London and back

[revd]

Rather than take train/tube into London, I took the mighty K into London as I can park for free there as well.  It was light rainfall on the way in and very heavy traffic, enough that the fan came on for a bit and then shutdown after 2-3 minutes.  Bike was well behaved, but is a bit lumpy at low revs.  Hand physio went well, they attribute the good range of movement to my using a clutch!  I will have a couple more exercises to do now and a splint to wear overnight to assist with straightening it out a bit better.

Ride home was in heavy rain fall, but was faultless.  The M7's were surefooted enough over lines, potholes and manhole covers.  The bike was a joy to ride and sounds rather good with the Delkevic exhaust.  Rather pleased with that investment.  However it is thirsty in London traffic and I have 100 miles to the tank.... gulp! And I have been gentle on the throttle. Maybe it is the BoosterPlug thing that is affecting the fuel consumption that much.  Valves are not due a check until next year according to annual service schedule thingy. 

I'll fill it up when the weather is kinder and dry! And I've had a chance to clean the bike properly.

[fjtwelve]

If you are trying to rely on the fuelguage to tell you if you've used a tankful  , dont. The tank will take 20.8 litres. How much do you put in after 100 miles? My in town london commuting never dropped below 40mpg. If it turns out you really are using a tank full for 100 miles there is a serious fuelling problem. Lumpy low speed running is typical  that's why I got mine remapped.

[Matt]

A million percent something is buggered. What's that booster plug doing again?

[black-k1]

I did 6 years of commuting into London 5 days a week on my K1300Ss. While 2 thirds of my journey was motorway/dual carriageway I never got below 45mpg on either bike (and there were some "spirrited" - though not in the Revs way. - rides in there) and I regularly did 50+mpg. Those values are not from the on-board computer but calculated from the amount of fuel added by the pump vs. the mileage on the trip meter.

It definitely sounds like something is not right with your bike Rev.

[armstrongracer]

Start with removing that booster plug, don't some of them just mess with temp sensor signal and make ECU think engine is cold and richen the fuelling. Maybe engine is stuck in "Choke mode"

[TomL]

Something seriously wrong with your bike to get such a low mpg.

I normally zero the trip when I brim the tank and then look to refuel when I get to about 190miles. I expect to do about 10 miles per litre which is about 45 mpg.

Old school from when no bikes had fuel gauges but at least had reserve. Never was a good idea to forget to switch the reserve off because you can guess what happened.

The number of times that the bike went onto reserve as I rolled into a petrol station!

[chriscanning]

The TUV do their emission test at 4250, for manufacturers it’s a bit like knowing the question before the exam, so they cut the fuel going into the motor at 4250, what a Booster plug does is for the ECU to Chuck more fuel into the motor to cover the lack of fuel at 4250.

The problem...it’s chucking in fuel every where else on the fuel map, not just 4250 revs

[chriscanning]

Had a wonderful morning out, rode too Redline KTM in Loughborough to have a new suspension map blown into the bike, and after 18 months of tinkering with set up both suspension and fuelling finally found the Eureka setting absolutely magical 

[revd]

Thanks chaps. Tank off at some point soon and it is light, so that makes it easier!  Boosterplug will be removed and sold on via Ebay if someone else wants to try it.

Loving the bike and not too worried on consumption as it is my fun ride bike only, I no longer commute and use it because I want to.  I try to run it on 99RON only, but last tankful was 95RON.

[Matt]

Although lack of miles is an excuse to get a V8, it isn't an excuse to ignore a definite issue if it carries on post plug removal . I hope it works though!

[Swindon Andy]

Symptoms of lumpy at low revs and high fuel consumption sounds just like mine when the exhaust lambda sensor failed.

[Phmode]

Whether or not the low fuel consumption 'bothers' you because it is a fun ride, the big issue is that you are putting way too much fuel through the engine and that won't do the pistons, rings nor cylinder walls much good unless you are also increasing the air volume (which the Boosterplug doesn't do) to keep the stoichiometric ratio about right.

Or you have a fuel leak.

Or you are going by the computer rather than 'real' consumption.

Boosterplug out, check the real consumption and if it is still high then check the lambda sensor, anyone in here with GS911 will do that for you.

[chriscanning]

Easy to do a lamba check...go on eBay buy a dongle and blanking plug and throw the lamba in the bin,6 bikes in the garage non have a lamba,first thing that gets taken off.

[revd]

Easy to do a lamba check...go on eBay buy a dongle and blanking plug and throw the lamba in the bin,6 bikes in the garage non have a lamba,first thing that gets taken off.

Dongle?  what does that do then?

[chriscanning]

Stops the ECU from spitting it’s dummy because something has been disconnected from the electrics, fit the like of a Power Commander they disconnect it regardless.