Modern Buddy

Out here in the west, you have to ride a long ways to get from city to city, place to place. I had heard of Iron Butt rides, so I checked out their website. I couldn't find anything scooter specific. Has anyone done any Iron Butt type stuff for scooters?

Howard

I've heard of people doin' IBA stuff on scooters. I don't know any hard facts though & I'd imagine you'd need a fast scoot to make the time. You could e-mail them & ask I suppose. Hope that helps!

A member of my riding group has qualified and rides IronButt events on a regular basis. Another is planning his first attempt in Mid-Oct. on a Sym CitiCom (he's a former Buddy rider).

Wow, to qualify for ANYTHING in the IBA on a buddy would be extraordinary! Their shortest qualifying ride is 1000 miles in 24 hours. That would be tough on a motorcycle, but on a Buddy or similar 125/150cc scooter - insane!

Howard

Howardr wrote:Their shortest qualifying ride is 1000 miles in 24 hours. That would be tough on a motorcycle, but on a Buddy or similar 125/150cc scooter - insane!

And on a 50cc scooter, it's quite likely in violation of one or two laws of physics.

I can't see the website here at work, but I thought they had a ride going across the country that was supposedly specifically for 50cc scooters.

I can't imagine trying this on anything that can't spend nearly all the time on the interstate. Smaller roads would not allow you to rack up the necessary miles.

I am considering doing this on my Sym, but it would be suicide on a Buddy.

-v

The real problem is that it's based on mileage. I don;t know how you could manage 1000mi in 24 hours on anything under 200cc, hauling ass on the freeway. For under-200cc it might make more sense to have something based on hours in the saddle.

It's an accomplishment, that's for sure. I know people who've done it on MCs.

I dont think this is a very safe idea for the bike I mean. I'm sure it would be do-able, but the risk of engine damage is pretty high. 1000 miles in one day, the buddy isnt a motorcycle with a radiator up front, it's air cooled. Alex Had issues on her peace ride twice because of too much WOT and too long, and she only went 300-400 miles a day. 1000 miles in one day will blow your engine.

Another thing I can think of is problems with gas mileage, motorcycles with several gallon tanks can go much much farther than the buddy's 100+ mile range on a tank

It seems, to me, that, you would still have to use mileage as a qualifier. Time in the saddle is difficult to measure and confirm. I think we just need a different scale for scooter, perhaps based on CC's.
By the way, their 50cc coast to coast actually is for 50cc bikes. The "cc" stands for coast to coast and you have to do it in 50 HOURS! to qualify as an Iron Butt ride.
I agree with you, TVB, that many of their standards are not physically possible for smaller scooters to do. You would have to maintain highway speeds for many hours and our scoots, as amazing as they are, just can't do it.

Howard

ps - Maybe I'll just organize my own local Iron Scooter Butt qualifications for our Arizona clubs.

I think 1,000 miles on a 150cc scooter is doable. Hard, but doable. That only averages out to just under 42 miles per hour.

Some guys in Minnesota took a People 250 out on a 24-hour ride (I can't remember the mileage) and the scooter did just fine. They were riding it on the freeway, though.

Here's how I would do it. KC, like most cities, is ringed with fine four-lane, lighted roads where the posted speed limit is 45 MPH - 50 MPH. These roads have traffic lights, but they are few and far between. If you could ride fast enough to take a 10-15 minute break every hour and do all your business during that break (gas, grub, hydration, elimination) you could do it.

This is a job for a man or woman much younger than me, but I think a broken-in quality 150cc scooter could get this done.

Again, not easy by any means, but doable.

Very doable is 500 miles in 24 hours. Maybe an (iron cheek)?

I smell a fundraising opportunity! Find a race track that will allow riders to do 500 miles in 24 hours (speed limit 55 or 60 MPH, whatever they are good with), get sponsors for each rider and donate the money to a good cause. I would be on board. The 500 mile thing works well with auto racing.

We rode Ann Arbor to New Orleans to Denver to San Fran back to Michigan all on vintage vespas with P200 engines. Best summer of my life.

We never averaged many miles a day, but then again, there were six of us riding, and breaking down regularly.

Stefan in Cleveland rode a 50cc Vino on the Lake Erie Loop around Lake Erie. He obviously didn't make good time on the 50 (that Phil had to convince him to de-ristrict right before the race), and Stefan also has a psychological weakness that forces him to stop at every Tim Horton's Ontario has to offer.

Insane? Yes. Undeniably AMAZING? Hell yes! The stuff dreams (and nightmares) are made of.

Josh D wrote:... and Stefan also has a psychological weakness that forces him to stop at every Tim Horton's Ontario has to offer...

That's a lot of stops!

So, now I've started looking some things up. It seems that a guy rode a 250cc Honda Helix on the Iron Butt Rally. It's a lap around the US and it must be completed in 11 days or less.

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/1995.cfm?DocID=3

It's an entertaining read, but I think there's a world of difference between a 150cc Buddy and a 250cc Helix. What Iron Butt does is add time constraints in addition to massive distances.
I think what I would do, for our type of scooters, is decrease the distances and make them more doable (but still difficult) and ease up the time limits. I want something difficult, but not impossible.

Howard

Howardr wrote:So, now I've started looking some things up. It seems that a guy rode a 250cc Honda Helix on the Iron Butt Rally. It's a lap around the US and it must be completed in 11 days or less.

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/1995.cfm?DocID=3

It's an entertaining read, but I think there's a world of difference between a 150cc Buddy and a 250cc Helix. What Iron Butt does is add time constraints in addition to massive distances.
I think what I would do, for our type of scooters, is decrease the distances and make them more doable (but still difficult) and ease up the time limits. I want something difficult, but not impossible.

Howard

Cannonball 2010!

Howardr wrote:there's a world of difference between a 150cc Buddy and a 250cc Helix.
Howard

bottom line, is exactly this. I have a 125cc Buddy and a 250cc Sym purely for the reason that there IS a world of difference between the two. I love my Buddy, it is my favorite scooter, but there are times that the Sym is the best tool for the job.

I wish they would make a separeate class for weight and cc of scooter for bikes that would be suicide on a freeway.

-v

I have a 125 Buddy and 250 Helix and agree that they are different tools for different jobs.
I have planned out a route for a Saddlesore 1000 on my mc in the past. The Helix would do it and its not impossible for the Buddy but it would take a lot of careful planning and some assistance at various points along the way to minimize dead time. As far as doing it on the Buddy only two things concern me, the butt and the bike. The butt would give up before the bike. A couple shots of novacaine and lots of caffeine.

DennisD rockin the Bill... nice

Someone has done the 11 day iron butt ride on a Honda Helix 250. His riding journal used to be on the ironbutt webpage. Two guys have done it on 125cc machines but they were Cagiva motorcycle with six speed transmissions. that still makes them faster than a Buddy, and those bikes were reliable. The buddy is too but not for riding 1,000 miles a day for 11 days. I guess what I am saying is, doing an iron butt on a scooter (if you qualify) is do-able but it will be incredibly difficult.
It is worth reading the riding journal of that Honda Helix rider; it is alot harder than it seems. To be competetive with motorcycles you will suffer serious sleep deprivation.