Its Lonely at the Top

[low&slow]

I was suprised to see that I had moved up to the top spot for the Motorcycles % over EPA top 10 list. Now that I'm retired I have been riding my motorcycle more often and recently rebuilt my carburetors after 26 years of happy ownership. My last tankfill was near my allbest best at 59.55 mpg. I started doing a little EOC but mostly I just watch my speed, shift at lower RPMs, avoid stops and idling, and bump up the tire pressure to 40 psi.
I'm intrigued by streamlined fairings like the Criag Vetter project and may play around with fabbing something up.
For now I'm shooting for some 60 mpg tanks with minimal mods and good technique.
Ride safe, L&S

[DRW]

Good job, that's impressive. You're lucky that you're retired so you have time to tinker and experiment. Good luck with the project!

[Jay2TheRescue]

I tried EOC on my bike once, even going down a mountain it lost speed, so I gave up trying EOC.

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I tried EOC on my bike once, even going down a mountain it lost speed, so I gave up trying EOC.

In the Alps they accelerate like crazy

Really, I had to use some form of braking (trying to use forced DFCO lately) to moderate speed before sharp turns... it's easy to exceed 50mph just by gravity.

My last "photojourney":

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showt...t=33432&page=2

(Other than that, on normal hills and at highway speeds they really lose speed. I EOC when the decline is long enough - half a mile fits the bill - and/or I can live with the lower speed)

Congratulations anyway, low&slow, we have the 3rd and the 5th (Ciliegia is ridden by my girlfriend now) in absolute mpg and they're in the top10 on the front page
It's hard to say anything about their position by "According to EPA" because they don't have EPA figures I could get some factory numbers for Teresa (they're the constant 90 and 120km/h figures), but found nothing for Ciliegia. And this is the problem with many other MCs too. You're lucky to have those numbers.

(On a sidenote, I'm happy to see another fairly long motorcycle FE log, they often get abandoned too soon )

[Jay2TheRescue]

I was riding in the Blue Ridge mountains and the Shenandoah valley in Virginia. There's some really long, steep runs. My cars & trucks are usually doing 80 MPH at the bottom if I don't hit the brakes, or let them DFCO. The bike with the engine off and clutch pulled in settled in at about 45 MPH. I started the engine back up after about 1/2 mile because I didn't want to be run over by a car going a minimum of 60 MPH. My safety was worth more than the gas I was saving. I don't understand what was holding me back, unless it was the wind drag on my 6"4" 225lb body. Maybe a small low profile windshield might clean up my aero profile?

[alvaro84]

Dunno - most of the 'braking' is done by aero drag, that's sure. Cars are heavier and have better drag coefficient at the same time. A well shaped windshield should help, they say. I happen to have one on Teresa, but I never tried to ride without it. What I tried is to change its angle to make it 'larger' - and it just made aero profile a bit worse (may be because of the huge gap caused by the extra adjuster brackets). Which is not clean to begin with, my head is well over the protected zone. I think it would be bad to remove it - my body shape must be worse than a bullet-like windshield.

Do you have long, straight, steep declines that would let you roll at 80mph without leaving the road then? I'm a bit envious I'd happily try what speed I'd get on them!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Yeah, the road I was on does not have sharp turns. I can let the truck DFCO in overdrive, and still be going in excess of 70 MPH when I hit the bottom. Of course, the speed limit is 55 MPH though. A friend of mine has one of the old, really aero shaped Ford Tauruses (1998), and his car will DFCO in overdrive, and be doing nearly 90 MPH at the bottom.

At the bottom of the mountain it opens up to a perfectly straight and nearly flat 4 lane road for about a mile and a half through the valley before you start going up the next mountain.

EDIT: I just realized Ford probably does not sell the Taurus in your country. This is what my friend's 98 Taurus looks like.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

<> I don't understand what was holding me back, unless it was the wind drag on my 6"4" 225lb body. Maybe a small low profile windshield might clean up my aero profile?

You might be able to test this by leaning down low...that's how the Wright brothers found that they could ride bicycles faster...

[Jay2TheRescue]

I thought of that, but it was not comfortable to lean low on a cruiser with forward controls.

[low&slow]

Hi All,
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement.
DRW, where are you at in the Bay Area?
Alvaro, Kudos to you for your fine efforts and great information. I always enjoy reading your posts.
Jay, Welcome to the exciting ( and sometimes dangerous) 2 wheel world. When I EOC , I kill the ignition , pull in the clutch and then shift through the gears down to neutral. It sounds like you may have some clutch drag or else a lot of aero drag. Also checking your wheel bearings. A tall windscreen may help. I only have a handlebar fairing on my Vision but it helps .
Best wishes L&S