New Motovlog- birthday ride and terrifying crows  By  ungabunga (Read 550 times)

First, in answer to Paul's dilemma with cold hands. Gloves are useless in cold weather unless they're electric. My Dad imparted valuable words to me years ago as a veteran of cold weather riding. "Mittens are the only thing that work. Your fingers are bunched together and share body heat instead of being in separate sections." I followed his advice and to this day have leather mittens in my repertoire. I won't say they always kept me warm but riding in the dark at 60 mph in ten degrees is an extreme test.
 
To Leo:  You see numerous really nice-looking new Chinese 250's in the $1,500 range. But posts indicate some are doing good to top 60-mph

I don't know who "They" are but most Chinese 250 scooters will run into the 70 mph speeds unless something is wrong. Here's the thing. They'll do outrageous speeds but not for very long before trouble develops. I do a lot of web surfing and a least for the CN-250 Honda replica it's heat. The small one quart oil capacity of a Chinese CN-250 isn't up to the job. It might work fine for a Honda engine but Chinese metallurgy isn't quite the same. Believe it or not the radiator isn't the problem it's the oil. Run hard and fast the engine will suffer. A 233cc air cooled Honda Rebel or Nighthawk packs two quarts.

Only once I saw 68 mph on my speedometer of the 250 CF Moto by accident. By keeping the scooter between 60 and 62 mph on the interstate I did six trips of 300 miles round trip this past summer with no trouble and have 16,000 miles so far.

As side note. There is a guy in a scooter club on Long Island who recently lamented how he blew up a 250 Kymco Xciting by "Over revving it on the Long Island Expressway". I believe that long term reliability is always in the hands of the owner.




 

I just spray water proofing on the backs of my leather gloves with carbon fiber inserts paying attention to the seams/stitching and all is well to about 37 degrees. Below that the bridges I ride over before sunrise tend to ice up which is not good for the scooter or the rider. I carry a bib in the seat bucket to put under my armored riding jacket if it gets too cold out so when I ride out I am prepared for any weather from just above freezing to 120. Also carry a full rain suite under the seat and either wear Kevlar Jeans with Level 3 Armor or Over Pants with Level 3 Armor.

After a low side fall at about 45 mph and having the bike slide over me I don't ride without ATGATT as I was not wearing lower body protection then and it took over a year to recover 99% from the bruises on my knees.

Riding through crows is fun but they can have the last laugh if you scare the #$%^ out of them.

Loud pipes with the ultra sound insulated cars out there and mega blaster stereos aren't the protection they used to be and can make you a target so they can end up being a double edged sword that can cut back at you. On a long ride they can get very annoying. For me a long ride starts at 4 am and can end after midnight with about 10 or 12 hours of riding covering up to 1,200 miles in a day which could become quite a drag with a loud pipe on the bike.

Still have not found that old time country diner with the perfect chicken fried steak and pork chops and you can cover a lot of miles exploring.

I enjoyed my test drive of a new 500C Abarth but ended up with a more traditional 1978 124 Spider Convertible instead with an unconventional 1.8 L Turbo Diesel powering it. 50 mpg on the highway and around 40 mpg in the city and great fun with the top down.

New to the stable this past September is a Plug In Electric Nissan Leaf which I am loving since it preforms like a muscle car and I get to charge it for free at work making it so I do not have to pay for fuel on my daily commute. If you commute 30 miles or less these electric cars are perfect. No oil changes so annual maintenance is tire rotation and brake flushes along with an occasional cooling system flush every now and then. When I behave I can commute the entire week on one charge however even if it had to be done daily I could do it in a few hours while I am working and again its free. I also get the added perk of a reserved electric car space in the parking garage. If has a speaker mounted under the hood to make a jet type sound at low speeds so people can hear you coming. They found that having too loud a sound made it more difficult for people to figure out where you where coming from so they tuned it with that in mind (brings to mind another danger of a too loud muffler on a bike is it can disorient the listener so they can't easily pick out where your coming from).