Cheapest 4 mph gain....?

[dmonkey]

Craig Vetter, designer of the Windjammer fairing, has lots of interesting information (and wackiness) on his website pertaining to his pursuit of "100 mpg at 70 mph, into a 30 mph headwind, with four bags of groceries." With slipstreaming alone he was able to push a Honda Helix from a top speed of 65 mph to a new top speed of 78 mph, though his focus was the increased fuel economy. Pretty neat stuff if you're into that, just not on the same level as adding a plastic shovel to the front of a Honda Trail.

 

[m in sc]

i have a buddy with a helix (good lord its fkn ugly too), that thing will do 70 all day long. i think he gets 70-80? mpg?

 

[dmonkey]

That's touched on elsewhere on Craig's site, there were model year differences as well as regional differences on the Helix just like most bikes or scoots. The late model Helix CN250s are much more capable in terms of speed and fuel economy which is why they're often Scooter Cannonball picks. The point of comparison was the same vehicle.

 

[m in sc]

beats me. i know his is carburated with a pos no name amazon carb on it. Man i hate that bike. lol.

 

[AZ7000']

but it makes sense considering Aussies get new road-legal 2-stroke Enduros....

The wife's 2t Husaburg te250 has a plate here in AZ, we have been pulled over on the way to the trail, no issue. You can plate literally anything here in AZ if you live in an area without emissions (metro areas).

 

[dmonkey]

Am I correct in assuming that was a street-legal conversion and it didn't leave the dealership with a temporary tag?

 

[AZ7000']

We bought it used with a plate, transferred the title and got a plate. My ct125 is registered as an OHV primarily with some on the road.... $30/year

Nothing whatsoever to as far as a conversion. I used to put mirrors, brake light, and a horn but none of our current bikes have that. The DMV's position is we will give you a plate, it is on you to be legal. The city cops dont know the rules, luckily kendas are DOT, the last time we were checked the guy took pictures, the "expert" called a few days later and said have a good time! We do have sparkies on all the bikes, her last trail bike was a CR250 w a plate, no lights at all.

 

[m in sc]

about 10 years ago I almost bought a ktm freestyle new, they were willing to plate it no problem. also, no inspections in sc so they don't care I've always said ' I could plate my cat here'..

 

[dmonkey]

My point is that the emissions requirements restrict which motorcycles are being manufactured and sold as on-highway vehicles in the USA. What you can get away with after buying it is another story. If the Australian market's ECM has a better tune on it, and not saying it does as I don't know that, you could try getting that part and swapping them out. At that point would probably be better off just installing an ARacer ECU or other mods though as neither are likely to be "cheap" gains.

 

[oldskool]

My point is that the emissions requirements restrict which motorcycles are being manufactured and sold as on-highway vehicles in the USA. What you can get away with after buying it is another story. If the Australian market's ECM has a better tune on it, and not saying it does as I don't know that, you could try getting that part and swapping them out. At that point would probably be better off just installing an ARacer ECU or other mods though as neither are likely to be "cheap" gains.

There are many cool rigs that are verboten in the US due to draconian bs laws. There were a few vehicles in the late 70s early 80s that got 50 mpg with 4 cylinder diesel engines, VW rabbit car and truck and Izuzu had a little pu as well. The appearance of doing good outweighs actually doing good too often

 

[Clancy oto]

My point is that the emissions requirements restrict which motorcycles are being manufactured and sold as on-highway vehicles in the USA. What you can get away with after buying it is another story. If the Australian market's ECM has a better tune on it, and not saying it does as I don't know that, you could try getting that part and swapping them out. At that point would probably be better off just installing an ARacer ECU or other mods though as neither are likely to be "cheap" gains.

Seems the tune is about the same. If anything the speedo is just less accurate on my bike at least.
111kph = 102 on the gps. Stock gearing.

I reckon the guy in the original vid was heading down a pretty decent hill.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Kev250R]

My trail was bought new by it's first owner in New Jersey, ridden there for a while then trucked across the country to So.Cal. during a move and soon-after sold to me so maybe it's the fact that I have an 'East Coast' bike but my Trail, stock has seen 80 MPH, just last month actually, no problem. In fact my TW200 was right there with it, neck-and-neck.

Of course both were strapped to my trailer, being towed by my truck LOL!

I'll see myself out now...

 

[m in sc]

they can tune around emissions easily, so i don't buy that for a minute. look at the HP numbers cars and bikes are making now, overall. FFS my basically base SUV is at 305 HP (crank) ... case in point: David's 23 H2, with my wife siting on it in my garage. meets all emissions requirements. yes i rode it yes, its fantastic. base model @ 190 RWHP. Its a choice by the makers to keep them slow. The fact that the 1st gen groms were faster tells you everything you need to know.