MPG drop

[babemagnet]

Hi,
My 05 Gen 1 has just come out of the shed after a winters worth of tlc. Every consumable has been replaced (pads, oil, water, fork oil, plugs, filters etc) plus I have installed R6 rear shock, ignition advancer and had the carbs balanced (I was told that both pairs of carbs were ok but the pairs were out of balance by a fair bit).
Improvements are everywhere particularly in handling(R6) and mid range (I.A.) BUT it is obvious that mpg has obviously dropped. Before all this work I would regularly get 180 miles from a tank before the red light but now after half a tank I have only got 60 miles.


Any suggestions on which of my "improvements" could be the cause of this sudden drop in MPG.
:'(

[brooker81]

Have u been riding harder checking out the r6 shock?

[babemagnet]

I am not a "hard" rider at the best of times. Call myself a fast tourer. Have not been conciously riding any faster or accelerating any quicker.

[brooker81]

Get the carbs checked again by someone else in case they are not setup correctly. I've only seen fuel go like that on my gen2 used to get as u say between 160/180 miles from my gen1

[babemagnet]

mmmmmm.....so possibly I did the wrong thing in trusting my baby to a spanner monkey....perhaps i'll get some guages and do it myself.

[babemagnet]

One thing I forgot to add into my original post which may or may not be connected is that tickover seems to have dropped down to below 1000 revs. Would this be as a result of carb balance or ignition advancer? I will re-adjust it but is this another symtom of low MPG?

[PieEater]

One thing I forgot to add into my original post which may or may not be connected is that tickover seems to have dropped down to below 1000 revs. Would this be as a result of carb balance or ignition advancer? I will re-adjust it but is this another symtom of low MPG?

Carbs are usually balanced with a raised tickover so it's possible that whoever balanced your carbs for you reset the tickover lower than it should be when they'd finished doing the balancing.

[stevierst]

Gotta admit, since fitting the IA, mine dropped a bit too. Because I wasn't riding it properly.
If I do what I think is a 'commute ride'(sub 4k shift, light throttle) over national speed roads I get 42-45 mpg which is about 160ish to a tank.
I went out last week with a mate on a GSXR600 into Yorkshire on A and B roads where I was holding the revs longer, and doing an IAM style ride, I got 48mpg!!!!
Yeah I thought that was a bit odd too, but I've looked at my fuel consumption history, and its much the same. Been getting better tank range on faster ride outs than commuting!!!
I was getting concerned, as my carb'd R1 was getting high 40's and it only gets used on quick ride outs!!!

[PaulSmith]

... BUT it is obvious that mpg has obviously dropped. Before all this work I would regularly get 180 miles from a tank before the red light but now after half a tank I have only got 60 miles.

The red light is just an indication. Mine used to come on after 180 miles, now it shows up after 150 but the tank still takes 18 litres after 190 miles. Next time you fill your tank, reset a trip meter. The time after, compare the trip meter to the fuel used.