New Vetter Challenge

[Cd]

What kind of mileage is everyone aiming for ?
100 MPG should be easy.
( The guy on the front page already gets over 200 MPG.)

[Swiftbow]

Originally Posted by cd

...
100 mpg should be easy.
...

lol!

[Cd]

Originally Posted by Swiftbow

lol!

I don't understand why thats funny. The guy on the front page got 100 MPG from his scooter when it was stock.
With gearing and aero mods he is getting over twice that.

[Swiftbow]

Getting a 100mpg is achieving the "Holy Grail" of motorcycle FE, far from easy. The Dutch effort with the Honda is fantastic but the base model he used, a ANF125i Innova, isn't available in the US. Until the writeup, I'd never heard of it. It's unfortunate as 100mpg with no modifications and ability for 55mph would be nice.

I don't believe I would be able to ride the Dutch bike comfortably with the seating modification and even though the feet can reach the ground in the aero shell, I have some reservations about everyday safety practicality but I tip my hat to the astounding 200+ mpg achievement.

In any regards, the humor was in relation to the "easy" comment in consideration of the bikes that are available in the US market.

Doug

[arcosine]

My brother got 85 mpg on his 1975 honda 450cc 4 stroke 2 cylinder motorcycle without aeromods in 1983, driving at highway speed with camping equipment strapped on. He changed the drive sprockets.

[Frank Lee]

I have a '71 CB450 with an oversized drive sprocket. It hasn't been on the road in years but I don't recall ever getting more than 60 mpg.

[bdesj]

Originally Posted by Cd

I don't understand why thats funny. The guy on the front page got 100 MPG from his scooter when it was stock.
With gearing and aero mods he is getting over twice that.

I hear ya, CD. Mr Jacobs`s Honda streamliner is a marvel for sure, but as the other folks have mentioned, it`s the conditions that Vetter puts on the vehicles that make it so challenging. As he says himself, any moped will get 100 MPG. But a moped isn`t useful enough to keep most people satisfied for day to day transportation, so he`s challenging people to come up with vehicles that will get 100 MPG and STILL be usefull. The idea behind his challenge is explained on his website- very interresting. Here`s what he requires from the vehicles:

Vetter Challenge rules

[redyaris]

Originally Posted by arcosine

My brother got 85 mpg on his 1975 honda 450cc 4 stroke 2 cylinder motorcycle without aeromods in 1983, driving at highway speed with camping equipment strapped on. He changed the drive sprockets.

I echo what bdesj said. If you go to craigvetter.com and see what the conditions are you will see that they are real driving conditions on real roads in real wind and weather conditions, at the posted speed limit which are between 65mph and 70mph. Generaly speeking fuel economy claims about what other people get for fuel consumpion are suspect...

[Frank Lee]

Out where Vetter is, you also have some pretty extreme grades to climb, with the ever-present parade of 100 speeders trying to crawl up your tailpipe at the same time.

[tomauto]

I wonder why the owner of the Honda 230l being air cooled chose to not have an air inlet for the motor to cool down. He stated that he would spray water on the motor to cool it down. Couldn't be good for the motor at all!