Got a large scooter

[3dplane]

About two weeks ago got a 2009 Kymco 250 ri.



Has 14K miles on it. Got it because I like to ride and figured it will keep the miles off my car (Mirage) which now has 56K miles on it 3 years in.

Had plenty of motorcycles before but not a scooter. Surprisingly nice to ride.

Added a piece of plexi glass to the top of the windshield to make it about 6 inches taller. Now it is so quiet behind there that I had to tape the tiny holes on each mirror because the whistle noise bothered me.

Legs are completely in wind shade too.
Learned some things about windshields too! I was wondering why the windshield is not made flush with the fairing and was ready to stuff some rags in the gap when I found out that it is on purpose to keep buffeting down.

And it's called a...vented windshield

If instead of the helmet I just throw my hoodie over my head,the wind actually pushes it forward over my head. So the wind is blowing backwards behind the windshield due to turbulence. This is another pleasant surprise to me on a bike.

It is fuel injected,liquid cooled,cvt transmission,has a tachometer,speedo,gas gauge,a digital display for odometer and trip with a clock. Selectable miles or km.
Dual disk front brakes with single disk on rear.
Supposedly one of the front calipers are applied when the rear brake lever is pulled.
It does not say it anywhere on the bike but it might have ABS. There is a reluctor and wheel speed sensor on the R/F side disk.
The backrest on the seat is adjustable forward and back.

Might be nothing unusual for big scooters but I am surprised by the amount of storage space on this bike. I can go grocery shopping and get large items like 12 roll TP,large jug of washing detergent,watermelon etc. and they fit even under the seat! Then there is the box on the back.
Also has a small locking compartment to the left of the steering in the fairing and another non locking in the front of the seat.

Phone holder and 12V outlet under the seat with a light built in.
Like I said this might be standard on a scooter but new to me.

Have not beaten the record tank on my Mirage yet (~76 MPG) but got close at 75.1 MPG. (had a 65,69,71 and 75 MPG fillups.

To be fair,I ride the bike a lot faster than the Mirage.

RPMs are crazy. 6K at 50 MPH! Why? Had it up to 75 MPH and kept on accelerating but tac was approaching 9K. Red line starts at 7500 RPM.

That is the one thing a normal motorcycle can do that I can't is to re-gear for more eco friendly RPMs.

Might look into heavier rollers/sliders for the variator but even then all it's going to do is apply the tallest ratio at a slower speed than before but at about 45 MPH and above it will be the same ratio and RPMs as now.

Unless there are some other tricks or kits to increase gearing. Usually people go in the other direction with lighter rollers to increase pulling RPMs for faster acceleration but this thing is plenty quick as it is.

All in all I really like this bike and might just have to get an even larger displacement scooter in the future that can cruise 65 MPH at a reasonable RPM.

I did not know scooters were this much relaxing fun to ride!

[stiletto2]

Only since you asked... It's not for everybody, but...

Something I do is use car tires on my scooters. But it might be hard to find the better suited size tire here in the US. A 165/65R14 would be just a couple mm taller than a stock scooter tire and 15 mm wider. This size is readily available in the US. A 155/80R14 would be harder to get and you'd probably have to get one shipped from Europe. (England) But it would have a better profile (slightly more rounded shoulder than a 165/65R14) but it would have about 3/4" more to the radius; so about 1.5" taller overall than a stock scooter tire. Might be iffy fitting it onto the bike or if it fit, then shock preload might need to be stiffened to help prevent tire rubbing on the underside when hitting bumps in the road.
As a bonus, a car tire would last 4 to 6 times as long as a scooter rear tire. (only use a car tire on the rear)

If you are at all curious or are interested in the idea, then you might read an item I did for another forum. It's a bit long, but it is about all I know about using a car tire on a scooter.
For Maxi-Scooters The DarkSide (according to bandito2) Part 1 & 2

BTW, there are several scooter forums to draw help from if you ever need it. (and you can find out more about some of the bigger scooters too.)
If you haven't seen what else can be done to a scooter to improve economy, check this out:
Index to the making of the Last Vetter Fairing

_______________________________________________
Mike B. (stilleto2 here on ecomodder and known elsewhere as bandito_two OR bandito2)
Southeast Michigan Dark Side Rider
4 Honda Reflex scooters & a FSC600A Silverwing
Originator of the "Darkside" Honda Reflex. "Yeah dude, that IS a car tire there on the back of my scooter."
Sometimes I'm so far outside of the box, the Hubble telescope can't find me

[Daox]

Sounds like a fun run about! I'm curious how much you paid for it?

[3dplane]

Hey Daox! Not a killer deal but I got it from a local dealer for $2500 out the door with all the tag and dealer stuff included. They also threw in two t-shirts and a $60 gift card.

Stiletto2! Thanks for the info, I happen to have some spare tires that size.That is my mirage's tire size so I will do some measurements.

[elhigh]

Nice ride.

I bet there are some things you can do to get the revs down. I know that lots of smaller scooters have a limiting spacer to prevent the driving pulley from closing all the way, that may exist on yours, too.

Heavier weights in the CVT will allow the driving pulley to start closing earlier in the rev range, and will keep the engine at lower revs in general. You'll need to do some research to find where your engine's peak torque is and, if possible, tune its CVT to start moving at that speed.

I'm absolutely not an expert at this at all. I'm mostly guessing. But I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of guys on the forums who ARE experts and will be able to really give you a bunch of ideas.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by 3dplane

If instead of the helmet I just throw my hoodie over my head,the wind actually pushes it forward over my head.

Please wear your helmet. Don't be that guy that gives us all a bad name.

[ProDigit]

You can tune the variator, by installing heavier variator weights.
It'll make the engine rev lower, but also take away some torque (acceleration).
It does give you higher MPG though, and probably higher top speed as well.

[stiletto2]

Originally Posted by 3dplane

About two weeks ago got a 2009 Kymco 250 ri.

Supposedly one of the front calipers are applied when the rear brake lever is pulled.
It does not say it anywhere on the bike but it might have ABS. There is a reluctor and wheel speed sensor on the R/F side disk.

Have not beaten the record tank on my Mirage yet (~76 MPG) but got close at 75.1 MPG. (had a 65,69,71 and 75 MPG fillups.

To be fair,I ride the bike a lot faster than the Mirage.

RPMs are crazy. 6K at 50 MPH! Why? Had it up to 75 MPH and kept on accelerating but tac was approaching 9K. Red line starts at 7500 RPM.

That is the one thing a normal motorcycle can do that I can't is to re-gear for more eco friendly RPMs.

Might look into heavier rollers/sliders for the variator but even then all it's going to do is apply the tallest ratio at a slower speed than before but at about 45 MPH and above it will be the same ratio and RPMs as now.

Unless there are some other tricks or kits to increase gearing. Usually people go in the other direction with lighter rollers to increase pulling RPMs for faster acceleration but this thing is plenty quick as it is.

All in all I really like this bike and might just have to get an even larger displacement scooter in the future that can cruise 65 MPH at a reasonable RPM.

I did not know scooters were this much relaxing fun to ride!

One of the things you could do to increase gearing is to use a 165/70R14 car tire. Car tire? on a scooter? Why yes... see more about that here:
For Maxi-Scooters The DarkSide (according to bandito2) Part 1 & 2

I use a 145/70R12 on some of my Honda 250cc scooters and a 155/80R12 on another. (with modified swingarm) Another benefit of taller car tire is besides gearing gain, the tire longevity will be about 5 or 6 X as long as the standard scooter tire. And you will get lower engine rpm for given speeds compared to when using a shorter standard scooter rear tire. (also, less rpms = less fuel used)

Some scooter owners will use sliders in place of rollers in the CVT since rollers can develop flat spots and reduce performance. That does sound like excessive rpms to me, but then it's not a Honda so I couldn't say for sure that it was not how it usually is for the Kymco. If it has speed sensors, then I'd say it likely has ABS. (try a relatively low speed test on a sandy or wet spot on pavement by grabbing the rear brakes hard enough to see if ABS activates. And it probably has a light that comes on temporarily at start up.)

Honda also has what is called "combined braking" that is; when pulling the rear brake, a single piston of the front brake gets applied proportionally after a delay. The right brake lever operates the front brake independently when applied and does not affect the rear brake. Sounds like Kymco has a similar system for that bike.
And yes, scooters ARE a lot of fun to ride. (comfortable too)

[minimac]

It's possible to tune the the clutch as well as the variator to better suit your riding. While you can change the gearing, it is a major project. You want to make sure the belt is riding as high as possible on the variator. At some point, everything becomes a trade off.

[gregsfc]

Congrats on your new ride. I like everything about maxi scooters except that the CVT keeps them from being super fuel economical, but they are super practical with all that luggage space and weather protection and one just pulls back on the throttle and goes. Didn't like how quickly mine ran through tires, especially the rear although I'm not sure If I'd ever been brave enough to try a car tire on it for wet weather safety traction reasons. The Piaggio also had sort of weak brakes as compared to my motorcycle that was noticeable only slowing from highway speeds. But that scooter was very quick and nimble and good mpg for its performance level.

Surprised at your great mpg on a maxi scooter; even for a 250, that's great! But hey, it is one of us riding it, and it looks more aerodynamic that my Piaggio was, which was a rocket for a scooter up to 80 mph .

The best I ever got on my Piaggio BV350 was around 71 mpg in an ideal commute situation in a rural area along state highways and one small town. I'm also only 5'8 and 145 pounds, so that helps me as well. My low on the Piaggio was around 63 mpg. Speeds from 45-65 commuting. I think that my average was 67. I had it for just over one year.

My Honda CTX700 can achieve 78 commuting in the Summer but; have achieved 85 on a short, two-way trip (but average 82 on such trips), and 97 in an FE contest. On average, it drops much more in the winter than did my scooter; going as low as 70 in regular commuting at or below freezing. It took me a while to get used to the hassle of trading a left hand brake for a right foot brake, as this is my first bike, and it'll probably never feel as intuitive for someone who didn't grow up riding motorcycles.

Are you solo 100% of the time? I did something on both my scooter and my motorcycle that most riders wouldn't dare do because many are worried so much about appearances and trying to convey an attitude over practicality. Instead of having a top case on a rack well back behind me leaving that huge gap that always looked to me as a drag enhancer, I just strapped a rectangular box directly atop the pillion portion of my seat for reduced drag and more efficient and spacious luggage and better handling. In fact, if one could construct his or her own-styled box, taper and then cut off at the correct distance and angle, one can build it to create sort of a streamline effect as Sendler has done on his CBR250R. But I don't know if your set up would allow for a solid tie down in the simplified version that I was able to do, but I'm sure it's doable without too much trouble.

On my Honda CTX700, I run a couple of one-inch-wide lashing straps around my seat and hooked in an area under the seat where they can't slide, and an additional tie in the very back, as it is a long box. I could, if I felt necessary, tie to my tie-down hooks as well, but it's plenty sturdy as is. I've had three different boxes on it that way (a 42 liter top case, a 55-liter Dewalt tool case, and currently a large, rectangular milk crate with no top). These boxes and cases do not reduce mpg at all as compared to stock without a case or rack and it doubles as a back rest. I laid the bike over twice; both times with that big Dewalt box on there as pictured below. The box never moved. And no...the box had nothing to do with my layovers. Once was a bonehead move on my part, and the second was bonehead move on a cager's part that was virtually unavoidable at my skill level.