A bit of a gripe

[hellkat]

[Coby]

Well I believe the original questions were something like:

Can anyone explain how increasing my petrol usage by half again for the same miles covered can be good for the environment, or help to preserve the worlds scarce natural resources?

No-one yet has;
therefore I am left assuming that, presumably the oil companies, have managed to hi-jack somebody's good intentions (the pressure groups worried about fossil fuel emissions) and turn a tidy profit out of it!

This is not a 'conspiracy theory', it is just 'Business', 'big Business', 'corporate Business'!

Unfortunately, that's the way our world works ladies and gents.

[Easy-X]

Right, let's try this again...

Day 1: Bike with restricted ECU (for emissions and to limit speed/power) does 60 miles from a tank with max 65mph

Day 2: Bike with unrestricted ECU does 90 miles from a tank with max 95mph.

First off, if I could get such efficiency and power gains by clicking my fingers I'd just smile and enjoy life #JustSayin'

The manufacturer makes a bike that will sell all over the world. They need to tweak it for certain markets. Priority 1 is make it legal for the intended rider. In the UK that would mean 11kW for CBT/A1. You could have a 125 that does over 11kW very easily (especially 2-strokes) but then who would you sell it to? i.e. not many takers for a 15kW 125 that you need an A2 or better.

Next they have to balance the CO₂, CO, NOx, Hydrocarbons and particulates output. A decent catalytic convert helps here but it's a cheap 125 so a bit OTT. Instead they fuck about with the ECU a bit more (or in alignment with) keeping within the 11kW. End result: a crippled and miserable excuse for an engine - terribly inefficient and wasteful - but all the tick boxes have been marked.

Hang on! Where's the tick box for fuel efficiency? Sorry, that's not a regulatory concern so it's just a talking point for the sales people.

What you've done by changing the ECU is changed the original priorities: you now have more power and more efficiency. The downside is the bike can no longer (legally) be ridden by someone with just a CBT certificate or A1 licence and it may also fail certain emissions tests.

Is it a conspiracy? BP making off like bandits? Not really. Blame the ideologues. "Your smelly bike is killing kittens!" and the politicians slap a band-aid on to fix the symptoms to appease them instead of thinking of The Big Picture.

My old Skoda is a great example. When I bought it it was "green" because the CO₂ per mile is very low (actually, on that metric alone it still outperforms most hybrids.) But then they moved the goal posts Suddenly NOx was the bad man and asthmatic kittens were keeling over in the street as I passed them

tl;dr you can't have it all: power, efficiency, low emissions. Look for rabid environmental groups directly funded by BP if you want a good conspiracy
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Kentol750]

Just what year klx250 is it. 60 miles from a tank would be closer to 40mpg if it's a 7ish litre tank. I'd think it was a bit knackered from the get go. New ecu would suggest it runs normal.
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Some bikes.

[bhinso]

I had a 2 stroke KMX125 that did 60mpg.

I would expect a normal running 4 stroke KLX250 to be much more efficient.

[Yorkshire Geek]

[Coby]

Hi Dudes,

Sorry been busy for a couple of days.
I'm sure the tank took almost exactly a gallon before the fuel light came on.
It was a 58 plate but I bought it in Feb. of 09.

After I finished running it in I tried to overtake a car on a welsh 'A' road and discovered that it only revved to the red line in first, a thousand rpm short of the red line in second, two thousand rpm short of the red line in third, three thousand rpm short of the red line in forth and so on. Therefore how ever many gears you tried to knocked down you couldn't accelerate, over taking was terrifying!

Answer; looked on the internet found out there was an alternative ECU available and as the problem was obviously ECU related and I'd already spent so much money buying the bike I though another £200; why not?

Result; I had the bike I was expecting when I bought it and as Kawasaki intended.
Overtaking on a still day, 95mph no problem!

[spottedtango]

95mph on a KLX250 seems way over what I'd expect from this type of bike.

22hp from a 250 single is on the low side so say you managed to increase it by 33 per cent that would make it 29hp (1.33x22=29)

A cb250rs back in the day had 33bhp and you were lucky to get 90mph to a ton out of it.

By changing the ECU you will have needed to have gained minimum 50 per cent extra power to achieve 33bhp (1.50x22=33)

And thats assuming a KLX is geared to be able to do 95mph, its not a road bike its a trail bike so I'd assume it would have lower gearing.

Do you see where I'm going with this? Is it likely that by changing the ECU you have increased the power from 22bhp to atleast 33bhp?

Edit: Incase you wondered where i got my bhp figures from

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/kawasaki/klx250/2009/

https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/Honda/honda_cb250rs_81.html

[CorriganJ]

[Nobby the Bastard]

Whats the betting that the gearing was changed (sprockets) around the same time as the ECU was changed to take advantage of the power increase of the de restricted bike?

That would explain both the 50% speed and mpg increase.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Coby]

I had a CB250RS, that's what I passed my test on.
You're right 90mph on a good day, a ton down Wrotham Hill.

That's why I chose the KLX, same type of engine just 'modern'; and as I said coming down into Carmarthen 95mph no problem!

[Nobby the Bastard]

What RPM was it doing flat out before and after the the ecu was replaced?

Did the sprockets get changed at any point?
____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[Coby]

Six thousand was the max in top originally, it was pushing the red line in top coming down into Carmarthen with the new ECU.

No I didn't change the gearing.

[Easy-X]

Huh... I dunno why I kept banging on about 125s in my post. General purpose insanity I suppose. Anyhoo, it most all still works on principle - building to regulatory concerns versus efficiency.


____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Coby]

I think the mechanics' name at M&P is Phil (the one who's into his 'scooters'), ask him he loved it!

[Nobby the Bastard]

[Coby]

Nice one Nobby,

I'd been wracking my brains and couldn't even remember how many gears it had let alone what the red line was.

[Coby]

This subject seems to get a 'strange' response on the car forums.

[Coby]

The car forums really, really, don't want to talk about this!

Conspiracy theory anyone?

[Nobby the Bastard]

[Coby]

I just mentioned the BMW i8 Hybrid on a car forum.

In the factory; 134mpg

Real, emissions controlled world; 35-40mpg

We'll see how it goes.

[Coby]

Nobby; I can't see how preventing that bike from revving in the way that that ECU did would affect average fuel consumption, I was only arsing about in the Welsh hills on tiny little 'B' roads.

[Nobby the Bastard]

[Coby]

Yeah, as I said on another forum "that British ECU must of been running it on virtually neat petrol".

[P.]