B12 fuel economy

[oklahoma_mike]

Originally Posted by Barbarian

My sales guy said that too. I think they just don't know the difference between the different ways to rate octane.

higher octane is harder to auto-ignite(this is a general statement). That is that with the piston rising to TDC a higher octane fuel is less likely to auto ignite from heat and compression. If you change nothing in the motor and add a higher octane fuel you will see an immeasurable (by all practical proposes) change mileage or power. You need to increase compression and/or timing to see any real world improvements.

Now all that aside has your motor ever knocked? Do you live in a hot area and ride in extreme heat if so I would conceder 89 to prevent detonation because it is an air cooled bike, but it would only be on the hottest of days. I had a Savage 650 that is air cooled and in the height of summer in Oklahoma I would run 89 because I had it knock once on me.

All you ever wanted to know about octane
"The antiknock ability is related to the "autoignition temperature" of the
hydrocarbons. Antiknock ability is _not_ substantially related to:-
1. The energy content of fuel, this should be obvious, as oxygenates have
lower energy contents, but high octanes.
2. The flame speed of the conventionally ignited mixture, this should be
evident from the similarities of the two reference hydrocarbons.
Although flame speed does play a minor part, there are many other factors
that are far more important. ( such as compression ratio, stoichiometry,
combustion chamber shape, chemical structure of the fuel, presence of
antiknock additives, number and position of spark plugs, turbulence etc.)
Flame speed does not correlate with octane."


Also see
6.13 Can higher octane fuels give me more power?

[Fittysom'n]

Brand new bike.....

520 miles on her so far after last night's ride with a gallon of gas strapped to the back of the bike. I make it a point to run out of gas and note how far I'm able to ride after the low fuel icon/light/reserve comes on. This was NOT at steady throttle, as I am still breaking the engine in:

Blinking low fuel icon came on and I was able to ride 50 miles before BOTH bar AND icon started blinking.

While both the bar & icon were blinking, I was able to ride 22 miles before the engine cut out, starved of all it's fuel.

Filled the 'empty' gas tank with 4.86 gallons of fuel.

With 200 miles indicated on the odometer, that's about 40 mpg.

Gotta repeat that you keep in mind all this was while I was upshifting, downshifting, rev'ing, engine braking, canyon carving, and taking her to the 4,500 rpm limit. Generally running her in with VERY LITTLE steady cruising at a constant speed.

On the freeway ride home, I would take her up to the new limit of 7,000 rpm in each of the gears then suddenly shut the throttle down.... I would let the engine braking slow me to about 45 mph. I repeated this in each of the gears from 6th to 3rd. A couple times I pulled over and aggressively ran her up to the max' of 7,000 rpm in each of the gears.... seeing an indicated 130 mph in 6th. Today, I'm gonna spank her again to the 7,000 limit and tease her with what she'll be getting a regular dose of when she's finally all run-in. Then change the oil & filter, call the dealer and see what they wanna charge me for a 600 mile service, and likely NOT pay it. It's a CA model that calls for a throttle sync at the 600 miler.

(Daaahmn, they want $127 to check my throttle valve sync; I didn't even bother to ask what they would charge for the full 600 mile service! I'll be checking my OWN nuts thankyou! and of course some bolts, mounts, my steering, brakes, exhaust, and changing out the oil & filter.)



Model year: 2008
Local climate: Fall in CA, 60+-
Local terrain: canyons & curves
Average riding speed: varying
Riding style (casual/brisk/aggressive): brisk & wannabe aggressive
Typical shift rpm: as per 'break-in' instructions
Motorcycle age (miles/years): brand new
Modifications: none
Tire pressure: 36/42
Oil weight: factory 10-40
Fuel octane rating: 87
Rider weight: 220
Wheel bearing condition: brand new
Brake caliper condition: brand new
Luggage/accessories installed: soft luggage
General maintenance history: none yet

[Clint]

As far as I'm concerned, that baby's broken in as well as it can be. Go give 'er hell!

[Fittysom'n]

I'm a little anal about factory recommendations with regard to running 'em in....
-- but --
I also like to tease my new engines with a little of what she'll be seeing (i.e. a little abuse).

With only 518 miles on her, I'll ride to the dealership 30 miles away to trade this oil filter removal thingie they sold me, for the correct one (or wrong oil filters for the correct ones?). I'll be spanking her quite a bit on the way, not to exceed 7,000 rpm. Gonna shear, scrape, scrap, and otherwise beat up the gear box & moving parts to contaminate my oil with as much shavings as I can get outa her. Returning home to change out the nasty stuff.

I'll likely not go with synthetic until I've logged quite a few miles on her. Interestingly, the FZ1 LOVED the Rotella Synth', it shifted CONSIDERABLY SMOOTHER with less clunking. However, I found that it needed to be changed as early as 2,000 miles as the gear box would start to clunk again. I might consider Rotella for the Bandit, but I understand it's been going up in price and no longer the "deal" it once was.

Damn plastic dash board above the instruments can NOT be secured with even my best efforts. The speedo & tach flops about when I go over bumps, and I fear the fairing should be loosened to get everything correctly aligned.... or not. I'll give it to Service when I'm in trading the oil filter stuff in for the right stuff. Frankly, I think the dealer $et-up was rather hasty, as the headlamp was pointed a mere 10 feet in front of the bike, no more. The battery was not charged yet, so they took it in back to put a charge to it. But given as how it was so late in the evening, I think they stuck another (ill-fitting) battery in there 'cause the strap doesn't secure to anything, and it's got a black top as opposed to the clear top I saw in the other Bandit on the showroom floor.

Cool bike. Based on last night's spanking though, I would say the motor is best appreciated as a low/mid-range torque monster.... as opposed to a high rev'ing, EXUP opening, eye popping, speed demon, power-curve hooligan. At least THAT'S my (early) impression before taking her up into the party zone of 7,000 to 9,500 rpm.....

We'll see.

[Clint]

Yep. You'll see.

[Fittysom'n]

Lovely.....

I returned the oil filter wrench/cap to the Suzuki dealership, they didn't have one for the Bandit in stock (???).

So I ride 50 miles away to a Cycle Gear and buy the same thing but of the right size.

When I get home, I immediately place a pan under the engine, remove the oil drain plug & fill cap, and let'er drain.

I go in the house and take my kevlar jeans and Ride Hide shirt off, put a t-shirt and shorts on and return to the bike to take the oil filter off, then.........
the headers are too close, the cross-over pipe is RIGHT THERE prohibiting use of an extension, I already bought three Suzuki oil filters wish'n that I bought K&N's, my wrench/cap dealie doesn't have a hex-head, and the bike still sits in the drive-way with the oil filter STILL on the bike while I'm in here drinking a beer ......

WHAT THE ?!?!?!

[Aussie Steve]

I never got the oil filter removal tool...too expensive for a piece of plastic!. I have found a set of slip pliers work quite well and as the filter is to be replaced who cares about the paint? Now my Bandit is an 02 model so the headers on yours may well be different and too close...havn't really looked at the headers when drooling over the shiny new ones at the dealers.

[Fittysom'n]

I ended up poking the oil filter with a screw driver and hammering it off the bike. The OEM filters will be returned to the dealership, and the filter removal tool returned to Cycle Gear. While at Cycle Gear, I'll be buying K&N oil filters with that VERY cool hex head design making it easy to remove the filtler.

[Fittysom'n]

Oh yeah, back on the original subject:

I'm 100 miles from a completed break-in, and in the last 900 miles I seem to have averaged 38 to 42 mpg. NONE of that riding has been at steady throttle, and almost all of it has been taking her up to allowed max' rpm of either 4,500 rpm or 7,000 rpm.

[Clint]

Not too shabby. The first-gen Bandit struggled to make that even in the best of conditions.

[02Bandito1200S]

My 02 1200 averages 38-39mpg commuting. The trip is 7-8 miles one way with no fewer than 4 stops lights/signs no matter which way I choose to go. On day trips, casual to brisk riding, the mpg jumps up to mid 40s. The one highway trip I have taken so far, 660 miles round trip, to the Albany NY area, I got mid 40s also, but I am sure it would have been closer to 50 had I stayed closer to 65!

For the oil filter wrench - I picked up a cup style at Advanced auto and have no clearance issues.

[tsjohnston]

07 M50 limited, K&N. stage 1 debaffled stocker pipes... 190mi. = 3.5 gal..
Denton, TX-Turnner Falls, OK,,, and hot dogged in on the freeway back to Denton ,, 80-90mph in places,,thats like 54 mpg, in town i still get 48-50. not bad imho.... K&N oil filter here too ,, good and the HEX works like a champ..

I'm Looking to sell mine and upgrade to 1200s.. 04ish... love the bike (M50)
just need bigger bike for 2 up when I need it ,,

So if ya know someone with to much bandit ,, pop me a message I like blue also needs to be in awsome shape. I live in north TX area.

Not trying to place an add here ,, just thought I would throw this out here.

[tsjohnston]

My 07 M50 get 50-54 mpg.. no matter what type of fuel I use,, can tell the diff, in the way it runs from 87-93 octain.. most the time i run the middle grade 89.. sold the M50 last week, looking at 02 bandit with less than 6k on it ,, any ideas what i should be looking for ?

[tsjohnston]

My bandit has some mods, its getn crummy milage, around 30mpg, going around 125mi before light starts blinking. and not much farther for res, carbs jetted and dale walker holeshot, the bike is wicked mean, but jeez the gas bandit is killing me, any ideas?

[Rickster]

Check your plugs, it wouldn't suprise me if you find your running rich, Clint has pretty much the same mods as you and he always gets over 40, my 1250 is stock with EFI, and I average 40 with 87 octane.