Long distance ride on xciting 500 without restrictive washer

[iolite]

Last weekend I took out my xciting on a 700km trip.
I had previously removed the restrictive washer between the variator as reported earlier.
I drove on a average speed of between 120kmh and a max of 150kmh (thats on gps...not speedo)
I still had 500rpm left on the top end speed although i couldnt redline it?? had a head wind!
My fuel consumption was not great! 13km per litre.
The bike handled well and I have no complains accept that I had to stop regularly for petrol.
I will open up the cover to do a belt inspection, but I am sure I will find everything in order
I have now done 7500km

[Cortez]

Last weekend I took out my xciting on a 700km trip.
I had previously removed the restrictive washer between the variator as reported earlier.
I drove on a average speed of between 120kmh and a max of 150kmh (thats on gps...not speedo)
I still had 500rpm left on the top end speed although i couldnt redline it?? had a head wind!
My fuel consumption was not great! 13km per litre.
The bike handled well and I have no complains accept that I had to stop regularly for petrol.
I will open up the cover to do a belt inspection, but I am sure I will find everything in order
I have now done 7500km

That fuel mileage is horrible.. 
I get 22-23km per litre out of my Kawasaki with twice the power and 30% more engine capacity
at those speeds.   

[axy]

That fuel mileage is horrible.. 
I get 22-23km per litre out of my Kawasaki with twice the power and 30% more engine capacity
at those speeds.   

Quite expected for 500 cc single cylinder, especially on highway.
Fully loaded People 250S at top speed consumes 5.6 l/100 km.

[Hoolander2]

Thanks for the report, iolite.  The headwind probably accounts for the fuel consumption.  At least it didn't break the belt! 

[Cortez]

Quite expected for 500 cc single cylinder, especially on highway.

It's a lot worse then most others I've read about or ridden myself.
I got 25km/l on the Peugeot Satelis 500 (piaggio master 493cc engine) which
is as heavy as the Xciting 500, and I wasn't actually going slow.

Throttle pinned on most corner exits, braking hard, then pinned again.
4l/100km exactly.

BTW, I'm selling my Kawasaki and will probably buy either the Xciting 500Ri or
the Yamaha Majesty 400..

[keratos]

Hi
What is the "restrictive washer on the variator"? where was it reported earlier?
I'm interested in this mod. What does it do?

EDIT: I know 50cc have this, but why would a 500 have it. There is no speed restriction on a 500, not in UK anyway.

[Hoolander2]

I found this washer between the variator pulley halves when I first disassembled mine.  We discussed it in a couple of threads here briefly. It is shown in the repair manual but not explained.  It is NOT shown in the parts manual.  Member ts1 asked the German forum administrator about it and the answer was it is there for "belt protection" and don't remove it. 

I did run a few miles without it and found my revs down significantly for any given speed.  Also made my clutch engage at near idle speed. I haven't tried it again.  Member Iolite seems to have had good luck running without it. Some say you would need a slightly longer belt to be safe doing without it.   

It is basically doing the same thing a restrictive boss does in the small scoots.

Look for threads on Dr. Pulley clutch or sliders in this section about 2 or 3 pages deep.  Discussed it briefly in some of those. 

[keratos]

Great links. Thanks.

The manufacturer would have put it there for a reason. I doubt that it is to restrict the speed. Speed restriction is to UK and only for 50cc.

It must be there for another reason.

[ts1]

My local dealer (different from the guy hosting the German kymco forum) says there is no washer which could be removed, at least not in German Xcitings.
2 slightly different informations (my dealers answer much newer than the forums post), I trust my dealer since we had this conservation while he placed Dr.Pulley spare parts in my Xciting.
Speed restriction wouldn't make sense in Germany (unlimited "Autobahn") and our Xcitings are registered with 147kph. That's very similar to iolite experience.
Probably there are slightly different Xcitings in the world!?

[keratos]

My local dealer (different from the guy hosting the German kymco forum) says there is no washer which could be removed, at least not in German Xcitings.
2 slightly different informations (my dealers answer much newer than the forums post), I trust my dealer since we had this conservation while he placed Dr.Pulley spare parts in my Xciting.
Speed restriction wouldn't make sense in Germany (unlimited "Autobahn") and our Xcitings are registered with 147kph. That's very similar to iolite experience.
Probably there are slightly different Xcitings in the world!?

Ich teilweise zustimmen. Langsamfahrstelle macht keinen Sinn.

My Xciting is registered with a higher BHP ( Pferdestärke ) than a 50cc.

A removable washer on an Xciting 500 does not make sense. I would sure like to know what it does. But I cannot think why you would want to remove a washer that the manufacturer has built into the machine. It is there for a reason.
 

[Hoolander2]

Guess we could ask Kymco what it's for.    Otherwise we're just guessing. And ts1's dealer says it isn't there.

Well, it could be in earler models and not in newer ones? Mine is an '07 model. 

There is no doubt, though, the variator is able to close together more without it -- thereby changing the intermediate drive ratio.