What's your MPG

[mason79]

ready for an oil embargo

this was my first test ride during the day in addition to the first night ride a coupladays ago, totalling 121 miles when i filled her up it took 3.446 gallons, thats around 35.11 mpg.

this partial tank full included 60 miles of los angeles freeways at 0 to 90-95 mph and bursts to 105-110mph 3 or 4 times. this bike inhales miles like nothing!she stable with the long wheelbase like no bike i ever had.

i also did 40 miles of street cruising at night to the sunset strip at 3000-5000 rpm at 25-45mph and enjoying the scenery the rains last night bought, i detoured to griffith park observatory, had some tight twisties leading to a specracular view of los angeles for as far as i could see, and without the typical smog here; that was a treat.

alot of this tank of gas was fooling with the idle mixture screws, warming numerous times and putting her away, gunning the engine to hear sounds and seeing if any wrong color smoke came out of the exhaust.

all in all, i am please with the bike i just bought and that you foolk help me dial in, thanks
[IMG][/IMG]

[xs650mike]

Hey Mason, you're down there in my boyhood home of Hollywood riding the same roads I learned to ride on. Did you say hello to the ghosts of James Dean and Sal Mineo at the observatory? Used to have rebels without a cause, now we've got rebels without a clue.

[mason79]

that's what she said!

Originally posted by xs650mike
Hey Mason, you're down there in my boyhood home of Hollywood riding the same roads I learned to ride on. Did you say hello to the ghosts of James Dean and Sal Mineo at the observatory? Used to have rebels without a cause, now we've got rebels without a clue.

hey xs650mike!
i was too busy not ending up a ghost, but i think i might have seen a ghost or two but don't know who, that was at 110, it was diffenetly and out of body.

yeah, i learned on these roads too back in 1979 and 1980, matter of fact this bike reminds me of my rd400, i guess it was the naked riding postion.

oh no not that naked riding position

[xs650mike]

Yeah that 110 gives you tunnel vision. I always get paranoid that some cop will sneak up and nail me while all my attention's focused on the road ahead. Hey, 110 mph, they're takin' you in pal.

I learned to ride on Mulholland Dr. (the gravel part) and Mulholland Hwy, Stunt Rd., Saddlepeak, Latigo Canyon, Topanga, Old Topanga, Las Virgenes and of course the commute canyons, Coldwater, Benedict, Laurel. All this back in the late '50s when bikes were few, even the cops waved and cagers knew how to drive. Sounds idyllic but the good old days weren't that good, we also had tires that didn't work in the rain and bikes with rigid frames, 6 volt electrics and an almost total lack of brakes. Wonder that any old timers are left alive.

So Cal is a great place to ride though and I miss it some but I like Nor Cal better, especially now that I have no relatives left down there.

[mason79]

Originally posted by xs650mike
Yeah that 110 gives you tunnel vision. I always get paranoid that some cop will sneak up and nail me while all my attention's focused on the road ahead. Hey, 110 mph, they're takin' you in pal.

I learned to ride on Mulholland Dr. (the gravel part) and Mulholland Hwy, Stunt Rd., Saddlepeak, Latigo Canyon, Topanga, Old Topanga, Las Virgenes and of course the commute canyons, Coldwater, Benedict, Laurel. All this back in the late '50s when bikes were few, even the cops waved and cagers knew how to drive. Sounds idyllic but the good old days weren't that good, we also had tires that didn't work in the rain and bikes with rigid frames, 6 volt electrics and an almost total lack of brakes. Wonder that any old timers are left alive.

So Cal is a great place to ride though and I miss it some but I like Nor Cal better, especially now that I have no relatives left down there.

hey mike you have a good memory, rattling off all those sweepers and twisties, i never have had the pleasure of 6 volts and rigids frames but i'm sure those memories you take to your grave.

i hope your relatives treat you well, sounds like your main reason to be up north, hey man, california is califonia, there is no good or better, it's alllll guuuuld.

[xs650mike]

So Cal roads

Well my parents are dead and my older sister's up here living with me and SWMBO so I've no real reason to visit down there.

Some of those curves are burned into my memory cause I threw the bike down the road from hitting gravel or just coming into the corner way too hot because the brakes had faded. Got a few memories of times I thought I was crashing but lo and behold recovered due to skill, dumb luck or a good handling bike...sometimes a combination of all three.

Here's a couple of shots of Latigo Canyon I cribbed from Pashnit.com. No houses there back then.


The arrow points out a nasty mid-corner bump that wasn't there last time I rode that road.


Maybe those roads are a good enough reason to visit!


I agree about all of California being a great place to live and ride. I've travelled a lot in the states and abroad, it's still the best place I've been and not just because it's home.

[mason79]

Re: So Cal roads

Originally posted by xs650mike
Well my parents are dead and my older sister's up here living with me and SWMBO so I've no real reason to visit down there.

Some of those curves are burned into my memory cause I threw the bike down the road from hitting gravel or just coming into the corner way too hot because the brakes had faded. Got a few memories of times I thought I was crashing but lo and behold recovered due to skill, dumb luck or a good handling bike...sometimes a combination of all three.

Here's a couple of shots of Latigo Canyon I cribbed from Pashnit.com. No houses there back then.


The arrow points out a nasty mid-corner bump that wasn't there last time I rode that road.


Maybe those roads are a good enough reason to visit!


I agree about all of California being a great place to live and ride. I've travelled a lot in the states and abroad, it's still the best place I've been and not just because it's home.

the fella at pashnit, had an fj1200, i almost went that route again, then i would not be here, but then it would not be vintage enuff, don't we all remember the save and the close calls as well and pulling over onto gravel and dropping it a 5 mph in front of everyone, and giving your bike and ego a good dose of road rash.

btw, nice pictures, you have a photo memory, i go through life trying to see what the other person have, that i don't possess, not material things but, personallity, understanding of different subjects, memeory, brain power, and then i go and appreciated it, i see that you see.

[xs650mike]

BTW those folks building houses in that Chaparral brush are going to be sorry, that stuff burns over every 7 years or so! In my day people would put up a weekend cabin but nothing that would be any great loss when the inevitable fire came.

[jurgenkoppen]

Switching to 78 carbs is an option?

Judging from this thread the older xs11 are doing way better than the '80s and up, as far as mpg goes.
I have a new to me 80's XS11SG, a real beauty and very fast, but I only get 33mpg at very best, which is a bit disappointing.
My question to you:
So can I get myself a 78 carb on Ebay and just stick it into my bike ( after cleaning it of course inside and out) and have a chance to get better milage? I have read that in the 80's they also changed the top end of the combustion chamber,and made allowances for pollution gear. What are the forum expert's opinions on this ?

[MAXIMAN]

I wouldn't think changing carbs would increase your gas mileage that much.

Actually I can claim the opposite. When I installed 36mm FJ1200 carbs on Zilla my MPG went up. But it wasn't because of the carbs. It was all the other stuff I did too (big bore, head work, exhaust, cams, etc).

But where we've all seen a dramatic jump in gas mileage is post final drive mod. After that modification mine jumped 4 to 5 mpg on the highway. At 70-75 mph I used to get 32 or 33. Now I get 38 to 40.

[jurgenkoppen]

Thanks for the reply.
Re: "But where we've all seen a dramatic jump in gas mileage is post final drive mod".
I have been looking under Tech tip/ modifications to find a post final drive mod, but could not find it.
Also ran a search. Has this mod been described on this site, and if so, where can I find it? I am keenly interested to get my bike to go 40mpg somehow....

Also I will perform all the procedures described to lower mpg shown in this discussion, float level etc.
I am not 100% sure if I understand the float level adjustment page. The description on how to measure the level when the carbs are inverted is a bit , well, hard to get (for me) .
Any more tips there, before I get the carbs off and build my leveler....
Thanks to any answer, trying to keep from wasting gas.

[MAXIMAN]

Here's the mod procedure and results:

Procedure and Results



Here's the mod procedure with addendums. The most iportant thing is to not allow the drive couple to come out of the housing when replacing the retainer washer. This could possibly require the unit to be relashed. However no one else has ahd a problem except me! And I am now convinced it was not the drive coupling that did mine in. I did not re-torque the retainer nut to spec. MY BADD! I misunderstood how the re-assemlby worked with the bearing spacers and crush washer.

If you simply remove the retainer washer and replace it like the procedure show and do not take the drive coupling out of the housing the unit will be fine. Just be sure and torque the reatiner back to spec. On a type two drive it is 72 to 108 ft-lbs On a type 1 drive it's 54-61 ft-lbs.

The difference in the type 1 and type two drive are outlined in the final drive manual. Those manuals are on line around here somewhere. I know I posted those links recently in some thread. You'll just have to search for it.

For peace of mind you may want to double check the bearing pre-load after re-torquing the retainer. So far no one has ahd a problem. Chop has abotu 6000 miles on his od and Bohn Frazier ahs about 5000 with no problems yet. I'm sure otehrs can attest to same.

Good luck

Final Drive Mod and addendum

[MAXIMAN]

jurgen

One more thing. I started this MPG thread last year...long before Chop developed this mod. I don't know how many have repoted back here in wake of the FD mod but I'll stasrt another poll on mileage with the final drive mod.

[fredintoon]

bigger back wheel

Hi Jurgen,
the simplest way to get taller gearing is to swap in the 17" rear wheel from an XS1100 Standard to replace your XS11SG's 16" wheel. This gives you a 6¼% gain in each gear. I stand to be corrected but I'd suppose the wheel swap is a straight plug-in?

[planedick]

Full dress with final mod...

Before the final mod I was switching to reserve at 110 mi, now it's at least 135 mi. If I go a little easier than my usual 90 MPH average I have gone 154 mi before switching to reserve. I check the meleage everytime I fill up and I average over 38 MPH, but I have a need for speed.