Monday, September 28, 2009

Commuting - September 28

It was a cold ride in this morning at 50F and pretty windy. I took the Super9 again to get more practice with it; I also wore my winter gloves and my liner. I stayed reasonably warm, but probably should add my liners if it gets colder.

I forgot about an off-site meeting I had this afternoon, so I got to ride the scooter there too. When I went to leave the scooter wouldn't start, and large rain clouds were looming. I tried playing with the choke, but no luck. I gave the scooter a shake to move the fuel around, and it fired right up. I was warned about the fuel gauge not being accurate, and after it started up it went from 1/2 to E. I keep a spare 16oz of premix fuel in a compartment in the floor of the scooter, so I wasn't worried. I rode it very gently all the way home and the fuel needle was to the left of the E when I pulled into the garage. I did get a bit wet, but luckily it didn't rain too hard since I didn't bring my rain gear with me.

I also started brain-storming today for ways to make the Super9 and me more resistant to winter. I found some scrap sheet metal in the garage and will think about how to fabricate a new airbox and some fenders. I also had a great idea to put a 12V battery under the seat to run my heated gear since the scooter doesn't have enough power to do it.
The power requirements are:
Vest 12-Volt DC 52 Watts 4.5 Amps
Gloves 12-Volt DC 24 Watts 2.1 Amps
Chaps 12-Volt DC 43 Watts 3.8 Amps

I own the vest now and have been dreaming about the gloves. I'll spec the system out for chaps too, but won't likely buy them. The above would use 12V at 10.4 Amps, so if I get a 30 amp hour battery I should have two hours of use after the decrease in capacity because of the cold. My commute is less than 30 mins each way, so that would give extra time. If I charge it every night, things should work out great.

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