1987 FXR, 1340 Evo, 15 litre tank, running 98 ron premium.
New bike for me, the seller told me the bike has only recently been serviced, I'd topped the tank up, and I had to hit reserve today after travelling only 114km.
Pulled up at the next servo and the thing took 14 litres.
That works out at about 8 kilometres per litre.
Is this sorta shitful fuel economy normal, or do I have some sorta chronic fuel sucking issue?
We have a forum ride on Sunday, first fuel stop 167km mark..........I'm not gonna make it!
Any thoughts?
Somethings wrong , should use between 5 and 6 litres per 100km . Plenty of fuel stops for you on Sunday .
you will probably find on a contiuous open road no stop start you will get a better number ,my 2012 Road king with 17 liters around town only gets 260 but open road no stop touring 300 plus ,do a test ride some where before the big day
You should be around 17km per litre as thats what I get on my 86 FXR.
What Carb and what jets you running?
?
Well I'm buggered if'n I know what's going on.....maybe I've just inherited the dickhead gene! I just returned from a 103km ride. I chose a route which took me out of the city into the Adelaide hills, with some windy stuff, some uphill, some down dale, through a few country towns, along with back into city traffic to return. I figured that sorta route would be indicative of normal riding, I didn't thrash it, but I also didn't ride like nanna, varying my speed from 50km through towns, up to 100km on the open road. When I got back to the servo the bike took 7.59 litres to refill, which equates to 13.5km/litre. That's not great economy, but I guess it is acceptable given that I was also going through the hills, and it means that I'll get 200km from a tank.....unless I carry a pillion. I think I still need to get the fuel issue sorted at some stage, coz I recon I should be able to get about 250km from a tank (15km/litre) as suggested by paulybronco, but at least I'm not as panicky about the fuel situation now.
I've also raised the tyre pressures. A quick check showed the previous owner seemed to be running 30psi front and back, I've now increased it to 35psi front and back. Tussuck, thanks for your help and advice. In answer to the breather issue, I've been researching it heavily, and I've found many and varied answers, as it seems many owners have encountered this problem, and it's referred to as "misting". Yes I have two breathers. Only one as you suggest from the cam chest of the engine, the other from the top of the gearbox. They are both routed out through the frame on the right side of the bike.....they both seem to breathe oil, but I believe the majority of the oil is coming from the engine. From what I've been able to research, in earlier models such as ours, onto the ground through the bottom of the frame was the factory set-up for the breather hoses. In later models, as you suggest, the breather was rerouted into the air cleaner so that the misted oil being expelled was burnt in the chamber along with the fuel. This was done to satisfy environmental emission controls, but this also had a tendancy to create a whole new problem, whereby the air cleaner element would become drenched with oil, and then oil would drip onto your leg and down the side of the engine. Me, I prefer it continues to drip out under the bike, rather than down the side of the bike and my leg. Also as you suggest, should the bike be left sitting, oil has a tendancy to drain past the ball bearing seal at the pump, collect in the cam chest, and then be expelled on start up. A big cause of oil breathing is overfilling.................my oil tank is not overfilled, as it's on the low mark with the engine warm and the bike sitting on the sidestand. Solutions I've read from different sources have been as simple as: -turning the end of the breather hose to point upwards instead of downwards (this doesn't sound viable to me as if oil collects in the cam chest, it's got to be spat out, and it will just be spat out somewhere on the bike, needing to be cleaned up constantly).
-Little filters on the end of the breather hose (although it has been suggested these can create problems by becoming oil soaked and preventing the engine from breathing properly)
-Riding the bike more often
-Cleaning the wire sieve tappet filter Now as mentioned, my oil tank is not overfilled, my sieve filter has been cleaned, I am riding the bike regularly, so I "BELIEVE" that possibly the ball bearing seal or even the gallery itself is worn on my bike, and may need replacing, as it's allowing oil to seep past into the cam chest on a regular basis. I'm gonna leave it to a mechanic to deal with though. as I'm not familiar with Harley Davidsons, and although I can cope with simple tasks, I'm not a mechanical marvel, and I just don't wanna fuck with it unless I know what I'm doing. I'd much prefer to wait until winter, take the bike off the road for a spell, then pay someone who knows what they are doing to go over it all for me, see if fuel consumption can be improved a little, rectify this small oil issue, and possibly even tell me anything non-standard or modified on the bike, so that I can start to learn a bit more about the bike and its past (what's been done to it). Being a 27 year old bike with 60,000k's, this will also provide me with peace of mind, knowing that someone with far more knowledge than myself has given it a once over and the thumbs up. Cheers for your advice though.....it's obvious you know a lot more about these bikes than I do, and I have a steep learning curve ahead of me.
