F650 cruising speed
 

Hi,

I ride a lot in hiways. What do you guys think is a comfortable cruising seed for an F650, if I want it to last long??

And what are normal fuel consumptions??

thanx for the help,

renato

I have a F850 myself and drove about 30.000 km with it through the Middle East. It is a very comfortable bike. Best speed is between 80 and 100 km. You can drive for hours!

With respect to your question about fuel consumption: that depends on the type of bike (fuel injection vs carburator), the condition of your bike, the type of fuel and, of cours, your speed. I have a carburator engine and at a speed of 80 km it uses about 1 liter in 23 km or 4,5 liters in 100 km). That is minimal consumption. At a speed of 100 km it uses about 1 liter to 20 km. Beware: this bike needs good fuel. Below 95 octane you should use some octane booster. Keep the air filter clean! With a dirty air filter and bad fuel, the fuel consumption rises considerably.

I have the 2002 Dakar (fuel injection) and have put on about 35000km in Australia and am just about to head across Asia back to Europe. Cruising at anything up to 120 is fine, even with heavy luggage. At 100 I get 21-22km to a liter but at 120 it drops to 18-19 km/liter (I have big bags that provide a LOT of drag). I agree that 80-100km/h is an ideal speed for the bike (less noise), but 120 is fine as well. I have even been cruising at 140 for hours on end quite comfortably thanks to the F650's effective wind screen. Above 140 the bike gets sluggish with all the weight on it. In my experience the engine is rock solid and can whatever RPM for extended periods of time.

For my 35000km in Australia I have averaged about 19.5km/liter. This includes about 15000km of bad dirt roads, as well as many many km of 120+ riding

I did 35,000 miles on an F650FL (carburetor type) - mostly at 95mph - at that speed the vibrations smoothe out into an acceptable hum. It did around 55mpg. No ill effects on the bike were noticed. On my R100GSPD I tend to cruise at about 85mph, and get a terrible 42mpg, but it's a lot more comfortable.

Thanx Guys!!

renato b.
www.aventuras3.com (in portugese only)