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Archive for October 1st, 2008

eric on Oct 1st 2008 Motorscooters, Scooter Trips

The mathematics of the last scooter trip

Numbers have never been all that important to me. Maybe it’s a right brain vs. left brain thing. Who knows. But I’ve never cared for them.

But I do care a bit about money, especially when I can not spend it. And that’s one of the nice things about riding a scooter.

The Vespa that I ride supposedly gets 75mpg. That is, of course, a bit of wishful thinking. Gas mileage has a lot to do with how your ride/drive, weather (wind, for example), tire pressure (seriously), city vs. highway riding and load.

I ride like hell. I know I do. I could save a bit on gas if I would slow down and not “gun” it at stop signs and lights. I could. But I don’t. Maybe I’m an ass. The weather for this trip had a bit of wind, but nothing like Scoot 66, which was a ripe slice of meteorological hell. My tire pressure was and is always good. The riding was quite a bit in the city or very fast on the highway. The load, however was quite heavy. I’ve never weighed my gear. Maybe I should.

Anyway, my average gas mileage was a bit over 56mpg. Not bad, considering.

I rode 1,208 miles on this trip and used a little over 21 gallons of gas. With an average gas price of $3.60 per gallon, I’m hovering a bit more than six cents per mile. That’s pretty cool.

At these prices, my old bus, a 20mpg, would be around 18 cents per mile.

There’s no moral to this post. I’m not here to tell you to buy a scooter (though you should) and I’m not here to say that I should stop riding like hell (because I won’t). I guess I’m just writing to have something to write. Six cents per mile! Holy crap!

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