Thought I should share this. I've had my 2005 People 50 about a year. Had about 5000KM on it when I got it and now it has about 7800. Got a basic tuneup right after I bought it from the dealer. I use it to commute about 10 miles to work and for errands around town. I checked the gas mileage for the first couple of months and got between 85 and 90. Not bad. I weigh about 150 and carry my work backpack that weighs about 10 lbs. I've added a Shad 33ltr top box and a buddy seat so my backpack isn't jammed in between me and the box. My commute is mostly at 35 with more stop signs and lights as I get into town. I probably have about 10 stops along the way.
Performance has been very good except for a hiccup earlier this year. I easily keep up with traffic, have a top speed over 40, and don't have to slow on hills except those that are particularly steep. A few months go, after a fillup, I started to experience lost acceleration and speed after warmup. I hadn't found the dealer very helpful when I had questions - they don't sell Kymco's any more - so I checked a small shop that does a lot of 2 stroke work. The owner is very friendly and took the scooter for a ride on the spot. He suspected a bad batch of gas after he confirmed I had checked the plug and cleaned the air filter. He also encouraged me to avoid going as fast as I can for long periods (which his questions brought out) as he thought optimal speed for the 50cc scooter should be 35 or less. Too long too fast causes problems. He sold me some high quality gas treatment and foam filter oil.
After 2 tanks with the gas treatment and avoiding full throttle the People 50 was running great. Mileage seemed a little better than usual, but only slightly based on how many trips I could get from a tank. I decided the People 50 needed a present so I bought it a Cuppino windshield. It turned out to be too tall to use comfortably. Some on line research helped me figure out optimal height and my helpful crafty neighbor trimmed 4 inches off the windshield leaving a nice curve and smooth edge. Now I can find just the right position on the bike where the wind noise is minimized (but still louder than with no windshield) on my full helmet, I'm cozy behind the windshield (my morning commute temps are in the 50's in the Pacific NW), and at about 35 or so the scooter seems to find this aerodynamic effortless cruise where I have to back off the throttle to keep from speeding up.
Since I was commuting more with my new windshield making the trip more comfortable, I got thinking about what else I could do to help gas mileage. Prius's shut off when they stop. I figured I could do that too when it made sense. I have to stop at a few long stop lights, so I started turning off the engine, watching for yellow, and restarting when it was time to go. I like not making noise and smelling exhaust when I am standing still. I have 3 to six restarts per trip.
I seemed to be getting a couple more trips from a tank of gas (about a gallon each fill). So, I checked the mileage on the last tank. I went 156 miles on 1.08 gallons of regular Chevron gas. That's 144.5 MPG. Pretty cool.
I will keep checking this to verify. I'm wondering if anyone else has similar experience. With gas at 4 bucks a gallon, I wanted to share this. 144MPG and a fun ride on the scooter every nice day. Can't beat that. The downside may be the extra starts, and the windshield takes some of the fun out of the ride. Wonder if extra starts are hard on the starter or engine. What do you think?
Glenn
