Modern Buddy

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 4:35 am**

I wasn't looking to join what one friend (a former Helix owner and current Burgman rider) calls "the BarcaLounger club" but I needed a strong, reliable and inexpensive scoot for the 2014 Cannonball. To handle the climbs and altitudes, I wanted either fuel injected or more power and most good fuel injected bikes are costly.

Well, there's nothing more durable, low-maintenance and reliable as an '80s Honda. As the Elite 250s have drum brakes, the Helix was the clear winner. I spent a month or so cruising CL and came upon this one. Under 6,000 miles, second owner, nice condition. It took me several hours to get to it via mass transit. Was confident enough to ride it 150 miles home.

It's a fun bike. Smooth and surprisingly agile. Not exactly spunky, but solid. Needs an oil change, tune up and some sliders. It'll get a thorough tune up before CBR, of course. I have some upgrades planned, but nothing too crazy.

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 4:58 am**

Well alrighty then! Glad to see someone else do things that are sometimes even more impulsive and wacky than the stuff that I do. Go for it! We are really looking forward to your Cannonball report.

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 4:59 am**

Welcome to the dark side.

One word of advice - forego the sliders and go with the K-mod if you want to eliminate the 30-35 mph flat spot. The Helix's variator is grease-packed and seems to work better that way, with regular roller weights.

Nice color. Charcoal, no?

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:10 am**

Team Barcolounger GO!

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:26 am**

charlie55 wrote:Welcome to the dark side.

One word of advice - forego the sliders and go with the K-mod if you want to eliminate the 30-35 mph flat spot. The Helix's variator is grease-packed and seems to work better that way, with regular roller weights.

Nice color. Charcoal, no?

Yes, charcoal.

I wanted red because I was going to add the stickers from Kaneda's Akira bike, but oh well! I like this just fine, too.

K-mod?

There's a lot of debate as to whether to grease-pack the variator, but according to consensus of the forums, the original OEM rollers require grease but sliders or newer, teflon-coated rollers do not. Those running them report no issues. What do you think?

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:42 pm**

Welcome to the VERY dark side of the CBR...see you in Hyder!

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:47 pm**

Congrats on the Helix! Looks great!

Now let's see some Cannonball discussion here on this forum, please! I'm ready to start living vicariously again!

How is everyone getting to the starting point? Challenging route this year.

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 1:21 pm**

ericalm wrote:
charlie55 wrote:Welcome to the dark side.

One word of advice - forego the sliders and go with the K-mod if you want to eliminate the 30-35 mph flat spot. The Helix's variator is grease-packed and seems to work better that way, with regular roller weights.

Nice color. Charcoal, no?
Yes, charcoal.

I wanted red because I was going to add the stickers from Kaneda's Akira bike, but oh well! I like this just fine, too.

K-mod?

There's a lot of debate as to whether to grease-pack the variator, but according to consensus of the forums, the original OEM rollers require grease but sliders or newer, teflon-coated rollers do not. Those running them report no issues. What do you think?

The only slider issues I've read about are clatter/noise-related. Then there's the typical ping-pong shouting matches, you know, "I switched to sliders and now I can hit 320mph on the flats." vs. "I switched to sliders and now I can't break 35 on a downhill". When it comes to Helix parts, I'm very OEM-biased, but that's just me. Since you're not a newbie at this game, you have more than enough savvy to make it work either way - rollers or sliders. However, you are going to thoroughly enjoy cleaning the grease out of the variator - no matter how much you remove, it regenerates overnight.

The K-mod revolves around keeping 3 of the 6 original rollers and swapping out the remaining 3 with another weight (I forget if it's heavier or lighter). I've even heard of some folks just leaving 3 rollers out. It's supposed to eliminate the flat spot between ~35 - ~40 that most Helices exhibit. Google it - there's stuff all over the place.

I love that charcoal color and would offer to trade out my red plastics with you except for one issue - riding anything close to an earth tone here in NJ is like running with a cloaking device. Much as I dislike it, the red's been doing a pretty good job of keeping the inattentive at bay.

Tell you what though - if you ever want to get rid of the Helix logos on the rear panels, let me know and we can talk price. Mine's an '06 and it has those cheapie decals - yuck.

BTW, you've probably checked out Slonaker's Helix forum. I have the same screen name there, and I posted plans for a homemade variator tool for the Helix.

I know that you already "know your stuff", but don't hesitate to ask if you have a Helix-specific question. No guarantee that I'll know the answer, but sometimes I get lucky.

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 1:51 pm**

If they still have it at the super good price, I'll probably join club Helix too. I'm not really looking to, but the price...oh so low on a good machine.

It's red when I wanted the black, but life is hard

. maybe we can swap body panels if you want to make the Akira bike.

If I don't end up getting it, I do believe I have a Polini multivar and contra spring for it, if anyone would want such a thing

.

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:53 pm**

Well I do hope you find your Helix grows on you beyond CB ride. it looks to be in great shape body panel wise! Like the above posters, I also like all the other colors other than red. I'd kill for a yellow or white

. But given mine had not 5 miles on it when I got, I was not going to be too picky. Looking forward to riding and maintenance reports. I had Motorsport put a new belt on (because rubber degrades), flush the coolant and do a good nice over. I got my belt from a Honda dealer and brought it in. Gear oil has already been changed 2x and I I have a few solo oil changes in the bag. When you need tires, get Bridgestone....you should check the dates on those. Even of tread is good, they could be rotted. In blew through a new rear Pirelli in 2000 miles. I'm talking bald! So I'm sticking with ' stones from here on out.

I still get bad MPG. Charlie55 speculates its the Chinese carb the seller had put in to sell the scoot after years of non use rather than clean the original. Comically when I took it to Motorsport they commented on it in the bill.
Pretty much said "Chinese knock off makes scooter suck"

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:10 pm**

Eric, just remembered something.....

Do yourself a favor and install a high-mount brake light. Either something generic off ebay, or one of those Helix/CFMoto/Qlink-specific spoilers with built-ins. The OEM lights are way too low and damned near useless when you're being tailgated.

I got lucky and picked up one from a wrecked CFMoto really cheap. Gonna install it during the off-season.

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:28 pm**

Congrats on the purchase!

See you in NOLA (where the Cannonball ride ends).

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:10 pm**

I am rooting for you in the Cannonball! I'll buy you a beer or three in New Orleans

I haven't had anybody ask me to be a chase vehicle (don't know if anybody I know from DC or VA is even doing Cannonball 2014) so I'm just going to drive the Mazda with the Buddy on the back and probably stop a few days in Birmingham either on the way there or back, just because.

A friend of mine who lives in Chicago has been seriously thinking about drinking the scooter kool-aid for a while, and sometimes he talks to me about what kind... a week or so ago we looked at CL and there was a Helix for sale. He kind of liked it... being a tall guy with a big frame, it's up his alley, but he didn't have the up-front cash. I'm secretly rooting for it to still be available if he has it soon

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:41 pm**

Good choice! Congrats. I can't wait to see it all decked out for the Cannonball.

Posted: **Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:54 pm**

charlie55 wrote:The K-mod revolves around keeping 3 of the 6 original rollers and swapping out the remaining 3 with another weight (I forget if it's heavier or lighter). I've even heard of some folks just leaving 3 rollers out. It's supposed to eliminate the flat spot between ~35 - ~40 that most Helices exhibit. Google it - there's stuff all over the place.

…

I know that you already "know your stuff", but don't hesitate to ask if you have a Helix-specific question. No guarantee that I'll know the answer, but sometimes I get lucky.

Thanks!

I mix the weights on my Vespa, 9g and 12g. I imagine they'd go with a lighter weight to smooth out a mid-range flat spot, but I can look it up. I'm trolling the Helix forums now; can't get too into another one, heh.

charlie55 wrote:Do yourself a favor and install a high-mount brake light. Either something generic off ebay, or one of those Helix/CFMoto/Qlink-specific spoilers with built-ins. The OEM lights are way too low and damned near useless when you're being tailgated.

Already working on this! Found a light I'm probably going to install in the rear vent. If that doesn't work well, I'll just do an LED bar on the top of the trunk door. I'd kind of like two vertical lights up the sides of the trunk but haven't found the right ones yet.

Posted: **Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:25 am**

I'm looking forward to the posts about the next CBR. I still think an MB sponsorship would fly.

Rob

Posted: **Thu Oct 10, 2013 4:29 am**

Dayam, Eric, that thing is long!. Hope it works out for you.

Posted: **Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:12 pm**

What year is it? Just a round about way of asking what your handicap is going to be!

Posted: **Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:49 pm**

Syd wrote:Dayam, Eric, that thing is long!. Hope it works out for you.

Yes, they should take scooter length into account in handicapping riders. A Helix clearly doesn't have as far to go as a Buddy.

Posted: **Thu Oct 10, 2013 3:43 pm**

Syd wrote:Dayam, Eric, that thing is long!. Hope it works out for you.

I can think of about 150 responses to this that'd get me thrown off the forum.

Posted: **Thu Oct 10, 2013 9:48 pm**

ericalm wrote:
charlie55 wrote:Welcome to the dark side.

I wanted red because I was going to add the stickers from Kaneda's Akira bike, but oh well! I like this just fine, too.

TETSUO!!!

Posted: **Fri Oct 11, 2013 3:11 am**

That's an awesome score! I think that seat will win you the Cannonball no matter how or when you finish. That thing is ugly as hell, but in a beautiful way.

Posted: **Fri Oct 11, 2013 6:13 am**

BuddyRaton wrote:What year is it? Just a round about way of asking what your handicap is going to be!

Eric's under-avatar says '87.

Posted: **Fri Oct 11, 2013 12:29 pm**

Syd wrote:
BuddyRaton wrote:What year is it? Just a round about way of asking what your handicap is going to be!
Eric's under-avatar says '87.

Nice catch!

So a 1987 244cc handicaps at 112%

Not bad. I'll be between 98 and 100%

Posted: **Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:00 am**

BuddyRaton wrote:
Syd wrote:
BuddyRaton wrote:What year is it? Just a round about way of asking what your handicap is going to be!
Eric's under-avatar says '87.

Nice catch!

So a 1987 244cc handicaps at 112%

Not bad. I'll be between 98 and 100%

That was part of the appeal of an older one with so few miles. But I'm more concerned with finishing than winning!

Posted: **Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:36 pm**

ericalm wrote:
BuddyRaton wrote:
Syd wrote: Eric's under-avatar says '87.

Nice catch!

So a 1987 244cc handicaps at 112%

Not bad. I'll be between 98 and 100%
But I'm more concerned with finishing than winning!

Yeah...that will change after day 2!

The other nice thing about a Helix is that there are a ton of Honda dealers and most still stock or can hot shot Helix parts. Good news if you need a part you didn't bring with.

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 4:54 am**

BuddyRaton wrote:The other nice thing about a Helix is that there are a ton of Honda dealers and most still stock or can hot shot Helix parts. Good news if you need a part you didn't bring with.

A friend has run Cannonball 3 times on Helixes. He's going to be my new Helix guru.

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 1:28 pm**

Just as an FYI, in my short experience, I have found that getting OEM parts has required ordering them and waiting. There is a giant Honda power sports dealer by my office so it is not too much hassle. As an example though, they did not have the belt,exaust gasket thingie Charlie mentioned or Bridgestone tires in stock. At least they had a spark plug! So you might want to hit the road with some of these things. I ordered the carb support bracket from a link Charlie posted when I got my Helix.

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 2:03 pm**

ericalm wrote:
BuddyRaton wrote:The other nice thing about a Helix is that there are a ton of Honda dealers and most still stock or can hot shot Helix parts. Good news if you need a part you didn't bring with.
A friend has run Cannonball 3 times on Helixes. He's going to be my new Helix guru.

Good,now I will now have a semi local guru in you! I was also pretty happy to find out Robot at Motorsport had a Helix so that is a resource too.

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 2:47 pm**

peabody99 wrote:Just as an FYI, in my short experience, I have found that getting OEM parts has required ordering them and waiting. There is a giant Honda power sports dealer by my office so it is not too much hassle. As an example though, they did not have the belt,exaust gasket thingie Charlie mentioned or Bridgestone tires in stock. At least they had a spark plug! So you might want to hit the road with some of these things. I ordered the carb support bracket from a link Charlie posted when I got my Helix.

That's why I order stuff before I need it, and where warranted, more than one of each.

The most expendable item is the graphite gasket between the muffler and manifold pipes. As previously mentioned, they degrade over time, leading to lean backfires during deceleration. However, in addition to the effects of time, there's another thing to consider: namely that you need to pull the muffler to get at the rear wheel and the odds of re-using the gasket are about 50 - 50, if you're careful. If I were doing a CBR, I'd seriouly consider carrying one or two extras, just to insure that a rear-tire problem didn't mushroom into a show-stopper.

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 8:41 pm**

congratulations Eric, she's a bonny ship!

LunaP wrote:I haven't had anybody ask me to be a chase vehicle (don't know if anybody I know from DC or VA is even doing Cannonball 2014)

I haven't fully committed, but I got several of my shifts covered already to take an entire month off. Plan is to ride to the start, about 15 days (13 riding days averaging 250 miles per day, with 2 extra days to be flexible with). I haven't decided if I will run my Buddy as is, or if I will swap out the engine from Julies Buddy and run that in the "mothership". I'll plan on buying into a support crew as it gets closer to the spring. Keeping it cheap, I'll hammock camp most nights on the way. Let's just say that the gears are turning and planning is in progress.

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 8:48 pm**

BootScootin'FireFighter wrote: I'll hammock camp most nights on the way.

Just watch out for the nocturnal Alaskan Cargo Mosquitos

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 9:43 pm**

Everyone has opinions on 80's Hondas looks, but there is NO doubt you'll survive and finish well on a Helix! Great find. At least you'll be more comfy than on a smaller framed Buddy

Posted: **Sun Oct 13, 2013 11:18 pm**

I'll have extras of most of those things with me on our support vehicle, ordered well in advance!

Changed the oil today. Much easier and faster than my other scoots!

Posted: **Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:21 pm**

Mine came with premium fuel, but it seems the consensus is "meh" on that. Makes me happy if I just use regular.

Now the hung begins for aftermarket topcase w/lights, and a few other bits/bobs

Posted: **Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:30 pm**

Yup, regular's good enough. She don't need the extra calories.

(Check your PM, I got a line on a coupla speedo units for ya')

Modern Buddy

Joined Club Helix

Joined Club Helix