lookin for ideas

[beatr911]

Some people like gearing so tall that they have to drop a gear to climb inclines. And why not, your arms and legs are not broken.

For my bike the taller gearing puts 60mph at about 5500 rpm. Under 60 it has enough power to pull the rather steep interstate climb in top gear, barely. Going faster it bogs down to 60 where the wind drag is less then it just stays there. A true testament that wind drag is the greatest enemy. If I had a (ahem) sleeker body, I can see where 15hp would be quite enough to pull 70mph in almost all situations, uphill or down.

[redyaris]

Originally Posted by dr200

thanks guys, i agree if someone has a route where the speed limit was 45mph this bike would be most excellant. i got the gear change and it sounds to me that the 'sweet spot' sound increased to around 52mph, but i would have to agree that some aero work is needed to reduce the drag at 55 and above so i don't 'bog the engine down. since some one mentioned lean burning, at first a few experinced bike riders,at work, mentioned about how the exhaust pipe looked like it was burning mighty lean and my shop guy agreed so i called dealer got a run around and he said i would have to pay for an engine anylazing to determine, i told him 'bite me' my warrenty says he would have to pay for a new motor . so anyway with the new gearing rpms has dropped and the bike doesn't feel like its luggin on any of the slight inclines i face so i think it will be ok.

What specificaly is the observation that indacate leanness? the two crude ways to tell if an engine is running lean are a spark plug color inspection, and is the exhaust pipe exit light brown or what... as long as the spark plug is tan in color it is ok. If the plug is white in color you need to enrich the feul air mix. As beatr911 has indicated the only real way to dial in the fuel air mix is with an o2 sencer, air fuel meter. Your dealer should at least do a spark plug check. anything less is neglegent on the dealers part. pulling your spark plug and looking at its color should not take 30 minutes including all the paper work! failing that do it yourself.

[dr200]

i don't plan on going any faster than 55mph and just back and forth to work. (harley boys at work wont let me cruise with them to the mountains) so hopefully i'm not taxiing this little thing too much. i do mech.mainteneance (one day i'll learn to spell that word) at a papermill so my weight varies between 194 and 204 on any given depending work load . it is the exhaust pipe that caught the attention of everybody. and i understand about the spark plug but working some 12hr shifts have'nt had a chance to check it or fuel consumption but since i'll have 175miles since gear change it should give me a rather close average mpg when i check. i' am thinking of shopping yard sales to look for some old tach guns to rig up a tachometer for this thing does anybody have a reccomendation of maybe a aftermarket kit? gotta go midnight 7 to 7 shift, thanks

[beatr911]

tiny tach has a digital unit for like $35 at Cabelas.

[dr200]

had a little misshap on testing mpg so i had to do over at 160 miles , 96% at 55mph , with my new gear change (sorry i dont know tooth count but it seemed only is one size larger due to space limitations) i am getting 80mpg yee haa. now that aint no 105 like advertised but hey it is better than my 99 f150 or 01 jeep on the lean thing spark plug looks like it is burning clean and now with the rpms reduced at top speed lean might be all right now.looking at some type of windscreen. and rear rack and case. milk crate i got doesn't secure my items. oh yeah i'm gettin one of them tiny tachs thanks beatr911

[beatr911]

Good on ya dr200!! Seems 80mpg is THE top end number for freeway speeds without aero improvements on motorcycles. That is just about what I've been getting on my 200 as well.

I'm often (about 50%) at WOT on the freeway, but the engine is not spinning anywhere near redline, so I have no worries about toasting the engine soon. I am curious just how long the engine will last though. I'm using synthetic oil, and moving to Shell Rotella T6 as I understand it's the best choice for motorcycles, you should consider using it also for this hard working engine.

I could see the 105 mpg but only at lower speeds where the aero drag is reduced.

The spark plug check is only accurate when shutting the engine off at the speed and load at which you wish to check the mixture. If you just check it when you get home or arrive a the shop, you are reading the mixture as it was just prior to when it was turned off. I strongly suggest using an o2 sensor and gauge to really get it right.

The cool thing I like about it is that you can adjust the carb for a lean area on one of the circuits where the engine load is low. Using the gauge you can adjust your throttle to take advantage of this lean condition and squeak out a few more mpg when the conditions are right, the gauge will help you see exactly where this occurs. My last tank was just over 82, 66% freeway.

[dr200]

i've been trying to look around for some type of glass i've come to the conclussion that i don't want a fairing i think it would make the cross wind turblance(sp?) bad. in other words you may all ready know how sometimes you have to hang on for the ride so what i 've been trying to look at is the possibility of having the glass come just a little under or even to the bottom of my full face helmet. so far choices are maier(sport or typhoon), givi (a601,a604),nationalcycle (deflector, street sheild, f series f15 light tint my favorite ). i have found some competeing designs to the tiny tach (moose, hardline,works)still trying to flip a coin on that choice also. one thing i need to find out is how this bike fires it was brought to my attention that some japenese bikes fire on top dead all the time even exhaust stroke (1rpm) while others do only top of compression stroke (2rpm) so if these gadgets are only picking up from spark plug they need to be able to adjust to which ever scenario, does that sound right?