What simple/cheap fuel saving modifications are there available?

[Flyingpony]

So I go into the bike shop and ask about performance modiciations.

There are ones to make the bike stop better, sound better, look better, go faster, handle better, and make it lighter, but when asking about the performance modification of interest to me, shop keeper gives that blank expression response and "Sorry son, those don't really exist".

I've no worries about tading a couple hp for a cost effective extra 50-100+% i.e. the ROI should be under 12 months and not years upon years.

So what fuel saving modifications are there available today?

I'm sure they'll eventually appear in the common modification list as fuel prices keeps climbing.

[bugjuice]

loose weight and go easier on the throttle is a good start.
Else you could lean it out slightly, but not heaps. The bike needs to run with something
use your legs more for shorter trips on nice days and/or get a push bike

[Fishy]

Your already on one of the cheapest bikes to run mate. I'm thinking of buying one myself to commute on instead of the car.

[vifferman]

Wrap yourself and the bike in cling film before setting out, to reduce drag?
Pump the tyres up to 200 psi?
Coast down hills?
Replace the barrel and piston with one off a lawnmower?

Luckily, I don't have to worry about such considerations. My bike is an expensive toy, not cheap transport. If I wanted to save money, I'd cycle (nup - too tiring and dangerous), take the bus (too slow, smelly and uncomfortable), or buy a scooter (too silly).

[merv]

Yep leaning it out, but not too much or else you'll wreck the engine, but can you drop the needle one notch on the carburettor on your bike?

The biggie is as mentioned above just don't wind the throttle on so much.

[ManDownUnder]

Coal gas. They used 'em in World War 2 and basically heat charcoal to give off the flammable gaseous component and you run the motor on wood...

Problem is the bit making the gas weighs a ton! I'll need to do a bit more research on it.. but it's been done.

Other options (more likely) are solar derived power sources, or extraction of Methane from the various sources (decomposing waste at the dump, excretia) or a digester working on organic matter.

[ManDownUnder]

Yep leaning it out, but not too much or else you'll wreck the engine, but can you drop the needle one notch on the carburettor on your bike?

The biggie is as mentioned above just don't wind the throttle on so much.

errr - yeah... I'd be inclined to make sure the bike is tuned properly rather than just lean it out...

[Karma]

decomposing waste at the dump, excretia

Ok... I'll let you chuck some banana skins and a turd in your tank first... tell us how it goes :buggerd:

[**R1**]

in your first post you mentioned "making the bike lighter" that will do what you want, why? how many k's you get per litre? and what would you like to get?? you can also do small things like keeping ya chain oiled, run higher psi in the tyres(but this will cost you else where) use thin oil insteed of grease in your wheel bearings, as already said "loose wieght" ditch ya leather and wear lycra(i wouldnt recomend it tho) i dont quite understand why you would be all that bothered by how much gas a 150cc bike goes through? my lawn mower has more cc's than your bike and its only a 4.5hp B&S...

to my way of thinking you should go on a diet, your bike will have better economy, you will save money on food, your bearings, chain, and tyres will have less load so will last longer...

[Marmoot]

So what fuel saving modifications are there available today?

Start pushing.

It'll make you healthy and cut down health cost as well.

[bungbung]

Are you a fatty?

www.fatchicksinpartyhats.com

losing pork will help on a fxr

[ManDownUnder]

Ok... I'll let you chuck some banana skins and a turd in your tank first... tell us how it goes :buggerd:

Septic tank? No problem - fire away.

I suspect curry turd/drizzle would be best for sheer octane although I have no scientific basis to that.

[phoenixgtr]

Dude! Youre riding an FXR! Whats your problem? It costs me $15 to fill up mine and that could last me a month if I was only using it to commute. Thats a hell of a lot cheaper than the bus was for me. You don't want to lose a couple of hp. If you did that you wouldn't have any left. If you were so bothered about fuel economy you should have bought a scooter

[The_Dover]

Buy a GSXR1000. They actually won a fuel consumption test by some yarpie bike mag. And that was for economy, not seeing how much you could burn in one track session.

[bungbung]

fxr is probably more economical than a scoot. my pmx50 is good for 3.4l gas per 100km

[bugjuice]

ride another bike for a month, then realise that it doesn't cost much..
My bike cost around $20 to fill, and I get around 200kms or so

[**R1**]

ride another bike for a month, then realise that it doesn't cost much..
My bike cost around $20 to fill, and I get around 200kms or solol mine's $24 to fill and i get 170k, it works out at around 10k's per litre.....but i didnt buy it for its economy, i bought it for its lack of......and i have a cage (Legacy) to blast around in if im trying to save a few bucks on gas....

[bugjuice]

ditto..

hey, if you want to save money, spend money on some carbon fibre fairings.. that'd save you heaps and heaps of grams!!

[Flyingpony]

Pass if the carb has got a needle I could drop a notch.

Already know the shop has made the engine run leaner 3yrs ago when it suffered from serious stutter exiting corners, so don't want to push is any further in that direction :sweatdrop

Light already with the throttle and know scooters burn more fuel.

As for the diet suggestions, I'm build like TonyB and only have room to drop another 2-3kg. Not really worth worrying about because I've been working on getting rid of that for three months and it's still there :sweatdrop

The Fxr does 2.7l gas per 100km or ~37km/l. Quite happy with those figures but just wondering if it can be cheaply extended.

Tyre pressure is 33-36psi front/rear.

MMmm, so by the looks of things to save any more fuel than it currently consumes there's pretty much nothing I can do without going extremist or spending huge $$$ on carbon fibre fairings and lighter exhaust system.

As for on the bike mike, yes I'm currently riding my mountain bike everywhere as part of my exercise plan. Haven't lost any weight but feel much fitter. Therefore the fxr has only done 200km since October.

[Gremlin]

The Fxr does 2.7l gas per 100km or ~37km/l. Quite happy with those figures but just wondering if it can be cheaply extended.
Mate, you have no idea... I think we all just turned green with envy... I would love 37km/L...

Start filling up 4+ full tanks a week of premium (and I'm sure others do even better)... then complain...

[MidnightMike]

I know, take out the engine and replace it with pedals! :rofl:

[sefer]

1: Remove the foot pegs

2: Replace boots with trainers

3: Pratice a bandy-legged running style

4: Push :)

I'm on to a winner I'm sure, could help with the weight loss idea too :bleh:

[Marmoot]

Mate, you have no idea... I think we all just turned green with envy... I would love 37km/L...

Start filling up 4+ full tanks a week of premium (and I'm sure others do even better)... then complain...

RC51.......In a good day you'll get 11km for a litre of gas. In a bad day it'll get down to 9.
:wacko:

[raster]

Tell ya what, borrow someones GT Legacy for 2 weeks and you will appreciate how cheep your wheels are to run.
Any cheaper and you'd be pushing it.

Around 10-15L / 100Ks
I was happy with my bike doing 5L/100Ks.

[Colapop]

Nah, borrow a Ford Explorer LTD and put in the same amount of gas you'd put in your bike and see how far you get...

[skidMark]

firstly you can get that thing which your right hand is wrapped around and not move it as far.... or buy a scooter lol

[Marmoot]

Another one is 3L inline 6 toyota.
It uses 8km/litre in smooth traffic with air conditioner off and windows closed. 1 person driving, no passenger.

And it is non turbo.



I'd hate to think about Porsche Cayenne Turbo with 4 passengers in heavy traffic jam.

[rogson]

Stay at home and do your business via the internet/telephone.

Why do a huge proportion of the working population have to commute (all at the same time of the day on the same days!) to occupy a site that is "single-purpose" designed and built, and consequently used for less than 25% of the year (the office), in order to undertake activities using a computer and telephone that could be done from home? Economic inefficiency personified!

[skidMark]

but that is sensible thinking , what the hell is wrong with you... governemnts and councils know best as they always prove ....theyll set it right i mean they say it can't be better without spending billions of dollars so they must be right (large amount of sarcasm)

ahhh the whole countrys gone down the shitter lol

[Edbear]

There's a huge diference with the GSX 'tween cruisin' at the speed limit, and once the revs exceed 7 grand and when you get up around the redline you can watch the fuel guage drop! Noticed there was a significant difference in quoted fuel consumption figures for the GS1200ss and the 1200 Bandit, as the SS has smaller carbs, though not a lot of difference in performance once you replaced the exhaust. An FXR150 would have to be one of the most fuel efficient bikes on the road! Good looking and an ideal learner/commuter machine!

[imdying]

Ex girlfriend had an FXR, gave trouble from the word go (from brand new). Had a bit of a flat spot, felt lean to me. Burned out its first plug inside of 8000kms. Shop richened it slightly (moved the needle clip iirc, was a few years ago), still felt shite to me, never really got sorted. Based on that, if it runs right, I'd be inclined not to lean it out.

[wendigo]

What simple/cheap fuel saving modifications are there available? On a 150??? Good piss take mate...

But for a facetious comment: Get a turbo, fuel injection & a big f**k of air tank (probably need to rig up a trailer to your bike to tow it). Rig up the turbo to pump into the air tank. Have a hose leading from the air tank to the engine inlet manifold. Have a valve system set up so that once the air tank is as fully pressurised as far as it will go, the fuel injection system switches of, the carb inlets get blocked of, the hose from the air tank gets opened and the engine run on compressed air....:o

[sefer]

Here you go mate, the ultimate fuel saving mod. Guarenteed to reduce your fuel bill, and possibly even your registration costs :D

[FROSTY]

on a semi serious note--if you really wanna save gas--if you are miostly doing 100/km/h riding you could change your gearing slightly.
only half fill ya gas tank--weight =fuel used.
chain always lubed.tyres always propperly pumped up
ride conservatively -so dont try to out run the tin tops

as an alternative --buy one less big mac combo a week and the money saved will make up for any gas used by ignoring me

[marty]

great laugh this thread. 37km/litre???? the busa runs a pretty honest 10-11km/l, but i can stretch it to 15 if i try. i suppose you'd like to get at least 2000ks out of your back tyre too?

if that sort of stuff concerns you, motorbikes aren't for you. buy a mountain bike.

[Dai]

Try looking into water injection.

Expensive to buy but not too hard to fabricate yourself.

Check out this US site for information on the benifits of water injection

http://http://aquatune.com/motorcyle_order.html

Claim up to 25% better fuel eccom=nomy when set up properly.

Planning on setting this up on my bikes when I can build a unit.

Also running a mix of meths in the water is claimed to give a hp boost to the engine.

Dai

[Krusti]

:lol: :wacko: :bs: :killingme :stupid: Find a 3000m cliff and push it off, hold tight, shouldn't use too much gas. Is a once only mod though.

[megageoff76]

only half fill ya gas tank--weight =fuel used.

This is what I do, but only cause my bike weighs about as much as a the Battlestar Galactica. Its annoying to have to fill up all the time though.

[WINJA]

buy a good spark plug , maybe even a split fire , keep your tyres pumped up to the manufacturers maximum recomendation, maybe a mesh across between the head and inlet flange to slightly turbulate the air and mix the fuel better it would be a very open weave mesh with a very fine strand