The odometer on your Chinese scooter most likely shows the distance traveled in kilometers. This is often the case even if the manual or your dealer says it will actually be in miles. You can check this of course by traveling a short distance, writing down the readings and then checking the distance against your favorite maps website, i.e. Google Maps.
To convert kilometers to miles, simply divide by 1.602 . That is , 1km = 1/1.602 mi = 0.624 mi.
Showing posts with label Riding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Riding. Show all posts
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
It's Ride to work day this Wednesday!
It's the ride to work day tomorrow! Not like it's different from any other day's riding to work for a real fan ;) but just in case you had some excuse from riding tomorrow - see if you can drop it!
http://www.ridetowork.org/
I'll keep my eyes open to see if there will be any visibly changed presence of scooters on the roads in Twin Cities.
http://www.ridetowork.org/I'll keep my eyes open to see if there will be any visibly changed presence of scooters on the roads in Twin Cities.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Trip to Duluth from Minneapolis
I went to Duluth this past 4th of July. This was a 300 miles trip and a major undertaking for me. In fact I never took my scoot anywhere that far. Duluth is a small port city on Lake Superior but in fact a largest fresh water port in the world or something like that. It is a common weekend destination for folks in Twin Cities. After all, this is about the only place you can get to in a day's worth of riding from here :) That is, of car riding. I learned one of friends attempted this on a scooter but wasn't able to get there. His story was he just had to refuel too often and so he turned back. I think he used one of juiced Genuine 50cc scooters for that trip. Well, mine is a 150cc so I had a better chance - but only one short evening to prepare!
View Larger Map
(Normal route would be of course 35W going straight all the way to Duluth harbor area.)
Here's what I did to get ready for the ride:
Changed the oil -- it was long due. Good thing I got some earlier that day. So the whole ride went on fresh oil.
Tightened as many nuts as I found. The wheels seemed tight on :) Checked nuts and bolts on muffler clamps and engine-muffler joint, the kickstands and brake calipers.
Checked the tire pressure. My back tire tends to leak a little. Got it back up to 33psi.
Found out one of my rear shocks is full of dirt and oil. Wiped it all out to see if it's leaking (looks like it does).
Packed some tools. Because I just did an oil change, I tool a 17mm socket and a ratchet in case I have to tighten it a little. Phillips screwdriver for panels battery etc. and a 6mm Allen key in case the mirrors get loose (which happens regularly with mine). Then I came across mount straps that I won at the Rattle My Bones last year. This is the stuff you'd use to mount a scoot on a truck. Since I quite seriously anticipated never making it, I took those as well. None of this stuff became of any use.
Packed some spare things in case of rain. Jacked and a pullover. Long sleeve shirt not to get fried up. Usual gloves and unusual helmet with dark shield. Spare goggles. Water bottles, backpack and a lot of bungee cords to tie it all down once I get tired. A camera and yeah, my tripod. Got some snacks before leaving.
Already on my way, got sunscreen and some maps at a gas station early next day. I have experience burning myself on scoot rides. The wind cools you down and before you know it, it's all done. Given it was going to be at least eight hours of riding under bright sun, I made sure to cover myself as much as possible. Surprisingly, the only "cars" at that station were trucks, SUVs and perhaps some minivans but not a single happy face.
The ride
I got out at about 10:30am. The Cenral quickly became 65th highway - with 65mph speed limit. This was a little stressful but hey at least it has plenty lanes to take over. Whenever the traffic would get heavy, I went at 60mph. However I'd often try to go down to 50mph. The day was hot and I was quite worried not to overheat the engine. 60mph for me is far in the red zone and as fast as I can make it go.
The things soon started to look quite rural. The cars disappeared, and so did any signs of big cities. Forests and farmland - it is really easy to loose track of signs and just keep riding straight ahead. Having to jump highways kept me awake - and hell was it easy to miss some. At some point I took a wrong turn and got onto that very 35W - going back to Minneapolis. I was a long while before the next exit - and I had to take a large piece of the road over again. Then later on Google maps seemed to send me over towards a federal prison, or so the road signs said!
At that point I was on Hwy 123/23 - a great road with beautiful sights. The only problem was it didn't have any gas stations. By the time I got close to Duluth, I was almost empty with the arrow just about to lay flat. But hey I made it! On my way back I tried a side road and found a gas station there. However, some of it was actually closed down by the department of commerce - not an encouraging sign indeed! Here are a few pictures from the trip (all are clickable for a larger image):
The damage
There was of course a good chance that my scoot will simply stop in the middle of nowhere. My biggest worry was the heat and the stress of driving at large speed for so long. The engine could have easily overheated in that day's heat and many-hour riding its max. Or it could be something benign like a molten plastic piece somewhere. Well, I was lucky not to get down with anything like that.
As I was going back, some screws must have finally fell off from the plastic panels on the front fork (the one with the headlights). Some of the joints there must have been broken from flipping the scoot long time ago; once it all got loose, the remaining mounting brackets got more than their share of stress and some must have broken from that. So I took out a little side panel just not to loose it and kept going. The large front panel would make quite some rattle but it stayed put and I was able to finish ok. Surprisingly, the tool that I actually needed --- and of course did not have --- was a roll of duct tape!
Other than this, there was no apparent damage whatsoever. The scoot seems to be doing just fine, it is now at over 6000km.
A little statistics
It took me just over four hours to get back. The weather got colder (I arrived just after midnight), and since the task was complete anyways I was driving at 60mph most of the way. With getting lost and lower speeds, it took me about 6hrs to get to Duluth. So with experience, it is quite possible to have a normal day's trip there on a scooter!
I put on a total of 549km, or about 340mi. I've used just over 5 gallons of gas, and the mileage turned out to be 66 miles per gallon. This is a little surprising given that I'd expect lower mileage driving at my scooter's top speed. On the other hand, there was no stop-and-go thing.
I've spend an exact total of $20.47 for gas on the whole round trip. That is, if you don't count some assholes that turned out to charge my card $5 for some mystical carwash, but that's a whole different story.
Well, as this is getting really long, I'll just stop here. It was hell of a day!
View Larger Map
(Normal route would be of course 35W going straight all the way to Duluth harbor area.)
Here's what I did to get ready for the ride:
Changed the oil -- it was long due. Good thing I got some earlier that day. So the whole ride went on fresh oil.
Tightened as many nuts as I found. The wheels seemed tight on :) Checked nuts and bolts on muffler clamps and engine-muffler joint, the kickstands and brake calipers.
Checked the tire pressure. My back tire tends to leak a little. Got it back up to 33psi.
Found out one of my rear shocks is full of dirt and oil. Wiped it all out to see if it's leaking (looks like it does).
Packed some tools. Because I just did an oil change, I tool a 17mm socket and a ratchet in case I have to tighten it a little. Phillips screwdriver for panels battery etc. and a 6mm Allen key in case the mirrors get loose (which happens regularly with mine). Then I came across mount straps that I won at the Rattle My Bones last year. This is the stuff you'd use to mount a scoot on a truck. Since I quite seriously anticipated never making it, I took those as well. None of this stuff became of any use.
Packed some spare things in case of rain. Jacked and a pullover. Long sleeve shirt not to get fried up. Usual gloves and unusual helmet with dark shield. Spare goggles. Water bottles, backpack and a lot of bungee cords to tie it all down once I get tired. A camera and yeah, my tripod. Got some snacks before leaving.
Already on my way, got sunscreen and some maps at a gas station early next day. I have experience burning myself on scoot rides. The wind cools you down and before you know it, it's all done. Given it was going to be at least eight hours of riding under bright sun, I made sure to cover myself as much as possible. Surprisingly, the only "cars" at that station were trucks, SUVs and perhaps some minivans but not a single happy face.
The ride
I got out at about 10:30am. The Cenral quickly became 65th highway - with 65mph speed limit. This was a little stressful but hey at least it has plenty lanes to take over. Whenever the traffic would get heavy, I went at 60mph. However I'd often try to go down to 50mph. The day was hot and I was quite worried not to overheat the engine. 60mph for me is far in the red zone and as fast as I can make it go.
The things soon started to look quite rural. The cars disappeared, and so did any signs of big cities. Forests and farmland - it is really easy to loose track of signs and just keep riding straight ahead. Having to jump highways kept me awake - and hell was it easy to miss some. At some point I took a wrong turn and got onto that very 35W - going back to Minneapolis. I was a long while before the next exit - and I had to take a large piece of the road over again. Then later on Google maps seemed to send me over towards a federal prison, or so the road signs said!
At that point I was on Hwy 123/23 - a great road with beautiful sights. The only problem was it didn't have any gas stations. By the time I got close to Duluth, I was almost empty with the arrow just about to lay flat. But hey I made it! On my way back I tried a side road and found a gas station there. However, some of it was actually closed down by the department of commerce - not an encouraging sign indeed! Here are a few pictures from the trip (all are clickable for a larger image):
The damage
There was of course a good chance that my scoot will simply stop in the middle of nowhere. My biggest worry was the heat and the stress of driving at large speed for so long. The engine could have easily overheated in that day's heat and many-hour riding its max. Or it could be something benign like a molten plastic piece somewhere. Well, I was lucky not to get down with anything like that.
As I was going back, some screws must have finally fell off from the plastic panels on the front fork (the one with the headlights). Some of the joints there must have been broken from flipping the scoot long time ago; once it all got loose, the remaining mounting brackets got more than their share of stress and some must have broken from that. So I took out a little side panel just not to loose it and kept going. The large front panel would make quite some rattle but it stayed put and I was able to finish ok. Surprisingly, the tool that I actually needed --- and of course did not have --- was a roll of duct tape!
Other than this, there was no apparent damage whatsoever. The scoot seems to be doing just fine, it is now at over 6000km.
A little statistics
It took me just over four hours to get back. The weather got colder (I arrived just after midnight), and since the task was complete anyways I was driving at 60mph most of the way. With getting lost and lower speeds, it took me about 6hrs to get to Duluth. So with experience, it is quite possible to have a normal day's trip there on a scooter!
I put on a total of 549km, or about 340mi. I've used just over 5 gallons of gas, and the mileage turned out to be 66 miles per gallon. This is a little surprising given that I'd expect lower mileage driving at my scooter's top speed. On the other hand, there was no stop-and-go thing.
I've spend an exact total of $20.47 for gas on the whole round trip. That is, if you don't count some assholes that turned out to charge my card $5 for some mystical carwash, but that's a whole different story.
Well, as this is getting really long, I'll just stop here. It was hell of a day!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Parking update
Apparently times are changing for large scooter owners, as the cops become more vary of the distinction between scooter-mopeds and scooters-in-fact-legally-motorcycles. I have been warned a couple times already in various locations to not to park on the bicycle racks or bycicle space, once in fact by a cop. Friends say they've noticed lots of scooters getting tickets even at the U. Since this is summer and not too busy, I am still parking at a huge bike rack right in front of my building. I park in the far end giving me some shade and perhaps keeping it a little further from the cops' eyes. So far I wasn't fined for this, but it looks as if I should be saving the money already ;) Other than this location, I mostly park as a motorcycle should, and almost never on a curb. Wouldn't it be great if the rules weren't based on the power but the space! If it can fit in, it should be let in!
See also: Parking
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Oil change and the trip
Just changed my oil, first time since the start of the season (I put in fresh oil after "de-winterizing" of course). I am now at 5445, so that's about 1000km since the last change.
My local bike shop does not have the same old Castrol oil anymore. So I took a similar 10W-40, still for $5:
My local bike shop does not have the same old Castrol oil anymore. So I took a similar 10W-40, still for $5:
I decided to take a trip to Duluth tomorrow or on the weekend. Duluth is a port on Lake Superior way up north Minnesota, some 150mi from Minneapolis. I detailed the scoot (maybe should be another post) and checked as many nuts as I could --- everything looked O.k. So hopefully I'll be able to make it! Will make a separate post about this once I get to it. Well now it's beer time!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Group ride
I went on my first group ride this Saturday. It was a small part Heck's Angels gathering at the southern suburbs. There were seven of us in all led by Paul, a tall slim guy with a kind of geeky looks, and he took us on a rather industrial route. We first went through the airport "parking" and cargo areas, with plenty of planes to stare at and for some reason also FedEx trucks. We stopped for a group picture but all the cameras just failed and so I have no picture to share (my own camera is locked in my car's glove compartment which got stuck and just couldn't be opened). It was a great occasion to refresh my group riding skills.
Got under a rather heavy rain when heading back home. The learning was obviously to always have a jacked under the seat (check) and maybe a warm sweater as well (miss).
Got under a rather heavy rain when heading back home. The learning was obviously to always have a jacked under the seat (check) and maybe a warm sweater as well (miss).
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Planning your route
I just used Google maps for the first time and noticed that they have "avoid highways" option, absolutely perfect for a scoot route planning! Something I've been longing for. Also, you can drag parts of the route around to sort of fine tune your trip.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Mileage
The manual promises eighty miles a gallon for my Baron 150SX. I get about seventy. This in fact has been improving slightly since the initial "run-in", and I expect it to get even better with time. At over 200 lbs, I am also not the lightest driver, and I drive rather aggressively. So with all that, being at 70mhg isn't bad at all. Beats the Prius with all its funky technology anyways :)
I kept all receipts except one, and for that I restored how much I pumped from my bank statement. So here's the plot. Horizontal axis is how many gallons I've used. Vertical axis is mileage actually converted to miles. Yes, the "mileage" meter on the dashboard uses kilometers. Divide that reading by 1.602 to get miles.
That's a very consistent 70mpg mileage. Just think what we could have if scooters got popular enough that the manufacturers could economically use fuel saving technologies. Like better materials, fuel injection with exhaust oxygen sensors and so on.
Converted back to kilometers, that's about 115 km per gallon. This is rather convenient - I know I'll have to visit the gas station once the meter clocks another hundred.
Mostly for an experiment, I only use so-called non-oxygenated gas, which is plain gasoline without any ethanol added. As the story goes, there are three reasons named to use ethanol-free fuel.
It doesn't dissolve your engine
Plain gas is supposed to be better on your engine, though I am yet to come across actual evidence for this. Supposedly, alcohol in the gas can soften and dissolve plastics, especially in the carburettor but also in all the piping, fuel pump etc. Of course ethanol can do that, the only question is whether this scooter is made with plastics designed to tolerate some amount of ethanol. All the new cars in America are of course made to handle it well, but this thing is made in China and I have no clue whether it is OK to use "usual" pump gasoline with 10% of ethanol in it.
It does not clog or rust your engine
Water cannot dissolve in gas, but it can do so in presence of alcohol. So the usual, ethanol-enriched gas will soak up any ambient moisture that it is exposed to starting at the factory, traveling in the truck, then sitting in an underground tank at the gas station. If you leave this in your tank long enough, the gas will dry up, the carburettor will clog up whatever can do so will start rusting from within. Rusting is in fact what you call oxidizing iron.
The truth must be somewhere between the first and the second argument. Non-oxygenated gasoline is only legal to be used in Minnesota in boats, motorcycles, collector vehicles (old stuff with carburettors!), and small engines such as lawn mowers. I am sure they would have banned that as well, if only it was possible to feed it with the "oxygenated" fuel.
By the way, they call it non-oxy and non-oxygenated because the oil companies were sued when they tried to advertise it as "ethanol free". This supposedly implied that ethanol is bad and so amounted to defamation. Pretty weird, huh?
Non-oxy fuel gives you better mileage
This one is supposedly true. Mileage is supposed to go up by as much as 30%. Well, not that I am complaining at mine :)
How to find the stuff
I get mine at the gas station hosted by a company that repairs boats. I found it online, and you could perhaps Google it up for your area. If you do, please leave a comment! I will also post the stuff that I found for Minnesota.
I kept all receipts except one, and for that I restored how much I pumped from my bank statement. So here's the plot. Horizontal axis is how many gallons I've used. Vertical axis is mileage actually converted to miles. Yes, the "mileage" meter on the dashboard uses kilometers. Divide that reading by 1.602 to get miles.
That's a very consistent 70mpg mileage. Just think what we could have if scooters got popular enough that the manufacturers could economically use fuel saving technologies. Like better materials, fuel injection with exhaust oxygen sensors and so on.Converted back to kilometers, that's about 115 km per gallon. This is rather convenient - I know I'll have to visit the gas station once the meter clocks another hundred.
Mostly for an experiment, I only use so-called non-oxygenated gas, which is plain gasoline without any ethanol added. As the story goes, there are three reasons named to use ethanol-free fuel.
It doesn't dissolve your engine
Plain gas is supposed to be better on your engine, though I am yet to come across actual evidence for this. Supposedly, alcohol in the gas can soften and dissolve plastics, especially in the carburettor but also in all the piping, fuel pump etc. Of course ethanol can do that, the only question is whether this scooter is made with plastics designed to tolerate some amount of ethanol. All the new cars in America are of course made to handle it well, but this thing is made in China and I have no clue whether it is OK to use "usual" pump gasoline with 10% of ethanol in it.
It does not clog or rust your engine
Water cannot dissolve in gas, but it can do so in presence of alcohol. So the usual, ethanol-enriched gas will soak up any ambient moisture that it is exposed to starting at the factory, traveling in the truck, then sitting in an underground tank at the gas station. If you leave this in your tank long enough, the gas will dry up, the carburettor will clog up whatever can do so will start rusting from within. Rusting is in fact what you call oxidizing iron.
The truth must be somewhere between the first and the second argument. Non-oxygenated gasoline is only legal to be used in Minnesota in boats, motorcycles, collector vehicles (old stuff with carburettors!), and small engines such as lawn mowers. I am sure they would have banned that as well, if only it was possible to feed it with the "oxygenated" fuel.
By the way, they call it non-oxy and non-oxygenated because the oil companies were sued when they tried to advertise it as "ethanol free". This supposedly implied that ethanol is bad and so amounted to defamation. Pretty weird, huh?
Non-oxy fuel gives you better mileage
This one is supposedly true. Mileage is supposed to go up by as much as 30%. Well, not that I am complaining at mine :)
How to find the stuff
I get mine at the gas station hosted by a company that repairs boats. I found it online, and you could perhaps Google it up for your area. If you do, please leave a comment! I will also post the stuff that I found for Minnesota.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Group Scooter Ride
Scooters are cute. Kids wave at you. People on the road start talking to you. Girls kiss you. Well, or at least maybe they want to. To boost the cuteness effect, you just get more scooters out there! So I go for scooter rides. You get to know people, to see other scoots, to hear the owner's opinions whilst they are not trying to sell you stuff. You also learn about evens, dealerships and even places to get funny T-shirts. Then, there's the ride itself! I am in fact learning of great places in the cities I've never been to.
Riding is also a great way to improve your skills. You ride in a staggered formation, sort of a checker board pattern (hey did you read that motorcycle license book?). The formation goes like an animal pack, everybody at their position and sides of the lanes. You don't choose the path and you don't really choose the speed, so keeping the formation tight is quite an exercise! In fact you can see the newbies right away - they fly into the other side of the lane at turns. Come next time, it's all smooth and clean though.It doesn't take long to get accustomed to this, and you'll be a better and more confident rider on your own.
I found these rides through Google, which in fact pointed my to MeetUp.com , which turns out to be a great site for all sorts of interest groups. Check it out and see if there are scooter meetups in your area. Who knows maybe you'll get to meet great people. And if there isn't one, perhaps you could start your own!
Riding is also a great way to improve your skills. You ride in a staggered formation, sort of a checker board pattern (hey did you read that motorcycle license book?). The formation goes like an animal pack, everybody at their position and sides of the lanes. You don't choose the path and you don't really choose the speed, so keeping the formation tight is quite an exercise! In fact you can see the newbies right away - they fly into the other side of the lane at turns. Come next time, it's all smooth and clean though.It doesn't take long to get accustomed to this, and you'll be a better and more confident rider on your own.
I found these rides through Google, which in fact pointed my to MeetUp.com , which turns out to be a great site for all sorts of interest groups. Check it out and see if there are scooter meetups in your area. Who knows maybe you'll get to meet great people. And if there isn't one, perhaps you could start your own!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Parking
Scooters are easy to park. In fact, you can park them pretty much anywhere. That's because they are not exactly vehicles, but rather motorized bicycles, and bicycles are sort of like pedestrians, they can go wherever.
So at least in Twin Cities it is allowed to park a 50cc scooter (which qualifies as moped) anywhere a bicycle could park. That includes bicycle racks and simply sidewalks. Now that's cool.
Baron 150SX, while being a scooter is of course legally a motorcycle, not a moped. But I park it anywhere anyways. I park it at a bicycle ramp at school everyday, and I chained it on sidewalk in Downtown, right during a busy Friday evening. Now that's convenient! So far so good - no tickets, and it's been more then a month since I got it. Even if I cannot park at the racks, I can always get myself a motorcycle parking lot - those are like hundred bucks a year.
As scooter popularity grows and with the whole environment awareness thing, my bet is cops will get even more lenient towards scooters. As the cc-age grows, there will be more large scooters, and hopefully there will be ever more options for parking etc.
So at least in Twin Cities it is allowed to park a 50cc scooter (which qualifies as moped) anywhere a bicycle could park. That includes bicycle racks and simply sidewalks. Now that's cool.
Baron 150SX, while being a scooter is of course legally a motorcycle, not a moped. But I park it anywhere anyways. I park it at a bicycle ramp at school everyday, and I chained it on sidewalk in Downtown, right during a busy Friday evening. Now that's convenient! So far so good - no tickets, and it's been more then a month since I got it. Even if I cannot park at the racks, I can always get myself a motorcycle parking lot - those are like hundred bucks a year.
As scooter popularity grows and with the whole environment awareness thing, my bet is cops will get even more lenient towards scooters. As the cc-age grows, there will be more large scooters, and hopefully there will be ever more options for parking etc.
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