The Honda PCX / Forza / ADV150 / SH Forums

What can I use/do to keep my pcx stabilized/balanced at higher speeds?

dog64bull wrote:What can I use/do to keep my pcx stabilized/balanced at higher speeds?

Forget about the stabilisation. How are you getting your PCX to go at high speeds. You could be a star here.

That is exactly why I mainly keep my PCX below 55 mph and use the Forza for higher speeds. Just the weight and wheelbase differences make a huge difference in stability above 55 mph.

This comes with riding experience. Winds that blow you left you counter with leaning right, and vice versa. Being buffeted by wind is normal on any motorcycle or scooter, you'll get the hang of it, and won't even notice it after awhile.

Unless you see a tornado ahead or thunderstorms, or know you're in an extreme weather condition, then slow down and exit roadway lol - otherwise relax, stop thinking about it and let your body and the bike do it's thing. Your bike (scooter) was designed to do its top speed. It was designed to be on the road in wind.

dog64bull wrote:What can I use/do to keep my pcx stabilized/balanced at higher speeds?

Double-up on them cheeseburgers and maybe lug around 25 lbs of chains on your PCX ?

As mentioned above, part of it is riding experience.

My first trip on the highway felt wobbly and "unstable", but nowadays a windy day is a mild annoyance at best.

A mid or tall windscreen might also help if you have a broad chest or you wear bulky gear.

dog64bull wrote:What can I use/do to keep my pcx stabilized/balanced at higher speeds?

Ive added training wheels, its awesomely stable now even at crawling speeds...

Stay loose on the handle bars. Lean forward so the wind is not making your arms yank on the bars. Let the steering geometry self correct for wind gusts.

When we get the wobbles on the highway on small scooters I ask my wife to tell the people behind her to lean forward a bit.
If that doesn't work....
we just get off to a secondary road and slow down.

fish wrote:When we get the wobbles on the highway on small scooters .

Who gets wobbles? I ride my PCX 65 mph every day and have never felt a wobble. And it self corrects perfectly in cross winds.

I know some Kymco's are known for wobbles like the Agility. It all over their forum.

tbln930 wrote:I know some Kymco's are known for wobbles like the Agility. It all over their forum.

Isn't that largely because of the short wheelbase? Might make it feel twitchy if someone so much as sneezes on the handlebars.

Super windy today, but the only thing I noticed was the wind dragging at my helmet.

How is the PCX in a good sidewind? I'm about 5ft5 and live on the moors, a good 10mile of it's riding per ride will be high up on the Moors.

I do a fair bit of highway riding and have found being a little loose on the grips, anticipating the draft as on coming semi's pass me and generally relaxing. The first time I rode highway it did not please me, however with practice, I now love it. It's a great cruiser. For me the key is to relax and almost liken it to wind surfing on two wheels as the big rigs blow buy. Overall the bike is very well balanced and stable. Just trust it.

MikeP wrote:For me the key is to relax and almost liken it to wind surfing on two wheels as the big rigs blow buy. Overall the bike is very well balanced and stable. Just trust it.

Exactly. The PCX is very well designed and is very enjoyable to ride in the wind. We had a good discussion about the physics of how a bike self corrects to hold it's line in side winds over on CBR250.net.
.
http://www.cbr250.net/forum/cbr250-perf ... winds.html
.

Thanks will give it a read, I've taken my Honda Vision 110cc on some dual carriageways and can handle it there, was worried the PCX may be more of a handful.

The vision is about 20+ KG's lighter than than PCX 125 so surprised it handles well in strong winds. A month ago, in the early hours when we had 30-40 mph winds, I found it a bit daunting going to work as the pcx and me were almost blown sideways - I weigh nearly 90kg's. I don't mind heavy rain, but with winds like that and doing a commute on open roads in london, I found it unpleasant.

iceman wrote:The vision is about 20+ KG's lighter than than PCX 125 so surprised it handles well in strong winds. A month ago, in the early hours when we had 30-40 mph winds, I found it a bit daunting going to work as the pcx and me were almost blown sideways - I weigh nearly 90kg's. I don't mind heavy rain, but with winds like that and doing a commute on open roads in london, I found it unpleasant.

I'm 5ft 5 and about 13stone, it does okay with me, it's my first ever bike, I reckon having known nothing else it all seemed normal?

MikeP wrote:I do a fair bit of highway riding and have found being a little loose on the grips, anticipating the draft as on coming semi's pass me and generally relaxing. The first time I rode highway it did not please me, however with practice, I now love it. It's a great cruiser. For me the key is to relax and almost liken it to wind surfing on two wheels as the big rigs blow buy. Overall the bike is very well balanced and stable. Just trust it.

Mike beat me to it. Sounds like someone is gripping the bars too tight. The bike will ride itself practically with no input from you. Geometry issues would be VERY rare. Same goes with the body, you don't grip the tank so just sit on the seat and have legs hanging loose like they are not even connected.

Also, by higher speeds you mean 100+kph? I'd be confident on a pcx at 200+.

When I 1st got my pcx I found it quite scary in strong side winds, I put this down to tensing up too much and since changing from stock tyre to city grips its seems to give more hold when the road is wet in severe side winds so feel confident now had no scary moments for a year or so.

Not had any ice/snow in London so far (maybe a little bit of snow that went as soon as it landed) so better than some years back, but after a year of riding on stock tires in heavy rain and on dirty gravelly roads, not had any issues. I was worried at first due to comments about the IRC's, but so far they seem fine. Only thing that had me worried was strong winds, and it was quite tricky not being moved sideways and that is at 30! One person at work didn't use the bike that day as they found riding a 125 motorbike in 40mph winds in heavy traffic a bit too much for them.