Seriously am i doing this wrong?

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wayofthedarkhand · #1 Post by **wayofthedarkhand** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:16 pm

Riding around about town, journeys of a few miles to 15 miles long.

Fill tank to the brim 18+ litres. Fuel light comes on at 75 miles

Haven't finished the tank yet but the MPG is going to be horrendous, but this bike is suppose to be more fuel efficient than my last, so I can only come to the conclusion that i'm riding it wrong.

Samray · #2 Post by **Samray** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:26 pm

I'd guess you may still be revving it like your kwaks ...

... although in town it's never gonna be miserly.

wayofthedarkhand · #3 Post by **wayofthedarkhand** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:29 pm

Samray wrote:I'd guess you may still be revving it like your kwaks ...

About town its around 4k rpm, similar to the ZX9R.

Anything under about 3.5k feels to me like i'm labouring the engine (though that might not be the case).

I guess i either need to be higher in the rev range, or lower, i'm not sure yet, so thought i'd post here to see where the sweetsport is.

D-Rider · #4 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:33 pm

I ride mine round town - commuting.
It generally does about 100 to 110 before the light but have had the light on at 80 and I was pushing by 100.

They are not good at slow stuff. On a long run it'll do 140 before the light.

How full are you filling it - right to the top or just up to that funny plastic thing with the hole to get the nozzle in? There's a lot of space above if you only fill up to there.

wayofthedarkhand · #5 Post by **wayofthedarkhand** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:35 pm

Right to the top. From empty (as i had to push it 100meters to the petrol station after it only did 20miles on the 4.5l reserve) I can squeeze in over 18 litres.

Samray · #6 Post by **Samray** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:44 pm

Can't remember your bike's set up but fancy cans often leave a bike running rich.

bigearsbilly · #7 Post by **bigearsbilly** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:44 pm

from full up to fuel light in 75 miles?
that's not right.

I do 6 miles to work and 6 back, plus home for lunch, mostly in town.

I get about 140 miles I think, and I don't hang about.
I get about 35mpg which is bad enough.

wayofthedarkhand · #8 Post by **wayofthedarkhand** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:49 pm

Samray wrote:Can't remember your bike's set up but fancy cans often leave a bike running rich.

Beowulf cans, no baffles. If anything it should run lean, shouldn't it?

Maybe I need a PCIII and a trip to the dyno to set it up right, but I wouldn't have thought so.

D-Rider · #9 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:01 pm

get your foot off of the brake pedal

flatlander · #10 Post by **flatlander** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:12 pm

bigearsbilly wrote:from full up to fuel light in 75 miles?
that's not right.

I do 6 miles to work and 6 back, plus home for lunch, mostly in town.

I get about 140 miles I think, and I don't hang about.
I get about 35mpg which is bad enough.

Hopefully mrs bigears appreciates it

Have you changed the front sprocket ? Mine felt laboured until I did on the advice of the good folk hereabout

Nooj · #11 Post by **Nooj** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:41 pm

15 tooth front sprocket vastly improves town work. I'm guessing you're going everywhere in 1st gear?

Get it properly serviced and set up by Griff, it'll run smoother everywhere and the lower revs will be more usable, enabling a higher gear to be selected in town, thus saving fuel.

D-Rider · #12 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:54 pm

Mine runs OK from just over 2k rpm in town. Obviously it doesn't take kindly to cracking the throttle wide open but a bit of finesse on the throttle allows 6th gear for town work.
I'm running 15/41 gearing BTW (that's one tooth down at the gearbox sprocket for anyone who has not caught up with these things)

randomsquid · #13 Post by **randomsquid** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:27 pm

I took mine off to see Griff. It was running rich and the things that are where the carbs would be if it had carbs were well out of sync. It felt ok before, but afterwards I could pull one gear higher everywhere and it used noticeably less juice. On a run, with standard gearing, 50 to the gallon isn't hard to get.

wayofthedarkhand · #14 Post by **wayofthedarkhand** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:40 pm

Nooj wrote:15 tooth front sprocket vastly improves town work. I'm guessing you're going everywhere in 1st gear?

Get it properly serviced and set up by Griff, it'll run smoother everywhere and the lower revs will be more usable, enabling a higher gear to be selected in town, thus saving fuel.

Well 2nd mostly, that's around 3-4krpm

Who's this Griff fellow? does he have a website, or does he just operate on an industrial site somewhere?

Aladinsaneuk · #15 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:08 pm

Griff is in tamworth

He is aprilia performance

I would also recommend Carl harrisson in harleston - almost in the same league and a lot closer!