Yeah if you know where to get a Euro3 engine with the balancer for that amount let me know!!
Engine Swaps
I personally don’t think engine swaps are, in general, a good way to go. Most people don’t have the proper resources to do a swap. And when they do then there is the subject of upgrading the rest of the bike to deal with the additional power. I almost never see this factored into the bikes with swaps.
Power
As for needing more power, I would be surprised if that’s the actual case—very surprised. Expecting one of these bikes to be able to perform like a liter bike is really asking too much for a novice rider. This is why I suggested very early in this thread that you get two of these bikes. Because asking a novice rider to ride one of these bikes with liter bikes is just wrong—the styles are totally incompatible. These bikes are at their most fun when everyone in the group is riding one. But they will be extremely frustrating to ride in a group with liter bikes (unless you are at the level where you can school the liter bike riders).
Shaming the “Leader”
Is it possible to shame liter bike riders with these bikes? Sure, under the right conditions, and if the liter bike riders are rather poor riders (which is unfortunately most of them). But novice riders are not going to have the ability to keep up with, let alone out ride the folks on larger bikes—unless those folks are riding rather slow. But even then the slow four stroke riders are going to constantly destroy the two stroke rider’s flow. This is a horrible condition under which to place the novice two stroke rider. You might as well be punching them in the stomach at each corner.
Age is not a Factor
I think you know that many of us on this forum are well into our 50s. Age really isn’t a factor with regards to riding these bikes. Sure the bikes are marketed as “learner” bikes, but that doesn’t limit their appeal, nor their ability. Most of the Replicas that were sold into the States were not sold to “new,” or even young riders. They were bought by folks that understood the gestalt.
As Steve over at AF-1 told me, these bikes handle very much like the 125 GP bikes. That’s a pretty amazing stat to achieve considering that these Replicas are that inexpensive (compared to 125 GP bikes). So being able to get that same experience for such a reasonable cash outlay is just awesome.
Four Strokes
The four stroke engine found in these bikes are really just Piaggio bending to the current trends. The four stroke is not a better technology (for this class of bike—nor is it for GP bikes, but that’s a different conversation). The 125 four stroke isn’t going to provide the exhilaration of the two stroke engine. This is why I didn’t purchase the four stroke version of the bike in Japan. But the four stroke is easy to market (today), because the masses have been convinced that it is a better technology (which it absolutely is not!!!).
The four stroke is easier to ride in some instances (because while you can tune a 2T to be a dull experience most people don’t), and the 125 4T bike is probably quite docile. But that’s not going to be a solution for you either. So putting one of these engines in the bike would be a complete, and total waste of effort.
125 2T Engines
If you think that she is at the level where she could properly ride a 125 2T bike, then you should just go buy a bake that was made for a 125 2T engine. Personally I don’t think anyone with as little time as she’s had on this bike is really going to be at the level where they have out grown this bike. Heck, most people probably can’t out ride this bike even with decades of experience (because most of that experience is probably quite poor). Seat time doesn’t mean jack. If you spend a lot of time doing something poorly, you are just going to be very good at being poor.
Power Reprise
Power isn’t what makes you fast on a bike. Skill is what makes you fast, and it is a whole lot easier to develop said skill on these little bikes. Getting a bigger bike before developing the skill just means it is going to take longer (and this translates to never for most people) to become a skillful rider.
I still clearly remember the last day of the first GPR Camp where Speedy schooled us with my Silver bike. The Silver bike is a 2003 Derbi GPR50 with a stock 50cc engine. It has the Sava MC18s, and a JollyMoto pipe, but that’s it. He was able to out ride all of us on HWY 1. It didn’t matter if it was uphill, downhill, or flat. He had way less power than any of the other bikes, and yet we could not keep up with him. It all came down to skill level. For me seeing him ride the bike this way opened my eyes to how these bikes can be really fast., and it had absolutely nothing to do with power.
So take the plunge. Get another little bike (preferably one with less power than her bike), and go riding with the smaller bikes. This is by far the best solution to your current situation. With some effort on your part you won’t believe how much better of a rider you’ll become, and you’ll be able to dispel this power myth.
Translation
