Hey guys, silly subject line I know, sorry... Ehh no I'm not! I run ScooterTweaks custom scooter shop in Austin, Tx. and have been tuning every ounce of HP out of scooters for many many years now. I have had many bikes and wayyyy more scooters! I was itching for a new project and decided a small CC bike was the answer.
Quick background on this purchase: I have been lurking craigslist, cycletrader, and ebay for a while now looking for a small displacement cycle and finally found a few good deals locally via CL. 2 went bust while I was literally on my way to get them, cash in hand! The third one sold the day before I could get out there to purchase. This blue 2010 being sold for $1000 was a steal! Only 600 or so miles, and been sitting in the guys garage for like 3 years. No problem to me, a simple clean and flush/fill of all fluids should do it right? Well none of that mattered cause it sold the day before remember? Fast forward about 9 days and I see another blue Quannon for sale, this one is for $2350... UGH! None under 2 grand and I am feeling like I might have to break down and purchase at a higher price than I budgeted. In the ad it says: "I've already had an offer of $1600 as trade in so I won't be taking less than that", so I take that as the lowest offer accepted in reality. We speak the and he agrees to the price. I have cash, I'm there looking at the bike, we're talking about the history of the bike etc, and something he says sparks a thought... The answer is heartbreaking, he purchased the very blue bike I was supposed to pick up the next day for $1000. After riding it he decided it was too slow and wanted to sell it. I helped him profit $600 in only 10 days... I feel like a sucker... But then again, I purchased a bike for $1600 with only 633 miles and by no means have I found a deal this good other than when this bike originally sold for $1000.
Alright so boring story out of the way, it was time to inspect my purchase. When I got home I cleaned the carb, put in a new battery, flushed the oil and filled with a good synthetic, replaced the spark plug, and checked the tires. All ok so far. The test ride indicated a few issues, after less than 1 mile of riding the bike would start to shutter and if you pulled the clutch to coast or come to a stop the engine would die. I ran a long clear fuel line right from the petcock and a see through fuel filter outside the frame and body making a loop so I could see if there was air in the line or fuel flowing correctly. This allowed me to see if it was a fuel starvation issue from the tank down or inside the carb itself. Seeing as you can't see inside the carb while riding this was an easy test to verify a direction in repairing this issue. The petcock was the issue, it was sticking shut not passing gas. (He said passing gas!) I pulled it, cleaned it with some parts cleaner and compressed air, be gentle if you ever do this so as not to damage the rubber bladder inside, and now seems ok. I have since clocked about 250 miles on the bike since purchasing on Thursday May 1st. All seems well and I am finding a few things to complain about...
First impressions: good solid built bike! Tons of fun in the city and easy to function with a light clutch lever. I also have a Derbi GPR50R with an aftermarket clutch and clutch springs, not so light... You can get fatigued in city driving after only 30 minutes of constant slipping of the clutch to traverse city traffic. That and you do have to do more than normal clutch magic with a 2 stroke fitted with a pipe. At low revs you have very little power available so RPM and clutch slip is a must! The Quannon make good of the torque available. I never feel like it says no. I have only met 2 hills in 250 miles that required a downshift from 5th to 4th but that was at a GPS'd 55mph and a pretty steep hill at that. My biggest complaint is the rear shock. Just me at 240 lbs the frame feels solid and the motor does well, but that shock! So flimsy and sloppy! There isn't even an adjustable collar to increase tension! My 120 wife hopped on board and again, the engine was taxed more but up to the task. 50mph was easy enough and I didn't feel like I had to run full throttle to achieve that. The shock just gave up in my opinion... So that is something that will need addressing very very soon. The tuner that I am can't leave anything alone, so as I make changes, discover options, and test or modify this and that I will do my best to update this limited information market the Quannon resides in.
MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS MODS!!!
As of today I have a few items on the way, a camshaft, valve springs, a high flow filter, a handful of jets, a GPR exhaust, a 16 tooth front sprocket, additional components to modify the stock air box, a CDI, and LED headlights with high/low beam.
Camshaft: best suited for a big bore which I will get into later. Should help though with a modified air box, bigger jets, high flow exhaust, higher rpm limiter, and proper tuning.
Valve springs: look to be the same as GY6 150 units. I will run titanium NCY double sprung sets designed for upwards of 13k rpm. I will only run 12k rpm.
air filter: as of now I will only be running a stock replacement from ebay noted as a "high flow" filter. I will see how this works for now and if needed I will make my own setup later.
jetting: I have noted a slight dip in power in the mid range mainly in 3rd gear at wide open throttle (WOT), and will up the main jet till it feels good before any other mods and will share that info for those of you wishing to stay stock or don't have the mechanical skill but still want a little more.
CDI: research has shown that the Quannon Naked 125 has the same wiring harness and electrical components. The CDI from the Naked 125 has a limiter of 12,000 rpm vs our 10,000rpm. This will be interesting to see what power is available after 10K! If we need to purchase used cheap parts as replacements they can be found on Ebay.UK where tons of these bikes are sold for the younger crowd with certain licenses.
GPR exhaust: everyone has there own taste in what looks good. My choice is a pipe from the company GPR called the Deep Tone. It is slim and compact with great build quality. Should sound good too! The bike already makes it power above 7,500 rpm so a free flow pipe making power in the upper mid to high end is ok with me. It is hard to believe that I would lose enough low down to make it a bad choice. This pipe is for the Quannon 125 with a 2 piece exhaust system. You remove your old muffler and this is a "slip on" with the connecting mid pipe. As our 150cc bikes have a full one piece pipe I will be forced to cut and modify for fitment. Looks straight forward and will clamp onto the cut pipe just as the stock 125cc pipe. The mounting hardware and locations are the same.
1 tooth up front sprocket: The power of the bike stock is pretty good. The gearing feels a little short to me. Although great for inner city use as soon as you hit an access road or main road of about 50mph you feel like you wish you had a little more gear and less rpm for cruising. I also have a People 150 that is all stock other than 2 steps up on the main jet, 1 on the idle jet, and 12gram sliders in the variator. This bike loves 50-55mph runs and doesn't just scream to do it. The quannon has the same top speed using GPS as the People of 67mph tucked. Before you say yours is faster I live in Texas, am 240lbs, and the bike is still new with less than 1000 miles. Yours might be faster for many many many many many reasons. It's not a debate.... I want the Quannon to have better performance all around than the scooter.
air box mods: the simple modification to the air box includes 4 small plastic snap in air filters. Imagine small sponge air filters about the size of quarters that need only a hole drilled then these snap in place. It will allow more air to flow into the stock air box as the engine revs higher, has a change in air/fuel demand from the camshaft change, and a free flowing exhaust.
LED headlights: simply put these draw only 25 watts of power each. This will allow for running both on at the same time and retain high/low beam function. As of now one side functions as low beam, the other high beam, and both on when you press the "passing" button. The LED lights are brighter than the standard bulbs and with both on will draw less than one on low beam! And being LED they don't get as hot so many wins with this mod! The only downfall to this in my opinion is that they're longer than stock and you can't retain the rubber cover that fits over the stock light setup. Not worth crying about IMO.
So, lots and lots to do! Lots and lots to take pictures of and show what I find! I will happily keep you all interested up to date as things come along. Once I have a few moments I will take a few pictures of the work I have done so far. Future mods will be a rear shock no doubt, removing the rear fender and relocating the license plate, adding louder horns, 180cc BIG BORE, and maybe converting to electronic fuel injection in preparation for turbocharging WHHHHHAT! Yup, did one many years ago with good results and feel like doing another. This bike should handle the power exceptionally well. So we will see how this all goes. The EFI and turbo may be well down the road as I have many other projects I know I will take on....
I invite comments, questions, and rude remarks to my posts! Rude remarks must be made in person with gifts of coffee and donuts soon after! Let's see what this little guy can do huh!
ScooterSteve
