Honda PCX - Back from First Ride

[Robert]

I'm not an experienced scooter rider, just mini bikes, and bicycle riding in the past. At 55 I decided to learn how to ride a scooter. I passed my DMV permit test two weeks ago, and bought a 2011 Honda PCX 125, riding jacket, gloves, and helmet last weekend. Set up insurance and took my first ride this morning. I put about 2 miles on it, first going through the neighborhood, practicing turns, using the blinkers, and breaking. Then, road it onto the local streets, practicing the same at intersections riding with cars. I had a great time.

I noticed a couple of things while riding. Even though I was making a conscious decision to turn off the blinkers, I occasionally forgot to cancel after turns, and I noticed at intersections, motor vehicle drivers wanted to yield me the right away even though they entered the intersection clearly before me. Is it common to vehicle drivers to yield regularly at intersections. I don't recall doing this very often as a driver.

Thanks
Robert

[jlhog]

Congrats, on getting on two wheels. That is odd that cars were yeilding you the right of way. Most people in cars dont even see people on bikes or scooters. Take your time , get plenty of practice, and pay attention the the other cars around you. I have been on motorcycles for almost 40 years and the best protection you have is to pay attention.

[Urbanian]

I noticed at intersections, motor vehicle drivers wanted to yield me the right away even though they entered the intersection clearly before me. Is it common to vehicle drivers to yield regularly at intersections. I don't recall doing this very often as a driver.

Congrats on the new bike! You'll love it.

Obviously those who yield right of way are just starstruck by the beauty of your bike, and are frozen in their tracks.
I've had the same experience, typically at 4-way stops, and on the freeway (they don't stop, they just grant LOTS of elbow room). Many drivers are very generous toward a respectable looking bike. The way to refuse the right of way at an intersection is to put both feet on the ground. They will usually proceed at that point.

[Urbanian]

OTOH, ride like you are invisible, and everybody else is drunk!

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/06/02/le ... otorcycle/

[you you]

OTOH, ride like you are invisible, and everybody else is drunk!

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/06/02/le ... otorcycle/

I like to do the opposite

[Dudley]

I have trouble with leaving the blinkers on as well.
My old scooters blinkers were very loud. Still not used to the silent ones on the pcx.

[jlhog]

ride like you are invisible, and everybody else is drunk!

Well Stated

[Mel46]

I ride with my wife so if I see that she forgot to turn off the blinker, or if she sees that I forgot to, we have a signal to each other. I ride staggered behind her so I honk my horn twice to get her attention, then move my finger in and out to mean signal is on. She does the same for me. With no communication link between us other than that we do have some problems, but it is the best option we have. Have a plan in advance. Then keep an eye on each other as well as everyone else. Assume that no one can see you at any time, and act accordingly.

[you you]

I ride with my wife so if I see that she forgot to turn off the blinker, or if she sees that I forgot to, we have a signal to each other. I ride staggered behind her so I honk my horn twice to get her attention, then move my finger in and out to mean signal is on. She does the same for me. With no communication link between us other than that we do have some problems, but it is the best option we have. Have a plan in advance. Then keep an eye on each other as well as everyone else. Assume that no one can see you at any time, and act accordingly.

We do the same. Tap the rear seat on the side that the indicator is blinking on

[maddiedog]

They might have been able to tell that you were a new rider, and therefore yielded to you more than usual. If I ever see someone who looks like they're learning on a bike (you can usually tell by how they corner), I always give them plenty of room to make sure they're comfortable. Same goes for kids learning to drive cages.

It might also be your area. I don't get much mercy around here, I was riding home from a friend's hours Sunday night and ended up riding between lanes for about 50 yards before I could get out from between two cars -- a lady just decided she was going to be in my lane, and there was really nothing I could do about it since she had easily 10 times my mass with her enormous SUV...

I've heard this advice before, and it's great advice:

ride like you are invisible, and everybody else is drunk!

[tomtic]

At some time or other all of us have left our traffic indicators on - often due to concentrating on some difficult roundabout or junction. If you are lucky you will notice before oncoming traffic does.
I've had a car pull out in front of me, because he thought I was turning left, and I have verbally expressed my dissatisfaction with his standard of driving ........ until I noticed I'd left my indicators on.
It was my fault - pure and simple. But this experience helped me to realize just how important it is NOT to leave them on.
Nowadays I do a quick visual check on the dashboard to make sure they are on, when I want to turn, and off once I've finished my turn. I have also taken some advice from an advanced instructor - get into the habit of pressing the button TWICE when you want to cancel the indicator. This removes any chance of thinking you've cancelled it, but haven't quite hit the button right (particularly in winter when wearing thicker gloves).
I hope my experiences help. The consequences of forgetting to switch off your traffic indicators can be very serious, so it probably pays to get this bit right.
Mind you, the advice above about treating other drivers as though you are invisible has also proved very useful at times!!!

[Mel46]

Hitting the button twice is my habit also. Still, for some reason, my Burgman sometimes refuses to turn off. I plan on having it checked when it goes in the shop, but until then I check and double check to see if that worked after I come out of the turn. My wife turns off her signal just before making the turn or while in the turn. I think this is a bad habit, but I can't seem to get it through her head. If a cancellation in the signal is going to fail, it is going to be when you are still in the turn and try to cancel it.

[hatingoilmoney]

I just put the first 100 miles on my PCX 150 and...wow. What a fun ride. My first impressions...

The seat hump is annoying.

The mpg's are unbelievable! I stopped at 61 miles and put in .58 gallons. The first time i've had change back from a $5 in 25 years. I am 5' 9" and weigh 235lbs and my scooter (not at WOT) topped out at 65 mph. I am in Louisiana (known for the worst roads in the US) and
the wind this week was gusting to 30mph. If I ride straight up, I was getting 60mph, uphill 55mph. If I tucked, I could get 65mph straight and 60 uphill.

I have a Nissan Titan (cause I have lots of toys to tow: jet skiis, boat, travel trailer) and my gas bill last month was $500.00, to and from work. It was $799.00 for all the other running I do. It is 30 miles one way to work. My gas bill should be about $21.00 a month now. I got my scooter out the door for under $4000.00. They tried to jip me on delivery, setup, extended warranty.

I have an advantage, in that, my best friend is a certified mechanic. (By Yamaha, and the us army) So there is no need for the warranty. Or setup, etc... He went over every inch of the bike before I rode it and told (warned) me about the oil level. Which was all correct. The POS#!* at the dealership didn't know a thing. But I bought it online and had never stepped foot into the dealer until time to pick it up.

I have been riding more than 25 years. Various bikes from cruisers to rockets but, guys and gals....this one is just plain FUN! Forget about the economics (which is why I bought it), just the feeling of zippiness (for lack of a better term) is awesome! I am planning on a new windshield, an airhorn, and if someone has a seat w/o the hump, ready to go... Ive been here long enough to see the mods. And i'm not paying 1/3rd of the bike for a seat. BTW, i'm having my brother weld/build a platform for my PCX on the back of the trailer. This summer is going to be the best EVER!!!

Thanks Honda.

PS, Would love some bags (hard) to store weather gear this summer if we could get a group deal.

[hatingoilmoney]

Just a couple more points addressing the issues i've seen here...

My insurance, full coverage, is $22.00 mo.

I am 41yo with NO violations.

I work in the DEEP south with a bunch of 4X4, jacked up truck, and biker kind of demographic. And it's all funny til I say 100mpg.
Then the tone changes.

Yes, the wind blew me around. Not much worse than the Ninja.

I'm learning how to stand up on the floorboards over the bumps. (Constantly) I'll let you know how she holds up.

I get looks EVERYWHERE, and most people are impressed. (I passed a car and the kids were presed up against the glass to get a better look..) I have been asked 3 times about her so far. I expect to see PCX's everywhere this summer.

My insurance did not have the 150 in their system when I bought it. (State Farm)

I talked to a cop friend of mine, and he said he wouldn't stop me unless I was doing doughnuts in front of him! Weve ridden together quite a few times. He's an HD guy. And he is considering one now.

Point is... IDK how long the oil companies are going to allow us to F@&k them like this. I figure we will have to hold on to what we have for as long as we can...or until Honda re-releases the CRX.

[you you]

Excellent. Glad your enjoying it

[Mel46]

hatingoilmoney, if you are going to ride in all sorts of weather with the pcx I would suggest the tall windscreen like maddiedog has. My wife is only 5' tall and we purchased a Givi windscreen for her. She complains that it doesn't stop the wind from hitting her at helmet level. I am experimenting with a solution, which I will post some time in the near future. But until then, just go with the tall one and you won't complain about wind. Maddiedog can give you the pros and cons of it. As far as the seat hump goes, I think he solved that too. If not, well, the people at powerbypcx.com have a lot of seats. I think ours cost us about $164. That was including shipping, which was half of it.

[Taz]

hatingoilmoney, if you are going to ride in all sorts of weather with the pcx I would suggest the tall windscreen like maddiedog has. My wife is only 5' tall and we purchased a Givi windscreen for her. She complains that it doesn't stop the wind from hitting her at helmet level. I am experimenting with a solution, which I will post some time in the near future. But until then, just go with the tall one and you won't complain about wind. Maddiedog can give you the pros and cons of it. As far as the seat hump goes, I think he solved that too. If not, well, the people at powerbypcx.com have a lot of seats. I think ours cost us about $164. That was including shipping, which was half of it.

You may find that much of the wind striking your wife's helmet is coming from the gap at the bottom of the windscreen. Try taping it over or otherwise sealing the gap and see if that helps.

[Urbanian]

You may find that much of the wind striking your wife's helmet is coming from the gap at the bottom of the windscreen. Try taping it over or otherwise sealing the gap and see if that helps.

I have the tall Givi, and it has that gap too, but I have no frontal wind. In fact, at high speeds, I can reduce turbulence further by leaning toward the screen. There would be no gain by closing the gap on a tall Givi.

[happyscooter]

i used the rubber tire patch method for my now humpless seat as another member here did. it works. its not the prettiest thing but hey it allows you to ride without the hump cheaply. for me i couldnt get the rubber cement to hold to the seat, so i used super glue and its been holding strong.

[FritzPinguin]

I ride with my wife so if I see that she forgot to turn off the blinker, or if she sees that I forgot to, we have a signal to each other.

I changed the relais (?) for my indicators to one with a built-in piezo tweeter. Now it squeaks when blinking and I never forget to turn it off. If the beep should be too loud, just stick some electric tape over the opening. The beeper should be available in any serious "gadgets for bikes" shop. Otherwise one of the reverse-gear-beepers might do it as well.