Post by grocerygetter on Oct 9, 2011 20:03:36 GMT -6
125 mile fall tour today.
Not a long die-hard drive, stopped a lot for pictures.
Couldn't find a safe place to pull over for most of the best mountain shots.
My list is as big as it ever was, but with the forecast for today Sunday) the list had to go back in the drawer.
80F and clear blue sky in the northeast in early October isn’t something you stay in the garage and watch go by.
All in all it was a great inaugural tour for my wife and I.
I haven’t built up confidence in this scooter yet having problems with cold starting and idling no matter how much I play with the idle mixture screw.
So going out for a 100+ mile tour with a passenger may not be the best tryout but hey you gotta give it a shot some time.
Everything went well this morning until we tried to climb Mount Mansfield from the Smugglers Notch side:
I think that part of the road ascends approx. 1000ft in a short distance.
Grade isn’t indicated on a sign, but trucks are not allowed on that road.
We didn’t make it up. Unfortunately someone turned into a driveway right at the bottom of the first big hill, forcing us to start our ascent from a rolling start.
Got up to 35mph and that was it. Speed limit was only 40 there so I figured too bad for people behind us, if I could hold 35 that’s good enough for me.
Well after less than a minute she started slowing down.
No sound change. Throttle wasn’t responding differently in any position.
We slowed until we it died no matter what I tried.
Luckily we weren’t higher up where you hug the guardrail and I was able to pull off into the gravel and push it up about 50ft to a little side road.
Perfect.
"Have you got the AAA card?"
Well lets get out the thermos and cheese and crackers and fruit and try starting it in a while.
No problem, she fired right up like nothing happened.
My wife was convinced that we could probably carry on from there, but I would chance it.
There definitely isn’t enough power for 2 of us to climb a 4,000ft mountain on a scooter that I haven’t dialed in yet.
The farther we go the more narrow it gets and no where to break down.
So packed everything up and back down we went.
My guess is that new sliders with different weights might help it to “gear-down” in these types of situations?
I know our snowmobiles that have proper working clutches can actually be felt gearing down under constant throttle up long steep grades. You can see it in the tach.
What I witnessed on the scooter was the tach getting lower and lower with the speed, no attempt to help the engine gain some torque back with higher rpms.
That is probably something I’d like to dial in next. When you live in the mountains, you need to go up hills.
And for reference, when I started back down the hill that we didn't make it up, I only gave it throttle to about 25mph, then let gravity take its course – we were coasting at 50mph in a few hundred feet. That’s how steep it is.
As a matter of fact, with the tinyest bit of throttle we were doing approx. 65mph in a 40.
So I change course for the day and decided to tour around the lake instead of mountain riding.
Awesome views with deep blue sky. Not as many leaf colors in the lower elevations but still a great day for riding.
We filled up before the lake run just to see what I had been getting during the week and on the way up the mountain.
About 60mpg. Not what I had hoped for, and this was the first time I filled up at a pump to see the actual amount. But I guess climbing mountains isn’t going to get you great mpg’s.
Well after the 60 mile jaunt around the top end of the lake, we filled up at the station near home to see what flatter terrain yielded us.
YES. 70mpg right on the nose.
I realize its not rocket science tying to fill to the same spot in the neck by eye but its pretty darn close.
That gauge was almost down to 3/4 after about 60 miles and it took 0.85 gals to fill. I love this thing! Wish I had have been able to ride all summer dammit!
Now if I can just get that idle and the hill climbing better I’ll be all set for next season!
Enjoy the pictures from our area.
Not a long die-hard drive, stopped a lot for pictures.
Couldn't find a safe place to pull over for most of the best mountain shots.
My list is as big as it ever was, but with the forecast for today Sunday) the list had to go back in the drawer.
80F and clear blue sky in the northeast in early October isn’t something you stay in the garage and watch go by.
All in all it was a great inaugural tour for my wife and I.
I haven’t built up confidence in this scooter yet having problems with cold starting and idling no matter how much I play with the idle mixture screw.
So going out for a 100+ mile tour with a passenger may not be the best tryout but hey you gotta give it a shot some time.
Everything went well this morning until we tried to climb Mount Mansfield from the Smugglers Notch side:
Click image
I think that part of the road ascends approx. 1000ft in a short distance.
Grade isn’t indicated on a sign, but trucks are not allowed on that road.
We didn’t make it up. Unfortunately someone turned into a driveway right at the bottom of the first big hill, forcing us to start our ascent from a rolling start.
Got up to 35mph and that was it. Speed limit was only 40 there so I figured too bad for people behind us, if I could hold 35 that’s good enough for me.
Well after less than a minute she started slowing down.
No sound change. Throttle wasn’t responding differently in any position.
We slowed until we it died no matter what I tried.
Luckily we weren’t higher up where you hug the guardrail and I was able to pull off into the gravel and push it up about 50ft to a little side road.
Perfect.
"Have you got the AAA card?"
Well lets get out the thermos and cheese and crackers and fruit and try starting it in a while.
No problem, she fired right up like nothing happened.
My wife was convinced that we could probably carry on from there, but I would chance it.
There definitely isn’t enough power for 2 of us to climb a 4,000ft mountain on a scooter that I haven’t dialed in yet.
The farther we go the more narrow it gets and no where to break down.
So packed everything up and back down we went.
My guess is that new sliders with different weights might help it to “gear-down” in these types of situations?
I know our snowmobiles that have proper working clutches can actually be felt gearing down under constant throttle up long steep grades. You can see it in the tach.
What I witnessed on the scooter was the tach getting lower and lower with the speed, no attempt to help the engine gain some torque back with higher rpms.
That is probably something I’d like to dial in next. When you live in the mountains, you need to go up hills.
And for reference, when I started back down the hill that we didn't make it up, I only gave it throttle to about 25mph, then let gravity take its course – we were coasting at 50mph in a few hundred feet. That’s how steep it is.
As a matter of fact, with the tinyest bit of throttle we were doing approx. 65mph in a 40.
So I change course for the day and decided to tour around the lake instead of mountain riding.
Awesome views with deep blue sky. Not as many leaf colors in the lower elevations but still a great day for riding.
We filled up before the lake run just to see what I had been getting during the week and on the way up the mountain.
About 60mpg. Not what I had hoped for, and this was the first time I filled up at a pump to see the actual amount. But I guess climbing mountains isn’t going to get you great mpg’s.
Well after the 60 mile jaunt around the top end of the lake, we filled up at the station near home to see what flatter terrain yielded us.
YES. 70mpg right on the nose.
I realize its not rocket science tying to fill to the same spot in the neck by eye but its pretty darn close.
That gauge was almost down to 3/4 after about 60 miles and it took 0.85 gals to fill. I love this thing! Wish I had have been able to ride all summer dammit!
Now if I can just get that idle and the hill climbing better I’ll be all set for next season!
Enjoy the pictures from our area.
..BAD TO THE BONE..
. Rich
