Hi, I own a 95' F3 with about 8k miles on the clock. Apparently the previous owner had it as a track bike cause it’s got braided hosing with a free flow pipe (which by the way sounds excelint) and it had racing tires on it. Throttle response and acceleration is fantastic if I compare it to a F2 that one of my friends drive.
Now you would ask what’s wrong?

Sadly I can’t afford the fuel consumption. Currently I get between 33 and 40 miles per gallon and I only get 40 if I drive it around town never going above 3000-4000 rpm which is a bit frustrating. On the open road if I open up it goes down to about 33 and if I really stitch it, it goes even lower then that.
Here is the thing I don’t want to loose all the performance but I really can’t afford the gas! Since I use this bike to commute everyday.
From what I here a reasonable consumption on a 600 super bike is round about 43 to 45.
Does anyone have a suggestion on carb setup to get the compromise between both worlds? (jet sizes and air correction)
I suspect my carbs were probable rejetted but I haven’t checked the jet sizes(well I forgot to look the last time I had them apart). I do know the air correction is set to 2.5 and I have a stock air cleaner (would one of the washable type like a K&N improve fuel consumption?)
Since it’s such a mission to take them apart I’d like to get the jets before I do it.

Any suggestions are welcome.Thanks

 

if you have a room mate or parents with a nice car take gas out of theirs =] thats what i do

 

Why exclude the neighbors! Better yet, just cruise around looking for nice cars! =D

 

Your theories are sound but keep in mind that all my friend including myself are students which means they never have enough money to fill up there gas. So even if I did want to take their gas (which I don’t), there wouldn’t be anything to steal

Seriously, I’m still open for suggestions on the carb setup and I would appreciate any advice.

 

Your gas consumption seems dead on for a 600. You can't just go tweaking the carbs for better gas mileage. Due to the pipe and other mods it needs to be jetted where it is now. When my F3 was stock thats all it got so all in all you're pretty well off with those settings. The only other thing you can do it is put a stock pipe on and stock jetting and thats not going to help all that much. Just ride it and pick up a few hours doing a BS job for gas money.

 

As I've never ridden mine on the street, I don't know what normal mileage is for the F3. I'll bet a basic tune-up would help. Some new plugs, make sure the leads are all in good shape, I'd synch the carbs, maybe run some Seafoam or Techron through them and if not a K&N style filter make sure your filter is in good shape and clean.

Also - is your gearing stock? If it was a race bike, it may be geared down which will certainly hurt mileage. Off the top of my head, I don't know where the speedo/odo pickup is on an F3. If it's off the transmission rather than the wheel and your gearing is other than stock, you're odo will be off making your mileage calcs wrong.

 

sell crack for gas.. thats what all the cool kids are doing

 

Thanks PitterF3.Do you know whats the standard sprocket sizes so I can check?

One of my friernds say I might inprove my consumption by replacing my stock filter with a K&N.Does anyone want to comment on this?

 

I think I read somewhere that the stock gearing is 15/43.

A K&N might help some but do the math. It's too early in the am for me to figure it out but... it might get you a couple MPG. Even at $3/gallon or whatever, it's gonna take a long time for that $60 (or whatever) filter to pay for itself. You'll get more bang for your buck from the tune-up - especially if your carbs are gummed up or your plugs are hosed. That's just my $.02. I don't have much experience with the F3. Someone my chime in and say that for the F3, a K&N is a magic bullet.

BTW - even if the gearing is stock, gearing it up (going down a couple teeth in the back), might be a more efficient way to increase mileage, especially if you wait til it's time for a new chain when you should get new sprockets anyway. Plus, regular steel sprockets aren't that expensive if you don't want to wait on the chain. You'd loose a little low end power and gain some top end speed with that, of course.

There's always that borrowing gas thing, too.