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Posted by CDNRatMan
- September 08, 2017, 13:33:14 PM Ok an to be fair I did do the sprocket swap and am running a 18/38 set up and find it on the highways really good for running in the 120 to 130 kph range, and to be honest I can not and never have found or felt a difference in the low speed city and town riding......
perhaps I need to find a person with a stock set up 800 and go for a ride and see when do they shift and how they shift on hills and such.
Now I was also told by the local mechanic whom I trust in his ideas and thoughts, and he said one time that the Vulcan engine likes to be run at higher rpms than lugging. So with that in mind I am constantly shifting gears now on hills and in twisties. I try never to lug my engine and keep the Rpms up.
kw, I am still trying to sort out what causes a tight spot in the chain. In this case I am going to write it off to the very heavy rain and riding in huge and deep puddles, one section of road the water was over my running boards, and my feet got wet...lol...and the red sand of the island getting into my chain and screwing it up....
Posted by Tfrank59
- September 08, 2017, 08:24:18 AMYes 35 MPG is low and sometimes I get closer to 40 but I've never gotten better than 45. There are a lot of Hills where I am and the kind of riding I do on my Drifter involves traffic a lot of stop-and go, and I'll admit I'm pretty assertive with the right wrist 
. something else that might come into play here is that I have kept the stock gearing on my bike.
Posted by kw-retrorider
- September 08, 2017, 06:24:43 AMRatman - Very reasonable considering the loaded condition. Assume the trip is over? Glad you made it back safely....so what about the chain?
Tfrank - 35 mpg seems kind of low....lots of hills where you live? I'm always around 50 mpg in mixed driving - over 50 when on the highway for a full tank.
Posted by CDNRatMan
- September 08, 2017, 00:51:06 AM Tfrank59 this was a ride that did both, types of riding, as in towns, along major highways only as a means to get to the secondary roads. The Cabot Trail was also in this.
So I would say yes to your question, but having you understand that there was a say 65% highway riding and the the 35% city and tourist area riding.......
Posted by CDNRatMan
- September 08, 2017, 00:47:08 AMOH forgot to add this info:
Well consider this also because I thought to do this while on the road, me in my clothing and boots with rain gear on = 259 lbs, black sissy bar pack as it was, 45 lbs, and the saddle bags including the fuel can with gas in it was another 35 lbs so a total of 339 lbs of weight on the bike during the trip.
Posted by Tfrank59
- September 07, 2017, 21:56:18 PMYeah that's way better than what I get I'm only doing about 35 MPG. But I guess you're talking about a long trip on the highway isn't it
Posted by CDNRatMan
- September 07, 2017, 21:14:17 PMSo after keeping track of my fuel and my kilometers, during my ride to the east coast I have this figured out.
17 km to the liter
5.75 liter per 100 km
49.0 miles per gal.
So not bad....