[Elia Vecellio]

Hi,

Just an update on progress with my recently purchased Across.

My main issue with the bike when I got it was that fuel economy was pretty bad: 75-80km to yellow; 135-140km to red (in reality the lights on my bike are wired backwards, so red comes on first). I could feel that the bike needed some attention, and I was willing to give it, since I did buy it cheap.

Anyway, I brought the bike to SMW (Sydney Motorcycle Wreckers) in Alexandria and had them do a service on the bike. I know, I know, I could have done it myself and saved a tonne of money, but I felt more comfortable with having them do it. In particular, because if I had done it myself and the economy/performance had not improved I would never have been sure whether this was due to my mechanical attempts having gone terribly wrong! Also, I currently suffer from an extreme shortage of tools - in fact I hadnt even been able to look underneath the boot until the weekend when my uncle helped me fit the Gearsack rack (see my other post)

I paid $540 and that included a new front tyre (apparently my old was way too bald, even though it passed the blue slip with flying colours!), new spark plugs, flush and replace coolant, flush and replace engine oil, tune and service, tune and balance carbs, new oil filter and wash out of airbox (apparently it was full of oil). They had to wait for the airfilter to come in, because my one was stuffed, I have to go back to pick up the airfilter.

Anyway, this service was two weeks ago and I have since run through a tank of fuel. I can say that my fuel economy hasn't changed one bit! The economy is basically identical to what it is was before.

I will make the comparison when I have the new airfilter, and see whether that improves things. After that, I will look into the issue of throttle slides to see if that improves things. According to the SMW mechanic, the throttle slides were a bit worn but he didnt think they were a big part of the fuel economy. He said that with Across's when they get a bit old the fuel economy just goes a bit crap - what do you guys think?

The advantage of going through the different parts step-by-step is that at least it should be possible to conclude what step of the process actually led to the fuel economy improvement (if it does end up improving at all).

Thanks
Elia

[psyched]

If your current air filter is really clogged up then that could well be the cause of your poor fuel consumption and also effecting your performance. So definitely check your economy again once you replace the filter.
By the way it is normal for the bottom of the air filter box to get a oily but it shouldn't fill up as such. There is a drain pipe connected to the bottom of the air filter box which comes out the bottom of the bike usually near the brake pedal. The pipe usually has a plastic plug in the end which you should pull out every thousand k's or so and let the oil drain out of the pipe.

If the air filter does not solve your problem then I would look at lowering the throttle slide needles. Wen you had the service done did you ask what setting the needles were currently on and if they changed them? If the needles are a bit too high the bike will usually run fine but will use more fuel. I have found once bikes start getting up in the k's the needles do usually need to be lowered. That said my across is currently at about 43,500ks, my needles are still set in the middle position and I get about 125k's to orange and 200ish to red.
I didn't notice much of a change to fuel economy when I replaced my rather warn throttle slide holders but it did certainly help performance. So if yours are a little worn and your taking the tops off the carbies to change the needle positions then it's definitely worth changing the sliders at the same time as it's virtually no extra work and they're only a cheap part.

[groberts03]

check what the needles are set in your carbys.
also make sure they are balanced properly .

speak to james or greg in regards to adjusting the needle settings .

[Harte]

psyched, on Mar 22 2007, 01:06 PM, said:

That said my across is currently at about 43,500ks, my needles are still set in the middle position and I get about 125k's to orange and 200ish to red.

standard exhaust?

my across has lower Km, bigger pipe, needles on 1 notch leaner and I still can only get 105 to orange.

...still haven't had time to pull the carbs out and check the jet size tho.

[Sneaking Across...what?]

maybe they didnt do the whole job on the carbies??

[JamesLaugesen]

Yo Elia; do you have another update for us?

[IllusiveDreams]

JamesLaugesen, on May 29 2007, 06:13 PM, said:

Yo Elia; do you have another update for us?

i have been waiting for two months for an update..

Cheers

[Nate_Dog]

IllusiveDreams, on Jun 26 2007, 07:57 PM, said:

i have been waiting for two months for an update..

Cheers

Al, i can say is that those lights are probably as acurate as a stormtrooper shooting at luke skywalker. Count te ks, divide by the amount of petrol u put in. If it's still farked worry, otherwise, your bike is sweet.

[Elia Vecellio]

Ok just dropping in.

I dont have any big update news to give. However the Km/L figure has remained steady. The economy is confirmed by Km travelled / petrol added on next fill, so its not an issue of the lights playing tricks with me.

A couple of weeks back I bought new throttle slides from Action MC in the city, and I have printed out all the relevant pages from OzBrickie's website. I just havent had the time to get my hands dirty and get in the carbies. While I am changing the throttle slides, I will also check the setting of the needle jet (forget the exact name). To begin with, I will leave it the same, so I can get a direct measure of improvement from the new slides, then after a couple of tanks of riding I may play around with them as well.

I notice if I rev the bike hard (while still and in neutral), once I get up to 10k rpm or so, a whole bunch of smoke (not exactly black, but quite an opaque grey) comes out the exhaust. So it may have something to do with the fuel mixture (ie too rich). I never ride at that many revs (cruise at 7k rpm), so its not a day-to-day issue, but it may be an indicator of the underlying problem.

I've been slack and not yet posted up the photos of my install of the Gearsack rack on my bike. I really hope to do that soon. I have however uploaded a PDF of my copy of the Workshop manual. It may not be any better (or it may be worse) than the file that is floating around these forums, the various Across sites, and the Yahoo page, but its just an alternative. I hope it will be useful for someone. It can be found at my website www.eliavecellio.com, or you can jump straight to the Motorcycles section by following this link: http://www.eliavecel...om/Motorcycles/ . I hope you like my Across' older brother, the old Rabbitohs CB250RS - now THAT was a fuel efficient and fun bike! Oh so simple, but oh no boot or rack!

Thanks guys.
Elia

P.S. What ended up happening with the group ride that people were planning..? The weather went a bit south, but things have improved now....

IllusiveDreams, on Jun 26 2007, 07:57 PM, said:

i have been waiting for two months for an update..

Cheers

[flightcrank]

ive had a pic of your bike on my PC for a while. did you buy it off ebay ?

hay any one remember that across from the old site. which was a custom gold/silver and black. it also had custom rainbow shiny chrome stickers that looked like the originals ??

someone must have a pic of it somewhere. there were a few photos of it. in like a apartment complex with dirty concrete ?

on another note, my orange lights dosnt turn on any more when i have half a tank. it dose turn on when i put the key in the ignition tho :/ strange. my red one works fine however.

[Greg]

Flighty your fuel level sensor has probably died (theirs 2 of them, one for the orange, one for red light), but the start test will still iluminate the orange.

[Elia Vecellio]

Just a courtesy post to let you know that I've changed the Throttle Slide Holders, and I have started a new thread and posted photo documentation of the process.

flightcrank, Im curious where you got photos of my bike? Yes I did buy it from Ebay (so perhaps that's where you got the photos) at the beginning of the year from a QLD based chap. Cost me just under $300 to have it shipped to Sydney (Bikes Only).

flightcrank, on Jun 30 2007, 02:03 AM, said:

ive had a pic of your bike on my PC for a while. did you buy it off ebay ?

hay any one remember that across from the old site. which was a custom gold/silver and black. it also had custom rainbow shiny chrome stickers that looked like the originals ??

someone must have a pic of it somewhere. there were a few photos of it. in like a apartment complex with dirty concrete ?

on another note, my orange lights dosnt turn on any more when i have half a tank. it dose turn on when i put the key in the ignition tho :/ strange. my red one works fine however.