Hmmmm... where to begin? I'm Brent, but some of you may know me by my username on a few scooter forums, 90GTVert. My username originates from my 19
90 Ford Mustang
GT Con
vertible. Cars are what initially sparked my interest and transformed me into a gearhead. I have spent countless hours modifying my Mustang to suit my tastes, as well as other cars for myself and friends.
In 2004, a friend of mine purchased a "cateye" midbike. My initial thought was that no grown man should be riding a miniature motorcycle. Once I was talked into taking a lap around a parking lot, I changed my mind. Even though the little bike only topped out at around 20MPH, it was a blast. I went right out and picked up an identical "cateye" of my own. I unboxed it and immediately began modifying it. Since it was a parking lot terror, and never intended for street use, I removed all of the electric accessories including the battery, lights, horn, and electric starter. I cut anything uneccesary from the frame as well, opened up the exhaust, de-restricted the airbox, and then took the first ride on my new bike. Once the carburetor was in tune, I was going 5MPH faster than stock already. Of course that all lead to cylinder work, a tuned pipe, gearing changes, a new carburetor, and more. I was amazed that I was finding the same joy in working on these small machines as I found working on cars, but on a much lower budget. Eventually, friends and I became bored with only cruising parking lots and decided to take them out on the street. That's not legal in my area, and we ended up being in a little trouble with the law and threatened with a lot of fines and charges that none of us wanted. We all went back to riding in parking lots again, but we missed weekend trips on back roads.
Before long, one of my friends and I became interested in 49cc scooters. They were still small engines and performance parts were available at reasonable prices, but we could ride them on public roads legally. It sounded like all of things we enjoyed about midbikes and we wouldn't have to hide on back roads and in parking lots to try and avoid legal trouble. Win/Win!
I purchased my first scooter, a 2004 Vento Triton 49cc two-stroke, in the spring of 2006. A friend of mine bought a Baja SC50 49cc four-stroke the same week. We made sure they were not restriceted, and began racking up miles. I spent most of my free time riding scooters, and before I knew it the cars and trucks were being left at home and I was riding the scooter for practical purposes instead of just using it as a toy. I decided not to modify it for a long time, because I was worried about potentially creating reliability issues. 3,000 miles later, a friend was doing a tune up with me and stripped the spark plug's threads in the cylinder head. There were options for repair, but that performance bug bit me again and I decided it was time for a big bore kit. Within a couple of weeks I had a 70cc performance pack from MRP, including the big bore kit, a 21mm carburetor, carbond fiber reeds, a larger intake, a variator and roller weights, a performance clutch and clutch springs, a stiffer contra spring, and a tuned pipe. From that moment on, I have been hooked on scooters. I currently own three 49cc two-stroke scooters and one 49cc four-stroke scooter.
After experiencing a lot of oil escaping my breather vent and filter, I needed to come up with a better way to vent crankcase pressure and keep my ride clean and oil free. I used a really simple method, and shown on the left is a drawing of an oil catch can, another very simple way to eliminate problems after switching to an open filter and removing the stock airbox that normally handles crankcase ventilation.
Hmmmm... where to begin? I'm Brent, but some of you may know me by my username on a few scooter forums, 90GTVert. My username originates from my 1990 Ford Mustang GT Convertible. Cars are what initially sparked my interest and transformed me into a gearhead. I have spent countless hours modifying my Mustang to suit my tastes, as well as other cars for myself and friends.
In 2004, a friend of mine purchased a "cateye" midbike. My initial thought was that no grown man should be riding a miniature motorcycle. Once I was talked into taking a lap around a parking lot, I changed my mind. Even though the little bike only topped out at around 20MPH, it was a blast. I went right out and picked up an identical "cateye" of my own. I unboxed it and immediately began modifying it. Since it was a parking lot terror, and never intended for street use, I removed all of the electric accessories including the battery, lights, horn, and electric starter. I cut anything uneccesary from the frame as well, opened up the exhaust, de-restricted the airbox, and then took the first ride on my new bike. Once the carburetor was in tune, I was going 5MPH faster than stock already. Of course that all lead to cylinder work, a tuned pipe, gearing changes, a new carburetor, and more. I was amazed that I was finding the same joy in working on these small machines as I found working on cars, but on a much lower budget. Eventually, friends and I became bored with only cruising parking lots and decided to take them out on the street. That's not legal in my area, and we ended up being in a little trouble with the law and threatened with a lot of fines and charges that none of us wanted. We all went back to riding in parking lots again, but we missed weekend trips on back roads.
I purchased my first scooter, a 2004 Vento Triton 49cc two-stroke, in the spring of 2006. A friend of mine bought a Baja SC50 49cc four-stroke the same week. We made sure they were not restriceted, and began racking up miles. I spent most of my free time riding scooters, and before I knew it the cars and trucks were being left at home and I was riding the scooter for practical purposes instead of just using it as a toy. I decided not to modify it for a long time, because I was worried about potentially creating reliability issues. 3,000 miles later, a friend was doing a tune up with me and stripped the spark plug's threads in the cylinder head. There were options for repair, but that performance bug bit me again and I decided it was time for a big bore kit. Within a couple of weeks I had a 70cc performance pack from MRP, including the big bore kit, a 21mm carburetor, carbond fiber reeds, a larger intake, a variator and roller weights, a performance clutch and clutch springs, a stiffer contra spring, and a tuned pipe. From that moment on, I have been hooked on scooters. I currently own three 49cc two-stroke scooters and one 49cc four-stroke scooter.
