When I first bought my '09 with 175 mile, I could top out around 42 mph. I now have 1400 miles and she's lost a couple mph and was running around 40. This motivated me to do some upgrades. I ordered the Slick Speed variator from Battlescooter ($55). It comes with 6g rollers, 6g Dr. Pulley sliders, and a spacer that is a bit longer than the stock one. I also ordered a new Gates belt, but that has not arrived yet so I did the variator install without it.

I installed the new variator this morning with the 6g rollers that came inside the variator. The longer spacer didn't allow the kick start washer to fit onto the splines of the crankshaft, so I used the shorter stock spacer. I bolted everything back together and took it for a spin.

It seemed to accelerate slightly quicker, but then as I was approaching 40, it stopped around 38. A little disappointed, I continued driving around. The scoot seems to run at a slightly higher rpm through all mph. After a few minutes of riding (starts, stops, etc), the top end began to climb. On some long stretches, I started to hit approx. 44mph. At this point I'm all smiles! It seems to be a bit of a hurdle at 38-39. If conditions are good, It'll keep climbing to 44. If theres some wind or slight incline, it doesn't want to get over the hurdle. I've only put about 10 miles on, but I'm very happy.

Hopefully, as this breaks in a little, the "hurdle" becomes easier. Maybe the new belt will help as well. At this point my analysis is that the rpms are a bit higher through the whole range. There might be a slight bump in acceleration, but on the top end, I have gained a few mph. Overall, I'm very satisfied. I'm not sure if I'll try the slider weights yet or not. I'll report back when the new belt is on.

Sounds like me my 09 used to hit 45 all day when new, now im rounding off 2,000miles on it and 41 is it's highest speed wonder what causes the loss, my belt seems fine and my pulleys have no ridges that would indicate the belts not riding up as far. Good luck with the belt install and please come back with progress good or bad I want mine to get it's speed back. My buddie Dorby said he has a guaranteed variator on a stock get will hit 50 all day for 85 I think,depending on your sucess I might just have to call him up for one.

I put about 30 more miles on it tonight. She's hitting 44 more readily now. I hit 46 with some downhill assistance. Two thumbs up from me!!

For the GOATS!

No Goats, No Glory!!

I also put in th slick speed variator. I used the dr. Pulley sliders included. I also installed blue clutch springs and the white pulley spring. Acceleration improved huge, so did hillclimbing (from 15 or so mph on steep hills to 25 and accelerating),BUT I also lost 2 to 3mph in top speed from 44 on flats to 41mph. 8 am pretty happy with my tuning though since I live in a very hilly area and if I wanted topspeed I would have bought a Busa' not a 49cc 4 stroke. Although a higher top speed would be nice, Ive read shaving th drive face works for top end.

Did you try one mod at a time to see the effects? If not I'd take out the springs. They help with uphill takeoff, but cut down the top. Also at 2k the head might need to be cleaned. Mine exhaust was full of crap at 1500.

I believe a slighty heavier set of sliders (6.5gram) will get your 2-3mph on your top end back....from all the research i've done with people installing the white/red etc. pulley springs this is what it will take. Anybody back me up on this?

Makes sense wgorby I'm happy with my accel for now but am goin darkside real soon. I do like the variator and can't beat the price. 15 flat shipping is kinda steep,but reasonable.

did you try testing with the regular rollers vs the dr pulley sliders?

do they make a difference?

I just installed the BSS slick-speed variator and Daytona Kevlar Belt on a bone stock ruck and have to say this is a very accurate desciption. I'm really new to all this, so I'll describe it for all the dummies like me. Basically, if you can remember when your ruck would run going downhill when it was stock, this thing will make it feel like that all the time. I don't feel like I'm holding up cars once lights turn green anymore. It seems to have much more pep no matter what mph I'm at. I did have to break it in for about 30mi as stated, before I really started to feel the benefits. I was having a top-end/hurdle type issue as well, but the more I ride, the better it seems to be working. I kept a good STEADY 28mph up a pretty steep and long incline. Before the variator, I would quickly drop to like 15mph max uphill. I couldn't be happier with this product. At $55.00, it a steal! Plus it comes with 6 gram rollers AND Dr. Pulley Sliders so, you can figure out if you prefer rollers or sliders. Extremely happy with my purchase, and even happier I didn't waste extra money for an equal-quality product with a brand name stamped on it. Thanks for an awesome item Jason!

I just bought a polini.. I wish someone would have told me about this sweet deal...

I've actually been talking to Jason over emails for the last week and we touched on the Slick Speed for a bit. He called it a "tuning" variator. I should've asked what that meant exactly, but I figured he meant that it's designed to give you either low end, top end, or a little of both depending on how you dial the weights in. After reading his BSS write-ups I must admit that he seems like he has his shit together when it comes to tuning the ruck! He didn't want to go into too much detail because he was waiting for more feedback, but he definitely stands behind his product!

One thing he did mention was that for larger riders (200+lbs), his personal fav was the Daytona Drag variator, so take that FWIW. I plan on picking one up to pit against the Polini and Daytona Speed in the near future... I just gotta figure out how to make some sweet graphs like Sanjuro!

Read the CVT section of the BSS articles. He explains what's needed to do an actual physical comparison of those variators. Not only that, but he does one himself and there is a really good article on all of that. You're right about him having his shit together though. And just a heads up, he also says the slick-speed is basically a polini, so you don't have to compare those two.

i dont know why, but i thought when he said it's based on a variator, i just thought it would be based on the KN. now i'm thinking i shouldn't buy the Slick speed, the price is so enticing but i'm only about 165lbs and hoping to drop some of that too.

you think i should get it with some 5.5gram weights?