see me doing a cart wheel after i crashed, but i can’t seem to find it! i know it’s on flickr somewhere, but i have no idea who took it.
anyway, i tried to keep these photos on topic and post mostly a bunch of me and ciaociao, but there are some amazing photos of my friends that i’m super stoked on so if you get bored you should go to flickr and type in “polini cup” and be ready to spend hours looking at moped kids going crazy on a gocart track!
well, there’s your photo update from the last race. sorry it took me so long! i am most of the way unpacked, so i’m thinking my camera should surface soon (man i hope so..). once it does, i’ll get some pictures of the damage from my variator mishap and maybe finally pull the top end off to show you the port work i did.
i have some crazy builds underway for the next season of polini cup, so i’m not giving ciaociao a whole lot of attention right now, but there is still a lot in store for her! paint, a new pipe, a larger carb, lights of some sort, and more! so check back every once in a while!
later taters
i was able to grab a couple photos with rafter’s camera the other day, so i can show you some of the stuff i’ve done.
first, tony was nice enough to take my variator to his lathe and rid me of that big ring that’s part of the polini pulley cheek.
it’s actually part of the cheek (the part of the pulley the belt rides on) but it’s too high up to be used, at least by my current setup, so it was nothing but added weight to me. i also had him mill .5mm off the back of the cheek so that the variator would close up further, giving me more top end! that was the idea anyway. not sure how well it worked, i did so many things all at once that it’s hard to say what’s doing what!
pro work done a pro dude, thanks tony.
and here’s a blurry picture i took of the brake stop peg i had to weld in to work with this wheel and brake plate;
rafter has a fancy super camera and i don’t really know how to use it. i miss my crappy point-and-click deal with the built in flash.
i finally got around to making a fork brace for the bike, too. i was going to put it way down close to the tire, super tight tolerance like, but i decided to leave some room in case i go to 17″ wheels later on.
not the prettiest brace on the block, but it gets the job done quite well.
also, i’ll be going up to a 24mm mikuni from my 21mm dellorto, hopefully before next race!
it’s going to be tricky getting it in there, but i think i’ve got it covered. thankfully nate of motomatic mopeds and tony are both super skilled at welding aluminum! i’m running out of time, though, and both are busy with their own stuff, so we’ll see if it happens before october 3rd!
inside the cylinder pictures will probably have to wait until after the next race. no time to pull it apart!
anyway, there you go!
Filed under: carb, cdi, clutch, electronics, fail!, intake, motor, performance, variator, video
so early last week we had a 90+ deg. day here in seattle, which means it probably got up to 3000+ deg. in my bed room. my computer melted down. 
i haven’t had a chance to assess the damage, i’m hoping it was only the video card.
this has made it difficult for me to keep you guys up to date. sorry!
ciaociao’s first start! sorry so dark, austin took that at 3am last thursday, the first day of the rally.
it made the first day! i was stoked.
however, i was plagued with problems. haha
about half way through the ride the clutch bell was billowing smoke. i have yet to tear into it to figure out why. my guess is that one of those malossi springs broke and i was dragging a pad the whole time.
also, i noticed the fan was ungluing itself from the spacer mikemike and i made for it.
the fan was just kind of pressed onto the spacer, and then glued.
the concept was perfect, just the execution was a little off. it fit perfectly.
and it worked great! but the glue was failing, so it’s time for something new. i think we will build another spacer like this one, but give it teeth around the out side, heat it up and press it into the fan. THEN i’ll go over it with some epoxy.
the plastic fan with the tiny rotor reaaaally made this thing rip.
you can kind of tell in the video above that the throttle response is amazing. with no weight on the crank, it would speed up and slow down super fast.. and the whole thing was super simple! well, again, the concept was simple, actually making it happen took some work.
first we made the stator plate and got the coil and everything bolted up. we used a timing light to time it.
then the fan/spacer combo slides down the shaft and rests on the rotor.
then the fan shroud gets bolted on and it’s ready to be put in the frame.
once in the frame, the variator is installed and the big nut smashes everything together.
also, as you can see, the carb fit right in there! it took some manipulation of the frame, and a razor blade to shave down a plastic phbg bowl in just the right spots, but it fits perfect.
so anyway, riding it. i had it jetted waaay too rich. anything past quarter throttle sounded like i was riding under water, it was four stroking so bad.
but it was fast.
man, when i found the sweet spot at 1/4 throttle, the fork would unload and off it went.. it was a little scary. i can’t wait to see what full throttle is like.. oh man.
after the smoky clutch and fan coming apart on me, i decided to put it away for the rest of the rally and to ride a less intense bike.
creature rally is in a month and a half. i was hoping to have this thing painted and finished by then, but i have some serious tuning to do before then, so we’ll see.
i need to jet it proper, need to drill out or find new weights for the variator (it was variating before the clutch would grab, yet would ride wheelies on command), make sure this clutch doesn’t blow up on me and get the fan issue tamed.
and hopefully get the fork finished and loose the heavy bravo forks.
and get the frame braced and welded up.
yay, mopeds are fun again!
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!
for ciaociao anyway. i’ve been busy as all hell trying to get orange ciao up and going for flock yeah!, and it’s been tricky!
i ended up putting the malossi belt and variator on it because the belt i had on there was wrong, and i just wanted to mess with it a bit. i was planning on buying the same setup for that bike anyway, so i’ll just get a new belt and variator for ciaociao.
once i get back from my week in nevada (after fy!) i hope to have more exciting things to update about.
keep watching this space!
