Fuel Economy

[ARKNT]

That noted, once in a while when at the local dealership I'll sneak a look at the Kawasaki Versys X300. It's not much larger than the dual sport I started out on in 1970. Chain drive, yes, but ~ 135 lbs lighter than the NT700. And it has decent wind protection for that type of scoot. If the NT700 is not my last bike, my last may become that small dual sport.

I have a 650 Versys and like it. From reading the Versys forum the 300 seems quite popular. I don't have any firsthand expierience and don't know sales figures or any thing like that but it appears to be a popular ride. The tube type tires I would not care for, tubeless seem safer to me. Some people seal them up and convert to tubeless.

Arknt

 

[Coyote Chris]

I have a 650 Versys and like it. From reading the Versys forum the 300 seems quite popular. I don't have any firsthand expierience and don't know sales figures or any thing like that but it appears to be a popular ride. The tube type tires I would not care for, tubeless seem safer to me. Some people seal them up and convert to tubeless.

Arknt

Didnt know that you could seal them up and use tubeless tires.

I enjoyed my X300 for the seven years I had it. Great little bike, but if you get one you will need to go up one tooth on the primary sprocket. It likes to run in the higher RPM range.


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Small bike touring at this point in my life has an appeal. Small bike touring seems to be taken more seriously overseas...to where good quality labled panniers are made available. I wouldnt be surprised if Honda offers touring accessories for its 350 single.
Some ferries in the Inland Sea in Japan must get rough water. This one is from Beppu on the way to Ehime...Mag has never seen a tire clamp before on a Japanese Ferry....hope they got all the 2000 lb sea mines swept after the war!

 

[ett]

Fuel economy is ONE of the many nice things about the NT. It has VERY nice fuel economy vs. performance ratio.
However; I wish the real-time MPG gauge was more realistic. It routinely shows me getting in the mid to upper 50's.
When in reality, my records indicate lower 50's.
But that's still better than my other current bike.

 

[Manfred]

Fuel economy is ONE of the many nice things about the NT. It has VERY nice fuel economy vs. performance ratio.
However; I wish the real-time MPG gauge was more realistic. It routinely shows me getting in the mid to upper 50's.
When in reality, my records indicate lower 50's.
But that's still better than my other current bike.
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I don't pay attention to the on-board calculators on any of my vehicles - they are not accurate. I put the data in an Excel file.

 

[Coyote Chris]

Fuel economy is ONE of the many nice things about the NT. It has VERY nice fuel economy vs. performance ratio.
However; I wish the real-time MPG gauge was more realistic. It routinely shows me getting in the mid to upper 50's.
When in reality, my records indicate lower 50's.
But that's still better than my other current bike.
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I don't know if I have ever seen a completely accurate MPG computer, although my Subarus come close. All the computers really needs to know is how far the vehicle has traveled to a reasonable accuracy and how long the injectors were turned on and their flow rate. Wonder what the tolerences are there?

 

[mikesim]

I don't know if I have ever seen a completely accurate MPG computer, although my Subarus come close. All the computers really needs to know is how far the vehicle has traveled to a reasonable accuracy and how long the injectors were turned on and their flow rate. Wonder what the tolerences are there?

I'm not certain, but I think the MPG derived by the vehicle's MPG computer is based upon a rolling average of the injectors pulse width. I don't think the ECU's have the memory capacity to store each momentary pulse width deviation to insure complete accuracy. As you mentioned, I don't recall ever seeing a completely accurate MPG computer either. IMHO, if it ain't accurate, then what's the point?

Mike

 

[Coyote Chris]

I'm not certain, but I think the MPG derived by the vehicle's MPG computer is based upon a rolling average of the injectors pulse width. I don't think the ECU's have the memory capacity to store each momentary pulse width deviation to insure complete accuracy. As you mentioned, I don't recall ever seeing a completely accurate MPG computer either. IMHO, if it ain't accurate, then what's the point?

Mike

Yeah...like the reason every Vstrom ever made has a speedo that is 10 percent fast! LOL!!
You might be right...with a computer, you can program anything. It could sample every 100th pulse or take that last 100 pulses, add them up, store that number, and delete the rese ad nauseum. My cars have not only a number read out of the average but also a bar graph of some type to show you what the mpg is right now. Works best on cruise control. But its a great tool to find out what downshifting a gear for instance does or going faster or slower. Every one I have had is optimistic by a tad, which I find interesting.