Modern Buddy

I just did a 218 mile ride from north cental PA on the Rough House on Sunday and went over some mountains that were quite long and steep, the scooter made up an over even though it just creeped along. The scooter did perform quite well overall with no issues and am quite pleased with. I had a few curious people come over & ask about, "is that a 50...really!" even more surprised when told how far I was going and got the usual stares and along with that even got waves from other bikers both cruisers and crotch rockets.

I took some faster 2 lane highways and satyed in the right lane & used my flashers when cars came up behind in my lane with no issues. Other roads I had to use the shoulder to get out of the way of faster moving traffic. I had speedo pegged most of the time. I only took one picture but took around 10 breaks, including gas stops. I got gas 4 times each with right around a half tank still left and carried a 1 quart reserve just incase. I would have liked to enjoy my surroundings more but I knew that would have set me back too much. With a couple of unforseen detours and breaks it took me 10hrs 45 min. not bad for just turning the big five-0

Sounds like quite a ride.

If I do again on a 50cc scooter I think I would split the ride over 2 days as I'm not as young as I used to be and also to enjoy the sights along the way. I'm pretty impressed with the overall performance of a stock 50cc scooter and the gas mileage was at least 80 mpg, not bad at all for going over some mountains and running nearly wot most of the way!

Great to hear. I've been hoping to do a trip on my Roughhouse this summer and this gives me the confidence to do it. What was the (approx) outdoor temperature during your riding?

I read where a group of seniors rode 50cc scooters from coast to coast ages 65+. It's hard to imagine they rode 300 + miles a day...although most were in very good health and were bicyclists, so that is what inspired me to try a longer ride, but don't believe I could ever do what they did.

The morning was nice in mid-upper 60's getting up to mid to upper 80's by late afternoon.

Great job! It's amazing how the miles and smiles just keep going on a long ride. And on a 50!!!!!
Excellent

When you do the long rides like that, do you feel the need to allow any significant cooling stops? I know you said ten breaks, but were those for you or the scoot?

My mechanic said it's not necessary on the Rattlers as they have great cooling at speed, but I'm used to dealing with more archaic two-strokes with a tendency to overheat if not babied over long distances...

Personally I've only done 150 m in a round trip on the Ratt, but i did let it cool down a few times during that ride, every 25 miles or so I believe. When I got the rat i understood that as an air cooled two stroke it's probably a good idea to let it cool itself down, nobody ever told me that it didn't need to, but I never asked?
I think it all depends on how far your goin, and the conditions of the day.
There's one member here Scalpel that did a nice ride on his rat from Seattle to somewhere in canada for a doughnut? he would be the one to ask I think.

Breaks also included stopping just for gas. I really would have only had to fill up two times for that trip but got gas when around half tank left so stopped 4 times. I would break every 20 or so miles, just long enough to get a drink or have a granola bar for 10 minutes or less, so not really time to allow scoot significant cooling time, but I'm sure it helped some. I never felt I was really pushing it too hard...the scooter that is

trackpete wrote:When you do the long rides like that, do you feel the need to allow any significant cooling stops? I know you said ten breaks, but were those for you or the scoot?

My mechanic said it's not necessary on the Rattlers as they have great cooling at speed, but I'm used to dealing with more archaic two-strokes with a tendency to overheat if not babied over long distances...