No replacement for displacement

For a long time now I have complained to my wife and other Bajaj owners that I want just a little more power and I once even, jokingly, said to my friend Christopher Markley, of Moto Rapido, that he should build a top-end kit for the Bajaj Chetak & Legend. We even laughed about "super chargin'" the engine.

I also spoke with friend and mechanic, Mike Lawless, of Philly Scooters, about "turbo chargin''" my engine -- just need to spool up some air. He didn't think it work. He also told me, "Jeremy if want to go faster buy a new bike like a TS1 or something. Remember, there is no replacement for displacement." He was referring to the top-end of the bike.

Unlike the two-strokes, which have had top-end performance upgrade kits available for years from many different manufacturers, the Bajaj has had nothing. As I restore my Lambretta TV175 I will either aid Dean S's "Deanspeed 190" or the all-new "Casa Lambretta 186". My goal has always been just to rally against a stock Vespa P200. Nothing fancy. No race machine. No rocket science.

The availability of a new top-end for a 4-stroke Bajaj made a major step forward on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 Roy posted the following on the Bajaj Yahoo Group:

"i have completed mods to my 06 chetak which include boring the engine out to 190cc,10.75 to 1 cr, fully ported and polished intake and head, custom free flow exhaust that sounds like a hot sports car not a harley, racing cdi unit, racing coil, iridium plug, free flow intake filter, 26mm carb, custom seat, cuppini full size windshield designed for a vespa LX this thing is slick (part # CUP2445), 120-90 rear and 100-90 front tires on wide rims. without running the piss out of it (3/4 throttle) i cruze at 60mph sitting straight up and feel that when the carb is dialed in and engine broken in a top end of 65 to 70mph should be no problem. i can get the racing cdi,coil,air filter,and iridium plugs if enough people are interested price will be given but first i need to know if enough people are interested to make an order."
-- roythebad

Note: I going to email Roy for permission to post his contact information here as well as photos, video of his bike running (dialed in on the speedo), and a review of his set-up for my readers. I'll keep you posted.

Follow-up: Roy emailed me that day and said . . .

Hello Jeremy i am glad to hear of your interest in my project. i will be posting on the All things Bajaj site about how i built the 190cc engine you are welcome to post this on your site. first i would like to say that i have a very well equipped shop with a metal lathe with milling attachment, drill press mill combo, plasma cutter, mig welder, and thousands of dollars worth of tools all left over from my business that due to health problems i had to close. working on my bikes gives me great satisfaction and helps to keep me out of trouble i enjoy the work as much as i do the riding and due to my health i cannot ride as much as i would like (2 disks removed from my neck and 2 more disks ruptured but not removed one in neck and one in lower back) I do not own a camera or video equipment i am more a hands on mechanical person that likes to tinker but due to the interest in my project i will be buying a camera so i can post some pics the best time to have documented the engine build would have been while i was building it i probably have well over 100 hrs in research and hands on trial and error to get to what i have now, i could photo items such as my custom exhaust and the racing ign parts, bike etc and write about my building and running experiences. people can contact me at l r h 517 30 91 at a o l (I wrote it like this to protect Roy's email address from SPAMMERS), but please be aware that due to my health sometimes i am un able to even use the computer for periods of weeks at a time. the only items that i may offer if there is enough interest would be the racing cdi, racing coil, air filter, iridium plug, and possibly the 26mm carb. i will give contact names and phone # and email for the place that did the cyl sleeve job as he has all the info for this and can supply a finished sleeved cyl, piston, and a nice copper head gasket to complete the kit.

again thank you for your interest and feel free to wright me any time. roy rhodes aka roythebad