New guy with civic and ruckus

[dbc1218]

Hello All,

I joined the forum mainly because I hate going to the gas station and buying a substance that I'm going to burn off and never be able to use again. I want to get better mileage so at least I can get the most out of what I buy. I had been driving and 95 Ford Escort Wagon, 5speed, but it recently broke a rear spring and sent the whole shock though the shock tower due to rust. I got 40mpg out of it on its last tank but I think it was pretty light because all the rust falling off. I got a 95 Civic LX, 5speed, with 150k miles about a month ago and have already been able to get 42mpg out of it. I want to perfect my driving technique and maybe do a few aero mods and see if I can get 50mpg by the end of the summer. I've learned a lot already about how you guys are driving and think it should be possible, even if its only for one tank of gas. I've got an idea for an mpg gage like the dwell meter and the MPGunio that the guys at ecomodder.com are working on. Hopefully I'll have time to work on it this summer.

I also just bought a 2008 Honda ruckus scooter last night and plan on riding it a whole lot. Others have said it gets 100+mpg's but I have yet to go through a tank so I'll have to wait to post anything to the gaslog. I just saw another guy on the garage got 107mpg so it looks pretty good.

Looking forward to learning a lot and having some great discussion with you guys.

[thisisntjared]

ive been toying with the idea of getting a ruckus for my commute on nice days, how do you like it? how does it handle going up slight grades?

[theholycow]

Welcome. You'll almost definitely beat your 50mpg goal.

[dbc1218]

The ruckus handles slight grades with confidence. I rode it 15miles to work today on very slight grades. Central Ohio doesn't really have any hills so it doesn't have to work to hard. I can maintan 38mph on flat, 35mph on slight uphills, and 42mph on slight down hills. I was on a road with a 55mph speed limit so cars were passing me but when I'm riding around town on roads with a 35mph speed limit I can keep up with trafic just fine.

[thisisntjared]

right. the speed limit of the main road i take 5 miles to work is super busy so i am not comfortable on a bicycle but dont feel like driving. the problem is that the speedlimit is 40 but everybody goes 50-55. there are slight grades and no shoulders so i am still undecided

you were pretty brave to ride it on a 55mph road! i heard that weight will effect top speed on these little motors, do you think thats true??

[dbc1218]

A lot of traffic doing 50 might make things tough but if its only 5 miles can you just find another route? It might take you a little out of your way but you'll probably still end up saving some gas on the ruckus. Its so fun to ride you won't even mind that it takes a little longer to get there. If you haven't taken one for a test ride go do it and see what you think then.

[thisisntjared]

the is another route but thats on a 55mph road with steeper inclines and where everyone goes 60.

i think you are right though, i should go test drive one. i dont know why i didnt think of that....