The first tankful, which went by all too fast, gave me almost 55 mpg. Not bad, but not as good as I thought it might be. The bike is not broken in yet and I was keeping it right at 3500 rpm cruising down dirt roads all day long. That might have been a factor.

Let me know what your getting.

 

I'm getting 55 exactly too. I was hoping for 70. A bigger tank is going to be a real priority.

 

Well for me, since I live less than 5 miles from anywhere I want to ride, including hills, trails, gravel roads, etc, I guess the fuel capacity is ok, but I see what you mean, I have seen some where there was a small cross bar aux fuel bottle, and also a tank that can be strapped on the back of a seat, but other than that, I'm not going to worry about it. Oh I ordered a new front sprocket, I'm going from the stock 14 tooth to a 13. The guy steered me away from a 12 tooth, he said I would really loose the highway cruising speed. But he said that just dropping one tooth on the front would definately make a difference in my slow trail ridding 1st gear power.



deej

 

I found out today that the bike will start out in 2nd gear from a dead stop in deep sand. Seems to pull quite nicely - a bit of clutch control is necessary!

1st gear is awesome in the deep sand. 2nd works great and 3rd is acceptable.

Once we can use all the power of this motor instead of about half of it. It is going to be a great bike!

 

Once the rings seat-in fully, the mileage and power will both go up.
I hope you aren't *exactly* following the break-in instructions in the manual. If so, the bike will *never* seat the rings completely and properly. My bikes are ALL making full power and gas mileage by the time I reach 150-200 miles or so on the odometer. And they all run great -- they always run better than bikes that were broken-in following the manual. My bikes have been compared to other similar bikes many times, and they are always running better than the others, because of the way I seat the rings early on. I end up riding all my new bikes "as normal usage" by the time I hit 100 miles or so. Just be especially careful not to overheat the motor at first, which is actually a good idea all the time, anyway. No sense in all that putt-putt stuff for 1000 miles -- it actually is detrimental. There are various other hidden reasons behind the "recommended break-in procedures" than just a properly broken-in bike.
Some of my bikes get their high-performance mods and dyno-tuned pre-delivery before they have 10 miles on them -- they get the rings seated during the many full-power, full rpm, dyno runs -- and they always run great, with never any problems.
Long tedious break-ins are absolutely not needed. You should be able to ride your bike as normal, using all it's available revs and power, by the time you pass 100 miles -- just be sure you don't overheat it, which is one of the *REAL* reasons behind the long "recommended" break-ins. I have 45 years experience, on many, many, bikes with never a problem -- including bikes of every type, but mostly dual-sports (my favorite).
If you don't agree with this, that is your privilege.

 

Addendum to above post:
I know a person that lives down right next to Deal's Gap (the famous Dragon's Tail) -- he is owner and head mechanic of a business that sets-up and does repairs and maintenance on all the state's bike used for the state's rider-safety courses. He knows his stuff. He and a group of his riding friends have a standing order with me, for first chance at buying any and all of the used bikes I sell -- they willingly drive 8 hours to come pick them up "sight-unseen" -- simply because thay have found that my bikes always are perfectly set-up, and always run better than average, and never give them any problems long-term. Can't have a better record than that.

 

Olddualsporter,

Thanks for the tip.

I did have over 100 miles on the bike yesterday and started doing some higher rpm ranges with the bike. The power is there on the bike, you just have to use it.

While I did not take it to redline, I did take it to wide open throttle a few time over 6000 rpms! Yee Haw!

I'm liking this little bike more and more all the time.

 

Good -- here is the final *real* secret to a good break-in, that will seat the rings in the best way possible.
1) Never let the bike overheat in the first few hundred miles.
2) When the bike is at *normal* operating temperature, not still cold, or overheated, etiher one -- pick (and vary which gear used each time) either first or second or third gear, and open the throttle full open, and run the bike up to redline -- then, immediately, completely release the throttle fully, and let the baike drag-down ("back-off") to an idle speed. Then ride it gently for a few minutes to let the engine cool down to normal operating temperature again. Then ride as normal. If you do this "wide open up and back down", with throttle going from completely open, to completely closed -- you seat the rings in one way at the full throttle run, and then seat the rings in the *other* direction while dragging-down with the throttle completely closed. This is the secret to getting the best possible ring seating. Just be sure the bike is not overheated at the time you do this each time, which is the way that cylinders get "scuffed" or "scored" -- that happens when you run an already-overheated engine real hard, and constantly (like in racing). Otherwise, you can do this several times on each hour of your riding time, right from the beginning. It will not hurt it, as long as it is not overheated! Your rings will love you for it. Trust me. The only other stuff you are actually breaking-in, is the gearbox and other running stuff, which really doesn't care about how many revs you use, if you think about it -- they are just "wearing-in" at a constant rate as the miles pile on, just like any moving parts.
3) Never let the bike overheat in the first few hundred miles.
4) Never let the bike overheat in the first few hundred miles.
5) Never let the bike overheat in the first few hundred miles.
Actually, it's not good to overheat any engine, ever, regardless of its mileage, but that should be obvious to anyone. That's a real cause of problems. I've seen the results of overheating many times in other people's bikes -- holes in the pistons, scored cyclinder walls, melted pistons, broken rings -- the list goes on. The classic example is "I was running at wide-open throttle for x distance", or "I had a coolant leak I didn't know about and kept running", with the usual result is the engine seized! Then it's "bye rings -- bye cyclinder wall(s) -- hello re-bore". Seen it all over the years.
Hope this stuff helps somebody out there that still is learning about engines.

 

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

That's what I did, and it sound close to what you are talking about.
deej

 

Interesting...

Recently I have had a brand new MLE XTM200R, and with that I followed the "thrash the ***** off it the first day, then change the oil the 2nd day" method.

I then got a KLX 150, did the exact same thing. Then did the same on a little Demak D-Force 120.

After that treatment all 3 bikes would blow black smoke when revved hard, but ran sweet and strong.

Yet since getting the (for me expensive, due to 100% import tax!) bike I have carefully and gently poodled around, though even on long empty roads I've been slowing right down then speeding up through the gears again.

It's now done just under 300 km, or about 200 miles.

Time for a damn fine thrashing and an oil change?