jon haney

Is your neighbor's 2500 a diesel? If so, no pumping losses. One of the many reasons why diesels are more fuel efficient.

LOL. That was probably the last car to have all those traits. Points?? In 1978? Really?

Want more MPG? It's all about reducing. Reduce wind drag, weight, rolling resistance, and "Pumping losses". That last one is least understood. A vehicle going down the highway takes a certain amount of power to maintain a speed, let's say 20HP. If your engine is capable of 200 Hp, your throttle is barely open at cruise speed, with the pistons having to pull big manifold vacuum (pumping loss). Plus, friction through the entire drive-train is much higher because the components are bigger to be able to handle 200 Hp when commanded. If the engine is only capable of 50 Hp, it is much more efficient when producing the required 20. Of course, it will take much longer to get to a highway speed. That is the trade-off. My sister had a 1982 Mazda 626 with a 2-liter inline 4 cyl, rated at 80 HP. This car was rear-wheel drive, stick shift, and had a carburetor. Made 38 MPG on the highway. Imagine what it would do with modern fuel injection, front-wheel drive, and aerodynamics.

And the Star Trek universal translator was born. LOL.

Oscar, I was going to say that it sounds to me like your oil is just too thick, but you said it's better when cold. I got nothing. Wait, maybe the bike just doesn't like you. 🙂

I think we have a winner. I got 192 miles on a tank once in Colorado (hauling ass), but never more than 160 in KS riding like a grandpa.

An engine oil should get dirty slowly over 3 to 5K miles. If not, it's not doing one of the jobs it's supposed to do, which is keep deposits in suspension, and not deposited on engine parts. I believe the additive is called detergent. Just one of the reasons you change oil at regular intervals. If all it had to do was be lubricant, you could run it a lot longer.

I put it in my 650 Maxim back in the late 80's and had no slippage at all. I did hear of some that did. One guy believed in it so much, he would sacrifice a set of clutch plates. I can't say that I noticed any difference.

My 2017 Nissan Frontier has neither a locked gas door or cap. Not sure about anything down in the fill neck. My wife's 2015 Altima has a latched door, with a release lever inside. It's amazing the differences in the actual operation of controls between the two vehicles. Almost like they were different makes.

For lubing locks, use Tri-Flow or powdered teflon. I have a 20 year old pad lock on my shed (out in the weather) that is still as smooth as the day I bought it. I may have put some WD-40 in it in the early years, but only Tri-flow in the last 10. Probably only lubed it 5 times total. I guess it really doesn't see as much use as a gas cap lock, but still.........

Even if you're doing track days, I recommend a Q3 front with a Roadsmart rear. Plenty of grip for 99% of your riding, plus wet weather capability and decent mileage. If you're looking for maximum mileage, I'm not the guy to ask. 😁

Yeah, I could be taking enough weight off the rear for that to happen, given the downhill. I wonder why it didn't happen on the first Bird? They were set-up almost identical. My first Bird was de-linked before I got the second, and perhaps I was just more confident. The first Bird probably would have started doing it, if I had left it linked.

Would love to know the engineering behind the LBS system. How do they compensate for different weight riders/passengers/gear? What about different tires/traction conditions? What about shimming the rear shock, which changes weight bias? I'm amazed the system works as well as it does.

If that's true, it would be a major difference in braking force. What's interesting to me is that the front fork master (secondary master) gets pushed harder the harder you squeeze the front lever. I would assume this puts more pressure to the rear caliper. Of course, this seems backwards, since the more you apply the front brakes, the less weight on the rear, and the easier it would try to lock the rear. If they did switch from 2 pistons to one on the FI bikes, it would still take a major change to the proportioning valve. ABS seems less complicated now, and infinitely better. To clarify my experience, I only chirped the rear tire when I was at the track, approaching the downhill hairpin turn, which is at the end of the back straight. About 105-110 mph.

True, but the lever travel was way too much for my tastes. I even tried a 14mm M/C off a Superhawk, and still wanted more firmness. Ha, I think I just "chummed the waters" for some ubiquitous .Org humor.