Thanks for the feedback. I am fairly certain that I installed them in the correct manner, but I didn't lube them. I'll take it apart to inspect and lube again. I may order another set of DR Sliders to get a better weight for my desired riding style.
I put 16k miles on my Jcosta and originally I loved it. I got tired of the more frequent belt changes since it only drives on one side of the variator. I got 8k on my belts. The road manners of the Jcosta were great, more power when needed by allowing the scoot to rev higher at low speeds but high throttle, also at high speed the revs were lower which made highways better.
When I pulled my belt apart to check my clutch since there was slipping at low speed high power starts, I found that the belt was so worn that both sides of the variator would come in contact with each other. The belt only had 8k miles on it, so I figured that I'd start experimenting with other stuff. I put the stock variator back in for a while to get use to it before modding again. I was surprised most by the revs on the highway of the stock setup. A brief 90 mph jaunt with high revs gave me the modding bug again. I bought 26g DR pulley sliders and the revs are very similar to stock but the variator doesn't max out as soon, around 60 mph, and when it does, the revs on the highway are lower. This should be constant for any weight DR pulley, but now I think I want lighter weights to get some of the Jcosta acceleration back. The only downside to the sliders is the vibration that I am experiencing. Maybe one slipped on install, but I'll add dry lube when I inspect.
buddy19520, if you want to check out the sliders, I'm a few exits down I-77 on the other side of Huntersville, we should get together and ride sometime.