Turbo charged scooter?

[Isaac Zackary]

I wonder where they get the Grom's 134mpg rating? Around town, on the highway, both, or on a 25mph strait level road.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

I wonder if a small electric motor and high output lithium battery wouldn't be a better option for better acceleration, not to mention regenerative braking.

Electric drive kills ICE for efficiency but is inconvenient and expensive to put together for out of town travel. An electric hub motor makes a conversion easy. Find a Honda Rebel with a blown engine, convert it to a hub motor, and wrap it in a Vetter streamline fairing to increase the highway range. You will excede 300 MPGe at 70 mph and be sheltered from bad weather. And have 150 liters of storage to carry all of your stuff from the grocery store.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by sendler

Electric drive kills ICE for efficiency but is inconvenient and expensive to put together for out of town travel. An electric hub motor makes a conversion easy. Find a Honda Rebel with a blown engine, convert it to a hub motor, and wrap it in a Vetter streamline fairing to increase the highway range. You will excede 300 MPGe at 70 mph and be sheltered from bad weather. And have 150 liters of storage to carry all of your stuff from the grocery store.

I was thinking more as a hybrid mod, keeping a bike like the Honda 125 Grom's original engine but using a hybrid electric motor somehow to increase acceleration. Of course with the weight it would have to be quite small.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

I wonder what all the technical feasibilities would be in constructing a 150cc turbocharged diesel engine with a twenty something to one compression ratio.

If you would like to keep some parts commonality with a gasser, probably you should resort to indirect injection as it has lower internal pressures than a direct-injection.

[Isaac Zackary]

Looks like someone else already thought of this. Turbo the Grom!

[sendler]

Turbos are still just a pipe dream over there also. And would kill the fuel efficiency.
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The Grom is cheap and is showing a decent 105 mpgUS for 125 bikes on Fuelly
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Honda Grom 125 Mileage | Fuelly
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But the Honda PCX150 is a much, much nicer machine with full bodywork, better wheelbase and bigger wheels. A real bike for a solo commuter. And gets 96.
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Honda PCX150 Mileage | Fuelly
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[Isaac Zackary]

The PCX150 looks very enticing! Maybe it, without a turbo, would be a better candidate for my purposes. It would handle having my sweet little wife ride along. But what mods could help such a bike attain even better fuel mileage. I'm thinking a full tear drop shape enclosing the driver and his passenger. Plus it gets cold where I live. An enclosed bike would be a good thing.

Any other thoughts?

[Grant-53]

A liquid cooled engine is needed to run a heater core in colder weather. What altitude are you at?

[Isaac Zackary]

About 7,700ft. That's less than the 10,000ft where I used to live. That's kind of another reason why I was thinking either turbo or electric hybrid mod.

And it does get to -40* F here.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by Grant-53

A liquid cooled engine is needed to run a heater core in colder weather. What altitude are you at?

Do you think it would be advantageous to add a turbo, but to regulate it so as to only increase boost to sea level atmospheric pressure? If I get a bike it may see as high as 12,000 ft above sea level.