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KLE500 - fuel consumption ?? excessive KLE500 - fuel consumption ?? excessive
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  #1  
Old 27 Jan 2008
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KLE500 - fuel consumption ?? excessive
Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the board and to KLEs but have been biking for a very long time. I 'm hoping you guys that know these bikes can answer a question for me....

I have a 95 KLE (no cats) and like it a lot APART from the fuel consumption - basically getting around 40mpg commuting on tarmac. This seems a lot! I am travelling at an indicated 70-80 quite a lot of the time but on the same trip (60miles one way) my 1500cc car is the cheaper option fuel wise (and about same speed!).

Is this normal? The bike is fairly low mileage - 11.5k miles and is serviced well although I have to confess I have not yet replaced the air filter as it looks very clean.

I was hoping for 50+ MGP ....... but have found I can not do a 'whole' round trip without refueling whioch is anoying!

Has anyone any thoughts other than go slower?

Cheers

Frog
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  #2  
Old 27 Jan 2008
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Hi Frog,

Mines a 2006 KLE but is being strangled by the cat. I get about 130 miles before she coughs and I have to switch to reserve.

If I boot it, then it could be as low as a 100miles. At 70mph you should do the 120miles round trip without going to reserve. are the carbs in need of a balance or mabey theres a build up of carbon in the jets.

I run a one shot of fuel cleaner in my tank evey so often to stop the build up of carbon.

Hope this helps

Roy
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  #3  
Old 28 Jan 2008
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Just try it once sticking to the speed limits and maintaining a steady speed... It is my experience that the right wrist is the biggest factor of mpg. My own 1985 BMW R80RT mpg jumped froma bout 50mpg to 57 when I accompanied a diesel enfield to the german diesel bike rally. We were doin mostly 55-65 mph. Not bad for 9hp

Despite the increase in my mpg pleasing me, my companions mpg was somewhere between 150 and 180 mpg and he had to keep stopping to wait for me to refuel.
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  #4  
Old 29 Jan 2008
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Fuel consumption.
Hi Frog, it might be worth playing around with sprocket sizes. I believe earlier KLE's ran 46teeth rear, '05 models use 44teeth. It will drop the revs a bit for the same speed. I use a 42teeth sprocket and it's ok unless there is a strong headwind. I normally get 55-60 mpg at 70ish mph.

Enjoy the ride.

Regards, Richard.

p.s. I had to take out two links for the smaller rear sprocket.
Last edited by wobbly; 29 Jan 2008 at 00:05. Reason: Bad grammer.
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  #5  
Old 2 Feb 2008
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Thanks everyone.

I'll try a steadier run and see what happens.

The sprocket change is an interesting idea - I guess it would mean a new chain as well.........

I'll give the filter another clean and maybe dry it a little more (- maybe it's over oiled???) and resync the carbs while I'm there - they do feel a little out although only just done!

Cheers

Frog
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  #6  
Old 9 Feb 2008
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fuel
A few weeks ago I did a few calculations on fuel consumption.

When I was motorway riding at a stady 60mph I was getting 64mpg (14.3 miles per litre).

If I stayed at that speed for the complete tank capacity I would run out after roughly 210 miles.

When I rode at 75-85mph mph on a journey having filled up the tank full at the beginning of the journey I had to turn to reserve after 102 miles :-(

On town riding / commuting at speeds varying from 10 - 50mph, stopping and starting I am getting 50mpg (12.5 miles per litre), this is with cafeful riding, slow accelaration, smooth revs.
Last edited by voleurs; 26 Mar 2008 at 23:39.
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  #7  
Old 27 Feb 2008
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Hey guys,

in the german community a so called rimfire-conversion is famous to reduce the amount of fuel seriously. We usually count in liters used in 100 km. Usually it is around 6 - 7 Liter a 100km for the KLE and with that conversion you should be able to reduce it to 5 - 5,5 liter a 100km.
It consists of making holes in the airfilterbox. The only thing is that the early KLEs (1991- around 1996) have a different Airfilterbox than the newer onces (I dont know about the very knew KLEs). So be aware that the conversion is not the same for both.

here is the link: It's in german I know, I can translate it if someone wants me to... http://winweb373.sr23.firestorm.ch/t...ltertuning.pdf

It is not a legal modification! But I think it could be somehow usefull.

Cheers
Micki
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  #8  
Old 25 Mar 2008
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12 months of figures...
Bought my KLE new 15 months ago and decided to do the exercise myself. My riding varies from offroad to highway and has mostly been highway for the past 6 months. I travel at a moderate speed off road and have been known to give the girl a caning on the highway so have figures for a wide variety of styles.

My consumption has only ever varied from 20-22klm's/litre (that's 56-62mpg in the UK or 47-52mpg in the US). Distance per tank is 300-340 kilometres.

In order to better this I bought a new sprocket today (standard is 46 teeth/new one is 43 teeth). This will drop the gear ratio from 3.29 to 3.07. I've also switched from a knobby to a road tyre (not sure if this will have any effect).

Give me a week and I'll post results of the change.
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Old 26 Mar 2008
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fuel figs
Hi All, My '07 reg kle returns on average 120-156mles to reserve, depending how twist the right hand 97% tarmac odd green lanes and my deep gravel drive no mods to engine and cats installed etc....
TDMalcolm
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  #10  
Old 28 Mar 2008
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Update to last post...
Bike shop steered me wrong on sprocket details (noticed this only when the rear wheel was in pieces on the garage floor and scraped the grease off the side of the sprocket). Seems the standard rear is 44 teeth and front is 17. In order to get the same drop in gear ratio will have to go to a 38 on rear and 16 on front. May be a month or so to order the 38 from overseas. Keep you posted.
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Old 29 Jun 2008
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Having just calculated fuel use over an initial 1500miles on a new KLE I can concur that I am getting between 56-71 miles per gallon (20-25 km per litre). Obviously running in the machine has limited the twist of the right wrist but at the same time the engine should be starting to free up. Half of the distance has been covered with a passenger along. While the weight and dynamics maybe affected consumption with having a passenger I am sure the dig in the ribs from the mrs to slow down may balance this out.

Neil
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Old 30 Jun 2008
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My fuel consumption has improved dramatically (20% or so) since it topped about 13,000 miles and I switched to Avon Roadriders. I used to get around 45-50mpg and now get around 60mpg. To be honest, I'm not sure whether it was the engine freeing up a bit more or the tyres, but the sidewind stability improved a lot when I ditched the pretend off-road tyres.
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  #13  
Old 9 Jul 2008
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I rate my fuel consumption as average. I too experienced exceptional mileage during running in, simply because rpm's stayed below 4500.

These days (23000km) commuting at 100-120kmh, my KLE hits reserve between 184km and 195km from full. This means that apprehension about pushing the thing sets in at around 240km from full. I have had to do so after using the old "lay the bike on the left side" trick to drain the right side of the tank until it was dry. good news was that the push was only half a kay to the servo - nice!!

Cheers
Ian
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Old 15 Jul 2008
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K's
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jameseye View Post
I rate my fuel consumption as average. I too experienced exceptional mileage during running in, simply because rpm's stayed below 4500.

These days (23000km) commuting at 100-120kmh, my KLE hits reserve between 184km and 195km from full. This means that apprehension about pushing the thing sets in at around 240km from full. I have had to do so after using the old "lay the bike on the left side" trick to drain the right side of the tank until it was dry. good news was that the push was only half a kay to the servo - nice!!

Cheers
Ian
I thought 230klm to reserve was bad. I Filled up and got 254K's on 11.8 Ltrs. This is it's second tank of fuel I've put in. I'm new to the KLE world I just picked it up 2 weeks ago New But 2007 plate.
It works out roughly 21.5 ks to the L or 4.6L Per 100Ks
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Old 16 Jul 2008
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I get about 230-240 before hitting reserve. 25000 kms on the clock

Will
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