Honda Magna 250
 

I picked up a "new" bike this afternoon. :D
It's a '94 Honda Magna 250, a JDM grey import (marketed as the VT250C in Australia), with 32,000 km on the clock.

The previous owner claimed an average 250 km from the fairly small 8 litre main tank, about 3.2 l/100 km.
I hope I can do better than that. :thumbup:

I'll give it a bit of TLC first, then run through a couple of tanks to set a base line before I start some planned mods. :)

Well, the first tank has been disappointing, but that's my fault.
I wasn't wearing my glasses when I filled at the start and then couldn't control my right hand on the motorway.:o

This first week has confirmed what I thought from the start, - if I'm going to run this at 80 kph plus, it really needs a windscreen and taller gears.

There's very few photos of this model with screens on the net, so I'd welcome any input about what to buy (or make?) with looks and MPG in mind.

Standard gearing for this is 14/38, with only these sprockets available locally. I can get optional sizes from Japan however.
So far, I'm thinking of a 15 front and a 36 rear.
That'll give me options of 14/36 (5.4% taller), 15/38 (7.1% taller) and 15/36 (12.9% taller).

Pete.:)

1988 Honda VTR250, 19xxx miles, good condition.

Is it like this one?

regards
mech

Garish colors. Matches the synth pop music of the mid 80's.

I run 15/ 36 on my CBR250R and didn't have to change the chain length.

I like the colors, because there is no way someone could say they did not see that bike.

regards
mech

Sorry guys, wrong bike, but similar motor?

http://info-carz.com/data_images/gallery/02/honda-magna-250/honda-magna-250-02.jpg[/IMG]
Mine's the same colour as this one.

Edit. Photo didn't work, there's a fuzzy photo in Metric's garage listing.

fixed

Edit: was fixed. Now it's been removed from server.

I bought a used (I'm cheap) Slipstreamer ss-28 windshield the other day.
It's not a perfect fit for the bike, but it's a reasonable basis to build on.

It has no mounting hardware, so it may take me a while to work out how to best fit it.

I ordered the 15t and 36t sprockets from Webike in Japan today. I hope they won't take too long to arrive, Summer's nearly over. ;)

What is the worst weather that you get in the winter? I have 6 feet of snow on the curb. And -10F/ -23C.

250cc bikes seem to have the least compromise between overall performance and fuel-efficiency. Too bad in my country the import of used vehicles less than 30 years-old is not allowed...

We don't get very severe winters now, we haven't had snow at my place for 20 years. It rarely drops below 0 degrees C.

I've gotten soft over the years. :o
Now, if it's wet or foggy, I take the car.
If I'm working Day Shift (too many idiot drivers), I take the car.

My father-in-law used to tow the children around the field on their saucer behind his dirt bike. Good tires and protection from the wind is critical. We have ice racers and snowmobilers in western NY. My wife's family is from the area south of Buffalo.

Base Line
 

I've got three fills of "average" riding, not too fast, not too slow, some commuting, some weekend riding with my son, no serious hypermiling.

The average of these fills is 3.49 l/100 km (67.4 mpg), I'll use this as the base line to measure any mods against.

I've got the fairing mounted now and the new sprockets have arrived.:)
I'll probably play around with the height/angle of the fairing for a while before fitting the taller gearing, so I can see what works best without confusing the issue too much.

I haven't been riding as much as I'd hoped, we've had a very wet end to this Summer.:(

It's time that I updated this thread.

I've given up the notion of using mpg figures to accurately compare adjustments or mods, there's just too much variation in riding conditions and minor fill errors with this little tank.

I started filling at my local service station and because they don't stock the 91 octane that I usually use, I filled with 95.
That gave me lower FE ???
Because previous experience tells me 95 should increase FE, I suspect their pumps are a bit off, so I've gone back to filling further down the mountains.

I fitted the larger front sprocket and saw an increase in FE. Fitting the smaller rear sprocket hasn't improved on that so far, but it's only been one fill, maybe I just need to get used to playing the gears a bit better.

I'm not happy with the screen I'm using, I'll probably make a custom screen rather than use another universal type, maybe not as big at this one though.:D

http://www.aioinc.jp/siteimages/%E3%...B32%20(20).JPG

Higher octane fuel has less energy content so will usually give lower FE.

This one seems to trap so much heat around the rider's legs. I'd rather leave heavy aero mods for scooters...

It's from this site ã�©ã‚“ã�ªãƒ�イクã�«ã‚‚ç´*敵ã�ªå±‹æ*¹ã‚’ã�Šå�–ä» ˜ã�‘-後ã�¤ã�‘ãƒ�イク用ルーフã‚*ット｢ルーム•ã‚·ãƒ¼ãƒ«ãƒ‰ã€�１５ï¼�ｃｃ以上ã�®ãƒ�イクã �¸ã�®è£…ç�€ä¾‹ã€€ã�•ã�¾ã�–ã�¾ã�ªãƒ�イクã�«å�–ã‚Š 付ã�‘OK
While most of their "roof shields" are for scooters, they also offer versions for road bikes and even trail bikes.

Despite being aimed at weather protection and not aerodynamics, some aspects of the shield have given me ideas.

Streamlining an air cooled bike is a bit trickier than one with a radiator but quite possible with some thought. I use a coast down test to compare fairings. The hill is measured for height and distance. I average the speed of several runs after warming the tires. The best increases come from improving the flow behind the rider. See Sendler's tail box and some sailplane shapes.
http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/...connor/103.jpg

Gain
 

Here's an illustration of my current bike/car fuel savings.

We're having hot weather (40C+ one day) in my neck of the woods at present, so I've commuted by bike all this past week.

The rough difference between covering that 510km in the car (27.54 litres) verses the bike (16.58 litres) is $12.15 at today's fuel price.
That probably won't cover rego, insurance and minor maintenance, so for me there's no net gain financially by riding a bike to work.

The gain is in my mental wellbeing.:D :D

:D
I've just entered my best fill yet, 3.05 l/100 km (77.1 mpg).

OK, it may be more fill error than genuine improvement, but I was trying to keep my speeds down this tank.
:turtle: