Is it reasonable to take a PCX on a cross country trip

[Mel46]

Definitely have your coolant checked. I have a 2013 model and have never had a heat problem with mine. When I get on the road, my bike feels quite comfortable at 55 mph. IF your bike seems to run hot, take it to the shop and have the coolant checked or changed. Remember that before Honda built water cooled engines they built very dependable air cooled ones, so I would not expect a Honda to overheat.

[maddiedog]

I did lots of wide-open-throttle trips on my first PCX. That little scoot spent 3/4 of its life at wide open throttle before I sold it with over 10k miles on it. I think my longest day was a 600 mile trip.

That scooter didn't let me down once. I shouldn't have sold it. The PCX I have now is the same way. It's been bulletproof reliable and has never let me down.

All that said, I wouldn't hesitate to take a PCX cross-country if I had the time to enjoy all the backroads on the way.

[Conelite]

I noticed when riding at 55 for less than 3 miles, that my seat got pretty warm quickly from the engine, as well as I could feel the plastics in the center (by the filler cap) also getting pretty warm through my riding boots...I took this as a hint to back off and turned off to a side road.

That's your butt heating up. No way the engine heat is going to travel thru the storage bin and effect the top side of the seat even less after 3 miles. 55mph on a bone stock PCX you are around 8000-8700rpms. That's cruisin not even WOT. Ive done over an hour @ 65-70mph above 8500rpms with no issues. You might be hyper sensitive to heat being a newer rider. Most Honda Scooters are bulletproof in stock form. (ie. Ruckus, PCX, Metro) Thrash it, you are not going to hurt anything.

[Marko]

I did 550km / 330 miles in a day, on my PCX150, from the south coast of Spain, near Malaga, to the west coast of Portugal. Stopped twice for fuel and coffee. Put a cushion on the seat. Full throttle all the way, almost all motorways.

[Mel46]

Here is a picture of my bike. Notice the gel cushion and shock absorbent styrofoam back rest. These make my ride extremely comfortable...along with my custom seat.

Do something like this and your ride will be unbelievably comfortable for long rides. I went on a long, almost 500 miles, ride in one day and I wasn't too beat to enjoy riding again the next day...and my PCX was happy to start right up and go some more.

my pcx with gel seat cushion.jpg (157.43 KiB) Viewed 906 times

[Jge64]

Could I do it on a 150? Sure… Would I? Not on your life. I would want to bike that’s at least 300 cc with a the top end of 80 to 85 before I went cross-country. But that’s just me. And it’s not just more horsepower that’s important, it’s also the weight. I don’t like getting blown around on an interstate. I would want something that’s at least 400 pounds.

[springer1]

Here are the scoots currently registered for the 2021 Scooter Cannonball - a coast to coast run.
https://follow.scootercannonballrun.com/riders/scooters

Here's the FAQ page ;
http://scootercannonballrun.com/about/

Basic rules are;
" Participation is limited to Scooters with an engine displacement less than 280cc. A Scooter is a two or three wheeled vehicle that satisfies AT LEAST THREE OF FIVE of the following conditions:

- unit construction of engine, transmission and rear swing arm
- wheels no larger than 10 inches
- originally equipped with a step-through style frame
- originally equipped with running boards or leg shield
- a single cylinder engine design "

.

[Mel46]

Look at all the Vespas registered for that run! I think the PCX is much more comfortable for long rides.

I noticed that Number 16's displacement is incorrect. It shows the displacement of a 125cc, not a 150cc. It should be a 153cc engine. Same with #3.
Speaking of 125cc, I did notice several 125cc bikes in the run, so it CAN be done, though I would prefer a 150cc over a 125cc (unless it was converted like the original PCX125 that Maddiedog had. It was much faster than my 150cc! )

In any case, this run shows that your bike could do a cross-country run, so the only real question would be whether you felt confident enough to try it.

[SantinoInc]

I would only do it if I upgraded the variator/rollers/belt/etc....

There are long stretches of highways around here, where 45 means 60 and 55 means 70. The beautiful thing about the PCX is that 70+ is obtainable with $100 or so in parts.

What parts exactly would give you the extra umfffff to go 70+?

[Mel46]

Honda says that you can get 70 mph out of the new ones, but don't bet on it. They changed the gearing, lowered the cc's, and did a few more "improvements" that made it look pretty but kind of locked out individual "tinkering" that could get more out of it. So much for our $100 upgrades...which I do have on mine and which do give me a 75mph topend.

Here is a thread on the forum that talks about the sprocket gearing differences. The thread talks about 2013 models to 2015 models, where you could change gearing if you wanted to. I didn't and still got the topend I wanted. There is a newer thread on this forum somewhere. Maybe here?:
viewtopic.php?p=79902#p79902

https://www.hondapcx.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1981