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 Getting started. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Getting started. Show all posts
Saturday, August 30, 2008
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.
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