2004 Vento Triton 89cc 2 Stroke

I picked this scooter up in an eBay auction for $62.09 and it was close enough for me to pick up and save on shipping. It looked pretty rough and as far as I knew it was a 49cc scooter with "engine damage". I was hoping that maybe it would be a minor issue with the top end and I could put a 70cc big bore kit on it to get it going. At worst it could be a parts scooter for the price I paid. Here are a few pics of the condition it was in when I brought it home.

I started stripping the Triton down to clean and evaluate it almost immediately. It needed a lot of parts, but the frame and major components seemed to be in working order. I ordered all the parts I knew I would need to get the scooter in good condition.

I sprayed some carburetor cleaner in the scoot's carb and kicked it over. It fired up and sounded pretty healthy. Even a healthy 49cc wasn't what I wanted, so I began to disassemble the engine to make sure it used a 12mm wrist pin so I could order a 70cc kit. As I pulled the cylinder head off I immediately noticed that the piston was way bigger than the stock 49cc's 40mm piston. It was a stock 52mm piston along with a 43mm stroke. That meant I had found a Mexican version of the Triton that came with an 89cc engine. I did find that the cylinder had some external damage that prevented an exhaust from being attached so I replaced it with an aftermarket 52mm kit.

I attached the stock exhaust that I modified and finished up the rest of the restoration. Not a bad scoot for $500-600 with replacement parts, modified exhaust, new cylinder kit, Triton GT5 panels, new seat, upgraded headlight bulb, rear fender and mudgaurd elimination, heavy duty rear shock, Michelin tires, and more.

The scooter seemed sluggish compared to my expectations of a 89cc minarelli. It was comparable to my other Triton with a mild 70cc kit. I added carbon fiber reeds and a higher flowing reed cage from Autotech355 on eBay, made a reed spacer, a 19mm Arreche carburetor, K&N air filter, ported the stock intake, added an aftermarket coil, a lightened clutch with 2000RPM springs, 1000RPM contra spring, lighter roller weights, milled the cylinder, installed a high compression squish band head, and tried out my 70cc MRP pipe on it.

Power definitely improved with the addition of all the new parts, but reliability was terrible. I was having issues caused by too much compression, too small of a stinger on the 70cc pipe, and still too small of a carburetor to make the power I was looking for. I replaced the MRP 70cc pipe with a Leo Vince ZX 100cc pipe. I got rid of the stock carb, intake, and reeds for a 25mm Dellorto PHBL carburetor, Polini 25mm intake, and Malossi carbon fiber reeds. I installed a 54mm cylinder kit to bring the engine to 99cc.

The new parts made the scooter perform closer to my expectations of a 90-100cc scooter. It would go as fast as 62MPH and take off pretty quick, even with a 280lb rider. Reliability was no longer an issue. With engine and transmission issues settled, I moved on to doing a little bit of frame modification. I started by building a frame brace to stiffen the chassis and added a solid motor mount to try and improve the feeling of power transfer. I also switched over to running a more bare handlebar setup.

The frame brace worked well, making the scooter feel more stable cornering and eliminating chassis flex that I was feeling when braking hard. The motor mount was less than a success. It transmitted so much vibration that it began to crack body panels and rattle things loose.

I swapped over most of my stock lighting to LED lighting. I used the tail/brake light assembly from a 4-wheeler and aftermarket motorcycle turn signals.

I swapped the stock variator out for a Malossi clone variator from PartsForScooters. It improved acceleration and it uses 16x13mm roller weights that have been easier to locate from U.S. dealers.

I vented my CVT cover to allow heat to escape and reduce clutch fade.

After getting tired of guessing at my speed, I installed a Sigma bicycle speedometer and calibrated it to match radar readings.

The solid motor mount that I installed eventually gave up on me. While riding through town one morning the engine mount snapped, sending me into the other lane of traffic. Luckily no one was coming the other way at the time.

I had to strip the scooter down to the frame to grind out the mount that was welded in so I decided to reinvent my scoot. Most of the fairings had some sort of damage so it was a perfect time to make a "naked" scoot. I cut out any unnecessary brackets and mounts, aprt of the floorboard, and more. I added foot pegs and new mounts for all the essential components. I made a bracket to house 2 55W H3 powered driving lights and the front trun signals. I stripped everything out of the wiring harness that was no longer needed. I left only enough of the fairings to keep water and dirt from being thrown on me from the front tire.

The scooter is actually much more comfortable now with more leg room. It feels even more nimble than before. The headlights are also a great improvement. I've just been riding since these mods, but I'm sure there is more in the future for this scoot.