Well, it's that time again. Time to build up your motor or buy a new one. With the fifty market becoming so big lately there are a lot of choices to make now. You can start from a set of cases and build a motor that will put you on your butt when you twist the grip or you can be a little easier on yourself and stick with an 88 bore kit and maybe some head mods. Well, there is a new option in town. Buy a complete motor. Yes, the land of what some people refer to as knock offs.

I recently had the opportunity to test the Vicious50 VF-Z100 Big Bore Racing Engine. It started with a voice mail left by Stuart Dobson asking what I needed to complete the test. He went out of his way to make sure I had everything I needed and got it as soon as possible. I received the box a few days later complete with motor, Motion Pro clutch perch/ lever, cables, shifter, throttle assembly, 22mm carb, intake to match, and all hardware. After getting my schedule set up it was time to install this thing. Pulled out the Honda TB88 with head and put in the Vicious50s bad boy.

Install: It bolted in without any problems. I did however run into a problem putting on the exhaust. I was going to use a Two Brothers exhaust but with the bends it ran right into the clutch cable. There was no other option but to put on the stock exhaust. Well the cylinder is longer on this motor so bolt for muffler didn't line up so I had to build a little mount which wasn't a problem. You can avoid this with a pipe that doesn't bend in as much as the Two Brothers pipe. Make sure it has a slip on muffler so you can get the back bolt to line up or you will also have to build a little mount. Well, it came time to fire it up so I hooked up my CDI and other electrical components off stock ignition. Filled it with oil and kicked it through. Nothing happened except an odd rattle from kick lever. After kicking it through a few times I realized that was just the rachet in kick starter and was nothing to worry about. Once oil got up there it basically went away so that was one thing cleared up. Now time for the starting issue. There was no spark so after testing leads and feeds for wires I came to the conclusion that this setup wasn't going to work unless I could get all the wires hooked up which would include hooking up lights. Well I decided to just throw on a stock Honda back plate, stator, and flywheel. After talking with Vicious they informed me that was the right move and everyone will have to do something similar. Well wouldn't you know it the motor fired right up so it was time to take it to the dirt.

Clutch: First thing you notice is the clutch when you sit on it. Lever pull is very smooth and as with most minis, easy to pull. Having a clutch is such a bonus when you bobble a little in a corner and need a way to pick the revs back up. That's exactly how this one works to. Clutch grabs really well right from the get go which means starts are extremely easy. The feel of clutch in corners is very nice too. You can feather it a little when you need to but I don't recommend doing it all the time just cause it's not good riding style. But to pull you out of some situations it is a must. Another bonus to clutch is squaring up a corner. If you do want to set up that guy that just stuffed you grab the clutch and lock up the back brake and spin the bike around to square it up. The clutch will easily pull you from a stop in second gear.

Gearing and Transmission: Speaking of gearing lets move on to that. On my other motor I running a 15 on front. This motor comes with a 14 and because the spines on shaft are different I didn't have a different sprocket. Well that's when I realized this thing has four gears. With the 14 on front you can gear it so first and second actually work on tight sections. Then you can put it in fourth for those long straights. I never hit fourth on our tight track but big bike track it was definitely an advantage. The gear spacing is really good. When you find yourself to low in one section shifting up is perfect. Not like some transmissions when one gear is to high but the other is to low. Now for shifting. This had me a little worried because I have heard a lot of bad things. Well I was shocked. This thing shifts really firm which I like. I did notice it shifts much better when the motor is higher revved more than I am used to with a Honda tranny. That's good though cause it keeps you up in the power and makes sure you don't shift up to early and bog. The shift lever is not something I would keep on there very long. It works but looking at it makes you think it will break easy. It didn't however and it met the dirt a few times in corners because it sticks out more than normal lever. It is very easy to get to though. With the long shaft motors you can use your own shifter anyway so that is not a problem.

Parts that come with motor: This is a complete kit so it comes with everything you need (minus some electrical components). Well the cables, clutch perch/ lever, and throttle are all Motion Pro so you know they are good quality. I didn't need to use throttle housing or cable because I already had exact same ones so there was no reason to bust out a new part. I'm testing the motor anyway right. This motor comes with a 22mm carb and matching intake. The intake is actually 22mm all the way through it which is amazing because most intakes shrink down to match port. That must be because that actually matches the port. Yes, this motor has large ports and valves. Carb is a Keihin replica like most of the carbs out there. That doesn't make it cheap though. Quality on all the parts that come with this motor are top notch. I did have concerns about the shifter but as I stated my claims were wrong and it help up fine during all rides.

Durability: I am a racer. I am hard on stuff. I like something that lasts. I'm sure you do too. Well, that is a high point of this motor. With my beating, revving, pounding, everything, I could not get this motor to stumble. Quality control is there because it is built really well. I could bang down on the gears going into a corner and not once did it try to spit, kick, or anything. The motor would take what I could throw at it then say, "Is that all you got". I'd rev it down the road. Nothing but steady revs and a constant pull. I'd feather the clutch and still I couldn't get it to fade or have a sketchy grab. Given I have not road it for months and months but generally you can tell how a product is going to hold up from the beginning. I have went through a lot of parts and I can always tell the ones that will cause me problems. This motor didn't give me that impression at all. I was truly impressed.

Power: What you have all been waiting for and probably skipped to. How does this thing perform? I'm glad you asked. Excellent. This motor compares well to a TB88 with race head. Power down low is very strong. I'm not a midget like some of the guys that ride these and it still had no problems pulling me out of corners. If it would have I could grab clutch and let it build some more revs and I'd be back in business. Midrange and top is where I think this motor likes to be. The low power is nice but everything I'm getting from this motor says rev me. So that's what I did. Shift later going into corner and shift later coming out. Very simple concept and I must say it works like a charm. I like the fact that you can lay into a rut and don't have to worry about some guy getting a drive off the berm. It will pull enough out of the corner that will keep him behind you then when you get to the higher revs you can gap him down the straights. Add in the fact that it is doing this all while choking on a stock exhaust and it makes you wonder.

Potential: Unlike most people that want as much power as possible from the box I don't. I am a motor builder and fabricator so I look for two other things. Durability and Potential. Having covered one here is the other. This motor is FULL of potential. One look at the ports and you can tell it would be possible to pull a lot of power out of this thing. I would be willing to take this head over a TB race head for a porting contest if it came to it. Some porting and a high compression piston and you could make this motor run with about anything in it's cc class. Given it is no Kitaco SE head but with enough time you could make it worthy to pass an SE head on the track. With the way the clutch was grabbing and how hard I could pound gears I can say that both can handle more power if you wanted to give it to them.

-#92 Jordan Lindfors