Primary Drive / Final Drive / Drive Shaft connection to Primary Drive...

The Dark Shadow said:
My bike has mirror and fairing wind deflector kits installed.
if I run at 110kph, I'll get 16.5 km/l on the fcd for level ground. The only way I can get up to and sometimes slightly above 20km/l is to ride at 80-90kph. Of course deceleration yields super high fuel economy but that doesn't count.
i can't imagine the wind deflector kits are robbing 25%fuel r economy at 110kph. The kits are certainly slightly more wind drag but I can't imagine so drastic.
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As I have written before, there is something wrong with your motorcycle or the numbers. Is that consumption accurate? Have you done the math to confirm what the display reads?

The wind deflectors have an irrelevant impact in my experience. I ran my 2009 with no deflectors and a 2007 that had the full kit. The fuel consumption difference was imperceptible.
 
I'm fanatical about recording mileage, as most of mine is business related and tax deductible.
So I can state from empirical data, that towing even a small trailer will not improve gas mileage on the ST1300.
Regardless of whether a German Shepherd is in it.
But my driveshaft is holding up fine.
 
I have to throw in my two cents too: I'm all for experimenting and I hope you're able to find gears to try for better RPM ranges at highway speeds...anyway.

I only do my mileage when I go on larger trips. I find I regularly get results almost exactly like Andrew Shadow reported in Post # 19. I have the full set of wind deflectors on my 2003 ST1300 and I'm a bit of "quick" accelerator when riding (I enjoy the feeling, the tires wear out quick though) RPMs are my friend and redline means shift gears, often.

Your description of shifting into 4th and 5th gear at 50 and 60 km/h (Post # 1) had me thinking the engine would almost certainly be lugging at that point. Ones mans lug is another's fuel economy attempt.

I have a request too. The gear drive/cables for the windscreen lift mechanism are an albatross. Perhaps a bevel gear set for that would help? I'll buy it if you make it work. I don't mind running with mine at full upright all the time, but...
 
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Mikedo said:
I have a request too. The gear drive/cables for the windscreen lift mechanism are an albatross. Perhaps a bevel gear set for that would help? I'll buy it if you make it work. I don't mind running with mine at full upright all the time, but...
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In case you had missed it, a repair kit is now available for the motorized windshield. The owner of the company is also a member of this site.
A few people on this site have already used this kit to repair their windshield mechanism.

SCREEN MECH REPAIR
 
Andrew Shadow said:
As I have written before, there is something wrong with your motorcycle or the numbers. Is that consumption accurate? Have you done the math to confirm what the display reads?

The wind deflectors have an irrelevant impact in my experience. I ran my 2009 with no deflectors and a 2007 that had the full kit. The fuel consumption difference was imperceptible.
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The figures I gave are corrected figures. Speed is 100% correct on my speedo (got a speedo healer and verified with road side radar and GPS navi). Odo reads 5% low so I correct for this when doing readings /calculations.

I had 2x st13... both exactly same fuel economy. Even when I drive like a granny... If I drive 120kph even with screen down and crouched down, best I'll get is about 14km/l.

Plugs are good. Air filter good. Tire and pressure good. Valve clearances good. 5 way tee is good. Intake valve synch (or whatever it's called) is good. Using best fuel available (2% ethanol).

There's still what I call a slight gallop to the engine. I was wondering about using some lacquer thinner to try to clean the O2 sensors.

People who claim this bike is easy and cheap for maintenance and good for reliability are perhaps overstating the power of Honda. Every internal thing that needs doing costs a kajillion because of the fairings...

Some people say "just fill it up and ride the bike" but I'd prefer to have it running optimally.
 
The Dark Shadow said:
I had 2x st13... both exactly same fuel economy. Even when I drive like a granny... If I drive 120kph even with screen down and crouched down, best I'll get is about 14km/l.
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I must say, you certainly are unlucky to have had that with two ST1300's. That is definitely not normal gas mileage, that is terrible gas mileage. Every ST1300 owner on here will tell you that their gas mileage is in the same ball park as what I have indicated.

I know that you have stated that everything suggested has been checked and found not to be defective, but there is something wrong to be consuming that much fuel.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
In case you had missed it, a repair kit is now available for the motorized windshield. The owner of the company is also a member of this site.
A few people on this site have already used this kit to repair their windshield mechanism.

SCREEN MECH REPAIR
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I have a valid drive gear. It's the cables that are no good. I bought one of the first drive gears.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
I must say, you certainly are unlucky to have had that with two ST1300's. That is definitely not normal gas mileage, that is terrible gas mileage. Every ST1300 owner on here will tell you that their gas mileage is in the same ball park as what I have indicated.

I know that you have stated that everything suggested has been checked and found not to be defective, but there is something wrong to be consuming that much fuel.
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Not that it should make that much difference, but I run premium fuel most of the time, and at least mid-grade. Do you Andrew and Dark Shadow both run premium gas?
 
An alternative option, definitely easier And probably cheaper, would be a Concours 14. Tall gears, good high speed bike in just about every way. However, the ST has better power in 5th than a Concours in 6th. I think motor wear due to high rpm is a moot point on STs, which have proven to be extremely robust. Sometimes I find myself riding around in 4th at high speeds.

My speed triple is a rocketship in the lower gears, but feels overgeared in 5th and 6th. I routinely use 4th gear.
 
I'm surprised someone hasn't chirped in with, "buy an ST1100"....
20 mph per thousand rpm in top gear. Albeit speedometer indicated speed.
So I will, buy an ST1100.
I appreciate our (diminishing) love of big diesel engines have spoilt me, my Beemer is barely ticking over at 70 mph. But your car rpm's seem very high.
Upt.
 
The Dark Shadow said:
The figures I gave are corrected figures. Speed is 100% correct on my speedo (got a speedo healer and verified with road side radar and GPS navi). Odo reads 5% low so I correct for this when doing readings /calculations.

I had 2x st13... both exactly same fuel economy. Even when I drive like a granny... If I drive 120kph even with screen down and crouched down, best I'll get is about 14km/l.

Plugs are good. Air filter good. Tire and pressure good. Valve clearances good. 5 way tee is good. Intake valve synch (or whatever it's called) is good. Using best fuel available (2% ethanol).

There's still what I call a slight gallop to the engine. I was wondering about using some lacquer thinner to try to clean the O2 sensors.

People who claim this bike is easy and cheap for maintenance and good for reliability are perhaps overstating the power of Honda. Every internal thing that needs doing costs a kajillion because of the fairings...

Some people say "just fill it up and ride the bike" but I'd prefer to have it running optimally.
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That's terrible fuel mileage but you know that. On Fuelly there are 87 Honda ST1300s providing over 1 million miles of fuel use statistics. One on Fuelly is mine tracked 15,000 plus miles burning about 350 US gallons. My experience is about on a par with the average of all over 1 million miles. 14 km/l is an outlier. Two at 14 km/l begs understanding. I don't ride like a granny often and like playing on back roads.

The fairings only cost money if you are paying someone to work on it. Even then the fairing is easy to remove only taking a little time. Any faired bike with have extra cost involved with labor time and the ST1300 isn't the worse from what I have heard. There aren't any naked touring sport bikes. I'm with you and am very particular about my bikes running optimally. I do my own service work and trust the mechanic.

IMG_3471.PNG
 
Andrew Shadow said:
I must say, you certainly are unlucky to have had that with two ST1300's. That is definitely not normal gas mileage, that is terrible gas mileage. Every ST1300 owner on here will tell you that their gas mileage is in the same ball park as what I have indicated.

I know that you have stated that everything suggested has been checked and found not to be defective, but there is something wrong to be consuming that much fuel.
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To get to 20km/l I need to be driving 90kph on flats... Exact same both St1300's... Until I see it, I won't believe that these things get anything approaching good fuel economy. Over 90kph and fuel economy starts to drop... 120kph is pathetic gas mileage... I appreciate your comments, Andrew. Right now I'm in a pi$$y mood... Not at you... Just in a generally foul mood... Wife trashed the car (4th time same thing - swiped the right hand side of the car on a parked transport truck). I can't get ahead for getting behind...
 
Sadlsor said:
I have always run premium / 93 octane, and rarely average much over 42mpg in 4 years of consistent data gathering.
Running an occasional tank of non-ethanol gas doesn't make a measurable difference.
As my car gets 20/21mpg, I can live with 42.
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91 octane... 2% ethanol... That's the best we have in Nova Scotia...

My average mpg is presently showing at 37.6mpg (16km/l). This is about 70% highway. When I drive highway, I'm anywhere from 100kph (by-pass) to 120kph (divided highway).

At 110kph, on a level, I can get 40mpg or 17km/l if conditions are good (no headwind).

At 120kph it drops to about 14km/l on the levels.

Doesn't matter if screen is up or down...
 
The Dark Shadow said:
My average mpg is presently showing at 37.6mpg
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I put the AVG MPG on the dash for about 6k miles, it showed about where you are and lower, down to 34. At the pump, trip odometer divided by the gallons in was always about 40. Your computer may be right, mine never was.
 
The Dark Shadow said:
To get to 20km/l I need to be driving 90kph on flats... Exact same both St1300's... Until I see it, I won't believe that these things get anything approaching good fuel economy. Over 90kph and fuel economy starts to drop... 120kph is pathetic gas mileage... I appreciate your comments, Andrew. Right now I'm in a pi$$y mood... Not at you... Just in a generally foul mood... Wife trashed the car (4th time same thing - swiped the right hand side of the car on a parked transport truck). I can't get ahead for getting behind...
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Well that just sucks. I hope that she was not injured?

I responded to this in your fuel mileage thread to not cause further drift here. This thread is turning in to another fuel efficiency thread, which was not my intention.
 
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