Hello all,

I have just broken the 8000km mark, on my hopefully RTW trip aboard my Honda XR650L.

I have been extremely fortunate so far, and one of the few problems I have had, is carb related. I thought I would share it with you.

I have been keeping an eye on fuel consumption. A couple of times I noticed a drop in power, and significant drop in MPG.

Feeling that this was probably mix related, I stripped the carb, and felt that there was a bit of resistance to the movement of the `piston` in the `barrel` (sorry, probably not technical terms), especially when the piston neared the top of its travel.
I cleaned everything, WD40`d the diaphragm, piston and barrel, and put it all back together. Hey presto, fuel consumption better than ever.

I`ve done this on two occasions.
I always make a note of miles travelled between filling the tank, and hitting the first reserve. (I have a 22 litre Acerbis tank)
The fırst time I cleaned the carb, this figure jumped from 145 miles to 234
I just cleaned the carb again yesterday, and the figure went from 180 miles to 235!

Has anyone else had this problem?
Is there a longer term solution to the problem?
How do these figures compare to your fuel consumption?
What difference does the Edlebrook (sp?) carb make?

Just as a side note, I am extremely happy with the bike so far, and would not change it for anything. It`s extremely capable off road, quick enough on road, and always feels pretty planted.

Oddly, people always ask me how old it is. I often ask them to guess, and get replies of around 1991. They always laugh when I say 2008!
Hopefully this makes it a bit less attractive to theives.