Honda Zoomer Custom by VM Design & Tuning

 

 One year ago, not very far away... was this lonely and neglected beauty that needed a new home and a loving owner.

(...one year later...) After a lot of work,  a lot of parts and a lot of brainstorming and hard work  (and the invaluable help of a lot of other passionate people), this is the end result.

The plan was to customize and reshape her, but keeping away from radical mods, just a tad better than the original, which is iconic. So I went with that in mind. This is what I changed:

Original paint was matted and discoloured from sun and time, chipped in some locations, and there was some rust and bare metal on the black parts and on the front lights holder.

Solution: Full paint job in a color close to the original (but better in my oppinion, as it matches two of my passions): Ferrari Scuderia Rosso 323 by Glasurit  instead of the original Honda red/ metal parts sandblasted & powdercoated black or painted red. Exhaust fully sandblasted and painted with heat resistant paint. There's been a full dispute whether it should be Rosso Ferrari Corsa or Rosso Ferrari Scuderia. Went with Scuderia as I liked it better, a bit lighter and more orange than Ferrari Corsa.  

The seat cover had some holes in it, nothing too serious, but still, needing improvement. 

Solution: Custom seat cover with a matching back rest cover (for the newly bought original back rest), done by Motovis custom seats. Awesome job, done by outstanding professionals in a very short amount of time.  

Engine/Transmission:

Engine was leaky and developed a strange noise during last year (later found to be a crankshaft bearing).

Solution:

• Full engine rebuild - new bearing, new piston, piston seals, complete replacement of all rubber seals and rings 

Also replaced:

• SamcoSport red silicone hose kit 

• NGK Iridium spark plug

• Honda Varadero ignition coil

• K&N Honda Ruckus air filter, custom fitted to Honda Zoomer airbox

• Malossi Multivar2000 variator

Suspension/Brakes/Tyres:

The original front forks although made by Showa were neglected for a very long time and completely blocked, so it was like having a fixed bike fork on the front. Also it was a well known issue that the original forks, even in good condition, were very soft and bottoming out on heavier riders.

Solution: This one was a bit complicated. I originally planned to restore them (still do, just need to find a way to open them without destroying them) and install a Honda Ruckus fork upgrade set by MNNTHBX (which I bought actually), but that is still a plan for the future. However I finally found a better alternative and  replaced the entire assembly with KN Planning aluminum front forks which are absolutely awesome.

Also replaced:

• Forsa Performance rear shock absorber instead of the very flimsy stock one.

• EBC high performance, slotted brake pads for stock drums, as I was having almost 0 brakes 

• Michelin Reggae tyres (that was a much needed upgrade as the front tire was the original Kenda from 2006 and the rear one was a Michelin Bopper from 2011) on the stock rims, with  Sifam red aluminum bent valves and custom Honda caps 

Electrical:

• Poweroad LiFePo4 battery (over 1.2 kg lighter than the original)

• Koso D55 9000 rpm tachometer/thermometer

• Motogadget "m.flash" led indicator relay (the original doesn't cope well with  led indicator lights)

•  Bosatta indicator beeper

• 2 x BA20s MAXGTRS 6000K/2000lumen led headlight bulbs on stock headlights, with custom adapted Cuppini headlight grilles from Vespa 125/200 GTR

• Led tail light, custom adapted to original tail light mount

• Spirit Beast L11 led front indicator lights with white halo ring DRL
• Spirit Beast L11 led rear indicator lights with red halo rings wired as extra brake lights
• Spirit Beast L4 led side indicator lights with white halo ring DRL
• Hella S70M low tone horn
• USB charger with voltmeter
• Magcode docking mount for the CTEK  CT5 Powersport charger with Lithium battery option
• Honda Ruckus right side switch assembly, with killswitch, custom wired as hazard light switch

Protection:
• Spirit Beast L6 crash pads

• Spirit Beast front fork cups/crash pads

Handlebar/Comfort/Accesories:

• Rizoma 4D aspheric mirrors

• Rizoma Mutation P1 handlebar grips with Rizoma end bar caps

• Spirit Beast handlebar/mirror mount bracket extensions 

• Ram Mounts phone mount

• Spirit Beast GoPro mount

• Honda backrest - Not very sporty but extremely useful. While some (including some of my friends) will argue it's unsafe, as you can't dismount as fast in an emergency or let the scooter go in a crash, it is very comfortable to rest your back on, and you can tie down stuff to it.

• Honda racing foot rests. 

L.E. I put them on as decoration mainly. After 1 month of use I can testify they are actually as useful as they are nice looking. Sure, they look nice, would be even nicer if Honda had made them also in anodized black not only inox but that's not just it. At least with my shoes they grip very nicely, much better than on the plastic floorboard, so the foot doesn't slip at all. 

• KemiMoto under seat bag and front/rear mini roll bag. 

I use the mini bag to store glasses/sunglasses, keys, wallet and so on and take it with me when leaving the scooter, while the big one stays on as I got only a couple of tools in it, one fast tie-down strap and two elastic straps. 

After using the mini roll bag in both locations I can testify it's good in both, better looking in the back side, more handy on the front, so if you need extra mini storage space or a toolkit, I'd suggest you grab two for more storage space. Also, while I keep it mostly in the back side, I move it to the front when I got groceries or other large but light stuff to carry, I found out that I can tie down a decently large bag to the backrest with the straps I always carry with me.

• Buzetti side stand. Rather not useful, as it's not too stable, but for a 1 minute stop it will work if you are too lazy to put the scooter on the main stand. I use it mainly when taking the scooter out of the garage, while I close the door.

More Photos:

 * with many, many thanks to:
• Fabio Todircan whose invaluable help was essential in putting this baby back together. He did most of the hard work on the mechanical side, to see that everything that went out got back in. 

• George, Ionut, Nae and Florin from Evas Motor Cars that always got their hands dirty to get me out of any mechanical hiccup I got into.
• Nicu Barbu who did an amazing paintjob.
• the nice people at sablez.ro
• the amazing people at Motovis

L.E. - It's now been 6 months since the last edit. In the mean time I finished breaking-in the Honda engine, and she has served me awesome ever since. It's fun to see everyone looking at you at the stoplight while you race around with a 50cc engine. Need to replace the injection throttle body though or find a workaround, if I go too hard on the throttle it stalls and after that the TPS error appears on the diagnostic led. Fun fact, after the TPS error sets in and the led tells me it's a TPS error it doesn't stall anymore if I push the throttle... Very weird, hope it's the TPS and not the ECU.