The Romance Of The Ride

Posted on January 21, 2011 by MPG

In the years since we have been open, MPG Motors has enjoyed hearing and seeing what you do with your rides. You, our friends, have covered these our United States.

Just a bit naive when we started this business, little did I know that you would ride to the waves, chase the sun, go between the raindrops and over the plains and mountains.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures that I most enjoy. These are not the only ones please understand, they are just the ones that catch my eye tonight, bring back some memories but I have hundreds more pictures that are just as worthy, just as inspiring but NONE involving snow.

Enjoy!
Mel and Gerry
Chet and Steve
Chrissa
Chrissy
Gil
Mike
Jon
Jon
Jon and Tara
Mark
Shirt

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Lend A Hand(lebar)!

Posted on December 21, 2010 by MPG

Next year, a number of people will “discover” motorcycles and scooters. They will tell you:

•How much money they are saving on gas
•How cheap they are to buy
•How much fun they are
Of course, you know all this.
Rolling Eyes
In fact, you knew this waayy before they did.

But, it’s nice to see them so excited about your passion! What they probably don’t know is all the situations you have encountered, dealt with and learned from.

So do them a favor and get them started the right way.
Leaning Bike
First, point them towards the Motorcycle Safety Foundation website. If they really are excited about all the money they are saving, remind them that, in Pennsylvania at least, it’s FREE.

Second, talk to them. Talk to them about the right clothing, the right gear. Yes, it’s legal to go without a helmet in PA. It’s also legal to ride in flip-flops, in a t-shirt or in shorts. I don’t recommend any of these.

I have my reasons…

A number of riders start wearing protective gear … after they drop the bike. If you gear-up, don’t be afraid to mention that to them.

Next, offer to get them involved with other riders. Ride with them, tell them about clubs, tell them about trackdays if they are interested in the sportier fare. The NESBA (Northeast Sport Bike Association) has novice classes too. The new rider sitting in the back listening to another story that starts with, “I don’t know how I got out of this alive but I did” is learning just like they are in a classroom.
NESBA
As a rider, you’ve forgotten more about riding than many people are going to know after they finish their first year of riding – if the first year is this year. Let us know what you’ve seen and learned out on the road and we’ll pass that along in future issues!

Please help get our new riders get started down the right road. Thanks.

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Reduce Deficit Spending!

Posted on November 11, 2010 by admin

Money
You might have noticed that there was an election last week. Maybe your jammed mailbox and the millions of commercials tipped you off. Some people have been concerned about the nation’s deficit.

Well, I’m not talking about that deficit.

I can’t do too much about that deficit. But I can help folks get a lot of vehicle for a lot less. I’m looking at what a deal riding a bike is compared to a car and how that can help our personal deficits.

I wasn’t paying too much attention to the political ads but I have been watching car ads on TV. Next to a house, an automobile is generally the second largest purchase a person makes and often is the second largest payment a person has. Cash flow is the big issue in a lot of households today and that is what I work on fixing.

How much can you get today for your money?

Let’s compare. I looked at financing a nice little crossover SUV. The one I looked at costs under $19,000. I looked at 72 month financing to keep the monthly payments low and I put $2300 down. Why a $2300 down payment? Bear with me.

For this crossover, I need to pay the $2,300 up front and make payments of over $270 per month (Special Offer – 4.9% interest!!) … until 2016! (Weren’t we supposed to be flying our cars in 2016??) The total interest I pay is over $2,600! I end up paying almost $22,000 for that car.

Why did I go with $2,300 down?

Because MPG Motors is still offering a new Buddy 125 for $2,300 – all delivery and preparation fees included, two year warranty and two years of Roadside Assistance. You pay tax and tags. And by the way, you don’t pay nearly as much *for* that tax on a bike as you do on that SUV – $1,140 vs. $138. Insurance on a $20,000 car vs. a $2,300 bike – not even close.

If the goal is to get you there, have other people wave at you and enjoy life to the max, why don’t we all reduce our deficits with a bike? Use the money you save to do something you want to do instead of writing a $270 check … for the next six years!
Relaxation

What to do with all that extra money??

Hammock

You know, if bikes can save you that much money maybe the government should start riding fun, fast and efficient motorcycles and scooters! A trillion here, a trillion there…

Posted in Economy, Government | Leave a comment

Brake Wear … or what is that funny sound?

Posted on November 10, 2010 by admin

New Brake Pads
This is a picture of new brake pads for a disc brake. Almost all of our bikes have disc brakes on at least one of the wheels. When you push the brake pedal or pull in a brake handle on hydraulic brakes, fluid flows through a hose and that fluid is used to squeeze these pads against a rotor that is attached to the wheel.

Front Bike Brake and Wheel

Since the brake pads don’t move and the rotor is moving, the friction between the pads and the rotor causes the rotor to slow down, stopping the bike. The energy of the moving bike was converted to heat through the friction of the pads against the rotor.

    Important safety tip: don’t touch hot brake rotors!


The friction material that stops the bike wears off the pad the longer it is used. The pad, when new, starts off tall and wears down by repeated use. An eraser on a pencil works the same way.

The line in the middle of the new brake pads is called a wear indicator. When an inspection mechanic checks your brakes, they often start by looking to see if this line is still there. If it isn’t, the brakes are worn and probably need to be replaced if they are “lower” than a certain height.

The friction material is given extra strength by being attached to metal frames. The metal part of the brake pad is the part that has the holes in the new brake pad picture. These holes are used by the brake “calipers” to keep the pads in place.

We are starting to have a number of folks wear out their brake pads.
When this occurs, they have worn completely down through the friction material and now the metal backing plate is being squeezed against the rotor.

Burned Brake Pads

This results in metal on metal contact and technically is what we call, “A Bad Thing!”

At this point, applying the brakes will sound different to the rider from before. Incidentally, none of our bikes have “wear indicators” like some cars do. Wear indicators are small pieces of hard metal that warn automobile drivers – “Hey, the brake pads are almost worn out, replace us!”

Nope, we don’t have wear indicators.

When we hear funny brake sounds, we are squeezing that remaining metal against the brake rotor which will rapidly destroy it.

Brake rotors can cost as much as $180 for just the part. The front wheel on a GT650R has *two* of them. At this point, of course, the pads are toast too and must also be replaced. We have to remove the wheel with the torched rotor(s), replace the rotors and put a new set of pads on.

Since we hate for your to waste your money, you may want to check the condition of the pads yourself with a small mirror. Position the mirror so you can see the pads on either side of the disc rotor and try to find the wear indicator. The pads will wear out over time and this will vary by riding style, softness of the material, size of the pad, weight of the bike and rider – well, the life of the brake pads vary by lots of things.

So, you want to make sure that yours are ok ’cause the alternative can cost much more – and we like our bikes to be cheap to keep!

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Riding After The Summer

Posted on November 5, 2010 by admin

Fall Road
Let’s talk about what is different as the seasons start to change and work in a couple of tips we recommend.

As a biker, you probably have already noticed that you tend to pay more attention to the road surface when riding than you do in an automobile. Gravel, mud and sand can get your car dirty but can give a biker bigger problems.

Did you know that leaves on the roadway have dumped many a rider?

The leaves can be wet, layered on top of each other and can be nearly as slick as hitting ice. At this time of year (and particularly after the wind and rain we’re going to see for the next few days in the mid-Atlantic) this is a new thing to watch out for.

As it gets colder, the morning dew and colder nighttime temperatures can change the traction you’ll get compared to the warm summer days. Don’t count so much on your bike tires when it’s colder. Make your corner approaches slower which will require less traction from the tires to curve through the corner. Ride to separate, as much as possible, starting, stopping and turning. Don’t give your tires too much to do at once. Another thing to be careful for is cold, wet manhole covers – they can be particularly slippery.

The goal is to try to get more of your turning done at a slower speed which lets you keep the bike more upright. The fall season is not a great time to act as if you are a MotoGP rider on race tires at a track!

So what can we do for our ride as much colder weather arrives? Be aware that the nice soft rubber tires that let you really corner aggressively in the summer are not as compliant in the colder weather. We sell tires for scooters in the winter.
VeeRubber Snow Tire
Unfortunately, snow tires, which are very soft compounds, are not available for all the bikes we sell but we keep asking our vendors for them. Replacing your summer tires with “snow tires” will not turn your scooter into a 4WD SUV but they will help. We sell these in the popular scooter size tires.

Gear up too. When I ride in the winter and it’s really chilly, I don’t see a lot of riders. You can do it if you wear the gear that makes riding more comfortable. Think about how you would dress to do an outdoor sport like skiing or snowmobiling. Wind chill is wind chill on skis or on a bike and it will impair your mental and motor abilities if you don’t deal with it.

A big seller last year for us was the Scootr Logic Mitts. Although these require you to know what and where your controls are without seeing them, they really help to keep your hands warm.
Scootr Logic Mitts
We also sell the Gerbing stand-alone heated products. They have their own batteries so I can go from bike to bike without having to wire each one to run the electrically heated vest or gloves. Plus, scooters generally don’t make enough electricity to run traditionally heated clothes. So I wear the battery powered vests in the winter. The battery lasts for two hours at full-power which should be sufficient time to get all of us to where we are going. Get to work, pop the battery on a charger and you are ready for your ride home at night. You can also wear these for anything where you need a little more warmth for a while like sporting events or hunting.
Gerbing Heated Vest
We also sell the Gerbing battery powered ski gloves that work the same way. I really like these as I hate having cold hands!
Gerbing Heated Gloves

HJC Helmets also sells electrically heated visors that can be attached to the electrical system to provide a defroster function for colder weather. Other anti-fog chemical wipes for standard helmet visors are also available.
HJC Heated Visor
Riding in the fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year to ride! Make it as fun and safe as you can and you will love it!

Posted in Accessories, MPG Motors, Riding | 1 Comment

GTO – Gas, Tires and Oil

Posted on November 3, 2010 by admin

This month’s maintenance tip comes from Ron, a man of few words. In fact, he often abbreviates the words so he just uses the letters. Distilled to the absolute essence, the core, the nugget – Ron’s contribution to this month’s newsletter is just this: GTO.

See, GTO stands for Gas, Tires and Oil.

When we are riding we are most concerned with the things that can bring an abrupt stop to the fun. Although things can break or fall off the bike, often running out of gas or having the motor hard-stop (seize) are as disconcerting as anything else. When you run out of gas or oil, the motor either stops slowly or it stops quickly. On a manual transmission bike with an engine that hard-stops, you need to get the clutch in as the bike tire will be sliding until you do. On an automatic transmission scooter, you will just coast to a stop. In either case, you will suddenly present a roadblock to those following behind you and you must then count on them to do the right thing and miss you and your bike. That covers “G” and “O”
Air Pressure
In the history of two-wheeled vehicles, they used tires and wheels before we had motors. Everything involving riding as we know it depends on your tires working properly. Running underinflated tires causes them to heat up due to the additional flexing of the rubber as the wheel turns. Some heat in a motorcycle tire is good but excess heat is never good for a tire. It can cause it to fail. It is also possible to have a tubeless tire so underinflated that it breaks the “bead” and lets the air out suddenly. The end result is the same or worse as a motor stop. Your bike isn’t acting much like a bike anymore.

So, Check GTO. Make sure that:

You have gas for the ride (prevent the slow stop)
Your motor has the correct amount of oil (prevent the hard-stop)
Your tire pressure is set properly (prevent tire failure)

If you have ANY questions on how to check ANY of these on your bike, bring it by and we will show you how.

Remember we have “Free Air” at MPG Motors!
Free Air!

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Free Air – What's Old Is New Again!

Posted on September 3, 2010 by admin

There are just four things we want to make sure you pay attention to on your bike.

One is the oil, none of our bikes are going to work without oil! Next, we need to keep the battery charged – they are just too expensive for their size to let them go dead. Putting fuel stabilizer in the gasoline before you stop riding is something we have discussed at length already. The last thing is having the right air pressure in your tires.

When you feel the handlebars wobbling in a slow speed corner you can bet that the front tire doesn’t have enough air. And if the front tire doesn’t have enough, odds are that the back tire doesn’t either. Tire pressure is very important to the safety and driveability of your bike.

In the past decade, air became something to sell at a gas station. “Got some change?” “I need air in my tires!” Well we aren’t going there because even paying 25 cents for a couple of minutes of air at a gas station might keep some from checking their tire pressure – and we think that having the right tire pressure is just too darn important for your safety.

What’s old is new again!
The MPG Motors Air Hose
We took some time and ran air piping outside the dealership so that you can swing by and check your tires – for free! We do turn the compressor off at night to save energy but when we are in the shop feel free to check this all-important part of your vehicle. Get yourself an air gauge and compare your pressure to your tire inflation plate on your bike.
Inflation Plate
We sell the air gauges and so does just about everyone else. Come in and grab a gauge but make sure you get yourself some

FREE AIR!
Checking Air Pressure

Posted in Community, Maintenance | Leave a comment

Make a down payment – Your FINAL Payment

Posted on September 3, 2010 by admin

After the roller-coaster ride we’ve all taken the past two years called the global economy, we’re starting to witness an interesting trend at MPG Motors. We are seeing an increase in floor traffic, in sales, excitement and interest coming through the front door. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 50cc scooter, a 220cc Blur, a used ride or a 650cc bike, lately they have all been interesting to someone.

A Man Thinking

And what we are seeing and hearing from other dealers too was a steady increase in floor traffic starting in June and building through August. For example, we sold one scooter for sure and probably two – one Monday! What is changing? It’s a determined, eyes-opened customer that seems a little tougher than last year or even earlier this year. Less frightened, more committed to a course of action. They are shopping for quality, comparing prices and features but then they pull the trigger.

Here is what I think has changed…

Besides a home purchase, buying a car is usually pointed to as the “second largest purchase” a person makes. I looked over some car ads from local automobile dealerships. 48, 60, 72 month financing is “available” – thanks! Thank-you very much!

Down payments for both automobile purchases and for leases seem to run in the $2,000-$3,000 range. Monthly payments generally start around $200 / month and go up from there.

What I think is occurring is that the average person decides that no economist knows what is going to happen 6 years from today. Consequently they don’t want to commit to 72 $200 monthly payments.

But they know that today, they want something to “Get to work”, “Get to school” or “Get a smile!” A vehicle that makes them laugh! So, they are getting a vehicle – an entire transportation solution – for the same amount of money that they would have to pay to even start an automobile purchase or lease. So, in our door they come!

A breath of fresh air! You can see it in the eyes. Transportation and fun for the down money on a car! We’ve just reduced prices to bang out some bikes – Buddy 125′s for $2300, Buddy Internationals for $2800, new Hyosung’s starting at $3299 (while supplies last). We talk about PA inspections that only cost $25 instead of $70 for cars. Insurance that runs $160/year – with collision and not just liability. Two years of worry-free driving and even roadside assistance with some of our products. All for an average selling price that is the same as the down payment on a car.

Couple that with those price reductions that we just rolled out – and the end result is a number of people are going to have a lot more money to spend where they want and on what they want instead of paying off a loan!

Buddy Scooter

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Feel The Burn – Our LED Lighting Solutions!

Posted on September 3, 2010 by admin

MPG Motors now offers custom LED lighting solutions for our bikes. Ron has finished some beautiful installations that have our scooters and motorcycles “floating on a cloud of light”.

Starting out at around $100 installed, from accent lighting at one extreme to snow and ice melting eyeball burners, Ron can give your bike the ability to be seen from low-earth orbit.

Did I ever mention that scooters and bikes are supposed to be fun?

I thought so.
Stella LED
Buddy LED
GT650R LED

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Calling all FUNDraising Groups!

Posted on August 6, 2010 by admin

One of the activities we really like to push at this time of year is to help out worthy non-profit, private schools, clubs and organizations in the Greater Philadelphia area with scooters (usually) where we cut our margins to the bone. This lets the group make maximum money from an auction or sale to support their work while really increasing awareness of bikes and riders in the area – that always helps every rider!
Buddy Scooter
In the case of a 50cc scooter, they can auction or raffle a vehicle driveable by anyone with just a PA Drivers License. For the past two years, the Upper Bucks SERTOMA Club donated almost $5000 to the American Cancer Society and we got two terrific new customers who received Buddy scooters!

On October 15th at the Spring Mill Country Club in Ivyland, PA, we’ll have a Buddy 50cc scooter for the HealthLink Medical Center fund raising golf tournament.

Here’s where we need help. We know some groups but we don’t know most of them. Plus, we only have time to reach out to some of these organizations – usually through email. If you know of a group (or better, a person in that group) that we should contact, please give us a call and let us know. Thanks!

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