what motorcycle best fits me?

[theholycow]

Given the choice between a better catalyst and EFI, I would choose EFI. That will help with fuel economy, reliability, ease of use, and emissions all at the same time. Additionally, if you wanted to install a better catalyst, that may be pretty easy...changing from carburetor to EFI would certainly be difficult.

I like to gamble on new, unknown brands, so in your situation I'd probably buy the hyosung.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I am in agreement that it is possible a well tuned carburetor could have better efficiency & emissions than fuel injection, a carb will require regular maintenance and adjustment to maintain that level. Fuel injection will do this automatically for years before requiring service, if ever.

My personal choice when I bought my motorcycle was to find a fuel injected model because I wanted something more efficient and trouble free.

[cat0020]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I am in agreement that it is possible a well tuned carburetor could have better efficiency & emissions than fuel injection, a carb will require regular maintenance and adjustment to maintain that level. Fuel injection will do this automatically for years before requiring service, if ever.

My personal choice when I bought my motorcycle was to find a fuel injected model because I wanted something more efficient and trouble free.

Actually, if the operation is generally among similar elevation and constant usage (without the engine sitting for days), modern well tuned carbs require very little in maintenance or adjustments. Also the more # of cylinders/carbs, the less sensitive to carb-tune, large displacement thumpers (single cylinder engines), are usually prone to carb adjustments/maintenance.

My carbed 98 Honda Blackbird sits more weeks at a time between usage this year, still start everytime, runs great as it should.

My carbed Chinese scooter has never needed carb adjustment over 9,000 mi. still getting over 80 mpg.

[samygero]

Hi again.

I talked with a friend and he told me that twin cylinders are better for the engine and chain life expectancy. So should I preffer twin cylinders? (less maintenance maybe?) I'm asking this because I found the yamaha YBR250 model that also seems quite nice. (it also has catalysed exhaust which WR250 doesn't have! ^^). What do you think about it?

I would like to know if the fact that an engine is twin cylinder makes it more fuel efficient or not.

Last question for the moment: How is it possible that both motorcycles (WR250 and YBR250) have nearly identical bore x stroke dimmensions if one is single cylinder and the other twin? shouldn't the YBR (twin cylinder) have half of the dimensions?

[theholycow]

According to http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/yam...250_f_2005.php and http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/yam...r_250_2007.php they are both single-cylinder.

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by theholycow

According to http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/yam...250_f_2005.php and http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/yam...r_250_2007.php they are both single-cylinder.

According to Yamaha Hungary they're singles too.
The Kawasaki model is a single cylinder too.
Honda VTR250 and Hyosung GT250 are both V-twins.

As for their FE, I don't know if singles are better than twins in general (it's said that less cylinders make less friction loss), but in the 650 category thumpers are usually the best in this respect. It can be because of various design choices, though Motorcycle manufacturers care about a bunch of things more than FE (especially over 250cc)

I have no experience on chain longevity of different configurations, these are our first motorcycles and only one of them has a chain Hyos' first (RK brand) chain probably won't last too long though, we had to replace it at the 15000km service.

[cat0020]

In my experience, engine/chain life expectancy, fuel consumption, tires/brake pads life, all have to do with operation of rider.
Once you have a vehicle, whether it be 2 wheel or 4, you learn to operate it according to your priorities.

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by cat0020

In my experience, engine/chain life expectancy, fuel consumption, tires/brake pads life, all have to do with operation of rider.
Once you have a vehicle, whether it be 2 wheel or 4, you learn to operate it according to your priorities.

Quoted for truth.

[Sludgy]

[QUOTE=samygero;154466]Hi again.



I would like to know if the fact that an engine is twin cylinder makes it more fuel efficient or not.

QUOTE]

Theoretically, a big single cylinder is more efficient due to less cylinder and head area & less heat loss.

With motorcycles, there is another consideration: Engines are most efficient at WOT, and a large single cylinder operated WOT would have to be geared too tall. It would be VERY rough and loud.

So, better efficiency with motorcycles actually occurs with lower efficiency, smaller motors.

The best published fuel economy I've seen for a real motorcycle is from Suzuki:

http://www.suzukicycles.com/Product%...9/DR200SE.aspx

[i-DSi]

Originally Posted by samygero

... I currently live in Belgium. that may answer questions about available models. I weight 83 kilos for 1.82 meters.
...
As for the Honda VTR250 I didn't find it in the official Honda internet site...
...
Where can I find how many gramms of CO2 and NOx theese motorcycles emmit?
....
So I want to make sure that buying a motorcycle won't increase my environemental footprint instead of diminishing it, because as said before usually motorcycles consume less (250cc) but emit more fine particles that are extremely bad for environment.

Thx alots guys!

Hi Samygero, I live in Belgium too and drive a Honda CBF600SA with EFI and a 3-way catalyser (a Euro3, see my gaslog).
To answer some of your questions:
- you can not compare car EuroX with motorcycle EuroX. Cars indeed are now moving from Euro4 to 5. Motorcycles are now at Euro3 level. But you may not compare this Euro3 for motorcycles with the past Euro3 for cars.
- CO, HC and NOx can be found on the COC (gelijkvormigheidsattest) if it is a Euro3. COC is always delivered with a new bike.
- VTR250: I think it's not sold in Belgium
- If you really want to keep your impact as low as possible on the environment (what most or at least a lot of people do on this site): very simple: DON'T buy a new motorcycle, but a secondhand. The energycost and recources needed to produce you a new motorcycle are very huge (e.g. to produce an average car you need 8000 liter equivalent of crude oil).
- so my advice: buy a cheap secondhand Euro3 (with catalyser and EFI like mine). That will give you lots of driving pleasure as it may be a 400 to 600 cc.

Anyway have fun and don't hesitate to ask us any question. We're here to help you.