Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

1st off no experience with the Spree or scooters/cycles in general.. Impulse bought a 1986 Honda Spree the other day.. 1,400 mile and pretty good condition overall and $400, seems like an okay buy from my very limited craigslist knowledge. Anyway a few questions after buzzing around town a bit the last couple days, I'm going to continue perusing the board for answers but thought I might get a headstart here.

1st.. I have issues with the power.. it would rev and slowly speed up.. and at about 15 would seem to bog down a bit.. I would have to ease up a bit for it to continue to gain any speed. I put a new belt I got from Autozone(v belt part#15250) because I thought it may help but only seemed to help with the slipping a bit but I think I lost a little top end speed.. from 35 at best to 30 at best now. Should I order the official Honda belt? Biggest issue with power is it won't go up steep incline hills literally, if it's a pretty steep hill it slows to a stop and I gotta turnaround.. is this normal (I'm 185lbs). Could this be a case of carb cleaning or something else? What should I start with?

2nd.. The thing I like about this Spree is the size and weight.. I can literally pick it up and put it in the back of my van(92 previa) or wheel it in the house, fits in my hall closet. .. is there any other scooters this size but with a bit more power? Are there any easy mods or anything else I can do to eek out a bit more power/speed out of this?

I've really enjoyed cruising on this thing.. really wish I woulda got one at the beginning of summer though. Would really like to ride one in perfect working order to know what ideally I could be working towards when doing any work on mine.

Thanks in advance for any info.. which would be greatly appreciated.

I'll attach a pic of her..

Greetings:

Welcome. I'm glad you're enjoying your Spreedom. Buy the real Honda belt and consider a new spark plug and an air filter while you have your hands dirty. Power could be down for a number of reasons. Read here the typical maintenance issues.

thanks, will order the belt and air filter and a spark plug .. that'll be a good start and I'll see where it gets me. My goal will be to get it in perfect working running condition by next spring so I can enjoy all spring and summer.

Check the air box and make sure its all connected properly. The new air filter is a must with a new spree purchase. A compression test would be a great idea. You can usually do a free tool loan from the local auto parts store with a deposit. When the scooter refuses to go up the hill does the engine slow down or does it continue to rev up when it stops forward motion? If the motor revs higher when it stops you Lilley have a belt or cluch issue. If the motor bogs out you Lilley have a motor issue. The compression test will tell you tons about the condition of the motor. My stock 84 spree jas climbed some pretty knarly hills with out too much of an issue. I'd also get the Honda belt. The belt needs to be the exact length and width. If not the gear ratio will be all wrong. The belt may not slip if its too long but it could run the inside of the trans case.

Stock sprees are not made for hills.. 35 on a flat at 185'sounds like its relatively healthy..

Well I put a new air filter in today and a new blinker switch.. 2 strikes.. Neither worked.. the air filter didn't improve any performance .. the blinkers didn't work at all since I bought the spree.. bought a new/used flasher relay from another '86 off of Ebay , installed it and the blinkers lights worked happy for a second until I noticed they weren't blinking.. they would just turn on when I clicked left to right.. thought I may have had the wires backwards on the relay and switched them.. then nothing. I checked the fuse(next to the battery) and it was fine still. Blinkers didnt' work at all even switching the wires back on the relay. I swear every bike I've owned has had issues with the blinkers. So out of luck there.. either it was a bad relay to begin with or its something else.. or I'm doing something wrong.
Anyway I'll be getting the new spark plug tomorrow.. hopefully it helps with the performance a bit. Don't get me wrong it doesn't run terrible but it's just inconsistent, I'll drive it one day and it's good.. the next day it hesitates and feels substantially weaker than the previous day, not sure what's going on. The belt definitely helped alot.. I get no more hi rev slipping with no power.. now if I'm going up a steeper hill it will just lug and get slower and slower. Top end speed is 27 now on a flat road, definitely was a little faster 30-35(if I was lucky) with the original belt so I'll be ordering the official Honda one to get the best possible performance. Bottom line is I'm happy with it.. about 82 percent happy with it.. gonna try to get to 95 percent

Try revving the motor with the blinker on. Likely not enough power to activate the blinker relay on battery power alone. mine is the same but with the motor idling, the alternator provides just enough power to make everything work properly.

Inconsistent power sounds like a plug wire issue. Check the wire end at the coil (remove it and look inside.) You may want to trim 1/4" off and re-install to improve connection.

I've yet to find a lighter scooter than the Spree. Minimal frame / body work, 2 stroke with no variator = very lightweight 85 lbs.

Well a little success.. I bought a blinker relay switch at Autozone for $10 and blinkers work perfect now. Also I bought a spark plug.. autolite 275(crossreferenced from the ngk) , seem to start , idle and accelerate pretty darn good now, not that I have any reference to compare it to but I'd have to say it's still on the weaker side and the top speed still tops out at absolute best a hair under 30. I think I'll buy the honda belt and call it good, the thing does what I want it to do. I just got back from a 2 hour cruise all over town.. up in the hills on the outskirts of the city and through a couple local little parks.. felt a little like vacation when renting scooters in Hawaii and Mexico. I went from 82 percent happy to about 90 percent with the blinkers now working along with the smoother running and slighty peppier response with the new spark plug. Thanks for all the input .. I'll post my new official Honda belt thoughts after I get it.