Can 1983 Honda VT-500 Meet the Vetter Challenge?

[redyaris]

I have the 18" wheel rim and swing arm and will be getting a 120/90-18 rear tire next week and will begine testing what I need to do to fit it up to the bke. I may be able to make a small modification to the front of the original swing arm and if that works then all I will need to change is the wheel. This could yield a 5% drop in engine rpm and maybe even a 5% improvement in fuel economy. There is also the prospect of lowering the seat by a few cm which in turn would require modifications to the bodywork to reduce frontal area.
I am also on the trail of a remote oil filter adaptor so that I can add an oil cooler to the system...

[renault_megane_dci]

You surely do not hang around !

I wish I could be that much perseverant (if that's proper english ?)

[redyaris]

The tire is mounted and balanced and It looks like it will fit in the original swingarm with a very minor modification to the front of the swingarm; to provide 1/4" [6mm] clearance, rather than the less than 1/8" [3mm] clearance unmodified. Now who was it that kept saying that a larger diameter tire wouldn't fit...?
I have an oil filter mount bypass adaptor and an oil cooler radiator on order which should arive in the next 2 weeks. This should say goodby to the cooling issues.

[renault_megane_dci]

Did you end up fitting your larger core radiator and the additionnal VFR one ?

All the extra cooling capacity of the world is not gonna help if your thermostat is set to a high value anyway ...

And you stated somewhere you didn't like the temperatures of the bike although it was still in the 'normal' range.
An engine performs best for FE when it is on the hot side ...

[redyaris]

renault_megane_dci
I have not fitted the larger core radiator yet and will do so when I instal the engine oil cooler. I will not fit the VFR radiator as it is no longer nessisary.
I suspect that the major problem with the VT500 cooling system is that it is too small, even honda recognized that. My observations are that at moderate ambiant temperatures [20*C - 30*C] the bike will run all day without a problem and the temp guage stays right in the midle of the guage operating range. As the ambiant temp rises above 30*C so does the guage temp, until the cooling fan comes on at low speeds and at stops.
I ran the stock configuration in the Vegas to Bastow Vetter Challenge without any indication of running at the high end of the range the guage was always in the midle of the range.

[redyaris]

I have looked at the various gear sets to see if there was a way to get one that could be changed without to much expence, and the only one that fits the bill is the primary reduction between the crank shaft and the clutch. They are strait cut gears, so now I will have to see what the cost of cutting 2 gears is...
If this proves reasonably cost effective then I will try it out.

[renault_megane_dci]

Originally Posted by redyaris

I have looked at the various gear sets to see if there was a way to get one that could be changed without to much expence, and the only one that fits the bill is the primary reduction between the crank shaft and the clutch. They are strait cut gears, so now I will have to see what the cost of cutting 2 gears is...
If this proves reasonably cost effective then I will try it out.

I didn't recall seeing a MPG improvement claim with the tire / wheel combo.

Could you try this on its own ?

[redyaris]

The 18" rear wheel and tire will be instaled in april, at which time I will also install the larger core radiator and the engine oil cooler.
The gears for the primary drive from the crankshaft to the clutch will be made and instaled if they are not cost prohibative.

[redyaris]

The VT500 did 86.4 mpg on the 2013 Carmel Vetter Challenge. This is due mostly to the lack of wind on the day of the event. On the day before the event Allan and I did a 98 mile ride along some of the same roads and I got 74 mpg with head winds. I suspect I am in the last 10% of development on ths bike, due mostly to the cost of changing gear ratios to lower engine RPM. It is Still a great bike to ride on long freeway trips. So I will be adapting a larger fuel tank with 50% more copacity...

[ldjessee00]

Hello Red,

Does it look much different with the change in wheel and tire size?

Do you mean that you will not be doing the gear ratio change due to the cost? Or that it is the last 10%, so it will be 90% of the cost?