Cutting Weight...

[AustinPhoenix]

So I was thinking of ways to make the bike faster/more fuel efficient and I was wondering if anybody knew hot to cut weight. Our bikes are sooo heavy that maybe a hundred pounds might do some good.

Some ideas were:
-removing mufflers
-fabricating a much smaller rear fender
-removing or fabricating a smaller front fender
-making a smaller seat
-drilling the rotors or (if my crappy old room mate gets my parts bike back from the guy he sold it to...) use special slotted rotors
-changing the brake light
-fabricating a mount for the license plate with LED light
-stripping the blinkers and changing them to modded LED blinkers
-removing the gauge cluster to leave the warning lights console (middle part on my G)....I know how fast I'm going.

Any ideas? Any warnings? Oh...and has anybody run straight pipes or no mufflers? What new jets will I have to get?

[daveyg]

I would say replacing the huge monster battery with a smaller one, and cutting the seat down would net the best results for the money, along with the mufflers, mine has a single Kerker exhaust, so quite a bit lighter I assume, as for jetting the carbs with just straight mufflers, I don't have a clue...
Another thing you could do would be to just remove anything unneccesary, I would keep the gauges, but that's just my preference, maybe ditch any excess plastic pieces, etc.

[GARTHXS]

weight

I think the ratio is 8 horsepower to 1 pound of weight I may be wrong

[AustinPhoenix]

hmmm

I think the ratio is 8 horsepower to 1 pound of weight I may be wrong

I think you might have it backwards. lol But I wouldn't mind having 5,000 ponies underneath me.

I got a maintenance free battery. It's so much smaller. I had to put a small block of wood to keep her from moving around.

I love our bikes. I just wish they got better fuel mileage than the 30-35 mpg they normally get. Fat beaches...

[geniusloerts]

depending on how crazy you wanna get, make a new frame out of aluminum...HEHEHEHEHE

[AustinPhoenix]

Nice...

I was thinking about that...I wonder how much the frame weighs...

If I can find a spare frame locally...I would not mind cutting it down a little and changing her @$$ a little. hehehehe

[trbig]

Even with "Proper" jetting, if you go straight pipes and no back pressure at all on the exhaust, you'l lose a ton of HP.... kind of defeating the purpose. Your gauge cluster may weigh a pound... Your choice to lose it, but not something I would do. You can find some aftermarket wheels, calipers, and rotors and save a lot of weight that way.

And yeah, I'd say Garth has it a bit backwards. I heard 7 lbs per HP, but either way, unless your name is Ed, your better off, and cheaper for YOU to lose the weight, not your bike. The XS is a great bike, but it's never going to handle like a modern one without lots of modern parts on it.

Tod

[geniusloerts]

here is my guestamation the top 3 heaviest things

1. motor/tanny
2. frame
3. wheels/rotors

eliminate those and you just have some some plastic/ wires and a tank...haha and your fuel compsumption would virtualy disapear....

[AustinPhoenix]

hmmm

I like our wheels...but now that I remember taking off my rear wheel and replacing it...that thing was freaking heavy. I might start looking into that. Never really put a lot of thought into it. Suggestions?

[geniusloerts]

chain drive conversion, new swing arm.......and what ever modern rim you would like

[wa407mpp]

Buy a different bike. They are what they are.

[cloerts]

add a ducati to the garage

[geniusloerts]

speaking of which, i am considering it.......

you didnt pick your phone up........call me back

[81xsproject]

For all that money, you might consider converting to fuel injection. I was talking with Stan the other day and he was telling me that he gets consistent low to mid 40s (mpg) and got around 50 on one long ~55 mph trip.

[randy]

I don't know, I get the same, low to mid 40's with pretty much stock setup (minor jet changes) and 750FD. But I don't flog the throttle, either.