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Bryan,
I read your post with great interest!!
I have an old VF500 Interceptor that I ride to work each day. I also stay in the crouched position behind a full fairing for almost 50 minutes on the way to work. You mentioned back pain, I don't have any at all. When crouched, I rest my elbows on top of my knees, which then removes most of the load on the back muscles. Very comfortable.
I noticed several posts were trying to lean the carb jetting to get better fuel milage. Historically, unless your jetting is slightly rich, this will not work, and may cause an increase in fuel consumption. Take a close look at the Craig Vetter website, and read the detailed accounts of how other motorcyclists got close to 500 mpg on small displacement gas engines.
You will note that any fuel mixture changes from stock typically did nothing or reduced the gas milage slightly.
Bryan, you are definitely on track with the gearing. Charlie Perentian did two things to get over 300 mpg quite easily:
1) lower the engine rpm's with gearing changes
2) add a tear dropped fairing to the motorcycle
All this was done from years 1980 to 1985, during the Craig Vetter High Mileage Contest, right after the first fuel crisis. Dig around the web, and you will find more information about this. Great reading.
Keep experimenting!! I like reading your post.
Best of luck, Jim.
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