Top for teens: a 135cc kit with the external size of a 50
While at the Rabbit 24-hour race in Italy, Sticky was shown a selection of new smallframe products (we covered FRT here last week) that are new or coming soon. Here’s the latest from VMC.
Six big transfer ports and a single trapezoidal exhaust port
Cuffia Piccola
In the UK we are lucky. The police aren’t clued up on tuning and in any respect, it is legal to fit tuning cylinders if you are licenced to ride that capacity. In other countries it’s a different story.
In those places, the biggest problem of converting a 50 to a larger capacity is that it’s obvious simply by looking at the cylinder cowling. The 125cc Primavera cowling is massive compared to the one fitted as standard to a 50/90 engine.
How about if someone made a tiny 135cc kit that still fitted under a 50cc head cowling? That is exactly what VMC have done. CP58 stands for ‘Cuffia Piccola’, or small cowling, and 58mm is the piston size.
The aluminium cylinder has plenty of cooling fins and additional head fixing screws
Cool enough?
The new kit is in aluminium with a Nicasil lining. It is 58mm bore and designed to run with 51mm stroke crankshafts, either rotary valve or converted to reed inlet as a plug-and-play solution.
The obvious compromise on this kit is that the maximum diameter of the fins is restricted by the size of the cowling, but VMC have considered that in the design of the fins and the cylinder head. So far they have tested it and are happy that it cools properly.
VMC were also pleasantly surprised by the performance. They say that it is possible to reach somewhere between 15-20hp using a rotary inlet and a 24mm carb depending on the type of exhaust chosen.
The other big advantage is likely to be the price. Cesta from VMC explained that despite the aluminium-Nicasil construction, they hope to sell the Mini kit for the same sort of price as their current cast iron kits. Retail price is therefore likely to be in the 160-200 Euro region.
The CP58 Mini kit is expected to arrive on stock in the autumn.
Where can you buy VMC?
VE (UK) have recently begun importing VMC for the UK market. They’re still adding parts to their online supermarket but if you want anything you can get in touch with them via the ‘Contact us’ form on their website. Tell them SLUK sent you
Who are VMC?
We ran a big feature on VMC back in 2021 when the brand was virtually unknown in the UK. You can read all about them here.
Tutto il kit quando uscirà ??