Modern Vespa

So with the 17g dr pulley weights and airbox restriction gone I was doing generally a little over 6000rpm most of the way on a 100 mile round trip at about 60-70mph, a little over sometimes and used 8.35 L to do 108 miles.

Fuel consumption was 58.8 mpg (uk gallons - that's 49 us or 4.8 l/100 km).

Is that in line with expectations?

Is it ok for the engine to sit at 6000 rpm, it feels really good and responsive and instant pull to overtake as it's right in torque/power band - I read on light single cylinders better to rev high than to lug.

I'm mainly planning to use for commuting into London so extra acceleration is great but as I'm getting hooked on it may use on longer runs so wondering if ok to keep it revving away.

That is actually really good MPG, however since you have a 500 and are doing mostly highway driving you'd be better served with 23g weights. I am using a mix of Piaggio weights, 4 stock 25g weights and 4 21g weights in a staggered pattern for an overall 23g

On the 500, the sweet range is between 5K-7K where you have maximum torque and power.

Anything above 7K, and you basically are just adding noise and extra engine wear. Very little to nothing to be gained above 7.5K

These bikes do not really lug since they are CVT driven, and besides they idle at 1600-1700 and CVT engages around 2200-2300

I did a 27 km back road commute for a year on my 2011 500 ie touring and got a very consistent 75mpg (imp gal). Most of my running was at 75 or 80 kph.

I had a Malossi variator for some of that time, stock the rest of the time, it seemed to make no differance.

Thanks guys.

I'm expecting to be doing mostly crawling and filtering through London traffic rarely getting over 50mph apart from a brief initial stretch at 70, Sunday cruise to the coast was an exception.

If mileage is ok and 6000rpm is ok for engine to sit at when I do get up to speed will stay with light weights for the instant response it gives. It really does feel good.

If I start doing more longer journeys might swap for heavier.

Just wondered if I can mix and match, might experiment with swapping say 2 or 4 Dr Pulleys 17gr for the original round ones to get slightly lower revs, assume they'll balance themselves out despite shape differences to settle ok.