I've mounted a Velorex700 on an altered 1978 R100S BMW, 18K original miles. It has Windjammer w/o lowers, heavy duty shock springs w/ additional tension plugs on top of springs, HD police air-ride solo seat, BMW damper. It tracks good up to 70mph (as fast as I've been) and shimmies only when crossing parking lot entries,speed bumps and the like at slow speeds. Toe in is about 1/4-1/2 with no visible tire shread, lead is less than 8 inches, and lean out is about 10 degrees with rear Koni shocks set soft. It drives good to me with some pull according to road surface changes, which seems normal. It feels solid to me, a newbie.
So, here's the question, since I believe the set up is satisfactory.
How can I get the best gas mileage? It seems to get only about 27 mpg even trying to not lug it nor turn it up before shifting. Be assured , it will go if you turn it up, even with best gal in seat. For trips to town, 6 miles, seems that it should do better mileage wise.
Take off fairing, of course, but .... What engine tuning can I do to get better mileage? Haynes has a paragraph about mileage for R600, I think, that indicates retarded timing, lowered carb needles, and a thicker cylinder base gasket. I am trying colder spark plugs now, no change.
Let me hear about it, gas cost a lot, even in Alabama.
Jon, I am also new to SCs. I have both a Ural Retro and a Suzuki 1000 V Strom w/ Ural SC. Both get 30 mpg in normal riding (actually it could be a bit less, the speedo is rather optimistic, the odo might be as well, not sure).
On the trip home from Seattle to LA with the Strom, the last day I was on the 101 from San Luis Obispo, running constant 70-75, (passenger, fully loaded). Mileage dropped to 25-26.
At a different range, I have also noticed this with both my 1200GS and RoadKing, about a 20-25% drop in mpg at 75+ mph freeway riding versus ROW riding.
Wow, you guys are making me feel good. I get about 25 on the Interstate with my Valkyrie and keep hearing guys with Goldwing and HD rigs claiming to get 40 plus. I always blame it on 6 carbs. I guess I'm not that far off of you guys.
All of my riding so far has been local errand running or joy riding to health club. The 70 mph actually has only been sorta "tested" , on a 2-lane at that, but the rig felt good, not scary. It just seems that there should be ways to affect the MPG. Also , constant highway speed probably
gives better averages, true in auto, 25 versus 27 ('86 Volvo 240DL). Just finding out what other guys' mileages are tells me it ain't gonna be easy to increase mine.
Where are the tech guys when you want them to offer bits of wisdom?
My V-Max with Bobby/LE runs 22 to 32mpg depending on speed, head wind, etc. Large windshield on both bike and sidecar make a big difference too.
Piero Bassi
Minneapolis, Minnesota
My 03 Yamaha 1100 vstar with Velorex 562, 55-60 MPH 33-34 MPG 70-75 MPH 20-22 MPG throw in a head wind 18 MPG
Henry
Originally written by SidecarMike on 8/2/2006 12:10 AM
HD rigs claiming to get 40 plus. .
They must have those special "water" injection systems introduced in the 60s which the auto and oil industries have been fighting for years. The ones which get 70 mpg in cars (lol).
My '73 Beemer /5 with a '77 R100RS engine and a big Motorvation FII SC, gets around 33 at normal speeds, in town, on the highways up to 65 MPH. when pushing it on the 'states, 70-75, It drops to about 30. I say about, because of all the different conditions out there..hills, curves, wind, ETC.
Seems your mileage is in the average range.
Thanks, guys. An original small type fairing would probably help the most. The Velorex windshield is kinda nice for my squeeze so it'll stay for sure.
I've got an R100S fairing but it needs fixin'. I guess I'll try it before reducing the compression ratio. The power is really fun to have.
I am happy to see that some folks are quite "realistic" about their rigs MPG figures.
I am sorry that I spent a good amount of time trying to set-up my rigs for that "optimum" 40 MPG figures. I could have spent my time in a much better way!!
However, I still don't understand why some folks seem to enjoy telling...bu*@&%it!
Piero Bassi
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Originally written by Jon on 8/2/2006 10:44 AM
Thanks, guys. An original small type fairing would probably help the most. The Velorex windshield is kinda nice for my squeeze so it'll stay for sure.
I've got an R100S fairing but it needs fixin'. I guess I'll try it before reducing the compression ratio. The power is really fun to have.
Jon, why do you want to reduce the compression ration on your '78 R100s?
I have a '77 R100RS with the same CR. 9.5 /1
no problems with it at all.plenty of torque! I can even run it on reg 87 octane gas if higher stuff aint available. I dis that 3 weeksago on my trip down to the USCA nat in AR.runs fine with no difference. Im thinking about just using the reg gas all the time.
My '98 RK Factory rig with Stage II motor Pulled right around 40 mpg under 60MPH. That seemed to be the break line with wind resistance and mountain driving. 70mph and over freeway work was good for 30 to 32 mpg.
This mileage check was going from Marysville, WA to the Griffith Park Rally and back last Oct. I wrote down mileage on each gas slip. So I could tell what kind of terrain and conditions were involved.
The route was I-5 to Woodland, CA, over to the PCH at Monterey and down 1 and 101 to LA, Palmdale, Mojave and over the Sierras to 395 north due to wetness on the west side, over to 97 in Oregon and WA. High desert, Mountains, freeways, towns, congestion and seaside towns.
Lonnie
Well I will put my numbers in here also. I have a Honda 1100 with a Velorex 565 and the set up is right. I made a trip of small towns, highway 60 to 65 and some interstate at 70 to 75. Now I did a dump thing of pulling the set, for camping gear, and did not have the car covered. I got 25.6 MPG. I pulled the windshield off the car to have a new cover made and have just not put it back. Now with a real mix of driving, Hills of AR, in town, and some 60 to 65 I am getting 34.5 mpg but the cover is on most of the time.
Richard
Ride Safe
Remember, "your milage may vary"....
Milage on my GL1800 w/Hannigan GT: at 50mph around the back roads in the Texas hill country, around 35 MPG or even a little more sometimes; runing around town etc., 31-32 MGP; at 70-75+ on the highway, starts getting real close to 25 MPG... add a head-wind, well, I just HOPE for 25 MPG.
Originally written by RocketMan on 8/3/2006 2:29 PM
Remember, "your milage may vary"....
Milage on my GL1800 w/Hannigan GT: at 50mph around the back roads in the Texas hill country, around 35 MPG or even a little more sometimes; runing around town etc., 31-32 MGP; at 70-75+ on the highway, starts getting real close to 25 MPG... add a head-wind, well, I just HOPE for 25 MPG.
How big is the tank on an 1800?
