Modern Buddy

Give or take. This sounds low to me judging by most posts i see around, and sometimes its more like, oh, 52mph. I have not GPS verified this, but will next time I ride. I am judging this by the road radar signs.

It is my mother's scooter, and being back in town and nearby i have been tending to it, riding it weekly, and generally looking after it. It has 1200m on the odo, and just had its first service 400m ago. Everything checked out well, no performance problems, no issues whatsoever.

But getting the speedo past 60-65mph indicated is a bit much. Heck, even rolling somewhat down hill. The scoot has plenty of low and midrange pop, but it does run out of room quite readily after. I can be riding not even at half throttle and 55mph indicated comes on before I know it. But climbing above that seems all throttle and not much go.

I am 6'3 and weigh 250lbs and the scooter had a somewhat soft break-in period of 300 miles of leisurely riding. So maybe those factors are playing a role and holding the scooter back a bit? Or maybe I just need to ride it longer and stronger? I certainly hope I can get a bit more out of it. Especially if I buy it. Because if it ever goes up for sale, well....I'm all over it. But maybe not if it can only take me to 55mph!

Any experience or tips would be well taken. Thanks!

JHScoot wrote:I am 6'3 and weigh 250lbs

I'm guessing this is why. I'm 5'3 155 lbs and I've seen 70+ indicated speed on my fiance's Buddy 150.

1200 miles is only just or not quite broken in. Personally I saw the biggest performance improvements between 1200 and 1500 miles.

Also, in my experience, for a scooter to achieve maximum WOT/top end performance it needs to be ridden regularly at high speed. Otherwise it's like expecting to win a 100 yard dash when all you've ever done is walk to the corner store—it ain't gonna happen.

When I rode my scooter from LA to San Francisco WOT or close to it the entire way (trying to keep up with bigger scooters), my scooter broke itself in differently and has been comfortable going faster ever since. I can regularly top 70+mph indicated and bury the speedo given the right conditions.

So keep your scooter properly tuned and give it the right exercise and it will very likely increase its top end.

That said, as we all know, losing weight is the best performance boost I am a pretty steady 200lbs.

Hit 70smph several times going downhill this weekend. No performance mods on my Blackjack besides the ones it came with.

I'm 6'3" and 240 and I've seen an indicated 64 on a buddy 125 a friend owns. If that helps at all. It takes time but it will get there.
Of course thats by the buddy speedo.

I'm 5'11" 178# and when it's not windy I've hit 75 mph on the flats. But then again I got a few more cc's... Also, as others have said, the engine isn't broken in yet. I know I've felt better performance after 1500 mi....

above 45mph [actual], air friction is the biggest contributor to loss of power.

even a light headwind will have feeling like you are driving through Vaseline.

considering your height, i'd think about a windscreen. I willing to bet that you are acting like a huge sail. I have this problem especially when i wear my armor, but not when i wear less bulky clothing. A windshield helped a lot for me.

-duo

Thanks for the responses so far

I will measure true top speed when next time with the scooter. I will post back with what I find.

I have enough experience riding now to understand about clothing worn, weight, coefficient of drag and w/e else it's called? Wind resistance and what not. But I have a feeling the scoot has more to give, so we will see. BUT, I do feel those things, yeah.

The only other scooter I have to measure it against is my Agility on the same roads. That's probably not a fair indication though, as the Kymco 125 does 55-60mph. All I can say is the Buddy 150 seems to do the same on the same roads, if not quite as readily.

1200m. So I will ride it harder from here on to 1500m. And, maybe lose 20lbs in the process

Hey, you know what they say about going fast, half the fun is getting there

I should mention too that when I do bury the speedo I am fully tucked and with my knees together, and ideally level road and no headwind too. Keeping your knees together alone can give you an additional 5mph. The Buddy's leg shield doesn't exactly deflect a lot of air.