UK Vision NB50MF

Barry from The UK had written about several of his older Honda scooters and was able to shed quite a bit of light on the Various European model names. North Americans should take particular notice as its an indication of how confusing it can be when you're ordering a big bore cylinder kit or other performance parts for your Elite, Spree or Aero and find out Polini, Malossi, Metrakit etc don't have any listing for those model names. I was even surprised to find there were several "vision" models. I'd always assumed the Vision looked the same as the 88-93 Elite LX.  Anyway heres some excerpts from Barrys e-mails and some pictures he kindly supplied. Barry has currently fitted his Vision with a Malossi big bore kit from Taffspeed.
In North America, Scooter Performance shops may stock performance parts for the North American equivalent; the Aero 50.

Barrys Honda Vision NB50M-F   April 1985 to August 1987   has an engine serial number starting AF05E and part code GN2.

This scooter is Barrys '85 Melody NB50M-E. Melodys have the 90 degree exhaust port, while my vision (picture above) has the 45 degree port as per your recent picture.

George, the Moped Whiz, sent me the picture on the left along with an e-mail which stated: Lee in the UK sent me some pictures of his Melody mini it's Honda's Euro version of a Spree.. it uses a different carb with a manual choke and a different airbox, the only other differences I can see is where the turn signals are mounted.

Barrys service manual is shown at left with the SA50 "Vision Met-in" model shown on the cover which appears indistinguishable from a North american Elite LX SA50. The above is another picture taken from a Dutch website of the "Vision Met-in".

North American Honda Aero	North American Honda Spree

I've checked the model numbers, and the one I gave you is correct for the UK.  I've ordered a few bits for mine now, under the spec of NB50M-F (tail lense, clutch, etc), and they have all been right.  I've taken a look at the slides on my local dealers microfiche, and everything seems to tie up.  Honda seem to have really complicated things around the world with their coding. My workshop manual lists the following;
NE50M  Vision  April 1985 to March 1990
NB50M  Vision-X  April 1985 to August 1987   (Mine, with the 'F' after it)
NE50TH Vision  August 1987 to January 1988
SA50 Vision Met-in  October 1988 to November 1995

It gets confusing because I also have two melody's that are prefixed NB.  The first is an  '85 Melody NB50M-SB.   The other is a later '85 Melody NB50M-E (see second picture from top of page). Both have the 90 degree exhaust port, while my Vision has the 45 degree port as per your recent picture.  Another slight difference I notice from that picture, is that mine does NOT have the cable operated oil pump that yours does.  The pump itself looks practically the same, it just doesn't have the pulley and cable.  I'm sure you know more about how this functions than I do, anyway. I've also included an attached pic from my manual, of the frame shape (sorry for the quality).  It looks totally different to your exploded view pic, on your website. From this pic, you may be able to identify better what model it is in your part of the world.

Thanks Doug,
Barry
 
 

I've spoken to Terry at Taffspeed and he's sending me a Malossi 70cc kit, main jet, and a fibre reed petal.  He seems to think it will give a gain with one of the pipe's I've got, for now.  When money is better I'll have to get the proper one.  When it's up and running, and fully run-in, I'll mail you back.
 

I've got the new Malossi kit fitted and running.  It's the first time I've changed a barrel and piston in my life, so when it fired straight up, I got that kind of feelin' that women must get when they give birth!! In addition to the kit (on taffspeed's advice), it needed a number 8 spark plug (0.5mm gap), a malossi reed petal, and a bigger main jet.  It ran as soon as the float bowl had refilled, with the only adjustment being to up the idle. However, all is not perfect....
I took it for a quick spin up the road, and although the engine ran up perfectly, it was loosing drive.  The clutch was biting well at take off, but felt like it started to slip once I throttled on further.  I had a  word with Terry and he said it is definitely NOT the clutch slipping, especially as it's a brand new one.  He thinks the drive belt is slipping.  I told him that the bike only has 2500 miles on it, so I thought the belt was still 'ok'.  He then said that the belt probably IS ok, but the rear pulley spring needs to be stronger to make it grip the belt tighter, and lack of this is what was making it 'feel' like clutch slip.  Makes sense to me.  He's also sending a Malossi front pulley, with rollers etc. to match, and he seems confident that this will cure it.  I hope so, because these extra parts amount to nearly the cost of the bore kit.

I've attached a few pics I took while fitting the kit this morning.  They may show you nothing that you haven't already seen, but you may spot the odd part that looks different to the models you're used to. Incidently, for your records, the number stamped by the rear oil drain plug is: AF05E.  The number stamped on the other side, behind the wheel, is: GN2
I should have the parts here and fitted by Wednesday night, so I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I do.
Cheers Doug,
Barry

March 2002-
Here's the pictures of the finished ped, hope they're to your liking.  The seat has been temporarily re-upholstered with duct-tape, but the paintwork is done!
It has 48 miles on it now, and it goes like f***k compared to the standard performance!!  I presume slightly more power may emerge as it loosens up with more milage. However, all is not well.
I went to start it up the other night, and the starter was just spinning without turning the crank.  I took the covers off, and it appears that the spline on the crankshaft/front pulley cog, has sheared itself away. So when the starter is turned it just spins the front pulley cog independently of the crank.  I cleaned out some of the swarf and put it back together. But as the spline is not there, it's now relying purely on the torque of the nut, to stop it spinning free again.  This is obviously not the perfect remedy.  Also the way it sheared off, has left the cog spinning ever so slightly eccentrically. It rides ok again, but I get the feeling it's not a permanent repair.  (I can't afford a new crank, and it'd probably only shear that one too) My theory on the prob, is that now the belt has been tightened against the pulleys to stop belt slip(stronger rear spring etc), the extra power has had to 'give' somewhere else, and it chose the spline.

Later The front pulley spline has totally gone, but the rear spline is in good shape still.  The repair of tightening the nut seems to be ok for now, as I took the ped out again this morning and checked it upon returning home. It seems to be holding.

MAY/2002 ~ Barry wrote a final report  after selling his Vision in which he said "I've had to sell the Vision to fund my next bike ( a Beta trials bike). I managed to cure that crankshaft problem by putting a huge amount of torque on the nut, and it seemed to hold ok..."

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