I suck at taking photos. Once I start working I just get in the zone. Bike is plated, insured, etc.
THe Taotao swingarm SUCKS. THe adjusters are awful, and the whole thing springs outwards if the axle bolt isn't pinching it tight. Oh, and MotorKit appears to have discontinued shipping to the USA.
However, some creative searching on Ebay revealed a true gem.
I have never seen a swinger from a Grom so cheap! Says it includes the guts too. This will let me play with bushings and chain adjusters. Maybe even get around to a used Z125 shock. The rear damper is effective in absorbing bumps, but it is woefully under-damped.
New exhaust is in shipping from China. In the interim, I made the stock exhaust bolt up (though it has... two mount points). The 190 is a whooooole lot louder than the 125. Same exhaust system, and this thing's a bit of a racket. Holy smokes is it ever fun though. It just feels like it wants to wheelie when you take off in first. Not sure how to describe the feel of this bike with the 190. I would perhaps liken it to a squirrel on ritalin.
OK so everyone's fave question. With my fat butt on the bike, sitting fully upright, it tops out at ~67. Full tuck gets me about 71, I have no cell mount, so GPS measuring was done with a pace car, my buddy with his phone in a BMW 335. Right now it;s running the 122 main and I think it wants a 125. It's really really close though. 125 might be a bit too much. Throttle right now is pretty crisp and has no bog. The thing just wants to go. Thinking fatter main because if you roll off throttle really fast, there is the tiiiiiniest bit of rpm surge. I'll pop the 125 in tomorrow and test.
As far as startup, I think I have the sucker dialed pretty well in. It fires up like an EFI bike. Half a chug and it springs to life. Could lean it out just a hair, but only a blonde one. VIbration is different than the 125. The 190 has more of a buzz, the 125 was more of an intense feeling vibration than the 190 for sure. I like it a lot.