Maker Pro
Maker Pro

70 mpg

C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
My Jag when to the shop a few months back for some repairs which is
par for the Jag course and after a couple weeks the Jag repair
department called saying they where having problems isolating the
problem. Seeing that it is my only transportation, I thought I would
buy a scooter until the repair department got things sorted out and
when the car was repaired I would have backup transportation.

After a little research on the web I decided to get a cheapo Chinese
scooter because I only drive an average of 1000 miles a year and it
was intended for backup while my car is in the shop. I bought the
scooter on-line, it was shipped by truck and dropped in my driveway. I
had to charge and install the battery, bolt on mirrors and trunk,
check and tighten loose screws, bolts, fuel and vacuum lines, check
fluids, and general dealer prep stuff before firing it up, all of
which I knew going in to this from my research.

So by the time the repair department finally called with an estimate,
I was all licensed (another story), legal, and driving around. My car
is a Jag which I bought from the same place that has always done my
repairs and I've had it for 20 years. I'm used to large bills, I have
never got a repair estimate for under $1000.00 no matter what it goes
in for, so when the estimate came in at half the price a paid for the
car (complete re-wiring), I started talking with them about buying
another Jag, but after thinking about it, I only put 20,000 miles on
the one I had.

After thinking about for a while my scooter get 70mpg, goes 60mph,
insurance if $100.00 a year, I can get 6 bags of groceries in it, and
I'm have a good time driving and tinkering with it, so I decided (for
a time anyway) to uses it for my primary transportation to see if I
get sick of it. But for now, I'm having fun driving the thing around
and have put on 800 miles in 3 months (way over my yearly average).

The bottom line is, if anyone is looking for back-up transportation
and likes tinkering with stuff, these scooters may be worth looking
at, 70mpg may really come if handy when the next wave of fuel shortage
come around.

Curbie
 
C

cjt

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
In the 70's before I owned a house I tried using a motorcycle with
saddlebags for all transportation. It worked well for a large fraction
of my needs but not all; in New England they are almost useless in
winter (I tried anyway) and they really don't belong on the Interstate
during a strong rain storm, you can't see in the spray from a truck.
You have to consider where and how long you leave them in some parking
lots. In some places drivers are aggressive enough to challenge even
smaller SUVs, and run motorcycles off the road. In hot weather (it
reaches 100F here) they are miserable in stop-and-go traffic, you get
the hot blast from under the cars added to the sun and hot pavement. I
never rode it to a job interview that required a suit.

I could drive the Civic anywhere, any time, for any reason. I had to
think about the trip in advance on the bike.

jsw
When we first got married, a motorcycle was all we had, and we used it
for everything, including grocery shopping, in all weather including
snow. Eventually it was stolen. Your description rings true.
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim,

Good points to consider all, but for $900 delivered to your doorstep
and a few stored gas cans, it may still be worth considering for some.
I don't know if I'm have more fun driving it or tinkering with it,
pulled part the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) yesterday to
see how they work, never seen one those before.

I got my learners permit on a motorcycle while living in California in
the late 60's at the age a 15 ½, the theory back then was, that no
parent in their right mind would get on the back of a motorcycle with
their 15 year old kid who was learning to drive.

My scooter is highway legal, but I wouldn't go on I95 down here, too
much of a monkey's nest for me, but never less seem to get anywhere I
want. I kind of backed into this idea, but now seems to make some
sense to me, just thought other might find something here too.

Curbie
 
M

Martin Riddle

Jan 1, 1970
0
Josepi said:
Great idea ecology wise but not too good safety wise or reliability
wise.


Jim,

Good points to consider all, but for $900 delivered to your doorstep
and a few stored gas cans, it may still be worth considering for some.
I don't know if I'm have more fun driving it or tinkering with it,
pulled part the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) yesterday to
see how they work, never seen one those before.

I got my learners permit on a motorcycle while living in California in
the late 60's at the age a 15 ½, the theory back then was, that no
parent in their right mind would get on the back of a motorcycle with
their 15 year old kid who was learning to drive.

My scooter is highway legal, but I wouldn't go on I95 down here, too
much of a monkey's nest for me, but never less seem to get anywhere I
want. I kind of backed into this idea, but now seems to make some
sense to me, just thought other might find something here too.

Curbie

Depends upon location. Most urban area drivers don't see bikes,
scooters, motorcycles until its too late.
Plus there are drivers that just turn for no reason at all. Does not
bode well for the scooterist ;)

Cheers
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Martin,

All true, and should weight into people's decision to buy a scooter,
for me it was kind of the same thing with dangers involved with eating
food, drinking water, breathing air, having sex... life causes death.

George Carlin said "the kid that eats the most marbles dies", I'm not
suggesting that people do stupid things (wouldn't stop them anyway),
but I've never had an accident off the race course, so I think I've
handled road risks pretty well up to this point, but would certainly
be safer in a pimped out M1A1 Abrams but the fuel mileage sucks.

This isn't for everyone.

Curbie
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
I started small and worked up to 400cc to allow camping trips loaded
with gear. It was big enough to run long distances on the highway and
small enough to ride (carefully) down backwoods trails to explore,
fish and camp. 200cc was plenty to get me around locally. This area is
too hilly for a bike much smaller than that.

I carried a yellow rainsuit and wore it when the temperature dropped
below ~50F. They make very good windbreakers.

jsw
Jim,

Shortly after getting the scooter I was thinking about getting a 250cc
which go 80mph, the 150cc only goes 65mph and if I went on the highway
I'd have no extra acceleration if I needed it to get out trouble,
which is the reason I don't go on the highway.

I bought the most visible color they had (Red) and like your rain
slicker idea, even though I'm a fair whether driver decreasing wind
chill while raising visibility makes good sense to me.

Thanks,

Curbie
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Vaughn,
Holy cow! I put over 2000 miles on just my bicycle last year!
(The bike acts as our "second car") Chinese scooters remain a
temptation, as do "E" bikes, but it is amazing what that bit of
peddling excercise has done for my health.
The "E" bikes are a great thing, I know a guy who made a side business
out of selling "E" bikes to folks who got DUI's down here in Florida,
because of the no license laws. It was the first thing I considered,
just not fast enough for me.

He's got a tricked out personal one with both a hub and gear motors
that's a rocket, 40mph with no paddle assist.
There is no reason why any reasonably new car should routinely need
to have mechanical repairs. I recently sold a Honda Civic with 80,000
miles and NO mechanical repair bills beyond routine maintenance. I
have 50,000 miles on our Accord with the same results so far. Perhaps
you might reconsider your attachment to Jags?
The Jag was a good car for me and considering how much is sat around,
I'm a little surprised I didn't have more maintenance issues than I
did, it is history now, I doubt they have Jag shingles where I want to
move, but I think we may be talking about a different class of cars.

Curbie
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
People have to weigh the risks for themselves, for me, I've see people
in their air-bagged, seat-belted, anti-locked safety-mobiles get
T-boned and killed at a intersection when another driver wasn't paying
attention to the light. I've also seen motorcyclists riding on their
bike backwards, on one wheel, doing 70mph a lived through it! It seems
to me, life is sort of a crap-shoot and you can't change the odds by
NOT rolling the dice.

I've never seen someone on a motorcycle gabbing on their cell-phone,
fixing their make-up, eating, or tending to their baby OR someone in a
car doing the backwards wheely thing, but it seem to me there may be a
little more to safety than what you're driving.

I've kept an eye on my fuel mileage and it has been getting around
70mpg, and thinking about being completely independent of any fuel
source, I may monkey around with one of these scooter to see if I can
get them to run well on alcohol (Ethenol), I don't think peddle power
is really the thing for me.

Curbie
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well, on the bright side, I'll either help a bit with environment or
population growth, either way I'll have fun before I go.

Thanks,

Curbie
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Michael,

Wiring, the plastic insulation was just crumbling apart everywhere,
just shaking off as it went over bumps and would short out something.
The car ran fine for a while and the and then just died at real bad
times, after that happen a couple times just getting back from the
shop (once on the way back from the shop), I told them after what I
paid for repairs that lasted a few miles and didn't fix the problem,
they only had one more chance to get it right or I'd give someone else
the repair and money.

Anyway, like I said, it was a pretty good car considering, I didn't
like their behavior in the end, but the past is the past and after
all, I knew they were car salesman to begin with.

Curbie
 
C

cjt

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
We have had an excessive number of accidents recently where a driver
"didn't see" a police cruiser or a big semi or such and pulled out in
front of it. Or couldn't handle those tricky straight dry level roads
and drifted into the truck in the other lane. Someone nearly hit me
that way. I waited to swerve so I wouldn't lead them further over,
then watched the cop behind me dodge, spin around and go after them.
The town soon put a rumble strip down the middle of that road.

Try driving with one eye closed to get an idea of how bad some
people's depth perception is.

jsw

I've seen a lot of that kind of thing lately. Invariably the driver
is talking/texting on a cellphone in those instances where I've managed
to get a look. A lot of people are idiots.
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim,
I've been lucky and only scrunched a foot under a motorcycle, nothing
broken, not as bad as my bicycle crashes. Helmet, leathers and steel
toed boots helped.
For me, this just illustrates my point that, how you approach the act
of driving is more telling of your results, than what you're driving.
I got 60 MPG from a Honda 350 twin before putting saddlebags on it,
then 50 - 55. IIRC the CB400F averaged around 50. They were at the low
end of acceptable on long trips.
At this point I will wait until I get settled somewhere before I make
a decision on what vehicle I'll get next, but I think some sort of
bike will fit into the picture somewhere. As much as I think shifting
gears would help MPG, those CVTs are fascinating and simple
mechanisms.

Curbie
 
C

Curbie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Michael,

Very labor-intensive and parts for that year are getting hard to find
not to mention more expensive, funny how the shingle first told me it
was junk, then offered junk it for FREE, then offered to reduce my
bill for it (the one for NOT fixing it), then offered me a little
money for it. Car salesmen!

A real nice guy who works for a company I have interests in, rebuilds
MGB's for himself and has been bugging about selling it, I paid the
bill, and sold him the car for a dollar (full disclosure). WhenI
bought it was two years old with 30K and put 21K on it, besides the
original clear coat which is lifting in places it was in perfect shape
body wise. He will fix it up and give a good home.

Curbie
 
V

vaughn

Jan 1, 1970
0
Having ridden motorcycles and scooters from 80cc on up for 40 years I can say
that's bullshit. Even large dinosaur primitive motorcycles such as 1200cc
Harley's get close to 55mpg on the highway.
Perhaps, but my beloved 1965 600cc Beemer only managed in the 30's. Primitive
carburetors.

Vaughn
 
Perhaps, but my beloved 1965 600cc Beemer only managed in the 30's. Primitive
carburetors.

Vaughn

I had an R100RS that got about 50 on the highway, and an 1100cc Suzuki
a few years later that did substantially better even though rear tire
life was poor. I expect that newer stuff is at least a bit improved,
but whenever I hear the hogly stories I always figure it's an urban
legend designed to make wives more amenable to an insane purchase. :)

Wayne
 
How well has that ScanGuage been working for you?

What data do you monitor and how has it benefited you?

I have one as well, and I really like it. I leave the main display set
on instantaneous mpg, average mpg since last startup, average since
fill-up, and speed. The main benefit for me is understanding what's
going on with mileage, which varies from about 30 on the highway to
about 7 going up a steep grade at slow speed in 4WD. It provides a
quick way to grab fault codes, which would be helpful to know on a
trip or before calling for service.

Wayne
 
V

vaughn

Jan 1, 1970
0
Neo said:
While one passenger/driver
motorize bikes have the potential for the lowest overall
wind resistance and probably the highest fuel efficiency
that commercial potential has not been realized.

While I am currently a fan of the plain 'ole bicycle, e-bikes are looking better
and better, especially for commutes up to 10 miles or so.

Vaughn
 
V

vaughn

Jan 1, 1970
0
Neo said:
The Kia Rio is second lowest curb weight car in the USA market
today - the car with the lowest curb weight on sale in the USA is the Toyota
Yaris (by about 100 pounds
or so - but the Yaris is more expensive than the Kia Rio and the Kia Rio5
version has a larger max cargo bay
than the Yaris 5dr/HB version).

I actually have a bit of respect for Kia. They serve the bottom of the new-car
market, yet have maintained their 10 year/100,000 mile warranty. Of course,
their warranty repair service is like "HMO for your car" but at least the price
is right! Myself, I am happier with Honda or Toyota, but my father bought a Kia
& it is all the car he will ever need!

Vaughn
 
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