New owner pcx 125

General Honda PCX chat, questions about the PCX, or questions about riding.

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Slowinitdown
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New owner pcx 125

Post by Slowinitdown »

Finally! After posting earlier about testing a brand new PCX I had some nice tips from some of you and did a deal tonight on a 2015 with 4k on the clock. It was serviced just 400miles previous and barely used since. Brand new tyre on the front and back and a Brand new givi monokey box. It really is in super condition I'm really happy. Clearly not as fast as my Burgman 400 but that's not the reason I bought it and it's quick enough up to 50 so that's fine by me. Sounds like a sewing machine and is the first fuel injected bike I've ever owned, I really notice the smooth throttle response. The start/stop feature I wonder will it drain the battery as the lights are permanently on so may or may not use it that much. Anyway, very happy with my new ride and thought I'd share. Thanks for the advice prior to me buying.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by gn2 »

I believe your 2015 LED lamp version has inbuilt battery protection, when the ECU detects low battery charge it temporarily disables the Stop/Start function until the charge has been built back up.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by Slowinitdown »

Nice! Will leave it on then :D
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by TheMaverick »

Slowinitdown wrote:The start/stop feature I wonder will it drain the battery as the lights are permanently on so may or may not use it that much.
Congratulations - they're a great bike. I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.

Mine is a 2013 model - also with the idle stop function. I also worried about the effect on the battery, but in practice it hasn't been an issue at all - even with grip heaters on high (during normal traffic light stops etc).

When I first got the bike I went through a phase of accidentally leaving the key in and the ignition on on a few occasions - THAT will eventually drain the battery (but even that takes quite a while). The headlight bulbs in mine are 30W - so that's only 5 amps for the 2 of them - and it's a 7 AH battery. There's more to it than just that of course, but I've left the ignition on accidentally for 10 or 15 min and not had a problem. I've also left it on for an hour or so ... and had to do the "walk of shame". Luckily the battery is easy to get to and easy to jump (I have a couple of petrol generators I use for emergencies which makes it a trivial exercise).

The electronics dim the headlight when idle stop is running also - to reduce battery drain even further.

My only slight concern is a safety one - it's good practice to plan an escape route and keep your eyes on your mirrors when stopping to ensure that any traffic approaching from behind sees you - idle stop can slow down a hasty escape a touch.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by gn2 »

My Suzuki has a parking light, the tail light and front position light remain on if the key is turned one click past OFF before removal.
Despite knowing this and (usually) being careful, I once managed to leave it on all day while parked at work.
Thankfully started first push of the button, but there was an MIL warning code for low voltage.
MIL went off after a short run.

In idle stop mode the PCX engine starts in three tenths of a second so I reckon your stay/move decision making process will be much more of a factor in any delay moving off.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by mowzertron »

I don't personally like the stop start. Prefer the instant power rather than the slight lag with the Stop/Start. Plus it has failed on me twice, which results in you having to frantically switch off/on and restart bike.

Not worth the hassle in saving a tiny bit of petrol.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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If I could change just one thing on the PCX it would be to swap the hazard lights for a normal headlight on/off switch. I see no use for the hazards other than saying thanks but generally I just give a thumbs up anyway. This is being ultra fussy of course as simply cannot fault this bike otherwise.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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mowzertron wrote:I don't personally like the stop start. Prefer the instant power rather than the slight lag with the Stop/Start. Plus it has failed on me twice, which results in you having to frantically switch off/on and restart bike.

Not worth the hassle in saving a tiny bit of petrol.
As a new owner I'm just playing with it at the moment, on my daily commute I don't stop long enough to use it. The nmax offers ABS which frankly I thought were not good at all and I didn't like the styling of the Yamaha. The dealer slagged off the PCX saying it was much slower but haven ridden both I think they are pretty much on par. Top speed was maybe better on the nmax where the PCX seems to drop off around 60. I had just as much fun riding around today as I did on an old sv650 a few years back. Maybe I'm getting old and easier to please :roll:
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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Slowinitdown wrote:If I could change just one thing on the PCX it would be to swap the hazard lights for a normal headlight on/off switch.
In New Zealand it's the law that motorcycles must have their headlights on - which I think is very sensible anyway. So I don't personally have any need to ever switch my headlights off when the bike is in use.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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mowzertron wrote:I don't personally like the stop start. Prefer the instant power rather than the slight lag with the Stop/Start. Plus it has failed on me twice, which results in you having to frantically switch off/on and restart bike.

Not worth the hassle in saving a tiny bit of petrol.
I switch mine off at a couple of potentially dangerous roundabouts, but other than that, haven't had any issues with it. I think I've read that it won't restart if it thinks there's no weight on the seat on some models - others will know more about that than me. Putting the side-stand down and then up while it's active also kills the restart.

Most of the time I'm not at the front of the queue, so any small delay is moot for me.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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TheMaverick wrote:
Slowinitdown wrote:If I could change just one thing on the PCX it would be to swap the hazard lights for a normal headlight on/off switch.
In New Zealand it's the law that motorcycles must have their headlights on - which I think is very sensible anyway. So I don't personally have any need to ever switch my headlights off when the bike is in use.
Fair enough, as a safety thing I agree on all the time has its uses. So what use are hazard lights? Not planning on breaking down 8)
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by iceman »

Slowinitdown wrote:
TheMaverick wrote:
Slowinitdown wrote:If I could change just one thing on the PCX it would be to swap the hazard lights for a normal headlight on/off switch.
In New Zealand it's the law that motorcycles must have their headlights on - which I think is very sensible anyway. So I don't personally have any need to ever switch my headlights off when the bike is in use.
Fair enough, as a safety thing I agree on all the time has its uses. So what use are hazard lights? Not planning on breaking down 8)
That may be law too - such as when travelling in europe and when broken down on motorways - your supposed to have warning lights on, which may not apply to bikes, especially older ones, but no harm being visible. Having lights on during the day may help that extra few % of numtees see you.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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mowzertron wrote:I don't personally like the stop start. Prefer the instant power rather than the slight lag with the Stop/Start. Plus it has failed on me twice, which results in you having to frantically switch off/on and restart bike.
Not worth the hassle in saving a tiny bit of petrol.
Strange, it's basically instant (a mere couple of 100 milleseconds at most) and the only other reported time it failed was when the battery was flat, which should not be a problem with the new bikes as there is better detection of low battery and disabling the idle stop (there's a rather involved graph in the new service manuals - it's not just a straight line/curve but staged). That said, never use it in the UK as we are allowed to filter hence not often that many times your constantly stuck not being able to move for ages - unlike in most of the US where if the traffic is not moving, nor are you on 2 wheels.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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TheMaverick wrote:I switch mine off at a couple of potentially dangerous roundabouts, but other than that, haven't had any issues with it. I think I've read that it won't restart if it thinks there's no weight on the seat on some models - others will know more about that than me. Putting the side-stand down and then up while it's active also kills the restart. Most of the time I'm not at the front of the queue, so any small delay is moot for me.
From past comments in this forum, it seems Australian models have a seat switch but not sure how many other countries - not the UK/US and wonder about Europe (with Europe safety regs in overload, strange it's not something Honda is forced to install as the idle stop can be dangerous if the throttle is nudged by accident with idle-stop engaged).
Not sure if the seat switch is supposed to activate with a certain amount or pressure (idle stop reasons) or just to detect if the seat is open or closed in general - wonder if anyone with that feature can add to this).
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by TheMaverick »

Slowinitdown wrote: Fair enough, as a safety thing I agree on all the time has its uses. So what use are hazard lights? Not planning on breaking down 8)
Not fitted to my model, so it's a moot point for me.

In my part of the world hazard lights are generally only used to mark the presence of an illegally parked vehicle (in fact that's about the only time indicator lights on cars get any use at all around here, but I digress ...)
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Re: New owner pcx 125

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iceman wrote: That may be law too - such as when travelling in europe and when broken down on motorways - your supposed to have warning lights on, which may not apply to bikes, especially older ones, but no harm being visible. Having lights on during the day may help that extra few % of numtees see you.
For sure. In these parts many riders have an obsession with black ... black helmet - black jacket - black bike. Headlight is about the only thing going for them in terms of visibility.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by TheMaverick »

iceman wrote: From past comments in this forum, it seems Australian models have a seat switch but not sure how many other countries - not the UK/US and wonder about Europe (with Europe safety regs in overload, strange it's not something Honda is forced to install as the idle stop can be dangerous if the throttle is nudged by accident with idle-stop engaged).
Not sure if the seat switch is supposed to activate with a certain amount or pressure (idle stop reasons) or just to detect if the seat is open or closed in general - wonder if anyone with that feature can add to this).
It's mentioned in some of the manuals. I'll do some testing on my model to see if it's fitted - I'm be surprised though, as I'd had the seat flex quite a bit with some loads and never a problem.
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Re: New owner pcx 125

Post by mowzertron »

iceman wrote:Strange, it's basically instant (a mere couple of 100 milleseconds at most) and the only other reported time it failed was when the battery was flat, which should not be a problem with the new bikes as there is better detection of low battery and disabling the idle stop (there's a rather involved graph in the new service manuals - it's not just a straight line/curve but staged). That said, never use it in the UK as we are allowed to filter hence not often that many times your constantly stuck not being able to move for ages - unlike in most of the US where if the traffic is not moving, nor are you on 2 wheels.
I have had a couple issues where I'm sitting at lights a few minutes into a journey and the auto-stop reaches operating temperature and cuts engine. However as I sit for another minute or so at red light and then attempt to set off, the engine has cooled and it struggles to restart. So i quickly flick keys to off then on and restart.

Not had problems when engine is fully warmed up. The stop/start operating temperature is set a little too low.
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