Tuning work - MB TS1, to suit - MB Scooters Tech Site

WHEN TUNING I ALWAYS FIND OUT A LITTLE ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS NEEDS

I’ve edited this first thread as it upset some people involved, it wasn’t done to upset or wind people up it was done to show sometimes when a customer asks for a job to be done, you just know he wants something else. So if anyone has got upset because I’m not politically correct I’m sorry it wasn’t done with any malice.

So I’ve cut any story, the jist of it, was he had an Road Race tune engine that didn’t pull him and his missis unless he was in the power band and he brought a damaged cylinder in for a replate to be done in double time, which would be really pushing it so it just so happens we had a new TS1225 on the shelf with piston.

Now if you’ve ever come to me and asked for a special tune I will usually slow you down and ask a few questions.

How many times I have heard ‘I want a tune to do 100mph’! And then you find out he has nothing but trouble and I find he only goes 50mph because he’s scared of going fast on little wheels and a very mild tune would have done him any way.

One of the 1st questions I ask is, ‘how fast do you really want to go, GPS speed not a Lambretta speedo’ I then ask ‘how big are you’? And ‘do you ride 2 up and how big is the bird and do you carry bags’? I then carry on and ask ‘what type of riding do you do’? ‘Do you want a motorway muncher, a Motocross type fun bike, a commuter bike, etc etc.

This gives me a picture of my customer and what he really wants and then I can give advice on the type of cylinder, engine and tune I would suggest for him. And usually it’s not the over ported, road race spec engine he first asked for and it maybe a tame mild ported stage 4 type of thing that once set up will be more than what he wanted. The customer becomes a happy person and I do, as I hardly ever see a problem and these customers are still coming back to me 30 years later as they know they have had good service in the past!

So now I see my customer, he’s well over 6 foot and tells me he mainly rides 2 up with his lady. So I’ve got a picture of him. This is all part of 2-stroke Lambretta tuning, it’s not a stage of tune it’s common sense!

And then he says he also wants to use my new Clubman! Ok and then the conversation changes. Although we have tested the Clubman on a few TS1 engines and seen 28bhp 3 times it’s not really aimed at race spec over tuned TS1 engines. So now things have become much clearer. He wants a TS1 but as a mile cruncher to go two up, he’s experienced over porting and having to use the gearing to keep in peak power and it’s agreed he’s going back 20 years to a MB mild stage 1 TS1 tuned motor to suit him using a Clubman.

Now at a guess with less porting than he came in with I bet he will see at least 22bhp on this set up with a more reliable, ride-able and drive-able motor than before!

It’s ages since I’ve done a stage 1 TS1, most now go for the Stage Race-Tour tune on a TS1, but because of the story I’m thinking this modernised version of my stage 1 will do. Here it is, a new TS1225 using a 60mm crank giving 230cc, MB Race-Tour piston, with MB modified low compression head set up to lower port timings for touring and a couple of packers because his original engine had an oddball welded crank. So apart from the long rod needing extra long packers he has a standardised tune that I have been doing now for nearly 30 years!

Lets forget the first story, again apologies all round Mark Broadhurst.