Added performance, wear and tear, added cost, or another bike?

quote="JeffR"]Bernardo,

I do ride like a Holoigan sometimes and I rode like that a lot more when I had the J. Costa installed. It is so much fun with the additional performance it was tough to ride normal. I got about 9,000 miles for the pins and then they seemed to be worn down, but I did ride hard mostly. I noticed my rpm's increased about 200-300 with the worn pins. So I tried the Dr Pulley's but I'm going to replace the pins this winter. I'm curious what the power will be like with the J. Costa and my power commander, with Bill's (Honda_Silver) map in it.

If you only have 6,000 miles with the pins you should be fine. I probably could have gone a couple of thousand more but I don't push things like I did when I was younger. I also have 27,000 miles now with my SWing and I bought it in March of 2007 so I probably put more than normal on the bike. But I get to ride all winter too here.[/quote]

Hi Jeff,

About your experience with the revs being a bit higher with worn pins... Can you confirm this was indeed due to the worn pins, or worn belt? Did replacing the pins fix it....? My plan is to change the belt first, which I think has about 14-15k on it, of which the last 6k was with the added performance extras..... I suppose one should remain wary methinks of how the added power and torque affects the wear and tear on the moving parts. I did look into this before embarking on the "mod" trail and was assured that the S'wing should be able to handle it... And it has!!!

I remember you once said to me about the torque improvement after I published my dyno graph, and you commented that the torque was a huge improvement....

Stock power at rear wheel approx 37bhp, and 37ftlbs torque.... After Mods, power at rear wheel 45.4 bhp (22.7 % increase!) and 49.3 ft/lbs torque which is a phenomenal 33% increase...! Y'know that is the first time I have worked it out and realised just how much the torque improved.....

That means that altough bhp isn't in the same league, my S'wing knocks out around the same torque as a Honda Deauville, a Suzuki 650 V-Strom, or a DN-01...

Yep I agree that the J Costa does change the whole scoots demeanour, and you do tend to ride faster.... Besides the added performance, I think it is also down to the J Costa being a bit noisier. I remember that I had the J costa and then got the Power Commander.... (it was only after those that I got the exhaust changed and the scoot dynoed....) Initially with the J costa and the Power Commander (and stock exhaust) although a little better in performance and super smooth, the scoot felt almost too smooth and not as exciting to ride.... Similar feel to years ago to when I first rode a Pan European having just got off my BMW K100RT..... The Pan although smooth and sublime had all the characteristics of an electric motor... bland...... (just my opinion, its still a great bike, but not my cup of tea, so no offence to Pan supporters!) So too, although with slightly better performance from the PC my S'wing felt that way..... But the scorpion exhaust changed all that... With that installed, came yet a bit more performance again and a whole new load of attitude.... louder and much more fun to ride....... Initially I wasn't to keen on the pops, bangs and kerfuffles of the new exhaust, but now I love it... especially when you take the baffles out....



The hyperpro front springs was the final touch, and again a big difference to the scoot... That coupled with my tyre setup, and my S'wing feels completely different now from how it was as stock....

Will be interesting to see how worn the drive belt is compared to the new one..... ? Question, if that extra wear and tear is significant, notably J costa pins and drive belt, is the cost justified in having to replace them sooner than on a stock setup?! (OK rollers on a stock scoot, but they do last much longer than the JC pins at approx 12k miles)

Well argueably I was a bit wild with spending my money, as after all the mods I ended up with a bike aswell as the S'wing so my mileage is shared between the two, so I won't rack up the miles as quick.... And the cost of all the added mods on the S'wing came to the same amount of money that I paid for my first "born again" bike! an albeit older machine, a 14 year old Yamaha Diversion 900, with 90 bhp and 64ft/lbs torque...!




And to be fair although about a second and a bit faster 0-60mph, 4.5 seconds (which is why I wanted it....) in all other respects the S'wing was as good as if not better, especially for weather protection and luggage space...

The Yamaha Diversion has gone now, replaced by a seven year old Fazer with supposedly 143 bhp at the crank, (120 at the rear wheel) and 78ft/lbs torque..... This one however gets from 0-60mph a good two and a bit seconds before my S'wing, 3.4 seconds they say... But the low down torque is simply amazing, the accleration neck snapping, and wheelies are not a problem if you are into that (especially with a pillion, damn thing wheelies all the time if you open the throttle too quick!)



So have I been a bit stupid with my money? I mean all those mods on the S'wing, then buying an all round bike only to confirm that despite the bigger power, practically it wasn't really any better than the S'wing.... Then selling it and getting another even more powerful bike, almost three times that of the S'wing.....

Well variety is the spice of life they say... With the first bike, initially I hardly used it as it was too damn cold, though as it got warmer I used the scoot less and the bike more, unless I was commuting to work or had loads of luggage to carry or shopping to do, or was going to be riding in the city.... Yes do you get the picture!? The bike was thus relegated to more fun usage.... With this latest bike mind, the Fazer it is definitely for me a more fun machine for the warm weather, the sheer perfromance can blow your mind, it is comfortable and it thrills some of the girls at work... One of them actually liked the older bike but that was cos the footpegs vibrated and made her feel horny..... Alas the S'wing and Fazer are both too smooth, but she does like doing wheelies with me on the Fazer! However for long distance and comfort, everyone prefers the S'wing! Including my 9 and 11 year old boys.....

On a final note, my machines are not really mint condition... They have that used and "lived in" look and do have a few scuffs and scratches... The total cost of my S'wing, the mods for it, and the Fazer comes to about £5750, so thats a whole lot of scoot / bike for about the cost of a new mid range bike or a cheaper "maxi scoot......"

Having test ridden over 20 or so machines over the last 2 years I don't think I'd change my set up now... If I had more money to spend then it would be best spent subsidizing my salary so I could take more time off to ride my bikes.... Short of turbo charging the S'wing there is little more to improve there..... a sportier clutch and rear suspension perhaps? Though I'd be scraping the the side panels going around corners... As to the Fazer, well for me it has that ideal blend of power torque and comfort... Mine already has a hyperpro suspension....(another big buying point) But I suppose I could get the engine retuned and tweaked back up to the 160bhp that it produces in the R1 chassis....

It's never ending isn't it? Boys with toys? I mean at one point this is what my garage looked like!





Now that my bank balance is healthy again what with being back down to two bikes, I have instead decided on making the most of the wonderful machines I have, rather than any more mods... I got myself some decent throwover panniers for the Fazer, a baglux tank cover and tank bag, and some warmer armoured trousers for winter......

That said, it is nice to know that I can actually fit three bikes in the garage...

The S'wing is gonna get a new drive belt, and J Costa pins if they are needed..... And I hope to use both to keep me sane, and get me around to take more photos with my latest canon camera SX-01, and older panasonic Lumix TMZ 5..... I used the the latter to take this photo last winter....



And this last one I took with my mobile phone... I was so miffed as I had didn't have my camera with me that day....




Isn't life great?!