commuting by Falco

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gazuk · #1 Post by **gazuk** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:49 pm

Tried a commute into London today from West Sussex. 44 miles each way and I have to say one of the worst bloody bike rides I have ever done.

Did M23, A23 and A3 and the A23 has to be the worst streatch of road in the UK. I think it was about about 15 miles of gridlocked traffic with traffic lights every 100 meters timed perfectly to make you stop at all of them

The idea was to get a bit of bike riding in and maybe save some commuting time. The reality was I was rarely out of 1st gear and it took longer than my train commute!!!

Rant over.

Will try another route tomorrow, but I think I may be returning to the train (also, I don't think the Falco is the best commuter in the world)

FlyingKiwi · #2 Post by **FlyingKiwi** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:30 pm

Mine commutes just fine.
20 miles of windy North Wales B roads, one village, 2 miles of dual carriageway, then 1 set of traffic lights 100m from work

Viking · #3 Post by **Viking** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:15 pm

I commute on my Falco 9 days out of 10 at the moment.

It gets me the 10 miles (give or take a bit) from home to work with a minimum of fuss and a fair amount of fun. Filtering through the mobile chicanes can be a bit tricky at times, but the bike's narrow enough that I can slip through. The loud pipes do sound good echoing off all those square yards of tin-plate, too.

D-Rider · #4 Post by **D-Rider** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:30 am

It works for me .... although the commute each way is more than 3 times the mileage that it is by car

..... still quicker by bike.

I think that "London" word may be part of your problem.

crosstowntraffic · #5 Post by **crosstowntraffic** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:48 am

Definately the London bit, I did it once a couple years ago and I already live in South East London so have a head start. What should have been a short hop up through Lewisham, New Cross, Old Kent Road, Elephant and Castle and on to Westminster was an absoulute nightmare, the main problem was the scooters congestion charging had just been introduced I am sure they had all just jumped out of their cars and had no road sense what so ever. Train for me, at least it allows impromtu beers after work.

DavShill · #6 Post by **DavShill** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:38 pm

I'm with Andy - my normal commute is about 53 miles each way along the M62 to Leeds. When I use the bike the journey home is about 85 miles and for some reason it takes me round the north side of York and onto the moors. Must be a problem with the sat nav

#7 Post by **Kwackerz** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:43 pm

It's the bars y'see.. you put slight left input to go right and right to go left, it alters the angle the bike is leaning at and completely confuses the sat nav.

gazuk · #8 Post by **gazuk** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:44 pm

It's not getting any easier. Part of the problem is the Falco gearing. Around london 2nd gear is too high so I'm stuck is first which doesn' make for smooth travel. The clutch can feel quite heavy after 40 minutes of filtering.

So far I've got it down to 1hr 45 minutes for just shy of 50 miles, but the London bit is only 10 miles.

Might put the standard pipes and chip back in on the weekend which may help, but should definately reduce fuel consumption (I've had to fill up on both days so far

)

Saddle aint to comfy either

Aladinsaneuk · #9 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:13 pm

what gearing are you on?

HowardQ · #10 Post by **HowardQ** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:41 pm

Change the front sprocket to a 15 Gaz.
Possibly also consider a Mille 42 tooth on the rear as well to lower it even further, 2nd will be much easier then, downside is that it will accellerate faster and wheelie more unfortunately.

hornetrider · #11 Post by **hornetrider** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:35 am

Downside.....?

HowardQ · #12 Post by **HowardQ** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:56 am

hornetrider wrote:Downside.....?

The real downside is that you'll be up a few revs at 160mph, and may not even make much more than a true 159

Seriously only downside is slightly less MPG on a long steady run.
You can just change the back, change the front or both sprockets depends how far you want to gear it down. You will have to watch the fast getways from traffic queues in 1st gear unless you like pigging off tin boxes by wheelieing all the way to the next set of lights.
The real good news is Gazuk's original issue, in that you will be able to use second gear much more in busy traffic, which is much smoother and very worthwhile if you commute.

D-Rider · #13 Post by **D-Rider** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:38 pm

HowardQ wrote:
hornetrider wrote:Downside.....?
The real downside is that you'll be up a few revs at 160mph, and may not even make much more than a true 159

Someone somewhere did some calculations that suggested you'd loose nothing at all from the top end as it would pull the lower gearing easier than the standard gearing - net result was about the same.

Fausto · #14 Post by **Fausto** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 3:25 pm

And I seriously doubt it does much damage to fuel consumption either - especially on long trips.

HowardQ · #15 Post by **HowardQ** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 9:55 pm

All the downsides were tongue in cheek really, as you probably guessed!! Although if you changed front and rear sockets you may lose an odd MPH, well possibly. So that just leaves us with the good news if you're commuting, go for it Gaz.