Hi everyone! I've just found this site and I thought I'll make a gaslog to see a nice graph of the data I've been collecting since day 1 (almost a year ago).
My story begins that I wanted to move together with my girlfriend and then I needed some vehicle to commute because I couldn't take my workplace with me. 120kms per day. And I've been aware of the Peak Oil for years. Public transportation would be a nice answer, but it just isn't - bust stops are far away, plus with the first bus I'd be late by ~2 hours: my manager wouldn't appreciate it. Bicycle is just out of question for this kind of distance. For some reasons I don't like cars, getting one would have made me feel like a pot-bellied old geezer plus I would have felt ashamed to drag a ton of metal just to move my 65kg body...
Motorcycles looked much more tempting, "they're light and sexy... and have to be more fuel efficient, AREN'T THEY???" - well, not necessarily. I was searching for a bike for daily freeway commuting and according to the users most of the capable bikes ate like a pig, or, to be more accurate, a CAR...
I almost decided to get the smallest CBR in the new, EFI version, that would have fit the bill as a last resort, but (almost in the last minute) I found the BMW F650s... they have single cylinder 4-valve 652cc engines and the fuel consumption of the newer, EFI models (GS and CS) looked promising (read: much better than anything in their league), not much worse than the tiny 125cc... so finally I purchased Teresa, the silver F650CS. Looks very good to me, have a special rack for some luggage, a large topcase (what I remove when I don't need it), even ABS to correct some of my mistakes...
I got her with my first driving (well, riding) license so she's basically my post-course learning bike, I've been honing my basic riding skills in her saddle for a year now. I'm really curious how good we can be in the aspect of fuel mileage... now my best is 2.84l/100km (82.99mpg if I did not make a mistake making my unit converters...), in the beginning I wouldn't have thought I'd outdo 3l/100km - now I've done it a few times.
From the beginning I always tried to ride in a calm manner, in the highest possible gear (on a normal, slow-paced ride I never rev her over ~3600rpm, that's the approximate upshifting point for 1st->2nd and 4th->5th gears and the legal highway rpm in 5th...), keeping distance, avoiding unnecessary or hard acceleration and braking, coasting to red lights, then stopping the engine when the red light promised long (though I don't really know how much time is enough to compensate the startup).
Lately I'm letting her slow down uphill (I began with 'manual cruise control' - tempomat hand) and sometimes even do some drafting and I'm getting better.
Though I don't really know what's that counts the most, she got her 30k service (30k kms according to her odometer and almost 30k miles in the real life because the trader rewinded it by 15.6k kms, I know it because he just forgot to lose some papers...) almost at the same time and I got her back with replaced clutch plates, spark plug, and valve shims (2 of the 4) and fixed rear brake (was constantly braking a little bit)... so I don't know how much good my efforts do...
In December we got another bike (for my girlfriend, so it's pretty light too not as tall as Teresa), a Hyosung GV250 (named Ciliegia), but I couldn't exceed Teresa's mileage with the smaller bike. I'm curious how do its windshield and saddlebags effect fuel economy (can be 'measured' through the top speed, I'll do it some time later) and we'll take it to the 10k service in the near future so it'll get its carbs synchronised, so it's not a lost war yet
The (2*)4-valve 250cc Hyosung V-twin is a very good starting point, I've seen someone hit some 2.4l/100km (98 US mpg) for a stage of a tour - not with the cruiser, but the sport version with full fairing, but at least I know what this little engine can do...
The other thing is I'm curious about is Teresa's windshield. Now it directs the wind right on my head, my helmet's making unpleasant noises in the turbulence, the question is, what has less air drag: a taller, but aerodynamically shaped windshield or my helmeted head... if the taller shield wouldn't decrease my mileage, it would be better. Or, alternatively, if it's as bad as my body would be, I just could cut the windshield lower and let the turbulence hit my body, instead of my head... But honestly, I don't think that the stock windshield can have worse air drag than my torso... I may take a few rides without the shield and I'll see - have to measure average though, because Teresa could reach her top speed even with a slightly stuck rear brake and that speed is clearly illegal anywhere so I don't want to do it again...
...and a few more questions regarding the basics: how do acceleration and slopes affect fuel economy of bikes? They're very light so ridiculously overpowered compared to most cars so can accelerate with much less effort; their aerodynamics are much worse so it may count more than the momentum that can be gained downhill; they have much stronger engine brake (especially with a single, big cylinder) than cars so can coast MUCH shorter... so maybe the basic 'tips to save gas' apply very differently.
Because of the smaller weight it may be better to accelerate faster to reach higher gears and stay there; may be better to coast idling grabbing the clutch, with more than zero fuel consumption but for a much longer time than engine braking for a few seconds with the injector shut off... (well, I can coast much longer since I've learned that I can 'underrev' her this way without any problem, she doesn't want to work until she's at near idle rpms; she can coast much longer at those very low rpms... - meaning low 2000s, normally she knocks/pings under ~2500 in 3rd-4th and she can only cruise under 2800-3000 in 5th) I'm full of questions.
(Damn, it's become pretty long...)
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