Modern Vespa

I know you won't get huge gains but how do you de-restict a LX50 and what modest top speed gain can I expect? Any other easy mod's that increase top speed without spending huge bucks would be appreciated.

there's not much you can do to an lx50.

Depends if it is a 4t or 2t. I have an LX50 4t. BEfore de-restricting it did about 50km/hr. Now it is derestricted and it does about 65km/hour. That's enough for me, since I only ride around towns where the speed limit is 50km/hr.
I had my dealer do the de-restricting. But what they told me they did is the following:
larger jet in the carb
removed some 'thingy' from the exhaust
made a cut in the CDI so it does no longer limit the rpms
took out a spacer in the vario (varioring).

I suppose you can do all these things quite easily yourself, however, that might void your warranty...
cheers,
Paul

You can derestrict both using similar methods. The LX50 4t as above and I think the LX50 2t needs a constriction removing in the exhaust as opposed to the CDi modification.

Cost me about £50 ($100)

and how fast does your 50 cc 2t go now ?

what about accelaration, does that change at all? constant accelaration from 0 to full throttle ?

any additional comments on the de-restricting question ?

where is the CDI located on the LX50 ?

the CDI is easy to find. Lift your buddyseat, take out the petcarrier. Then if you look in an angle towards the front of your bike you will see a little black box on the left side of the bike. That's your CDI.
But if you plan on making a cut in your CDI yourself (I assume you do, sinde you posted this under the 'how to de-restrict an lx50) please watch out!!!
You should never make this cut in the CDI without taking out the vario ring. Apparently if you do, your scooter's engine will make too much rpm. My advise: let your dealer do this, unless you really know what you are doing... and have the proper tools to take out the varioring.

Hi paul,

thanks for your indication.

in fact, I just want to look by curiosity, my dealer should have done the derestricting when I bought the scooter (that was.... yesterday )

BTW, I'm from The Hague

Hi Kakou,
Good luck with your new Vespa! I have sent you a pm. Not sure if it arrived though, I got some funny message when I pressed submit.
BTW: There are a few more Dutch lx50 riders on here!

cheers,
Paul

Hi !

I just had a look and couldn't find the CDI
I did find the Coil on the left hand side.
I took the following pictures :


this one is from above the carbs looking to the front of the vespa

HI, nice colour by the way.. I have got the same colour.

It looks like your CDI is a lot smaller than mine. I think your dealer has put a different CDI in there (probably a model which does not limit the rpm). I cut out your picture where my CDI is positioned. Is it the LX504t, or 2t?

How fast does your LX50 go now?

From the pictures its definately a 4 stroke model as its got a rocker cover

CDI unit is shown in the bottom picture, small black unit partly covered in the picture... also next to it is the silver bracket on the throttle cable, which isnt fixed to anything so looks like someone forgot to bolt it back onto the drivebelt casing

Theres no exhaust restriction on the 4t models... just CDI, Variator and make sure its got a 78 main jet not 75.

Hi Guys,
thanks for your inputs !
as from the picture, in the zone you locate I can only find the coil fixed with 2 bolts, having the cable going out to the spark and a connector underneath with a cable going to the front of the scoot.

It is a 4t, and it rides at 55kph max, that's why I'm wondering if the dealer did any changes
as for the silver bracket, I couldn't find his "normal" position and a bolt to fix it.
I'm gonna have another investigation this afternoon and post some more detailed photos (says more than thousand words)

Well, my LX50 4t, Dutch as well, so restricted, goes about 53 km/h in weather like yesterday, and reaches 54 in weather like last week. So if yours goes 55 km/h, well, if anything, the dealer must not have done a whole lot!

Yes, around 54km/hr is exactly the same speed mine did before restriction. Perhaps your dealer only took out the vario ring and did not make the cut in the CDI.

BTW: There are quite some pages about this subject on Dutch scooterwebsites, you mind find clearer pics on there (just google "vespa lx ontgrenzen" . I took a pic of my scooter/cdi yesterday, but then had troubles tranferring them to my computer.. lol

cheers,
Paul

Hi all,
when riding my Vespatje I notice that going full throttle doesn't bring anything, so I feel like it is restricted
I took the CDI out and made some pictures :



I leave it so for the moment, I'll have to go back to the dealer anyhow in a week or 2.
@ Paul, I found indeed photos on dutch forum with photos of cuted CDI (like here http://wqww.scooterfreaks.nl/forum/showthread.php?t=192607&page=2 )
It could be that the guy missed the metal thing to be cutted.

Nah he wont have missed it, dealers have a template

Sounds like the variators still restricted to me

So put the 80cc kit in on my lx50 4t variator, clutch, and cut the CDI.

It ran great then when I went to restart it after a long ride it didn't start. Cannot seem to figure out why. It's got spark and it's getting gas.

Any ideas?

Try asking at the scootma.com link below. They know all the shops in the Boston area and may have some advice.

I personaly own a Vespa Lx50 2t and its great goes to 55mph and i'm tall so depending on weigh it does it work! Would defo advise to get it derestricted

the 2-stroke LX50 is de-restricted by removing the bushing/spacer in the variator. It's a 10 minute job. I would assume the 4-stroke LX50 has the same spacer.

2-stroke so much easier to de-restrict

Hi Daniel - I have sent you a PM. Any help to derestrict will be appreciated. cheers

If its a 2t then youll need to remove the exhaust restriction, then fit a larger main jet to stop it running lean, then remove the variator washer.

I would also advise removing the EGR pipework and blocking off the valve to prevent it melting from increased gas flow.

Derestricted my vespa S-50/LXS-50 (they call it LXS50 in Sweden).
It's a twostroke.
Regular stuff. Variator and i went from a 37 to a 44 jet. (Piaggio recommends 44 or 46 on derestricted bikes)
Does 60 om upslopes and downhill it flats out at around 72.
(No mods to the variator weights).
But there's no "Wall" the way i've experienced with other bikes.
Think my 2008 can do better before cutting the CDI.
The carb is already pretty big. It's a 17.5mm for a 50cc.
In my case i'm sure it's the exhaust. There's are differences in the exhaust system of the S-50 but none visable apart from that the shop claims there is no restriction plug in the exhaust. (Can anyone verify that?)


I have on the other hand found a big blind pipe from the exhaust
This i'm told by ten scooterguys to be a classic restriction thing. Showed them pics.
Spoke to an old friend who's an engineer and builds big bikes with what ever engien he can find, a turbos from a car or what ever is fun.. builds them from the ground up. Nothing is standard.

Didn't show him the bike or the picture but he told me that there was a big chance the pipe was a "selfresonation" pipe designed to attain more power and torque at low and midrange rpms.
I was on my way with the cutter and a blowtorch to get rid of the damn pipe 'til he told me that.


Regardless.. The shop derestriction left me with a bike that does 0.2L/km (2liters for 10km) 62 on flat ground and somewhere between 70 and 75 on a long slope and smells like an old petrolstation.

My guess is that it's the exhaust and i'm very sorry to say i've been looking and there are no performence exhausts on the market and no "welding stuff together" workaround.

But on the upside - with the new jet and fuel economy worse than a Ford Truck - it runs much cooler. Before i did de derestriction it you could stop and use it for grilling hotdogs on top of the exhaust. Would be extra crispy guaranteed and I was told that's the way it's supposed to be.

Well.. might take a while I will fool them back in the end.
Funny how Piaggio owns all the italian brands and you can make them go 120 without anything more than a screwdriver. With Vespas it's like a big conspiracy.

If there's a restriction in the pipe, the shop lied to me cause they sayed that was the big difference between the LX and the S model. Same pipe but they did the restriction some other way.. (ehm??)
Can't see why they would lie since they have no reason and very low social scills. If there is a restriction in the pipe where is it? The classic spot?

Anyone have a sollusion for a bigger exhaust taking us from 60 to 100 with just a carb change and some new weights?

Oh yeah.. the CDI. I think it's new in this years model or anyway in the LXS/S model. Glad for a comment on that too. Know it won't allow 100km/h but it's a lot easier to fix than building a new exhaust pipe with a silencer.

I wonder if there's a big difference in the engines between European models & North American ones. My LX 50 4t goes up to 75km/hr on flat ground & I find I need more speed & torque than what I got!

Just a guess but I think they make them in three versions:
Southern europe - very little or no restriction
Northern europe - 45km/h, All of Scandinavia, Germany, england not sure about France or poland. Probably Austria, Holland, Belgium.

North america? - How fast is the US and Canadian legal limit riding a 50cc without a drivers licence for motorcycles?
Spent so many years in florida but I have no clue since i was never tempted to drive a bike there.. (to be honest wasn't very tempted driving it on the interstate or on the highway. Just a straight road with nothing to see and no corners. Like riding a train so i might as well stay in a regular car, stereo, AC, AC/DC on the stereo, I could go shopping and bring stuff with me and there was less risk of getting mugged or shot at while driving.

I think the emmission regulations might be vary from state to state and that might be a factor too. Japan has strict regulations as to emmissions but i doubt india and thailand do.

I read somewhere that the LX has sold 600.000 just in europe alone.
Might that be close to a million world wide?
So three different configurations seem as logical as making mercedes cars with the stearing wheel on the wrong side so they can sell them to the english and japanese and maybe some in the old collonies..

I f at all possible get the performance upgrade. Mine was 1000. installed including a wind screen. Making my LX50 into a LX78.8 is the best move ever. Acceleration and hills are now a pleasure. I got the cylinder kit and the power cam. pegging my speedo happens often, but top speed on flat ground is 45mph and I weigh over 300

There is obviously differences in fueling between the European models and the USA versions as ours are fitted with a 53 main jet as stand on the 2 stroke LXs... i normally go for a 60 when derestricting one on a standard exhaust...

The blind pipes are restrictors, also known as a resonator pipe, its aim is to slow the exhaust gases down which decreases performance.... its the removal of these pipes which gives the need for the upjetting... if yours hasnt had any exhaust mods why have they upjetted it? It would just run rich now??

We dont get many sports pipes for the LX50 2 strokes either, but its the same engine as a Zip50 2T and theres millions available for them.

It's done State to State....
In Michigan, if its stickered as a Moped it's 30mph, 2 hp....but everybody with a modern 50cc scoot can go faster than this....
There is a push to change it, to get a new classication for faster scoots.....from the old pedal mopeds and Honda Sprees and Yamaha Razzes.....
Ontario Canada, has a different categories for Scoots, and guess you have to get training and a endorsement for one, depending on their speed....

I'm sorry. I found the piece of paper i wrote down the numbers when I spoke to the Piaggio mechanic who did my bike. I'm doing three bikes at the same time so I got it confused.

Keep in mind this is the Vespa S-50. S-50 in Germany and rest of EU, for some reason called LXS in Sweden.
They are different in lots of ways i was told. The mechanics i talk to are very busy and two out of three of them are rude so no use asking them for the exact differences between the LX and LXS/S.
I was told the LXS has a different exhaust. No factory made plug for restricted areas.

Pretty sure they have the same carburators due to the emince pressure on twostroke engiens to be environmentaly.. within EU limits.

The default jet for LXS/S sold here in Sweden and (I'm certain for LXS/S bikes in germany too (≈85million people and around the same scooter / people ratio as Italy) is a 57 as default.

Piaggio has a manual for derestricting bikes but leave it to the mechanic to choose from a 64 or a 66.
Sweden is cold so I got a 64 but I think they were out of them and gave me a 66 cause it drinks petrol like a Ford GT. Guess the 66 is intended for southern germany. Cool them with petrol simply instead of making the fan go faster. Not regulation and my warranty went out the door when they touched the regulator. (Chief mechanic told me Piaggio almost never accepts faults and goes on just claiming faulty conduct on behalf of the customer. Even with restricted bikes they have mob rules. No refund!

Strange there isn't a fan mod out there. Know swedish guys with air cooled Gileras and lots of mods who run so hot, even though they cool with a lot of petrol, they can't go faster than 90.
Something tells me the guys in Sicily has fans spinning like crazy to stay cool during summer. The summers are as hot as in Mexico when winds from egypt and comes flowing in across the sea.. But then.. their bikes are not restricted so maybe they have different fans as standard.
There are no fan mods to be purchased from any big webshop. Just water conversions..

So for Vespa S -> 57 default, 64 or 66 for derestricting
(Non Vespa guys riding unrestricted with dellortos say 57 is big and 66 is just crazy.)
Shop wasn't sure if it was 17 or 18mm carburator but it looks just like a somewhat modified stock 17.5 Dellorto. No big mods. Just different colours and the autochoke has some help from a tube feeding hot air from the engine.

There's a 2007 LX parked across the street from me but that's as close i've come to looking at the engine.

(At night, crawling in under with a flashlight, it looked exactly like mine. The exhaust and everything. This is in sweden.. wouldn't do that in Miami )

Yup, here in Ontario, for both mopeds & 50cc scoots, you need a license for a Limited Speed Motorcycle. You don't need to attend a course either. For "real" scoots, you need a regular motorcycle license.

My hang gliding instructor had a 50cc honda scooter when he lived in Hawaii. He had it for about 2 days before he decided it needed more speed. He was telling me about it when we were workin on my variator. It went 30mph when he started, and it could do 80 by the time he was done. He got the compression ratio to 20:1... The Honda Engine that it had you could remove the head shims to increase the compression. I wonder if theres something similar you could do on the Vespa's 50cc engine, or if it would require milling the heads.

I love that something so restricted says Ducati on it. Ahhhh....

That would be nice to download....Anyone have a copy?

Yeah!!
It sure would be great to have what the dealers have.
Probably a couple of versions of that book depending on sales location.
Looked everywhere for one. Nothing illegal with selling it on a CD on Ebay like they do with other workshop manuals, although they should be copyrighted..
Nothing on the torrent trackers either.. Guess someone needs to bribe a shop mechanic to look the other way and spend an hour or so by the scanner.
With a bike like the LX-50 being sold 600.000+ bikes, there should be a market for a legal book based on an authors material and sold on Amazon.. Haven't searched Amazon but they turn up on Ebay too if they one was written.

So many books about doing maintenance and assembly of so many cars and old bikes.. To bad a workshop mechanic doesn't write one and make some money - doing us happy at the same time.
Atleast here in europe.. most bikes have some engine modifications, unless it's an old lady riding it and she bought it brand new.

This tread is really interesting since there are so many people with two strokers and four strokers from so many places meaning just as many restriction limits.

In the EU 45 version of the twostroke there's a "plug" in the exhaust.
One that does 70 de-restricted can't have that issue, but the pipes all look the same on the LX and LXS/Vespa-S (basically the same bike but the Vespa S doesn't have a plug).
There's a "blindpipe" (sorry for my homemade translations) on my exhaust and those are on the LX125 too here in sweden. The LX125 is restricted to 11kw and it can produce a lot more than that.
There's another explanition where the pipe is not to cause turbulence and resistens but "egensvängning".. not sure of the english word for it.
It's a good thing since such a pipe brings more hp and torque at low and mid rpms.
Every hotrod teenager i've chatted with here in sweden and sent the photo has responded:
"Cut it of and weld the exhaust closed, then go for the catalysator and fuelreturn system.. those two should bring you atleast 10km/h and a lot more horsepowers"

I have some photos of the bottom of my bike but they were shot in the dark with just the flash so i couldn't aim properly so they're terrible.

I believe they have around four ways of slowing them down and the 45km/h limit is the most restricted.
Only way to find out is a trial by error..

Gentlemen - Bring out your cameras.

This is a the EU 45 regulation exhaust for the LX (Ok, it's my LXS but i've checked and it's the same on the outside.. need to start somewhere and carburators, jets and variators are the easy part with Vespa)

Would be great to see a completely no restriction "original" Italy och Greece sold LX exhaust.. but those guys aren't likely to read a thread called "de restrict".


This looks a bit comic but it's the same pipe from another angle.

The pipe. Between the cylinderport and the fuel return

Piaggio recommend going up 4 sizes when derestricting the exhaust on the 2 stroke 50cc. theres a manual floating around out there on the net that has tips for vespa dealers. go here to get it

http://www.wotmeworry.org.uk/manuals/useful%20info/

got my exhaust welded up on my 2008 50s and took my carb apart last night and discovered it has a 53 main jet not a 56 like i had read online it would have. Had a 60 main jet ready to put in so now i have ordered a 57 main jet off the net to put in it. took it for a quick ride with the 53 still in to see what it was like and it was pretty sluggish when you first open it up

What size Dellorto do you have and in what country do you live?
In Sweden the LX-S has a 17.5mm with a 57 as default.
It runs very hot with that on, but then you could cut of some air but that would of course limit hp/speed..

Really curious to hear that size.
The arrogant shopguy told me he wasn't sure if it was a 17 or 18 (large carb to start with compared to other manufacturers).
When I looked it up and compared mine to the ones Dellorto sold it looked more like the more modern 17.5.
My guess is you have the same, but the jet sounds awfully small unless they've done something else with it.

(Okey, with a 64 or 66 I had fuel dropping out of my exhaust and the fuel gauge needle behaved like a minute hand on a watch when i went for a ride but just adjusting the airflow made it running hot as hell again with little loss to performance.
Need to move the trottle needle a notch.)

Im in australia. Its a 17.5mm dellorto carb. i had read they had a 57 too but when i took the carb apart the main jet had 53 written on it. Maybe they derestrict the exhaust more severely here by having a larger resonator pipe or something