How dependable is a scooter for cross-country travel.

[kevino]

I'm considering using my scooter to travel from Connecticut to Colorado.   Can a scooter handle a 1000 mile trip?   I know people who made similar   trips using a trail bicycle.   So far I've modified the engine with a BBK.  

[Lucass2T]

I think a better question is: Can I myself handle a 1000 mile trip on a scooter🤣
Ofcourse a scooter can handle a 1000 mile trip, easy. Make sure to give it some good maintenance, check everythin over, bring some basic tools and parts.

I did a 1000 mile moped roadtrip last year on a 37yr old 50cc bike, not a problem at all.

[FrankenMech]

But but but that was a 2T...

[Lucass2T]

Sept 8, 2023 1:07:41 GMT -5 FrankenMech said:

But but but that was a 2T...

You have a point there.
There are really no bad or unreliable 2t scoots.
4t's on the other hand....
Please forget doing a 1000 mile trip on anything chinese.
If it's an Italian or Japanese 4t, no problem really.

[sinfull]

But part of the fun of the adventure is the unknown. Will it make it over the next hill ?? Will it start again if I turn it off ?? What was that noise ?? Hmmm, why is it smoking from there ??

The adventure is in the unknown 😆

[kevino]

Thanks for replies.
 The longest I spent on a motorcycle was 6 hours. I might try a shorter trip to begin with.   I live in north east Connecticut near the ocean.    When I was young we lived in New Jersey, also near the ocean.  It might be nice to visit the old haunts.  

[aeroxbud]

It's entirely possible to do it. But like Lucas said, it's hard on the body. I have done quite a few 100-150 miles trips. Even 120 miles on a stock fifty. It's like doing a 400 mile day on a motorcycle though.
I would certainly carry some spares if you intend to do that distance. A new belt and tools to change it. Plus a tire repair kit as a minimum.

[bbrins]

Connecticut to Colorado is a smidge farther than 1000 miles. I'd be curious about how you'd go about planning your route. A lot of states restrict what roads you can legally operate a scooter on, so you're not going to just hop onto I-80 and go straight through, you'd be taking a lot of back roads, frontage roads, etc, that would probably add some extra mileage.

I think I remember reading about some guy riding all around the country on a Honda Ruckus, I think he had something like 80,000 miles on the original 49cc engine. If you had a job/income to allow for it, it would definitely be an interesting way to see the country.

[sinfull]

If a British guy in a Chinese mini jeep can do a thousand miles off road to Moab, c90 adventures, you can definitely do it on road and have a amazing adventure

[90GTVert]

I looked up basically corner to corner CO to CT in one of the shortest trips to/from those states and it's over 1,600 miles. As bbrins said, you probably don't want to get on the interstate and try that on a 49cc based scooter. My modified two-stroke will do 80+ and there's no chance that I'd ever attempt that. Even when you can do high speeds, you quickly realize that these little scoots were never meant to be out there with fast traffic. I don't even enjoy interstates on the 500cc TBH.

Point being, you'll need to plan side roads unless you have some sort of death wish IMO. Now you're probably gonna be around 2,000 miles. I know you've got a big bore, but real world if you can average 30MPH you're doing well. Remember, you've got to stop in traffic or for stop signs, fuel up and so on and when you're on side roads you probably won't have hours that you can just be in the throttle doing 50MPH or whatever.

So now take 2,000 miles. Let's be generous and say 40MPH average, which I'd be surprised at. That's 50 hours of riding. If you knock it back to 30MPH average, that's 67 hours. So you're probably between 50-80 hours of riding, depending exactly where you're at in each state. Maybe a little more if you were at the far ends.

I have rode over 16 hours in a day a few times. About 14.5 hours to central PA and back in a day. Many 8-12 hour days. All of those are long days. 16 hours is about the max, because you need to eat and sleep. So that would be 3-5 days of riding to the point that you can't wait to get off of the scooter. Knock it back to 8 hour days that would be much more comfortable and you'd be 6-10 days of riding. Even at 8 hours, you're probably not gonna like that seat much a few days in... or day 1 maybe.

Then remember that you will have to deal with whatever happens. Hopefully nothing will, but if you do have a flat tire, it won't start, or whatever... you're gonna have to figure it out and possibly in the middle of nowhere. A big bike in good shape, there would be a good chance that you enjoy the whole trip but things happen. A 49cc based Chinese scoot ran hard with a big bore kit all day everyday, I'd say you're at an elevated risk of something going wrong.

I'm not trying to be discouraging, but it's important to be realistic. You should look at this sort of ride on a small scoot as an adventure. This is not a commute or a trip. You are going to have an experience... for better or worse.

TLDR : A scoot in good condition and a good state of repair/tune can go 1,000-2,000 miles. I'd like to think without major issue, but I've been around scoots enough to know that some will do that and some won't and stuff happens. Make sure you're up for it above all else.

[milly]

Tools to fit most things that can break. Maybe take belt, spare,plug, coil and stator. May sound overkill on some bits but had all go at some point in my journeys plus tyre repair kit with the co2 cartridges or whatever is in them and throttle cable. Brake cable I don't think is that important.
Don't listen to those who ride 2 strokes for they are the spawn of Satan and will ruin the environment and the powers to be will lock you up till they have purged your mind of owning a 2 stroke ☺️

[sinfull]

Good thing about scooter is that all the parts and tools can most definitely fit in a small duffel bag, can probably even fit a whole cylinder in with your cold weather / rain gear.

Variator, belt, stator and flywheel puller, cdi, plug and coil will fit in a lunch bag under the seat with a ratchet and the socket and probably even have room to spare