Hi, Does anybody know where to get Dr Pulley sliders and the inserts here in the UK...or where to ship from?

I always bought mine from Germany https://drpulley.shopnix.de/TechPulley- ... :::47.html

As did I!

The technicalities of scooter transmissions is new to me so, is it worth changing parts? Mr Honda tends to know what he is doing I have found in the past. The site linked above, particularly the video, gives me a clue but not enough info.

It depends on the scooter to an extent. Some variators are better than others. Replacement rollers can give improved performance at very little cost. They can give you the option of how you want your scoot to perform, whether you want the most rapid acceleration, or to keep revs down and economy up. In any event, the DrPulley sliding thingies last an awful lot longer than traditional rolling rollers.

Mr. Grumpy gives very good advice. If you do a high mileage then using Dr. Pulley weights could be worth doing for the reduced rate of wear alone. Otherwise it is better to get used to the standard set up and decide whether you want to change it.

For example if the scooter frequently hits its rev limiter at maximum speed you might want to try the special shape because on some models it can exploit some unused tolerance on the sliding half of the pulley to give closer pulley halves and therefore a kind of overdrive gearing.

Another aspect which can be changed is the acceleration phase. If you are after peak power during this phase lower mass weights will make the engine take RPM nearer to full power during acceleration. Manufacturers tend to err on the side of caution and gear for peak torque rpm or below. Unfortunately the optimal mass of Dr. Pulley is not directly comparable to standard rollers so advice is needed from other users or the suppliers.

More recently I get the impression that manufacturers have improved their standard designs and most owners will be satisfied with that.

I've never used Dr Pulley weights myself but have fitted them to Vespas and Burgmans for friends and customers. I have to say responses to Dr Pulley weights has been quite mixed. Probably half of those that asked me to fit them soon asked me to take them out and put standard rollers back in. Some asked me to fit 'sports' clutches too, different clutch springs etc etc. This is all fine but if combining with sliding weights there is usually some experimenting to be done to actually get where you want to be. It can work out quite expensive. Some folks also think that for maximum economy putting in weights to keep the revs down is best, only to find they are in fact using much more fuel than with standard rollers because the bike is maintaining a too higher gear for much of their type of ride. It's like riding up hill all the time and bike feels quite sluggish. But if youi get all those things right, you can be in a joyous situation.