It was hard, to travel far and fast. But it's not as hard as I thought that it would be. And its not as hard as everyone who saw me thought that it must have been.
It was fun, it was more fun than I have had in a long time and more fun than I could have imagined it being. That may not be true for every trip, but it was true for this one!
I grew. I grew more in those days on the road than I have in the year that proceeded it. I experienced the world more in that week and half on the scooter than I have in 5 years driving a car. For me now, there is no more travel by car or truck. Even a motorcycle I would be hesitant about.
Traveling by scooter is such a conversation starter that I would very much regret ever giving it up for any other wheeled vehicle. I suppose the reason is, almost no one even trys it. Even many scooter lovers do not travel by scooter, but I did it, others have done it, and you can do it too. I saw one post about a guy who went across the country on his blur! Thats nuts right? Well he did it and lived to tell the tale. Why can't we all?
These days may be the last for awhile that traveling so far for a reasonable amount of money(different for everyone) is even possible in your own vehicle. 4 dollars a gallon is tough, but its not nearly as tough as its going to get in time. I hope the hybrid and electric scooters come out, but if they do it still won't be for a long time. If you can find the time and the money, get out there! What are you waiting for? Its great!
New Jersey to Tennessee, What I learned
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Congrats. I would love to hear more about the trip... How long it took, what kind of difficulties you encountered, how you prepared, if the scoot had any problems, etc.
Eric // LA Scooter Meetup Group // Stella 4T // Vespa LX // Vespa LXS // Honda Helix // some, uh, projects…
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JasonH
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Mechanically, And i knew and know very little about mechanics, the 07 Buddy 125 i think has done excellent.
To the shagrin of auto experts everywhere, I rode 2000 miles basically full throttle. I told myself in the beginning i wasn't going to, I was going to keep it slow, 50-55mph, but I didn't. There are some reasons for that besides me just wanting to go fast.
The buddy's speedometer is not correct, neither is the odometer. Both read more than what you are actually getting. Don't know exactly for the speedometer, but some radar told me i was going 48 when it said 56 on the speedo. That sucks.
The odometer is off by approximately 10%. For everyone mile i go, the odometer reads .1 higher. The odometer says I drove 2200 miles on this trip. But I actually drove 2000, thats a big difference. That means when it comes to calculating your gas mileage, if everyones Buddy is wrong by the same amount if you think you're getting 100mpg, your actually getting only 90.
That sucks, but I can't complain about 90mpg if thats what I get.
I was getting 70 mpg approximately during the trip. Taking account for the error in odometer. Now thats good for cars, but its not what I think the scooter should be able to get. I did have a bunch of stuff with me. Affecting aerodynamics and weight, that might explain 5-8mpg loss( i would think, but its just a guess).
Chelsea over at Scoot Richmond(GREAT place) told me i should check my fuel filter. That made sense to me on top of the MPG because during the trip the Buddy changed from starting up on the first try, to having to try again, and even sometimes a third time to get her running. So just a minute ago i found out what it looks like, took off the underseat compartment and pulled it out. It does seem clogged to me. I don't really know what its supposed to be like, but water seemed like it had an awfuly hard time coming out of it and the water seemed dirty. I have 4400 miles on my scooter. Adjust for error 4000. So i'm going buy a few filters, change them i suppose every 2500 miles.
Onto Oil!
Well Philly scooters told me they were booked when I wanted to do my first maintenance, so I've done them all myself so far. I havent changed the Oil filter, but i know i should have and I'm not going to ride it until i get one in from scooterworks.
I changed oil before I left, it started to sound alittle rough as I got there, but not bad. I changed it again before I left, and as I got into Delaware it started to sound bad again. Won't drive it more till I change it. I've been using shell 15w 40, but i think Ill switch to a synthethic oil soon. Seems to be what is recommended for hard driving.
But really, the scooter did great. No one thought it could make it, but it did and with style :p
What other machine could drive 2000 miles at near wide open throttle and live to tell tale? Mountains, freeways, dirt roads, potholes, sneaky road bumps, millions of bugs and lots of confederate flags and the Buddy came out on top!
To the shagrin of auto experts everywhere, I rode 2000 miles basically full throttle. I told myself in the beginning i wasn't going to, I was going to keep it slow, 50-55mph, but I didn't. There are some reasons for that besides me just wanting to go fast.
The buddy's speedometer is not correct, neither is the odometer. Both read more than what you are actually getting. Don't know exactly for the speedometer, but some radar told me i was going 48 when it said 56 on the speedo. That sucks.
The odometer is off by approximately 10%. For everyone mile i go, the odometer reads .1 higher. The odometer says I drove 2200 miles on this trip. But I actually drove 2000, thats a big difference. That means when it comes to calculating your gas mileage, if everyones Buddy is wrong by the same amount if you think you're getting 100mpg, your actually getting only 90.
That sucks, but I can't complain about 90mpg if thats what I get.
I was getting 70 mpg approximately during the trip. Taking account for the error in odometer. Now thats good for cars, but its not what I think the scooter should be able to get. I did have a bunch of stuff with me. Affecting aerodynamics and weight, that might explain 5-8mpg loss( i would think, but its just a guess).
Chelsea over at Scoot Richmond(GREAT place) told me i should check my fuel filter. That made sense to me on top of the MPG because during the trip the Buddy changed from starting up on the first try, to having to try again, and even sometimes a third time to get her running. So just a minute ago i found out what it looks like, took off the underseat compartment and pulled it out. It does seem clogged to me. I don't really know what its supposed to be like, but water seemed like it had an awfuly hard time coming out of it and the water seemed dirty. I have 4400 miles on my scooter. Adjust for error 4000. So i'm going buy a few filters, change them i suppose every 2500 miles.
Onto Oil!
Well Philly scooters told me they were booked when I wanted to do my first maintenance, so I've done them all myself so far. I havent changed the Oil filter, but i know i should have and I'm not going to ride it until i get one in from scooterworks.
I changed oil before I left, it started to sound alittle rough as I got there, but not bad. I changed it again before I left, and as I got into Delaware it started to sound bad again. Won't drive it more till I change it. I've been using shell 15w 40, but i think Ill switch to a synthethic oil soon. Seems to be what is recommended for hard driving.
But really, the scooter did great. No one thought it could make it, but it did and with style :p
What other machine could drive 2000 miles at near wide open throttle and live to tell tale? Mountains, freeways, dirt roads, potholes, sneaky road bumps, millions of bugs and lots of confederate flags and the Buddy came out on top!
