Quote:
Originally Posted by bschloop
Is your Zuma considered a Motorcycle for registration, and insurance purposes? and does it keep up on the highway, and at what speeds?
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Yes it is. I had to register it Monday. Insurance for me cost about $100 per year, and Colorado kind of gouges me on registration. On the plus side, I got to lower the rate on my car's insurance, because I now get to honestly report significantly less miles-per-year on the car. So if you actually use the scooter a ton, it pays for itself easily (I didn't factor in the insurance savings when calculating the 2-yr deal).
Technically, I'm allowed to ride it on highways. There are road hog laws here that would prevent me from slowing down left lanes, where applicable. I bet I could go above 60 on a level road with maybe a slight lean forward (rider weight matters a lot, the smaller bike you get. I'm sitting at 150lbs, but I weighed 180+ a couple years ago; oh and any headwind will hurt it too).
But I'm simply not factoring in Highway speeds for my daily commute. It's hard on the bike to be at full throttle, and it's hard on gas. Plus, what little highway I have access to, has a steep incline for part of it, and I'd slow down significantly. To top it all off, there's a dam road that parallels the highway, has a 40mph speed limit, and is less congested, so I just use that.
All in all, the slower speed limit route to work costs me up to 15 minutes extra time, but can be as little as 5-10 minutes more, since the main route tends to clog up.
I am yet to find its top speed. I want to have plenty of room when I do. Maybe this weekend at night, or something. Some Zuma 125s are also equipped with a rev-limiter, that won't allow you to go above 60, even on an incline, so I plan to find out that, as well. There are ways around it if that's the case.
If you ever get a Zuma, you'll find there's a metric ton of support out there, both through other Zuma owners, and lots of aftermarket things. I probably won't delve -too- heavily into purpose built aftermarket stuff, but small things have already been suggested to me, including tweaking the gear ratio for hyper-miling (with consideration for pure hyper-miling, and a balanced MPG/Torque-focused compromise).
Ps. I don't know what MPG I'm getting yet. I've been riding it since Tuesday when I first topped it off. If I'm not mistaken, I'm doing pretty well, MPG-wise. I plan on having an open-side Dustbin style set-up for this bike and sitting lower, so MPG is only going to get better, I hope.
Update on MPG: Filled the tank and it looks like it's getting about 80.45 mpg. Not too shabby for my first tank, and still getting used to the route.
Update on Top Speed:
So my Zuma probably has a rev limiter of sorts, as most 09's apparently do. I went down a decent incline on the highway when hardly any cars were around, and the speedo capped at 59 or so. I was leaned in and everything. This isn't a set-back or anything though, as the rev-limiter is there to prevent the engine from exploding, and not necessarily about limiting speed. It just gives me more reason to
install different gears down the road, for a more fuel efficient gear ratio and easy rpms in the 40s, etc. With proper aerodynamics, it shouldn't hurt me too much in headwinds or hills. Fortunately, there is a ton of support for aftermarket gear ratios and how to install them. I'm gonna need a little guidance from the Zuma experts, and 12 ton hydraulic press (it sounded expensive, but one can be had for about $100-$200.)
All in all, it's very good news, that I can tweak the CVT to my heart's content. I will probably do that rather than go the manual-swap route.
People routinely up their 125 Zumas to 155cc. I was just reading about Matsu's old Spud from the 1980s vetter challenges, and how he increased it to 185cc. I'm not sure I'll ever increase the displacement of the engine, but again, it's possible this would also help fuel efficiency and general practicality of the bike down the road.