Revisiting Dr. Pulley Sliders

[MJR]

I need to do something to get my bike out of that redline zone.  Blowing a tank in a 50-60 mile highway ride sucks.

Sounds like you went too light on the sliders. I'm reading to stay within 8% of original weight lighter on sliders but even stock weight sliders act like 1-2 gram light rollers. If you have stock rollers I can see that as the cheapest route though.

[TeamTEOR2]

Maybe they are breaking up and on their way out. No idea till I get in there. Do you have any clue on those V shaped slide parts?

[MJR]

Maybe they are breaking up and on their way out. No idea till I get in there. Do you have any clue on those V shaped slide parts?

Dr. Pulley sells some but not for all bikes.

http://unionmaterial.com/slidelist.htm

The factory ones you can get from several places.

http://www.kymcopartsmonster.com/pages/OemParts?aribrand=KYM#/Kymco_USA/SBA0AG_XCITING_R500i_(2009)/E05_-_Transmission_Pulley/05%7c%7e06%7c%7e0005/05%7c%7e06%7c%7e0011

[TeamTEOR2]

Ok, so to explain my question a little more... Are the ones that Dr.P sells required for the Xciting for the sliders or can the stock ones be used? I need to know if I have to buy a stock slide part to go back to stock set up. I didn't install the sliders myself, so I do not know if I still have the stock part installed or if they are interchangeable.

[MJR]

Ok, so to explain my question a little more... Are the ones that Dr.P sells required for the Xciting for the sliders or can the stock ones be used? I need to know if I have to buy a stock slide part to go back to stock set up. I didn't install the sliders myself, so I do not know if I still have the stock part installed or if they are interchangeable.

They are not required with the sliders so who knows what you have in there now.

[TeamTEOR2]

They are not required with the sliders so who knows what you have in there now.

Perfect, if they are not required then they should be universal. Thanks!

[MJR]

Perfect, if they are not required then they should be universal. Thanks!

Let me rephrase that. The sliding pieces are needed just that when changing to sliders you don't have to use Dr. Pulley ones you can use the OE ones.

[TeamTEOR2]

Let me rephrase that. The sliding pieces are needed just that when changing to sliders you don't have to use Dr. Pulley ones you can use the OE ones.

Great! That is one less item to worry about. Thank you

[danhr]

Hi I have xciting 500 carb.2007,how much slider grams I must buy,thanks

[Redk]

Great thread !
Thanks to all participants.

I Must give these sliders a try !!!
redk

[tuxster]

With much trepidation, especially after reading about Sissy Mary's horrifying experience with Dr. Pulley sliders, I decided to install a set of 28x22 30 gram Dr. Pulley sliders into my 2009 Xciting RI ABS.  I have 3 words to describe the difference - "Night and Day".  The bike is much faster throughout the entire power band. I no longer have to 'gun' it to get out of a jam.  I have read things like "eats my belt", "loss of engine breaking" "decreases mpg" but weirdly enough I only read these things on this forum.  No negatives on the EU or Asian forums re: Dr Pulley sliders. So I wanted to post my experience as a counter to all the negative reviews.  Let me address the negatives one by one.

'Eats My Belt'

I have no doubt that it happened to Sissy Mary, twice apparently. But I am highly skeptical the mechanic put his variator on correctly. The Xciting's variator is a PITA.  There are three washers, each one has to be in exactly the right position. The bevel on the inner washer HAS to be facing the engine. The next washer slides on next to the belt, and you have to torque it down slowly and just right so that the belt rides up above that washer allowing it to get squeezed in between the two variator plates. Only then can you torque it to spec. And an impact wrench doesn't cut it. You should really use a torque wrench and a variator tool to torque it to 135 per the manual. The first two times I used the impact wrench it SPUN off at high rpm on the center stand.  So I learned my lesson, I hand wrench the variator nut while looking in between the variator plates with a flashlight so I can SEE that the center washer is compressed tightly between the plates and the belt is free. Then I torque down the nut.  No problems since.

'Loss of Engine Breaking'

I can imagine this happening more with the 26 gram sliders, but with the 30 gram sliders I noticed maybe 5% less engine breaking. Nothing that bugged me and certainly worth the sacrifice for the huge increase in quickness up to 6500 rpm.

'Decreases MPG'

The 30 gram weights do not decrease my MPG at all, if anything it increases MPG by 1 mpg or so. With the sliders, you just have to learn to drive it different. You only need to gently roll the throttle and it is much more responsive throughout the entire power band. No need to gun it, ever.

With the 30 gram sliders you will wind out about 300-500 rpm higher until you reach the highest gear ratio of the CVT then it will be exactly the same as stock for a given speed. At 70mph you will be exactly the same as stock rollers only you will get there much quicker without having to gun it.  Where it does get tricky is at 55mph. At 55 I used to run at about 5200 rpm. With the 30 grams sliders it runs at about 5800 because it hasn't moved up to the higher gearing yet. The trick to alleviate this is to rev up to 62mph or so and slowly back off the throttle till you get back down to 55mph. The CVT will stay at the higher gearing at that point and the revs will drop way down. It's another step and a bit annoying but it works and for me a fair tradeoff for the extra quickness.

Around town it's massively more responsive and safer as I can power out of a jam with just a miniscule amount of throttle.  At 65mph-75mph, rpms are the same as stock but you get there a lot quicker with smooth throttle response.  I now slowly roll the throttle to quickly get to 65mph rather than gunning the throttle to get to 65mph.  I also run a pair of Nelson Rigg soft saddle bags (CL-955s) and they're huge (27 liters). The added torque from the higher revving sliders really helps counter the wind resistance from those bags up to 65mph.

If you want more power from your 500 and feel confident getting your variator back on correctly, I would suggest giving the 30 gram (or even the 31 gram) Dr. Pulley sliders a try.  It's well worth the 55 bucks and a helluva lot cheaper than a pipe or an air box.

I know another member complained his sliders were shot after 8000 miles. For the kind of speed and fun factor increase I'm seeing, I'm happy to change my sliders every 4000 miles if necessary.  The newfound oomph on my 500 has stopped me from coveting the My Road 700 or the BMW 650, so I figure I saved a few thousand right there.

Just my 2 cents. I will report back when I have 4k on these sliders. 

Many thanks to all the great posters on this forum! I wouldn't have taken a chance on this scoot without the resources available here.

Will be picking up my xciting in a few days.  Researching about the xciting as much as I can.  Thanks for the feedback and the detailed explanation using the dr pulley weights.  So that's why its specified on the service manual that the washer goes one way and not the other.  Will take a note of this.

[Crash4723]

I ordered the Dr. Pulley Variator and the 30g Slides and have had them installed for 500 miles now. Will open it up this weekend and see what it looks like. I have just over 30k on my 500 Xciting and the previous shop put in new rollers and a belt and did not put the washer between the two variator halves. When they torqued the nut down it was bottoming out on the end of the threads and the beginning of the splines. Needless to say the variator was destroyed.

I think I need a new clutch spring as well. 30k miles on that spring I think has worn it out a bit. So I ordered the complete clutch assembly and a new bell too. I am wondering about the 30g sliders though. Should I go with 31g or 29g?? I ride mostly in San Francisco and have some steep hills to navigate most of the time. A stiffer spring in the clutch will help I am sure.

Any feedback is appreciated!!!