Modern Buddy

What kind of actaul milage do you get ? ... for the 50's and the 125's

Corrected for the inaccurate odometer, based on trips by my gps, my Italia gets 85 mpg city and about 75 mpg highway.

inaccurate odometer? i thought that it's only the speedometer that's a little optimistic. how can the odometer be inaccurate?

Being I never let it actually get empty or even go to the reserve tank (My Vespa has a reserve Buddy's DO NOT HAVE A RESERVE TANK!!!)

I filled up around 60 miles from the dealership filling her up. I then went about 40 miles before needing to fill up again (I didn't fill her ALL the way up)
I was working on the next tank when I crashed. About 31 miles past the last fill up.

Simple averaging= about 50 mpg. Again I didn't let it get to the reserve tank nor all the way empty. So...take that average or leave it.

the speedo & odometer are tied together and they are both optimistic

I have only filled up three times since getting my Italia so my sample size is small. I have found that on measured routes my odometer overstates distance by 8.5%. Taking that into account my actual mileage varies between 92 and 100 mpg. It is worth noting that the more comfortable I am on the scoot the faster I go. The faster I go, the worse the mileage.

Scooter Mileage/Gas Records
Fill-up#_Odometer__Volume__$/Gallon__Total__Mileage
1______142________1.300___3.510____4.56__109.23
2______289________1.384___3.299____4.57__106.21
3______433________1.424___2.989____4.26__101.12


It is also possible that since the Italia is a "green" scooter it has less environmental impact and hence better mileage than the other colors.

Depending on conditions, you can probably expect somewhere between 70-100 mpg with a 125. If you're small, live in the flatlands and don't run wide open a lot, your mileage should be closer to 100 than 70. If you're big, live in demanding terrain and like to go fast, your mileage will probably dip below an indicated 80mpg.

The whole "reserve tank" thing tends to get me going because the reserve is a throwback to the old days of motorcycling. Those motorcycles had 3 position petcocks: closed, open and reserve. When you ran the bike the petcock was open. You'd ride until you ran out of fuel and then reach down and move the petcock to reserve. Then you'd find a gas station. Fast.

Today's bikes and scooters are more user friendly. Many have gas gauges with a "reserve" section, like the Buddy. You ride until the needle hits the red zone and then you look for gas. Many have no gauge but do have a "reserve" light, like my GT1000. You ride, the light winks on and you know you need to find gas within about 20 miles. Precious few still have an actual, for real, reserve where you have to switch the petcock over. I'd be very surprised to find a petcock on a CVT Vespa. New Bonnevilles, Thruxton's and Scramblers still have 'em though.

My point is that pretty much all bikes I know of have reserves. No, they're not separate switchable reserve tanks but they're rather an indicator of when you should start looking for gas. My best advice to avoid running out is to watch your odometer mileage. You'll know after a few fill-ups how far you can get on a tankful and that knowledge is far more reliable than a gauge or warning light.

My 50 gets between 70 - 75 mpg (not correcting for any optimism in the odometer)