New Owner

[you you]

I won't be bothering with the idle stop.

I'm getting 133mpg so whats the point in saving a few drops compared to maybe damaging the starter motor (or whatever its called)

It won't damage or even cause the slightest wear to what you call the starter motor.

[maddiedog]

It won't damage or even cause the slightest wear to what you call the starter motor.

Elaborating on this in a more polite manner, the PCX has a stator. It is a combined unit that is both starter and alternator. The idle stop adds virtually no wear, as the stator is engaged the same during start conditions and operating conditions.

During operation, the coils pull some torque off the engine to convert it to electricity. During start, the coils output electricity to put torque on the engine. There are no moving parts to wear between the two uses, so idle stop will not wear down your engine at all.


133mpg is phenomenal though, so I agree, no sense worrying about idle stop if you're not into that sort of thing.

Welcome to the forums, and congratulations on your new PCX, RedBaron!

[homie]

I won't be bothering with the idle stop. I'm getting 133 mpg so whats the point

only on a 125 Now if only you could get your fuel prices down to around $2.30 per gallon. Imagine, it would be cheaper than a donkey to get across the countryside

[PCX150Rider]

I'm getting 133mpg

My 49cc 2-stroke doesn't even get close to that. . .totally awesome. . .rock on!

BTW some sad news for the U.S. motorcycle business recently. "Victory Motorcycles", produced by "Polaris", are going to cease operations. That being said I think they are going to continue producing the "Indian" marque.

On another note it's also been made public that EBR (Buell Racing) is cutting back again also. . .

FWIW I watched a video that shows how the "Smart Key" works. I guess once you get within a meter of the scooter it it's green to go you can start it.

And as other's have said Welcome and All the Best.

[RedBaron]

I won't be bothering with the idle stop. I'm getting 133 mpg so whats the point

only on a 125 Now if only you could get your fuel prices down to around $2.30 per gallon. Imagine, it would be cheaper than a donkey to get across the countryside

Unleaded petrol currently costs around £1.18 a litre at the moment. Which is $1.47 per 0.26 US Gallon

[chicaboo]

Americans don't know what expensive fuel is. When I was in Norway in 2003, Benzin was almost $2aud/L!

[PCX150Rider]

The last time I got unleaded regular at a Shell Station here I paid $2.39 per U.S. Gallon.

If the state and federal government didn't tax it so much it would be even cheaper! Definitely below $2 a gallon.

The world oil trade is a complicated mechanism.

I'll say this though. . .if the price of regular gasoline suddenly jumped to $5.00 a gallon (based on a dramatic increase in the price per barrel of oil) it would really throw a wrench in the spokes of our economy. Some people would be going cold in the winter that are on fixed incomes and can barely afford food or medicine, the roads would be a lot less congested, and the motorcycle and motor scooter show rooms would once again be a collection point of potential buyers. Not the kind of buyers who are buying a new toy. . .the kind of buyers who are trying to survive the day to day business of going about trying to make ends meet.

[chicaboo]

The rest of the world already pays WELL upwards of $5usd/gallon on a good day. In Norway this can exceed $10usd/gallon!!!
And it's not like we are paid 2.5X as much as the average American. In addition to that, everything else is more expensive too.
In Australia, we pay something like 134% in tax and excise on top of the actual fuel cost. And yes we go without cooling to survive.
So, you can imagine how the rest of the world feels when Americans complain about record $4usd/gallon gasoline prices. Pfft...

[PCX150Rider]

The rest of the world already pays WELL upwards of $5usd/gallon on a good day.

Oh yeah. . .I can understand why you would feel that way. . .

The thing is that you've been used to paying a higher price for a long time. . .so you have to manage your finances according to the economy you live in. I'm sure you'd like to have more to spend on yourself at the end of the day but the game is rigged and so it goes.

In the U.S. we've been used to cheap oil for a long time. . .and pace our lives accordingly. But things got a bit hairy back in the early 2000's. Folks were starting to think "more MPG" is a good thing for a while and smaller car sales were up. The last time that happened before was in the early 1970's. . .long gas lines at the pumps too. Since then there has been a renewed sense of confidence, and people are back into buying "bigger is better" again and sadly my gut instincts make me feel they will regret that some day when some major problem breaks out in an oil producing area and the price sky rockets again as supplies dwindle. Fortunately the hybrids and electric cars are well on their way into production and fill showroom floors but remain pricey and just out of reach of the less fortunate (who should consider purchasing Honda PCX Scooters). Even used car prices have held their value here recently because new cars are so expensive. The younger generation really has their work cut out for them. In only about 40 years we have gone from a country where it was common to graduate from High School, get a job (or go to college and take affordable loans), move out of the house, get married, Mom could stay home and raise the kids while Dad went to the daily job, and get on with your life, to a country where the young people are struggling to pay for a higher education, live with Mom and Dad well into their 20's and sometimes 30's, find it difficult to get jobs and when they do they pay crap wages (unless you get into a medical, key professional, or higher tech type job), and at a time in their lives when they should be investing in a home they are still trying to pay off school (if they took loans). It gets confusing but the rich are indeed getting richer and everyone else is taking their leftovers. . .we don't even get pensions like we used to anymore. It's all about putting your own money away into a 401K or IRA and maybe an employer will match it a few percent but at the end of the day you still get screwed because it's like a "Piggy Bank" that will eventually run out. Pensions would keep on going until the "Grim Reaper" knocked at your door. . .

The 401K was originally a place for rich people to put extra money they had. . .not a retirement plan. But the "system" was able to BS people into thinking it was a good thing and then one by one the companies started eliminating the pensions and obligation to manage them and got people into a the 401K/IRA thing. They used to call it bait and switch. . .

OOOppppssss. . .sorry. . .getting back to the price of gas. . .

It's like if you are going 50 MPH on a train and it's dark and you don't have a light on the locomotive to allow you to see the condition and route of the track ahead of you and haven't had any major problem yet and don't expect one you just continue to go along at speed. . .and why not? Right? You know if there was suddenly a bridge out or a very sharp curve ahead you'd go off the rails. . .but since you don't expect one. . .it's go for the gusto. When calamity does strike the "unprepared", or "arrogant", are totally taken by surprise and the spaghetti hits the wall and there is crying and chaos and possibly worse. . .

For those who've been going along at 25 MPH on a train, and do so because they know from experience the track conditions can be dodgy, they may not get to their destination as quick but if that fickle finger of fate points in their direction they will be able to compensate accordingly because they've had one hand on the brake and one hand on the throttle right along. Hence, they stop in the nick of time and avoid disaster. . .or minimize it. Hence they arrive at their destination. . .although feeling a bit jealous that the other train always seems to get there ahead of them.

All glory is fleeting as they say and nothing is perfect. . .so we do what we can. . .and help others when we can. . .and take care of our families and try to leave the place we stood in a little better than the way we found it.

Is it an alligator or a crocodile? It's all about that 4th tooth! And what does that have to do with the price of eggs? Beats me. . .

[homie]

Pipe lines are approved, fracking is here to stay and the kids don't care about cars the way we do. We sit on a wealth of oil and natural gas in the US that formerly was untouchable either by government owned land or un-reasonable regulated restriction. All about to change not to mention off shore drilling again. If Arabs can't find a way to keep their prices up for crude surely the rest of the world can get a better price soon. Our new buddies will be Canada and with the lesser refined product their are US refineries on the horizon... jobs and energy independents. Bye, Bye Saudi Arabia and don't let the door hit you in the ass. Those of you who know me have heard me preach this for years... we will never see 5 dollar a gallon fuel in the USA again in our lifetime. ENJOY!

[easyrider]

In many countries the price of gasoline is higher because the government provides much more services ie healthcare, birth, death, college, training etc. Not so in the USA.. Health insurance alone can be 1000.00 /month.. and so on. In the end it balances .The world economy is a complicated issue and such is the standard of living of various parts of the world. One thing is for sure..the more we rely on computers, the less there will be jobs and need for people.

[homie]

In many countries the price of gasoline is higher because the government provides much more services ie healthcare, birth, death, college, training etc. Not so in the USA.. Health insurance alone can be 1000.00 /month.. and so on. In the end it balances .The world economy is a complicated issue and such is the standard of living of various parts of the world. One thing is for sure..the more we rely on computers, the less there will be jobs and need for people.

You are correct, Arab's aren't selling heath care just oil but maybe they can get into that market if they are smart. What folks decide to do with the tax they add to fuel is their business. Unless it angers the people enough to make them decide they will take their money and spend it wiser than their government ever did... then you get what we have here

[PCX150Rider]

One thing is for sure..the more we rely on computers, the less there will be jobs and need for people.

Automation and robotics will help free up resources for other purposes. Labor (if properly educated) can be re-purposed to move onto bigger, greener, pastures (not put out to pasture).

Hopefully the education system will be improved and made more accessible and the wealthy who are now standing on the sidelines will loosen up some of their liquidity and start investing again. . .

Henry Ford knew that his workers could also buy his Ford cars. . .and so it goes. He spent a lot of resources trying to educate his workers as well. The work was so hard that he had to offer the $5 a day pay to stop the attrition of workers going back to the farms. He was criticized for it but it kept the workforce going and made them feel it was worth it to put up with the discomfort on the assembly line.

Economies run on credit and investment.

How the workers create the demand (with ample allocation of credit) will produce consequences associated with their consumption that can make or break a national economy. Hence, a proper trade policy instituted at the government level must have integrity and the interest of people at it's heart. A balance of give and take that will add value to all those concerned is imperative.

[PCX150Rider]

Arab's aren't selling heath care just oil but maybe they can get into that market if they are smart.

The Arabs purchase a lot of weapons from the U.S. arms dealers.

Saudi Arabia leads the pack followed by the United Arab Emirates and then Egypt somewhere along the way. . .Iraq as well.

So some of that oil money does find it's way back into our economy.

That being said if we can fulfill our own energy needs without having to import it from abroad it will help keep huge sums of money from possibly getting into an unstable situation later on down the road. The Middle East currently accounts for about 40% of U.S. arms exports.

And recently the embargo has been lifted from Vietnam so we will be selling arms to them as well. Vietnam has been an oil producer for long time. . .

[kramnala58]

Hey gang, just a friendly caution .... this thread is at the edge of taking it down the political & firearms road .... let's remember to respect the forum rules on not go down that road. Thanks.

[PCX150Rider]

Oh yeah. . .thanks for the reminder.

It's still a Full Moon. . .it was huge tonight when I was coming home from the grocery store. At first I thought it was some kind of new parking lot light way off in the distance. . .but it was this huge copper colored basketball hanging just above the horizon. If it was Spring I would've jumped on the scoot and taken a good ride. . .

[chicaboo]

It's awesome scooting away from civilisation on a clear black starry night. It's just a shame that kangaroos like those conditions, too...

[PCX150Rider]

I had no idea they were active at night. . .those things have some heft eh?

Is there some kind of device you can put on the PCX to alert them you are approaching. . .

I have deer whistles on all my vehicles. I've had a buck take out a door and mirror on a Ford F150 and another one take out a windshield and heavily damage the roof on another brand new Ford car I had. Couldn't believe it. Ever since I started using deer whistles I haven't had any problems. . .seen them plenty of times. . .but none that ran out on me (Knock on wood so-to-speak).

Now turkeys are a different story. Those I've got to be careful with. . .especially when they are airborne.

[chicaboo]

I don't know if they're nocturnal, but around my area I mainly see them closer to the roads at night. But they're always about. It's just worse at night since you don't see them as easily.

I had a small ~50kg? roo jump out in front of my Corolla one night 20 years ago when I was going 90kph, and it caused my ashtray to pop out, and my front windows to drop an inch or so from the impact.
I found out later that he pushed my radiator into the exhaust header and broke the o2 sensor causing my car to eventually brake down in the middle of nowhere. I think I got him on the downward bounce.

I put a pair of Roo Shoos on the Jeep and haven't seen a kangaroo ever since. Some idiot washing my car at work broke one off, but I still don't see them when driving around. I need them for the PCX, too.

I didn't think this was even possible, but only 15-20 minutes from my home I saw a "Big Red" laying dead on the side of the road. It looked to be about 100kg or more. He/she was easily bigger than Roger!
Out into the country there are cattle, horses, wombats and sheep crossing roads as well. So we have our fair share of obstacles to worry about. Near me it's just roos, koalas and possums plus cats and dogs.

Here our smaller scrub turkeys don't seem to go near the roads, but we have a large bird called an ibis that will mess your car up if you hit one. Rabbits don't do much damage, thankfully.

I hate hitting animals in the car, but sometimes it happens. Just look how cute our little wallabys are:

[homie]

There you have it, RedBaron (new owner) has a well rounded thread complete with political update and dead kangaroos. What says welcome and we love ya more than a thread like this