Varitronic flywheel

[T5-190]

A mate dropped off this today to see if there is anything I could do with it. I thinks some new bolts and a spot or two of weld should do it. This is the 3rd one in as many years. It has totally destroyed the stator. Fitted to a TSI 225 going no more than 40 mph. Locked up the back wheel due to the stator coils lodged in the flywheel. Thoughts ?????









A new one is £137.

[soulsurfer]

Is it the uprated one as recommended on the Calm Lam site for this sort of motor?

[Speed Demon]

My wife's unwelded one did exactly the same in France a few years back. Common problem on 20+hp machines I'm afraid. Camlam don't recommend unwelded ones for TS1 or above - but they can supply welded versions at extra cost. Latest version has more and bigger rivets.

The other alternative is a Casa Lambretta flywheel which is basically the same ignition but the flywheel is one-piece.

[soulsurfer]

My wife's unwelded one did exactly the same in France a few years back. Common problem on 20+hp machines I'm afraid. Camlam don't recommend unwelded ones for TS1 or above - but they can supply welded versions at extra cost. Latest version has more and bigger rivets.

The other alternative is a Casa Lambretta flywheel which is basically the same ignition but the flywheel is one-piece.

Sticky, how do you find the lighting on the Varitronic?

[T5-190]

Thanks guys, this one is the best of the three so far. It has better bolts than the other dead ones, the boss is tapped and nuts fitted to the spare threads poking through. New bolts and some weld then. Did'nt know about the Casa flywheel, thanks Sticky.

[Speed Demon]

Sticky, how do you find the lighting on the Varitronic?

With a conventional rear bulb the headlight power drops very badly when you put the brake on.

With a decent LED rear bulb and a 55W headlight bulb then its steady and very bright at anything over about 2,000rpm. Below that it gets a bit dimmer but it's acceptable.

I like the Varitronic - it's just a shame about the flywheel problems on powerful engines.

[Devlam]

I was planning to go Varitronic for my rebuild, I wasn't aware of the lighting issue or the failures though. Has anyone had any issue with the ultimate version?
Is this any reason not to go there?

[wack 63]

Would changing the rivets for tensile button heads and nuts do the job and maybe welding as well? Got me worried now

[Bilko]

I had the older one on my Muggy 225 and loved it. The lights weren't great, but I took it as a small trade off for the kit. That was 2005. I don't know if I should get it checked out now or not for the rebuild

[T5-190]

The 3 flywheels my friend has are all bolted. But the latest version of the three has bigger and longer bolts that have nyloc nuts on the spare of the threads. I think the new ones are riveted with 8 fixings rather than 6 as per the bolt on ones and add to this they are welded. So would have thought that should be enough unless anybody wants to go down the route of fitting a Casa one piece flywheel.