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Post by rockynv on Oct 7, 2013 5:32:38 GMT -5
Originally bought the Xingyue for $900... $1687 Plus oil, misc vacuum hoses, some spare wire and connections Riding it for my fourth season now, passed 7100 miles earlier this week. Less than 2,000 miles a year if 4 seasons equals 4 years. I'll have between 30,000 to 50,000 miles on my bike by that time. Personally I would be very hard pressed to put almost the entire purchase price back into the bike for upgrades. I know that I am cheap and look at these things from a past generations viewpoint. |
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Post by jeepsteve92xj on Oct 7, 2013 7:29:58 GMT -5
I like to tinker, Like EFI, dislike carbs, and original items that need to be replaced may as well get upgraded (exhaust, charging system).
I don't get to ride all year. 40F and raining this morning, so I took the van. If it were 40 and not raining I would have ridden.
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Post by rockynv on Oct 8, 2013 5:42:34 GMT -5
I like to tinker, Like EFI, dislike carbs, and original items that need to be replaced may as well get upgraded (exhaust, charging system). I don't get to ride all year. 40F and raining this morning, so I took the van. If it were 40 and not raining I would have ridden. The downside of a year round riding season is little time for tinkering. I can hear the caa-ching as the van blows out a minimum of $10 of fuel a day compared to 70 cents a day riding the bike. At 8,000 miles I had started to do a lot of repairs on my Lance/Znen 150 and it was impacting my employement so I had to do something. Welded and reinforced the muffler, rebuilt the gearbox as the bearings were shot, replaced grooved out variator, replaced shattered clutch, starter fell apart internally, started welding in high grade nuts in place of the soft steel ones that Znen used on the frame. The Lance also went though heads, 3 of them, as they would crack in the timing chain area and blow oil all over the place and that started at about 3,500 miles. The bulk of the issues were from a kevlar belt grooving the drive faces and causing vibrations that damaged the bearings and were literally shaking the bike apart. At this point between the original purchase price and repairs I was already over $2,000 into keeping that 150 running at 10,000 miles. So after the last $200+ repair I found the local Aprilia dealer would take the Lance in trade on the $2,999 factory special Sport City 250 and I took the deal before I ended up putting another $1,000 into keeping the Lance running. On the Sport City the top case mod was 2 small bolts to install a clip and the Givi just snapped on and the lid on the topcase has a real latch that stays closed when you go over bumps, a real key and doesn't leak when it rains. A Puig Sport Fairing only took about an hour to install. Already fuel injected, water cooled, full flow oil filtration, muffler is good, twin disk brake up front single disk in the back, 4 valve head, 15 inch tires and keeps up with 600cc motorcycles on the interstate. 18,000 (eighteen thousand) miles so far without mufflers failing, heads cracking, bodywork falling off, etc. I was heading towards $3,000 on the Lance after another year or so passed so it just made sense to stop the bleeding. |
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Post by jeepsteve92xj on Oct 8, 2013 7:50:30 GMT -5
When I started scooting, I was driving a suburban that never got better than 8mpg, downhill with a tailwind! Someone had replaced the 5.7liter with a 5.0, and used the 5.7 injectors - that deliver something like 30% more fuel. I finally put in a set of correct injectors when I figured out the problem, and added the missing 02 sensor, but came across the van so the suburban is parked forever. Riding the scooter that first season saved me a ton on fuel, so I felt richer.
Someday I should just finish my motorcycle project.
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Post by rockynv on Oct 8, 2013 20:18:53 GMT -5
When I started scooting, I was driving a suburban that never got better than 8mpg, downhill with a tailwind! Someone had replaced the 5.7liter with a 5.0, and used the 5.7 injectors - that deliver something like 30% more fuel. I finally put in a set of correct injectors when I figured out the problem, and added the missing 02 sensor, but came across the van so the suburban is parked forever. Riding the scooter that first season saved me a ton on fuel, so I felt richer. Someday I should just finish my motorcycle project. I track my savings compared to driving my old van in a spreadsheet and the Lance 150 despite the repairs still saved me $2,208.58 while the Aprilia 250 so far has saved me $14,256.12. The Aprilia 250 saved me $5,383.52 at the same mileage that the Lance 150 returned the $2,208.58 in savings. On that alone the Aprilia has justified its purchase price. I write software to do statistical analysis for a living and I can't turn that off at home. |
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Post by jeepsteve92xj on Oct 9, 2013 7:49:20 GMT -5
I write software to do statistical analysis for a living and I can't turn that off at home. I can't even seem to make an excel formula that works }= I think we highjacked this thread I don't track things I should, but I've started to be more diligent with my smartphone app TripLog - GPS Mileage. No doubt a stock higher displacement stronger scooter would get better all around fuel economy. With 8hp, I run WOT nearly 100% and get as low as 48mpg (lots of fill-up spillage at one gas station), and as high as 69.8 (which seemed like everywhere I went I had traffic keeping my speeds down). A Kymco People 300i -(on eBay again) would stomp my Xingyue like Bruce Lee on Chuck Norris. |
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Post by rockynv on Oct 9, 2013 21:25:39 GMT -5
I write software to do statistical analysis for a living and I can't turn that off at home. I can't even seem to make an excel formula that works }= I think we highjacked this thread I don't track things I should, but I've started to be more diligent with my smartphone app TripLog - GPS Mileage. No doubt a stock higher displacement stronger scooter would get better all around fuel economy. With 8hp, I run WOT nearly 100% and get as low as 48mpg (lots of fill-up spillage at one gas station), and as high as 69.8 (which seemed like everywhere I went I had traffic keeping my speeds down). A Kymco People 300i -(on eBay again) would stomp my Xingyue like Bruce Lee on Chuck Norris. Oops I lost track and thought this was your thread. Yes you would be surprised how if you are currently riding at the max speed of your 150 how much better fuel economy you can get from a 250 or 300. Riding 45 to 55 mph roads I get 75 to 80 mpg now compared to 45 to 55 mpg with the Lance. At over 70 mph the fuel ecomomy of the Sport City drops to about 65 mpg while at 80+ it gets closer to 60 mpg. With the throttle past 3/4 you can end up with the speedometer pinned which maxes out at 100 and your talking in the 55 mpg range. |
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