2011 Honda PCX125

[ccap41]

Originally Posted By: kmrcstintn
Originally Posted By: ccap41
1000mile OCI just seems so short. Mostly because I double checked my maual yesterday because I was curious what it said and it says 5000 mile intervals.. I mean it's less than a quart of oil so I really don't mind changing it, and it's easy.


you don't have a true filter of any sort on that motor...do you really want to have all the contaminants and metal particles circulating for longer than 1000 miles?!? your oil change is also your engine flush! I liked the fact that Geniune Scooter Company incorporated the use of screw-on filters in their Buddy's (125, 150, 170) and Blur's (150, 220); I believe their 4-stroke Stella's (shifty & auto) get element-style filters

as far as $20 for a magnetic oil plug...the magnet in the oil plug will become your filter to remove much of the ferrous metal particles from recirculating through the engine; seems like a fair trade off to me

back to oil...if you feel 1K mile OCI's are a bit short to warrant using full synthetic oil then you could substitute conventional or synthetic blend motorcycle oil (watch for sales) or opt for heavy duty engine oil (Shell Rotella T-5 10w-30, Chevron Delo 10w-30, Motorcraft Diesel Engine Oil 10w-30)



Yeah i won't let it go longer than 1000 miles from now on.

Yep, there are a handful out there that utilize a screw on style oil filter..I wish mine as one of them. Just for piece of mind really. I actually probably will "downgrade" my oil because I will be doing it so often and with these short intervals it still has to be clean in there.

All depends if I find a sale on something

 

[OriginalRocket]

Originally Posted By: ccap41
Well, seeming how there are some PCX owners here.. What kind of mileage are you guys getting? Also, what else have you done to the little PCX? And modifications, tire suggestions, fuel suggestions?


Here is my average: 91.9 MPG with over 100 fill ups (wish this thing had a bigger tank) http://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/honda/pcx125/2011/rocket/117137

No mods. I like it stock. I did remove the snorkel on the air filter for 2 reasons (more noise, and air spread more evenly over the filter) A black spot had developed on the filter after 10,000 miles and the area not near the snorkel was still pretty green.

For tires. Its either the Diablo or City Grips. I went with city Grips for the reported mileage capable out of them. My OEM IRC's went 10,500 miles when I hit the wear bars.

Phishin and I are polar opposites when it comes to scooter maintenance. I advocate longer drains, he wants 600 miles or less.

I only know what I have experienced. My scooter has 13,250 miles on it now, runs like new. I have followed the basic maintenance from the manual with little variance. Changed the coolant at the 2 year recommendation, but I used Honda Type 2 (long drain) because I don't want to do it every 2 years. I checked the valves at 600 miles (needed adjustment) then again at 3000, and 7500, No adjustment needed. Won't be doing it until 20,000 miles. Replaced the spark plug with a iridium tip one at 10,000 miles. Could could have gone longer with the original, but I had this plug for a while and wanted to change it. Changed Final Drive oil on schedule. Finally, when I replaced the tires, I had the Honda mechanic replace the belt, it measured .5mm narrower, so the manual states replace at 20,000 miles, this is spot on.

I initially changed the oil at 50 miles, 100, 250, 500, 1000, just to flush out wear metals since we don't have a filter. Now that the engine is well broken in, I don't worry with my 2,000 mile oil changes.

I ride my nc700x now, guess what. 8,000 mile oil changes for that machine.

Honda knows its engines, but as stated, this one doesn't have a fine particulate filter, and revs above 10,000 all the time. It is a relatively cheap machine, and I want it cheap to maintain. Party why I am thinking of selling it, as I'm always doing something to it with how fast I pack on miles.

All we can do is give you our experience, and hopefully some hard data, you have to interpret and make your own decision. Your money, your time. Spend it how you will.

Cheers,

 

[ccap41]

Originally Posted By: OriginalRocket
Originally Posted By: ccap41
Well, seeming how there are some PCX owners here.. What kind of mileage are you guys getting? Also, what else have you done to the little PCX? And modifications, tire suggestions, fuel suggestions?


Here is my average: 91.9 MPG with over 100 fill ups (wish this thing had a bigger tank) http://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/honda/pcx125/2011/rocket/117137

No mods. I like it stock. I did remove the snorkel on the air filter for 2 reasons (more noise, and air spread more evenly over the filter) A black spot had developed on the filter after 10,000 miles and the area not near the snorkel was still pretty green.

For tires. Its either the Diablo or City Grips. I went with city Grips for the reported mileage capable out of them. My OEM IRC's went 10,500 miles when I hit the wear bars.

Phishin and I are polar opposites when it comes to scooter maintenance. I advocate longer drains, he wants 600 miles or less.

I only know what I have experienced. My scooter has 13,250 miles on it now, runs like new. I have followed the basic maintenance from the manual with little variance. Changed the coolant at the 2 year recommendation, but I used Honda Type 2 (long drain) because I don't want to do it every 2 years. I checked the valves at 600 miles (needed adjustment) then again at 3000, and 7500, No adjustment needed. Won't be doing it until 20,000 miles. Replaced the spark plug with a iridium tip one at 10,000 miles. Could could have gone longer with the original, but I had this plug for a while and wanted to change it. Changed Final Drive oil on schedule. Finally, when I replaced the tires, I had the Honda mechanic replace the belt, it measured .5mm narrower, so the manual states replace at 20,000 miles, this is spot on.

I initially changed the oil at 50 miles, 100, 250, 500, 1000, just to flush out wear metals since we don't have a filter. Now that the engine is well broken in, I don't worry with my 2,000 mile oil changes.

I ride my nc700x now, guess what. 8,000 mile oil changes for that machine.

Honda knows its engines, but as stated, this one doesn't have a fine particulate filter, and revs above 10,000 all the time. It is a relatively cheap machine, and I want it cheap to maintain. Party why I am thinking of selling it, as I'm always doing something to it with how fast I pack on miles.

All we can do is give you our experience, and hopefully some hard data, you have to interpret and make your own decision. Your money, your time. Spend it how you will.

Cheers,



Thank you for your insight and personal experience with your own PCX. I wish I could ride it to wrk like I used to. I have to dress business casual over the summer but I can't really wear a helmet and have helmet hair. I have a fuelly of my own but I did'nt start mine till over a year after I bought mine(used). (96.0mpg) http://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/honda/pcx125/2011/ccap41/231846

The only real "mod" I want to do is get a slightly taller wind screen. I think it would also help with the mileage as it would push air around me rather than my body like an upright wall.

I too have 'a' City Grip on mine. I got a nail in m rear about a year and a half ago and just replaced the rear, it was only around 4300 miles I think. I wanted to replace the front just to have a matching set but I couldn't justify the cost. Usually bike tires are two rear to one front anyway so I will replace them together next time.

Do YOU check your valves or do you take it to your dealer for that?

I need to change my final drive fluid and coolant. I assume the final drive fluid is easy as I assume there is just a drain plug underneath it. How easy/difficult is it to change the coolant? I guess I just need to run through my maintenace schedule this weekend to see what I need to catch up on.

I'm going to probably split the middle of you two and change my oil on 1000 mile intervals. I'm ordering a magnetic drain plug today so hopefully that should help a little. I feel at less than 1000 miles the scooter becomes less and less economical so I can't justify less than 1000 miles.

 

[Phishin]

Nice OriginalRocket. I don't disagree with you at all. I don't have a PCX. But I know of alot of guys who get 20-40k miles out of their 50cc Ruckus engines if they change the oil often. I know a lot of guys who have bad crank bearing in the same engine when they go 2-3k miles between oil changes.

Maybe the PCX doesn't suffer from the same problem. It sounds like it doesn't. that's great news.

I wanted to add something about tires since it's been in discussion. I've had GREAT results with Heidenau K61 tires. They are a bit more expensive, and you have to order them online, but they last FOREVER. I currently have 10k miles on mine. The rear is shot. I think the front is good for another 6-8k!!!

I'm not sure about Heidenau's other tires, I only have experience with their K61's....so I won't comment on their other models.

These tires are super sticky, great road grip. Very nice. I imagine something like sticky might even last longer....

 

[FastGame]

@Phishin, Hot little ride..haha

 

[ccap41]

Well my magnetic drain plug came in a couple weeks ago at this point but I finally got to it yesterday to replace the OEM one. Makes me feel a little better about the oil/engine situation considering there isn't a real filter. And the oil only had a few hundred miles on it. I kind of felt bad wasting it but it's less than a qt of oil, I'm not worried about it.

I also changed the spark plug per the 5k interval(I have 5700 miles on it) from the manual. Once I got it out it didn't look bad at all. I didn't expect it to with onl 5k miles on it but I replaced it anways because a spark plug is cheap and by the time I got to 10k on the odo I would have lost the spark plug anyway.

Next on my list of things to do is the coolant. I'd actually like to be able to do it lazy-man style by turkey bastering the old stuff out and putting new stuff in. Do that once a week for awhile and it'll be close enough to new.

Then comes the belt.. No clue how to go about this one. I think the interval for this is also 5k miles..