Cycle Efficiency Mod List

[redyaris]

Here in Canada, winter provides lots of time to work on bikes, at present I have done some modifications to my GS500 to improve fuel economy. I have extended variouse parts of the fairing to get more continuity. I have instaled aluminum extensions to the front forks to reduce drag caused by the front wheel/fork assembly and have covered the area behind the rider all the way back to the back of the bike. I have also covered the bottom of the bike where the fairig is open. What I am hoping for is 2.5L/100km average fuel consumption. The aproach I am takeing is; how far can one modify the original bike to get improvements, before going to full streamlinning a la Rifle fairing used on the electic race bikes run at Isle of Man TT and the 1982 Vetter fuel economy contest.

[janvos39]

Redyaris

Do you have pictures so that we can see what you mean? I used the same approach on my Burgman scooter, just modifying and adding to existing model.

[MetroMPG]

redyaris: I'd like to see your bike too.

[redyaris]

I just put new battaries in my digital camera today, so I should be able to take some pics this weekend. Janvos39 I am very impressed with the work you have done to your bike. I would suggest that your ecomodder Aprinticeship is done and you can now call yourself a Journeyman ecomodder. I am not going as far along the road of aero mods as you on this project. The question I am asking is what can be achieved by closing off all the useless openings a faired motorcycle has? I suspect that because motorcycles are so poor aerodynamicaly I may get as much as a 30% reduction in drag which may get a 10% reduction in fuel consumption??? As C Vetter has pointed out modern street and race bike fairings are very poor, but even with in that they make no effort to get the best out of a bad design! Batman Jr your work on the metro is an insperation to me. My Yaris will be getting rear wheel well covers some time this year, my objective is 3.7L/100km for this car.

[redyaris]

I have made my first attempt at uploading pictures but the files are to big, more than
100kb. I will try again latter.

[redyaris]

Lets see if I can get the pics into this post. if not then they are on my profile. the second pic is with paper board covers the fairing and the open area that will get an aluminum panel as well.

[janvos39]

Redyaris. I think that the largest loss ,due to wake formation, comes from your back. If you can make something attached to your buddyseat that matched the width of you and is pointed to the end of the bike ,you can recover some of the pressure from the front of your body. Start if possible with a lower seat position.

[redyaris]

I have thought about that and have plans for an aero shaped saddle and soft aero seat bags. sadle bags are not a problem as they can be fabricated from aluminum and positioned close behinde the riders lower legs. The problem is that if I put somthing on the seat behind the rider then I cannot get on and off the bike in the normal way. When the bike is on the side or center stand I can step up on the foot peg and then swing my leg over what ever is on the seat behinde me. Do you have the same problem with you scooter/motorbike? do you have other suggestions? lowering the seat may be benificial in that it would also improve riding comfort as well as air drag reduction. for now I will keep improving on the original poor design until I have fixed all the easy stuff...

[janvos39]

With a scooter you have a low step in position, so you swing your leg in front of you at step in. The low part in the frame where you have to raise your leg is only 48 cm from the floor. This was one of my reasons to go to a scooter as basis for an aerobike. If you can make a low section by reducing the tank size you might be able to do the same step in. Cutting a part of the tank sounds a little drastic. Maybe make a new aluminium tank ?

[mazdamx640]

what about fender elimenators and small l.e.d. turn signals.