150 mile road trip before first service.. bad idea?

bimbom · Post by **bimbom** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:52 pm

I've got 250 on the odometer right now. Next week I'm planning going up to Hopewell Jct, NY , from the NYC area. It's about 150 miles roundtrip. I've managed to find a route without any major highways, and rather scenic I think.

The route is basically driving up 9W along the water. I'm not too worried about my ability, but of taking a fairly new scooter on the trip, even though its not super far.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:00 pm

So that's 75 miles each way, with a break in between? As long as you can do the trip without going WOT for extended periods of time, plan to stop for breaks along the way, and you have the number of roadside assistance handy in case of equipment failure (statistically most likely on any vehicle in the first several hundred miles)... I'd say go for it.

Mousenut · Post by **Mousenut** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:20 pm

I just broke 500 and I was worried about 17.5 miles one way over a mountain. Now I don't feel so bad about it.

uklemond · Post by **uklemond** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:24 pm

Im not qualified to say if it is a bad idea, but from what im reading it does not sound like a good one lol

my dealer said that my 170i was first service after 500 miles but should really do it before then, so i did it last week at 350

It does not take them long and may be a good decision to get the service done prior to the trip.

Capt_Don · Post by **Capt_Don** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:32 pm

I could not get into the dealer for 350, they were backed up and I had to work. So I asked, "should I stop riding it?" They answered that it was fine, and I made an appointment right there on the phone. I took it in for the appointment and all is well, even after going over 350! The key is to get it serviced and follow some break in stuff...

illnoise · Post by **illnoise** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:53 am

I need an oil change BAD before I go to Amerivespa and I'm hesitant to do it because I figure the odds of me stripping the drain plug or not tightening the filter enough so it spins off halfway there are higher than the odds of my bike exploding because I didn't do it.

But I'm really overdue, if my filter ever shows up in the mail, I gotta do it.

First service, I'd be a LITTLE more nervous about it, but you should be fine, the service intervals are WAY WAY conservative on any vehicle these days.

Bb.

bluebuddygirl · Post by **bluebuddygirl** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:49 am

I did my first service around 900 miles per my dealer's recommendation. Check how early they want to do it as they will be the ones varifying your warranty with Genuine. If I had gone in based on the book, i would have driven back two days after I got the scoot.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:28 am

I wouldn't do it if it were my scooter.

pugbuddy · Post by **pugbuddy** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 12:29 pm

I fully expect my scooter to go much farther than 150 miles at any time. So I have no issues with the road trip, in spite of all the worries noted so far. I'd do it.

RoadRambler · Post by **RoadRambler** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 12:53 pm

Ironically, based on the various recommendations in Bimbom's earlier thread, I decided to go ahead and have my new Psycho's first service at 225 miles (I expected it to be more like 300 when I made the appt, but we had a bunch of thunderstorms in the days leading up to my appt and I didn't ride as much) because of the Genuine Appreciation ride coming up. Sure enough, I put another 200+ miles on the scooter in 2 days following my service, including the Appreciation ride and other trips that weekend. Of course, the total for my new baby still would've been only around 500 miles, but it was a lot of miles in a short period of time, so I'm okay with my choice.

Eric I think recommended sticking with dino oil and repeating the service at about 500 miles if the scoot got serviced at a few hundred. My shop did go ahead and switch me over to synthetic (they just did it automatically). I read up on it and it seems the issue is that synthetic might be too slippery to allow proper seating of the parts? I think I'm just going to live with it, though. I do get the feeling shops have their own ideas about what's important or less important about various service recommendations and practices -- no doubt based on their many personal experiences servicing lots of scoots!

Regardless of the servicing schedule, though, I'm in the camp of "don't worry about it" as far as taking even a new scooter on a 150-mile round trip!