xpertsnowcarver
The Sneaky Butcher
This actually took place back in April, but may interest some of you folks. A friend of mine, Steve, (I met him through one of my engineering professors, Joe Berk.) is the owner of California Scooter Company and puts together these fun motorcycles.
Note that I'm not a representative or employee of the company. I was simply given the opportunity and pleasure to meet the mastermind, his crew, and check out his bikes.
I was given an opportunity to test ride a replica 1950s Mustang motorcycle for 106 miles. The engine sizes range from 122cc to 350cc. In the pictures, I am test riding a 150cc.
With me is Peter, another studying engineer like myself, testing the prototypes. Steve followed along to record some data. We calculated a max of 98MPG and a min of 76MPG. Top speed up hill was about 45mph in 4th gear and 63 downhill in 5th. (They recently built a Land Speed Bike that clocked in at 73MPH! A new 150cc record.)
The photographer and blog author is Joe Berk as well.
Anyway, since I work with these great folks from time to time, you may catch me sharing my experience with you guys. Steve is always happy to have people come check out the bikes at his shop for a closer look.
By the way, I'm the fella with the handkerchief and reflective vest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mustangs back then:
Picture Gallery
CaliforniaScooterCo 2010 Prototype:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Story:
A Great Ride, and 98 Miles Per Gallon!!!
18 April 2010
The title says it all…we had a great motorcycle ride up to Oak Glen here in southern California, and we surprised ourselves with amazing fuel efficiency.
I mentioned in a post last week that I took one of our older bikes out for a quick 60-mile ride, but I didn’t tell you what I saw for fuel economy. My ride yielded 76 mpg, and I’m no welterweight (that’s a nice way of saying that I appreciate the finer things in life, like McDonald’s, Burger King, and, well, you get the idea). I rode the bike hard and I still saw 76 mpg. Steve, Tony, and I wondered what these motorcycles could do under the right circumstances with more, ah, streamlined riders…and that’s what this post is all about.
I have a connection with California State Polytechnic University, so I asked around to see if I could find a couple of lighter guys for a factory ride on these great new bikes. Wow, the response was overwhelming! A shot at being a test rider for a new motorcycle company…it was a dream gig, and we picked a couple of great guys to help us see just how efficient these bikes can be.
Here’s a photo of Peter and Joel, our newly-commissioned test riders, early on a Saturday morning. These young fellows are both mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly Pomona.
Peter is an experienced motorcyclist…his usual ride is a big Honda XL dual sport…
Joel is also no stranger to motorcycling, with lots of seat time on a CBR 600 and several other bikes. His current ride is a Yamaha Virago…
We first had our guys ride on southern California surface streets through some fairly populated areas. We asked Peter and Joel to ride easily, doing what they could to optimize fuel economy. You know the drill…easy throttle roll ons, steady speeds, and all the other things we do when we want to save gasoline.
Here’s a shot of Joel topping off his CSC motorcycle with 89-octane Valero gasoline…
Steve and I followed the guys in Steve’s truck as Joel and Peter had an easy run along Baseline Avenue. Baseline takes its name from the fact that it parallels the base of the San Gabriel mountains. It’s a nice ride. We rolled along through La Verne, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Rialto, San Bernardino, and Highlands. We dropped south a bit to pick up the road that would take us out through Yucaipa on our way to Oak Glen.
Those bikes look pretty good tooling along Baseline, don’t they?
The ride was relaxed, but southern California being what it is, we caught quite a few stop lights before we topped off again for our first mileage check. I was blown away by the results, and my first thought was that I made a mistake. We had traveled 35.2 miles, and Peter’s bike used a skimpy 0.360 gallons! I used an old fashioned circular slide rule, and I came up with about 97 miles per gallon. Joel’s bike was an older configuration that did not have the current carb (as did Peter’s bike), and his bike still did 90 miles per gallon. Peter and Joel checked my numbers on a calculator, and the magic number for Peter’s bike was a whopping 97.77 miles per gallon! We were feeling pretty good about this. Even with a fair amount of stop-and-go traffic, the bikes showed amazing fuel efficiency. Peter and Joel were extremely intrigued by my circular slide rule, too. When I went to engineering school (just a few months after Moses led his people across the Red Sea), we didn’t have calculators or Excel spreadsheets; we did it all with slide rules. Peter and Joel are of a different generation. It was an interesting moment.
Peter and Joel were eager to wring the bikes out, and after seeing the results described above, Steve told the guys to ride the bikes the way they normally would. So, here we go…two young engineering students on two of the newest motorcycles on the planet, with the company President’s blessing to ride ‘em like they stole ‘em. Oh, this was getting interesting.
Our guys continued along this great road toward Oak Glen. We were out of the condos, stop lights, traffic, and suburban sprawl…and the road was beautiful. This ride has always been one of my favorites.
Note that I'm not a representative or employee of the company. I was simply given the opportunity and pleasure to meet the mastermind, his crew, and check out his bikes.
I was given an opportunity to test ride a replica 1950s Mustang motorcycle for 106 miles. The engine sizes range from 122cc to 350cc. In the pictures, I am test riding a 150cc.
With me is Peter, another studying engineer like myself, testing the prototypes. Steve followed along to record some data. We calculated a max of 98MPG and a min of 76MPG. Top speed up hill was about 45mph in 4th gear and 63 downhill in 5th. (They recently built a Land Speed Bike that clocked in at 73MPH! A new 150cc record.)
The photographer and blog author is Joe Berk as well.
Anyway, since I work with these great folks from time to time, you may catch me sharing my experience with you guys. Steve is always happy to have people come check out the bikes at his shop for a closer look.
By the way, I'm the fella with the handkerchief and reflective vest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mustangs back then:
Picture Gallery
CaliforniaScooterCo 2010 Prototype:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Story:
A Great Ride, and 98 Miles Per Gallon!!!
18 April 2010
The title says it all…we had a great motorcycle ride up to Oak Glen here in southern California, and we surprised ourselves with amazing fuel efficiency.
I mentioned in a post last week that I took one of our older bikes out for a quick 60-mile ride, but I didn’t tell you what I saw for fuel economy. My ride yielded 76 mpg, and I’m no welterweight (that’s a nice way of saying that I appreciate the finer things in life, like McDonald’s, Burger King, and, well, you get the idea). I rode the bike hard and I still saw 76 mpg. Steve, Tony, and I wondered what these motorcycles could do under the right circumstances with more, ah, streamlined riders…and that’s what this post is all about.
I have a connection with California State Polytechnic University, so I asked around to see if I could find a couple of lighter guys for a factory ride on these great new bikes. Wow, the response was overwhelming! A shot at being a test rider for a new motorcycle company…it was a dream gig, and we picked a couple of great guys to help us see just how efficient these bikes can be.
Here’s a photo of Peter and Joel, our newly-commissioned test riders, early on a Saturday morning. These young fellows are both mechanical engineering students at Cal Poly Pomona.
Peter is an experienced motorcyclist…his usual ride is a big Honda XL dual sport…
Joel is also no stranger to motorcycling, with lots of seat time on a CBR 600 and several other bikes. His current ride is a Yamaha Virago…
We first had our guys ride on southern California surface streets through some fairly populated areas. We asked Peter and Joel to ride easily, doing what they could to optimize fuel economy. You know the drill…easy throttle roll ons, steady speeds, and all the other things we do when we want to save gasoline.
Here’s a shot of Joel topping off his CSC motorcycle with 89-octane Valero gasoline…
Steve and I followed the guys in Steve’s truck as Joel and Peter had an easy run along Baseline Avenue. Baseline takes its name from the fact that it parallels the base of the San Gabriel mountains. It’s a nice ride. We rolled along through La Verne, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Rialto, San Bernardino, and Highlands. We dropped south a bit to pick up the road that would take us out through Yucaipa on our way to Oak Glen.
Those bikes look pretty good tooling along Baseline, don’t they?
The ride was relaxed, but southern California being what it is, we caught quite a few stop lights before we topped off again for our first mileage check. I was blown away by the results, and my first thought was that I made a mistake. We had traveled 35.2 miles, and Peter’s bike used a skimpy 0.360 gallons! I used an old fashioned circular slide rule, and I came up with about 97 miles per gallon. Joel’s bike was an older configuration that did not have the current carb (as did Peter’s bike), and his bike still did 90 miles per gallon. Peter and Joel checked my numbers on a calculator, and the magic number for Peter’s bike was a whopping 97.77 miles per gallon! We were feeling pretty good about this. Even with a fair amount of stop-and-go traffic, the bikes showed amazing fuel efficiency. Peter and Joel were extremely intrigued by my circular slide rule, too. When I went to engineering school (just a few months after Moses led his people across the Red Sea), we didn’t have calculators or Excel spreadsheets; we did it all with slide rules. Peter and Joel are of a different generation. It was an interesting moment.
Peter and Joel were eager to wring the bikes out, and after seeing the results described above, Steve told the guys to ride the bikes the way they normally would. So, here we go…two young engineering students on two of the newest motorcycles on the planet, with the company President’s blessing to ride ‘em like they stole ‘em. Oh, this was getting interesting.
Our guys continued along this great road toward Oak Glen. We were out of the condos, stop lights, traffic, and suburban sprawl…and the road was beautiful. This ride has always been one of my favorites.
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