NJ to CA PCX 150 ride Completed - PART II

[Inoplanetyanin]

So my old thread has been moved to a dead part of the forum that had no new posts in the entire month of July.

3900 miles, 3 oil changes, original everything. Rear tire developed a small surface crack while running in 113F from St. George Utah toward Barstow, CA. Averaged 100 mpg. Lowest mpg was 93 at wide open throttle in the wind. Highest consistent mpg was 130, in the mountains.

For some reason the biked gets best mileage in the mountains.

Rack worked well (oem).

Once the bike had the overheating light on, but only when i stopped in Baker, CA at 112 F to put a bandana on my face and shut off the engine. Next time I turned the ignition on, one minute later, the light was on. I think it must have been localized hot spot due to not running water pump. After 2 minutes of splashing water on the radiator, i turned the ignition on and the light was off. Further pushed at WOT uphill in the wind and no light came on.

Those who want to see more pictures, feel free to look me up on facebook (Mikhail Scosyrev) where I posted quite a few photos with description.

[Inoplanetyanin]

The scooter worked flawlessly. The top speed has gone down a bit from 67 to currently about 64 when it starts to hit the rev limiter. I cruised mostly at 55 mph since I avoided the interstate except for one last run from St George to LA.
I took three weeks so my days ranged from 30 miles to a little over 400 with average being under 200 miles.

[Inoplanetyanin]

The bike did fine in high elevations. At 12,500 ft it still had plenty of power and throttle response to keep up with traffic. It sure sounded quieter up in the mountains. This is just outside of Telluride in Colorado.

[Inoplanetyanin]

Out of nowhere, I realized that my route takes me right through STURGIS, South Dakota!
I checked out the town and local bike shops, although I was there just two weeks prior to the annual bike festival, still I felt the spirit

This is just outside, in the Black Hills where I happily camped among the pines.

[Cycleruss]

Congratulations! On a great trip with the PCX.
I know the heat was an issue. Years ago I was out in Nevada with a 1986 1200 Goldwing.
The front two carbs, got so hot they vapor locked.
I would shut the bike down for half an hour till it cooled off, then was able to go again under all four cylinders.

I will check out your Facebook site.
Was this a one way trip? Or do you plan a return ride?

[GeorgeSK]

Fabulous and heroic trip, and great pics. i'm not on Facebook, so if the spirit moves you to post a few more, feel free. You canyon overlook shot will be a great desktop for probably the rest of your life.

[Mel46]

Congratulations on making the ride of a lifetime.

Baker, California?? There isn't much of anything there. Was that a gas stop? How many miles are on your bike now? If it has over 5,000 miles on the belt you would definitely lose some of your topend. If you haven't done a return trip on it, but you plan on doing it, change the belt and check that the rollers are OK. That would be something I would do anyway after such a long trip.

If I were much much younger it would have been a good test of my PCX. I know it could do it because it is a Honda. Way back in the old days my brother took his Honda motorcycle across the U.S. after returning from Vietnam. Then in the early '70s I took my little Honda on long trips. They are built solid. In your case, the shifting is done for you, but it is still a motorcycle at heart.

Great pictures! I killed off my Facebook because I just don't have time for it, so post a few more pictures here so we can ride along with you. :-)

[WhiteNoise]

Hmm..."dead part" Nah not really. Those interested in your (or anybody's) trip/ride will seek, find and follow you. I call that "tailgating"
I can truly understand your disappointment Inoplanetyanin, but We Mods have rules to abide by - just like every member on our forum(s). Your thread was about Your Trip. Therefore it was moved to it's proper location under: "Rides and Events." Congrats on Yours. Major Awesome Ride!

Member's Glen and George mentioned using our "View Active Topics" button (found at the top leftside of every page) it is quite useful and does just that. (By the way, thank you guys for that!)
In the end, we all pick 'n choose what interests us. What doesn't, we turn the page. Simple as that.

BUT let me add, Most of Us, correction....All of Us LOVE Seeing Photos and Yours Are Stunning! So please don't be discouraged, keep posting all bits and pieces of your trip and those to come........
In the "Rides and Events" board

Note, This thread will also be moved to "Rides and Events." To make things clear to those "tailgating" you I will add Part II, to this threads title

~ Happy Trails ~

[Inoplanetyanin]

Thanks for the kind replies, folks.
I guess I am ok with moving the thread as I understand it is in an attempt to keep the forum organized. I just think it would have been better for PCX folks if there was PCX dedicated trip report section, but oh well, it's not a big site and I understand the limitations.

Anyway, the bike finished the ride 29th 4900 miles. The belt has not been changed although I carried the spare one just in case.
I plan to ride on the old one towards 15000 miles that the manual specifies, but I will be measuring the width to check on the wear rate.

My bike was shipped to NJ in May (dad drives semis, so it was free ) and I live in So Cal so there is no ride back, although I wish I had more vacation time to ride some more, especially in the cooler areas that right now are Montana and Pacific Northwest. For a trip to Alaska, with the pace I like to ride, I would need the whole summer.

Anyway, the rear IRC stock tire did well. At 5K miles I can still see the thread pattern in the middle of it. I was glad to avoid any punctures, so that helped.

The front IRC is nearly new.

As I was looking for tires on partzilla, the PCX stock rear IRC right now goes for 41$ and the front for 39$. That's quite a bit cheaper than the Michelins that are at 63$ a piece.

The photo is taken on Hwy 2 in Michigan's upper Peninsula. The body of water is Lake Michigan, which I swam in and the water was clear and comfortable.

[Inoplanetyanin]

In midwestern heat and humidity. People approached me at gas stations and commented: "you must be hot". I always responded with "I would rather sweat a lot than bleed a little" and the people always nodded and agreed.

[Inoplanetyanin]

Another piece of preparation that worked out fabously - my garmin gps navigator was held in place perfectly steady by this amazon motorcycle clamp mount.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003C ... UTF8&psc=1

Now, the speed displayed by the GPS is 15 mph, not 75 I wouldn't be risking it driving like that... and not that the PCX can go 75 anyway

BTW, the PCX's speedometer is only one mile per hour optimistic (not sure what's being shown in this photo but I have confirmed multiple times with multiple speed cameras and the gps itself.

The odometer is spot on even over 150 miles...

[Inoplanetyanin]

I have to say that I loved the fact that the bike has led lightning. Not only due to good illumination, but the fact that the lights consume very little power and that allowed me to leave the lights on while parked with much more comfort when pulling over to take a photo and such.

[Inoplanetyanin]

This is in Michigan, checking out some strange herb that's grown in the area... The bike ran comfortably at 55 mph achieving over 100 mpg.

The gas tank allowed me to go for well over 150 miles between fill ups. That's quite a bit more than on my Elite 110.

[Inoplanetyanin]

This is the route I took except for the last leg from St George to LA (the google didn't allow anymore adjustments).

As I was asking earlier, the midwest turned out to be too humid and hot. Wish I rode in September. The upper Michigan and Colorado were great. The coldest was at night in So Cal, right next to home in the canyon on Lake Hughes road in Santa Susana Mountains. I had to zip up my jacket and felt that I could also use another layer underneath.

Well, come to think of it, Colorado at 11 000 ft in Lizard Head wilderness was also pretty chilly in the morning, I think in the low 50s...

[Inoplanetyanin]

Camping somewhere in Wisconsin, on a county road next to some ruins of an old structure. The road was signed as impassible and not maintained and I found it way in the dark. Thunderstorms rolled in in the night but the tent kept me dry (only 36 bucks from Amazon).
Luckily the storms bypassed the area mostly in the north, otherwise this could have turned into the lake. I saw on the map later that this area is a dry patch in the swamps that are basically shown as lake on the map.

[Inoplanetyanin]

Had deer walking around my tent at night, but not here, more in the forests.
I did see severe moose, right near the road in Colorado.

[Inoplanetyanin]

A little off-roading on the PCX. The bike stayed dirty throughout the trip due to constantly going through rain and dust, clouds of bugs and mosquitoes. I did stop near a mountain river and gave it a hand wash but that didn't last long.
I am about to wash and wax it this week. Ordered new air filter and discovered that the old air filter gasket got damaged by oil in the air filter box, preventing it from being properly installed. It's only a $1.30 part but my airbox is open and so the wash will be done once the part arrived and I can again seal the airbox.

[Inoplanetyanin]

Nifty place. Bike shops and bars everywhere. I bet it's fun to be there during the rally.
I realized that the place must have not only drunken gang biker types but also intelligent riders, world tourers, scooter riders, classic Japanese bike fans, etc.

[Inoplanetyanin]

Ok, I guess the truth comes out now, all the photos are photoshopped and I was really just posing with a replica PCX mini bike. Here you can see its real size.

[Inoplanetyanin]

North Centeral Utah is a beautiful place. This is Glen Canyon National Recreation area.