Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => The Bike - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: jsa on May 22, 2011, 11:04:43 AM
-
My 2010 C14 is used primarily for touring and with the price of gas today, I am wondering if the ECON mode has even more potential for fuel economy...plus I have a PCIII that is a left over from my 08 model and would like to get some use out of it. There are fuel maps available for the non-ECON mode but I haven't seen any maps for the ECON mode nor I have seen any information on what kind of fuel ratios the ECON mode is attempting to achieve.
Does anyone have any data that I could use to build a fuel map to optimize the ECON mode?
-
My 2010 C14 is used primarily for touring and with the price of gas today, I am wondering if the ECON mode has even more potential for fuel economy...
I think a good first question is- does the existing ECO mode really do much to begin with? My bike is too new, so I don't know yet. But I have been through several tanks in non-ECO and I am averaging 41-42MPG on mixed city/hwy.
-
I think a good first question is- does the existing ECO mode really do much to begin with?
I think it does, I just got back from a long trip and had lots of opportunities to compare the ECON mode to the regular mode for long stretches on flat surfaces. If you can believe the "current fuel" numbers, the difference seemed to be about 10 percent. I didn't see any differences at fill up when I was riding in an area where the ECON mode was constantly switching on and off.
-
jsa, I think your pcIII wont plug in your 2010. I used my ECO mode with success until I put on a pcV.
I
-
After putting 20,000 miles on my 2010 C-14 in the last year it looks like the ECO mode provides somewhere between 10% and 15% increased fuel mileage. Not the 20% to 25% that Kawasaki claimed in their advertising but still pretty good.
-
jsa, I think your pcIII wont plug in your 2010.
We have been down that road before, both Fuelmoto and the Dynojet technical staff say the PClll will fit the 2010 models.
-
when i check mileage on trips running between 80-85 MPH i do 4-5 gallons better with ECO enabled which thrills me.
-
jsa, I did not mean to misinform, I stand corrected...........blanton
-
when i check mileage on trips running between 80-85 MPH i do 4-5 gallons better with ECO enabled which thrills me.
Agree. I now have about 22,000 miles on my '10, including two eight-day trips. I have frequently gotten mid 50's on the trips where we are running pretty open roads. I'd say the difference is about 15% on my bike between the modes. My best mileage for an entire tankful has been just over 56, and I've done that a few times.
-
It sounds like most agree that the ECON mode does increase fuel economy but back to the original question:
Does anyone have any data that I could use to build a fuel map to optimize the ECON mode?
-
It sounds like most agree that the ECON mode does increase fuel economy but back to the original question:
Does anyone have any data that I could use to build a fuel map to optimize the ECON mode?
This is a bit confusing. A 10 to 15% fuel mileage bonus isn't enough? What are you willing to trade off for more mileage in terms of engine performance or drivability?
-
This is a bit confusing. A 10 to 15% fuel mileage bonus isn't enough? What are you willing to trade off for more mileage in terms of engine performance or drivability?
The 10-15% fuel mileage bonus is only achieved under ideal conditions which leads me to believe that there is more potential, especially when I ride with FJRs and they consistently get much better mileage than I do. The nice thing about the ECON mode is that you really do not have to give up anything in engine performance or drive ability since it shuts off whenever you turn the throttle. The normal fuel map is so rich that I suspect the ECON mode is also much richer than it needs to be, I would like to use a PCIII to get the ECON mode to a 14.0-14.5:1 air/fuel mixture. If it is already there then I don't need to do anything.
-
dude seriously
how many mpg's could you possible expect to get and at what cost to savings rate. if your so concerned about saving a dollar or 2 a tank of gas then maybe you should have bought a moped.. this is a "sport " tourer and im extremly happy with the 10 to 15 percent ecco mode gives me but i rarely use it as i like my power on tap as needed, the 2 bucks isnt going to break my bank. ;D
bob
-
dude seriously
how many mpg's could you possible expect to get and at what cost to savings rate. if your so concerned about saving a dollar or 2 a tank of gas then maybe you should have bought a moped.. this is a "sport " tourer and im extremly happy with the 10 to 15 percent ecco mode gives me but i rarely use it as i like my power on tap as needed, the 2 bucks isnt going to break my bank. ;D
bob
Depends on the kind of riding you do. If you put 50K or more a year on the bike it makes a difference. Range is a big issue too - these bikes have a smallish tank to begin with.
-
dude seriously
how many mpg's could you possible expect to get and at what cost to savings rate. if your so concerned about saving a dollar or 2 a tank of gas then maybe you should have bought a moped.. this is a "sport " tourer and im extremly happy with the 10 to 15 percent ecco mode gives me but i rarely use it as i like my power on tap as needed, the 2 bucks isnt going to break my bank. ;D
bob
I post a technical question and get these totally useless remarks from the peanut gallery. Well, bob, I don't know where you live or how many miles you ride, but where I ride gas stations, especially those that carry premium gas, can be few and very far in-between and having another 25 miles of range may mean that I do not have to put 85 octane gas in my tank. Cost is not the primary issue but I just completed a 6000 mile trip and paid over $600 for gas...and that was running the ECON mode 100 percent of the time...so we are not talking about saving 2 bucks.
-
I post a technical question and get these totally useless remarks from the peanut gallery. Well, bob, I don't know where you live or how many miles you ride, but where I ride gas stations, especially those that carry premium gas, can be few and very far in-between and having another 25 miles of range may mean that I do not have to put 85 octane gas in my tank. Cost is not the primary issue but I just completed a 6000 mile trip and paid over $600 for gas...and that was running the ECON mode 100 percent of the time...so we are not talking about saving 2 bucks.
+1 I ride about 25,000 miles a year, which equates to an annual fuel cost of roughly $2,300 where I live. I could use the extra $350 a year for something.
-
Range is a big issue too - these bikes have a smallish tank to begin with.
:goodpost:
-
i would rather work an extra day a year for 350$ rather then mess with the ecu and possible performance and warranty issues on my bike but thats just me . fiddle away but i will leave you with something it took me long time to learn "if it aint broke dont fix it " .
-
I post a technical question and get these totally useless remarks from the peanut gallery. Well, bob, I don't know where you live or how many miles you ride, but where I ride gas stations, especially those that carry premium gas, can be few and very far in-between and having another 25 miles of range may mean that I do not have to put 85 octane gas in my tank. Cost is not the primary issue but I just completed a 6000 mile trip and paid over $600 for gas...and that was running the ECON mode 100 percent of the time...so we are not talking about saving 2 bucks.
Unfortunately, most people here think that this bike was only meant for twisting the throttle as hard as you can. They don't see the "range" of this bike and how it can appeal to so many different types of riders and that this is not just a bike for going 170MPH on, but it is also a bike meant for long distance touring, and there is no other touring bike on the market that can get as impressive mileage as this one gets. I've also noticed some members on here with bad attitudes, and I can only hope that they don't take it to the streets, or they won't last long.
That being said.....
If I don't use ECON, I get low 40s for MPG. When I do use it, I realistically get high 40s (47-48) MPG, although Connie always lies to me; telling me I am getting 50-51.x MPG. The other day I went 233 miles between a fill-up, and according to Connie, I could have gone another 68 miles. That is the furthest I have ever safely traveled on one tank of gas in the 30 years I've been riding motorcycles.
One person above describes the tank as "smallish", and while a 7 gallon tank would be nice, a 250 mile range is highly respectable for any style of bike. This gives you a range to comfortably travel anywhere without having to worry about making it to the next gas station.
If you can get your PCIII to extract more MPGs from the tank, more power to you. I'd love to hear some real world results. Its always good when someone is thinking outside the box.
Talking again about the guys who only want to go fast, I always have to laugh every time I'm traveling down the highway at 65MPH and an SUV blasts past me doing 90. It is almost like they are trying to say that they are so much faster or something. What is the top speed of most of the SUVs?....120 if you are going downhill with a wind?...and at that speed they are getting what....4 miles to the gallon? If I was driving something like that, I would be embarrassed to blast past a bike that is capable of such incredible speed. It would be like blasting past a Lamborghini doing 90 in a Ford Escort. I'm not sure what these people are trying to prove, but to me, it only proves how insecure they really are.
I'm quite comfortable cruising down the road with my wife riding behind me at 65-70MPH and getting close to 50MPG. We have a lot more fun than most, and spend less money doing it.
Austin
-
I'm quite comfortable cruising down the road with my wife riding behind me at 65-70MPH and getting close to 50MPG. We have a lot more fun than most, and spend less money doing it.
Thank you for your comments. If I were getting close to 50MPG cruising at 65-70MPH I would leave my PCIII sitting in a drawer. I don't know if it is a difference in roads, elevation, elevation changes, temperatures, or quality of gasoline but I usually struggle to get 40MPG even when I ride as conservatively as possible...and its been that way on both of my C14's. I did get 49-50MPG riding across Texas, LA, MS, and AL earlier this month but don't know why the mileage jumped, the only thing obvious thing that changed was the temperature which was about 15-20 degrees higher than the other legs of my trip.
-
There are several factors that affect mileage such as heat, elevation, gasoline blend, etc... Economy is more affected by the heat on my C14 than any other vehicle I've owned, bike or car. But also gasoline can play a difference. If you go on a long cross country trips, you're bound to get a mix of gasolines with and without ethanol. I find ethanol blends, which are prevalent in California, yield about 10% less mileage than normal gasoline.
-
If you go on a long cross country trips, you're bound to get a mix of gasolines with and without ethanol. I find ethanol blends, which are prevalent in California, yield about 10% less mileage than normal gasoline.
Ethanol in gas is also very prevalent in Oregon and Washington (actually required by State Law). Ethanol is higher octane than gasoline but contains 30 percent less energy, so a 10 percent ethanol blend will result in a net energy loss of 3 percent. We have a few stations in the area that sell non-ethanol premium and I try to use non-ethanol gas whenever I can but I haven't seen much of an improvement in gas mileage even when I use the non-ethanol.
During my trip I stopped at several stations in South Dakota and Montana that were adding 10 percent ethanol to 87 octane gas and calling it 89 octane super unleaded...and charging a dime less per gallon for the "super unleaded". Those stations usually did not sell premium gas.
-
make no mistake , you bought a comfortable(after everyone installs risers) zx-14 with hard bags.
self canceling turn signals and maybe a cruise control is all i would like to see but i can add that myself.
-
My 2010 C14 is used primarily for touring and with the price of gas today, I am wondering if the ECON mode has even more potential for fuel economy...plus I have a PCIII that is a left over from my 08 model and would like to get some use out of it. There are fuel maps available for the non-ECON mode but I haven't seen any maps for the ECON mode nor I have seen any information on what kind of fuel ratios the ECON mode is attempting to achieve.
Does anyone have any data that I could use to build a fuel map to optimize the ECON mode?
I contacted Fuelmoto with a similar question if they do a map for my 2011, the answer came back that as yet they hadn't developed maps for my model as they have not received a 10/11 model for map development, but they have for the earlier models.
Regards
Peter
-
A somewhat related question....why do the revs bump up when you switch on ECO mode?
Is it because the engine leans out? If so....is it my imagination that the bikes feels like it has more go down low?
-
I would have to say that I am not much on the MPG thing as some of you guys are, but to save $350 is a very nice savings! you can put all that savings back into the bike. very nice
-
A somewhat related question....why do the revs bump up when you switch on ECO mode?
Is it because the engine leans out? If so....is it my imagination that the bikes feels like it has more go down low?
I don't know why the revs bump up but they only do that when the engine is cold. If you wait about 30 seconds (which you really should do anyway on a cold start) you will find that after the rpm's decrease to their hot idle setting, switching to eco mode doesn't change them.
I can't really tell much of a difference either way, power wise. Some say it smooths out the low end throttle transitions.
-
Being cold may make the bump larger, but on my bike it definitely bumps up a notch when warm or hot.
Only way to really know I guess would be to get a bike on a Dyno....oh well.
-
When I use ECON full time on highway and back roads with little slow downs I get around 48-50MPG average compared to 38-41 without it. From my usage i would say it works.
-
My bike jumps the idle 500 rpm in ECO mode. Tech rep says that shouldn't be,
seems like some bikes do and some don't. Mine has done it since it was new,
still doing it 23k miles later.
-
My bike jumps the idle 500 rpm in ECO mode. Tech rep says that shouldn't be,
seems like some bikes do and some don't. Mine has done it since it was new,
still doing it 23k miles later.
Mine did that to. All I did was adjust the idle adjustment set screw that is located on the lower left side of the bike, just in front of the gear lever. Just bring it down a tad. I set the idle to about 1100 rpm. The only time my bike does it now is when it is cold, so when I start the bike, I leave it out of ECON mode until the bike warms up a couple of bars. This has worked perfectly for me.
Austin
-
The ECO mode should make it idle at a higher RPM since the gas is being leaned out to get that 10-15% more.
-
Mine does the customary idle increase in ECO mode when cold but once the bike warms up the idle is back to normal. Go figure...