Been years since I've logged a project, but no time like the present, and gonna give it another go
This thread is to chronicle the build process of a '98 Elite SA50 I picked up roughly a year ago, with only 900mi! Prime suspect for some mods no
Alas, all I've managed to do since is: removed rear cover, slapped in a Kymco ZX50 variator, rode around a few times. But its 2020 and time to get crackin! I've built lots of scoots before, fast scoots, street stuff, rat bikes; well this one will have a slightly different purpose. After recently buying a '14 Mitsubishi Mirage and getting into hypermilling, the MPG bug has bit. SO I plan to modify and increase performance, but with economy more in mind than previous builds, hence the "ECO" title. To date, my best on Mirage has been an outstanding 49.6 MPG! While the Elite has averaged 53.7 MPG.. barely better! This needs to be remedied. To start: a few vari options, gears and clutch pictured (trusty pup Foxx inspecting for quality of course). With some partzilla gear cover gaskets on the way.
Follow along as I eek out what I can, while staying 2stroke and 50cc. But who knows what future holds. cheers
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haha
So here's a long overdue update!! 
Also could have used 9:1 or even further to maximize mpg, but losing the bottom end pop and crawling to top speed, not to mention being lethargic on uphills is just NOO fun. Have 9:1 and 50cc back in my TX bike and its 'fine', but def less fun (Arrow on 50cc remedied the fun part on that bike 
, but that's a separate story).
Which are exactly the characteristics I'm raving about over here talking about the 9.8's paired to 50cc. Imagine this affect to getting the sluggishness of the 9:1gears on 50cc, without ANY of the actual speed gain. The only, and I mean ONLY time I could feel a benefit from this rear tire mod was going down a very very steep hill, could push me up slightly higher top speed. But everywhere else, 90% of time or more it was a total let down. The rear tire weight is just too much! Pretty sure I recorded the weight difference, will try to post that back when I can reread my logs, for science 
lol
. Thanks for reading.
(thx 9.8 gears). Launch is good too, but A/F needs work as its boggy down low (rev up and brake launch are the trick for the moment). Will tweak that later.
avg over 5x gas fills. It's so much more fun to ride now at 72cc that I don't really mind it too much, but believe I can improve on it. Swapping to lower ratio gears would be the no brainer, but for time being want to push some other efficiency tweaks via better thermal management etc. Some more tricks up my sleeve, for Stage 3 
