The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

I'm lost but fascinated - I'm a broadcast/electronics engineer but mechanical stuff is alien to me

iceman wrote:I'm lost but fascinated - I'm a broadcast/electronics engineer but mechanical stuff is alien to me

Lol. No worries. I'm an electrical engineer by trade, but I was racing as a hobby and went to a motorcycle mechanic scool to learn some about it. Once you get your head around it - it is actually fairly simple.

On my 2015 PCX 150 I weigh 110kg and try to maintain 80kph max speed although this sometimes slips up to 90kph. With no other load on and frequent checks of the on board computer (only done 500klm so far) I maintain 2.2 ltr per 100klm. (no wind blowing.) Worst I saw after a few steep hills was 2.3ltr per 100 klm. Normal roads travelled are undulating, rarely forcing me under my desired 80 kph. With the 8 ltr tank this would give me about 360 klm range till dead empty. I find little difference in accelerator position between 60 kph and 80 kph but over time with cars and my bigger motorbike frequently monitoring mileage I find speeds in excess of 80 kph to be most adversely affect by wind resistance. Speeds below 80 kph will always gain a little in mileage but the difference is much less critical.

The variator makes it a little different to gears as you cannot choose a high gear with low rpm's. Going slow means low rpm & low wind resistance but also means lower effective gear used so to speak. I would not consider doing 60 kph over 80 kph just to save on fuel normally as it is already respectably fuel efficient at 80, which I chose both for economy and quite simply, if I wanted to go faster I would have got a bigger bike or scooter not try to flog a small one. I have seen however that your actual question on what speeds would be most economical have been previously answered by others and offer this only for the statistics of weight, speed and economy I have experienced.

I always buy the soda drink bottle that is full to the top, cos that extra 1ml or 2ml is really important to me.

I figure over a year it possibly saves me 5 - 6 cents and that would almost buy me one shoelace if they're on sale.

No offence meant, just tickles my fancy what interests others.

@JohnL
OhMyGodosh! I am sooo lost. Seriously, I am. Just me. (Ok, Onto next topic....

JohnL wrote:I always buy the soda drink bottle that is full to the top, cos that extra 1ml or 2ml is really important to me.

I figure over a year it possibly saves me 5 - 6 cents and that would almost buy me one shoelace if they're on sale.

No offence meant, just tickles my fancy what interests others.

Can't you get by on half a shoelace

Tried it, tripped over it

JohnL wrote:I always buy the soda drink bottle that is full to the top, cos that extra 1ml or 2ml is really important to me.
I figure over a year it possibly saves me 5 - 6 cents and that would almost buy me one shoelace if they're on sale.
No offence meant, just tickles my fancy what interests others.

Except that the OP is concerned about making it to the next town/gas station, not buying a meaningless trinket.

My apologies, unfortunately I was born with a sense of humour.

I'll try harder in future to play by your rules

JohnL wrote:My apologies, unfortunately I was born with a sense of humour.

I'll try harder in future to play by your rules

Don't worry, thread was near dead. One day one of them would have twigged that the best speed for fuel economy was stationary.

They'd save enough over a year to have a sense of humour surgically fitted.

JohnL wrote:My apologies, unfortunately I was born with a sense of humour.
I'll try harder in future to play by your rules

Oh, gosh -- I'm sorry!!

I didn't realize that ridiculing someone who's asking how to avoid getting stranded was a sign of humor!

I'll try harder in the future to ignore the relevancy of my response to the subject matter!

We're all good!!

Everybody laughing now??

Humans bodies have terrible drag coefficients. I would think doing 40-60 km/h will give you the best fuel economy.

j.d.b. wrote:

Eiron wrote:My 2015 seems to get the best fuel economy between 30-35 mph.

This---^
Generally speaking the best economy will be had at the fastest speed before invoking air resistance. On a calm day, on level ground, 30-35(mph) is about the best.

That would be my guess. It's hot in Bangkok, there isn't much wind until you get past 50km/h and it doesn't have much force until you get over 80km/h on normal days (32-35 celcius). However, in 'Winter' when we get our nuts freezing in temperatures as low as 21 celcius, those speeds must be reduced. So use the wind in your face as a guide.

I can't avoid drinking fuel in small side-roads here, too many bad speed bumps (varying 10km/h to 40km/h to avoid broken teeth...) but on the straight I'm sure 80km/h is good, and 60km/h maybe just 2% better...