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BarryMachine said:
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I believe the transalp is "heaterless" like my Hyo too isn't it
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But you know, on those cold days that I ride, I actually feel way better for it. When I arrive on the bike, from the moment I stop I am warming up. When I get there in the car the moment I step out of the car I never seem to be warm enough.



So long as I have the right gloves I'm fine. I had handgrip heaters, thin under grip ones cos I use very slim grips, but I thought I might go without them this year .......... its bloody hard!!



Might even put up with a set of fat Oxford heated grips next year ........ I'l be as old as you then Petrified Pete
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PS. WTF you doing with a transalp Pete!! thats an all time Classic right there!! Too goo for the likes of you!!
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Wish they'd make a serious modern version again, very useful bike here.

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Me an ma brother have owned just about every honda trailie between us, fae XL125s the Varadero, as well as Suzuki DRs, BMW F650 and r800gs, Aprilia Pegaso, a couple o Teneres and Suzuki Ts models. Both owned Transalps and big bro sold his Vara coz it was not the bike his (heavily modded) Africa Twin is, apart from on motorways.



My brother road a Dominator and a 100 gs when he lived in NZ,and had a days fun on the press XR650 on some of the beaches when he stayed in Hamilton. Thats near you innit Bazza?
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basspete said:
Do you actually get real cold in Oz Barry?
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I guess I've ridden, on very rare occasions in say a few degrees C below Zero. But thats just usually when I get caught out. I would likely not take the bike if it was below say 5 degC.



Offroad i have ridden subzero, but have never ridden in snow ( which is a great want of mine
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) have ridden in Ice ( creeks frozen and ice hanging from fences ) but no snow!!
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Not all of Australia is hot. Where I am on the coast it rarely gets below 5 degC, usually maybe the average winter night time is about 9 degC ( but thats right on the sea here ). Rarely gets above 35 here on a headland jutting out from the coast.



I have a property inland about 30km, and there the temperature range is say -3 to say 45 degC. With rare excursions to a few degrees colder and a few hotter.



The coldest weather I have experienced was camping down the snow at -19degC. ( Luckily I had an insulated camper back on my ute. )



On your other post ....... yeah Hamilton is just across the ditch from me!! Actually there a very few roads between here and Hamilton!
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BarryMachine said:
I said the gap had eroded out to 2mm ......... I tapped it back to about 1mm before I picked up new plugs the next day, and it was running fine. Inreality had I not "gurney'd" the engine I would not have noticed the plugs.

Never called a RACQ in my life!! Anyway I'm in NSW I doubt the RACQ come that far. Who is there in NSW like RACQ?



The new plugs have done nothing to fuel economy .......... where do you get that one!!?? It kinda defies logic ......... Though I suspect had I driven for long with the misfiring plugs they may have looked good. Are you suggesting that the fuel economy is proportional to the spark plug gap? I'd be at odds with that
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To be honest there is still nothing "wrong" wih the old plugs with respect to performance, as I said I gurney'd the engine ........ assuming you would realise that this means that I got water in somewhere ........ in this case it did identfy that my leads nee changing ....... hence some electricity loss ...... hence 2mm was just not good enough ATM
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Spark plugs are a " within a range" device. Once outside that range they don't work, they misfire hence its noticeable. Within that "are operating" range there is bugger all difference. Matter of fact by your implication I'd ask that each time you fuel up with a different fuel ....... should you change the gap?

Getting the wrong type of plug will slightly change you fuel economy, but once the correct plug is in .... it should be fine for eons.

Example. In my Korean Hyo, I tried those Iridium plugs ....... worsened the fuel economy and the "snap" of the power. They were good for a smooth idle though. I went back to "K" series plugs ( magic plug if you want a tip, spark face open to fuel for real fast detonation, great in conjunction with High density fuels eg. Shell V-Power ) and voila fuel economy back by 0.2L/100 and power snap at crack of throttle back. They don't allow idle as well after a bit of age though. But still a better plug ..... at half the price.

If you read the NGK tech specs and description of plugs ........ they are pretty honest. About it too.
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I'll give you a bit of insight Yamaka ......... the fuel economy gains/losses in fuel products is massive compared to any change to a plug that is in the "not misfiring range" .......... I thought you purported to be a fairly techo chap?
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Click to expand...

Yes spark plug gap will make a difference to fuel economy, but it is not proportional to it, obviously. The increase in mpg (or ltrs/100kms) is from the efficiency of the spark and its ability to burn the air/fuel mixture fully. A wider gap does not always provide a hot enough spark to burn the fuel as efficiently as it should. You also don't want it too small either. Obviously there is a range of plug gap that is optimal for creating a complete and efficient burn to offer the most fuel efficiency possible, beyond that range the burn will not be complete, therefore the power produced by the fuel used is less than it should be, hence higher fuel consumption. In extreme cases where the gap has become far too wide you'll get misfiring.



Copper plugs are the worst for the air gap widening as copper is not as hard as platinum or iridium and it therefore wears down with the high pressure and heat inside the engine. This wear eventually causes the plugs to foul and work less efficiently over time.



Platinum is better as it is harder an has a higher melting point so the air gap does not change as much over time. Also due its characteristics, the size of the center electrode can be reduced to the size of a fine wire tip. This can also improve efficiency over copper plugs as it reduces the chance of quenching (quenching is where one electrode zaps the heat out of the sparks explosion) because it leaves less area for the heat to be reabsorbed by the electrode.



You mentioned NGK so I had a google - this is a good site from them for further info http://www.ngksparkp...spark-plugs.cfm and a quote from that site :





  • []A spark plug is said to have misfired when enough voltage has not been delivered to light off all fuel present in the combustion chamber at the proper moment of the power stroke (a few degrees before top dead centre)

    []A spark plug can deliver a weak spark (or no spark at all) for a variety of reasons...defective coil, too much compression with incorrect plug gap, dry fouled or wet fouled spark plugs, insufficient ignition timing, etc.

    []Slight misfires can cause a loss of performance for obvious reasons (if fuel is not lit, no energy is being created)

    []Severe misfires will cause poor fuel economy, poor driveability, and can lead to engine damage
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Note that a severe misfire is the sort you can detect without measuring equipment, so your "running fine" may not be that in reality.



As far as fuel economy gains/losses due to differences in fuel products, as I have said before I work in Powertrain at JaguarLandrover and so I know a fair bit about that. For instance, we have to produce significantly different engine calibrations just to make the engines run at stoichiometric for different markets. Brazil, India, China, for example, have much poorer fuel quality with much higher levels of impurities as well as a lower octane than that available in the US, Europe or Oz, though even in western markets octane varies a fair bit, eg. Oz's "standard" gasoline is 91RON, whereas the UK's is 95RON.
 
basspete said:
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Me an ma brother have owned just about every honda trailie between us, fae XL125s the Varadero, as well as Suzuki DRs, BMW F650 and r800gs, Aprilia Pegaso, a couple o Teneres and Suzuki Ts models. Both owned Transalps and big bro sold his Vara coz it was not the bike his (heavily modded) Africa Twin is, apart from on motorways.



My brother road a Dominator and a 100 gs when he lived in NZ,and had a days fun on the press XR650 on some of the beaches when he stayed in Hamilton. Thats near you innit Bazza?
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I had the XL 250 and the XL 500 - both real stomping bikes - but not as durable or as much of an all rounder as the Transalp. I remember when they came out and I resolved to ride one accross Europe to Istanbul. Ended up inter-railing instead
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yamaka46 said:
Yes spark plug gap will make a difference to fuel economy, but it is not proportional to it, obviously. The increase in mpg (or ltrs/100kms) is from the efficiency of the spark and its ability to burn the air/fuel mixture fully. A wider gap does not always provide a hot enough spark to burn the fuel as efficiently as it should. You also don't want it too small either. Obviously there is a range of plug gap that is optimal for creating a complete and efficient burn to offer the most fuel efficiency possible, beyond that range the burn will not be complete, therefore the power produced by the fuel used is less than it should be, hence higher fuel consumption. In extreme cases where the gap has become far too wide you'll get misfiring.



Copper plugs are the worst for the air gap widening as copper is not as hard as platinum or iridium and it therefore wears down with the high pressure and heat inside the engine. This wear eventually causes the plugs to foul and work less efficiently over time.



Platinum is better as it is harder an has a higher melting point so the air gap does not change as much over time. Also due its characteristics, the size of the center electrode can be reduced to the size of a fine wire tip. This can also improve efficiency over copper plugs as it reduces the chance of quenching (quenching is where one electrode zaps the heat out of the sparks explosion) because it leaves less area for the heat to be reabsorbed by the electrode.



You mentioned NGK so I had a google - this is a good site from them for further info http://www.ngksparkp...spark-plugs.cfm and a quote from that site :





[/list]

Note that a severe misfire is the sort you can detect without measuring equipment, so your "running fine" may not be that in reality.



As far as fuel economy gains/losses due to differences in fuel products, as I have said before I work in Powertrain at JaguarLandrover and so I know a fair bit about that. For instance, we have to produce significantly different engine calibrations just to make the engines run at stoichiometric for different markets. Brazil, India, China, for example, have much poorer fuel quality with much higher levels of impurities as well as a lower octane than that available in the US, Europe or Oz, though even in western markets octane varies a fair bit, eg. Oz's "standard" gasoline is 91RON, whereas the UK's is 95RON.
Click to expand...



Yes but Yamaka ....... My measured fuel economy in litres used per kilometer did not change when I put the new plugs in ..... get that
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Now back to the plugs ( in the bike ) ...... do you recommend Iridiums? Even if i get a repeatable better performance with "k's" ??



U24ETR.jpg




Oh and Octane rating has nothing to do with energy out of the fuel ( though especially with a V twins a slower igniting/burning fuel ( higher octane ) may give better energy release )

I was getting V Power 100RON till they phased it out now I get the 98RON.
 
BarryMachine said:
I guess I've ridden, on very rare occasions in say a few degrees C below Zero. But thats just usually when I get caught out. I would likely not take the bike if it was below say 5 degC.



Offroad i have ridden subzero, but have never ridden in snow ( which is a great want of mine
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) have ridden in Ice ( creeks frozen and ice hanging from fences ) but no snow!!
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Not all of Australia is hot. Where I am on the coast it rarely gets below 5 degC, usually maybe the average winter night time is about 9 degC ( but thats right on the sea here ). Rarely gets above 35 here on a headland jutting out from the coast.



I have a property inland about 30km, and there the temperature range is say -3 to say 45 degC. With rare excursions to a few degrees colder and a few hotter.



The coldest weather I have experienced was camping down the snow at -19degC. ( Luckily I had an insulated camper back on my ute. )



On your other post ....... yeah Hamilton is just across the ditch from me!! Actually there a very few roads between here and Hamilton!
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Click to expand...





We don't get it to bad up here in Orkland, -2 is looked on as unbelievably cold up here! Perthshire gets the real cold I've ridden bikes in -7, blizzards and been so cold I bought a bag of chips to hold during a run because I had lost the feeling in my hands!



In winter, we used to tie a sledge onto the back of a trailie and tow it about in the snow with someone in it, that was good craic!



I used to not own a car and just ride a bike all year, but to be honest, I've done it and got the t shirt, I don't go out on frosty days now, I'm not gonna bounce like I once did!



I had an XL250 too Arrab, an a mate used to race XR500s in the Scottish Twinshock championship, so I used to ride his bike a fair bit on the practice track. He did actually lift the title in his age group once.
 
Keshav said:
Funny you should say that. I've always thought the SV650 looked liked a cheap Korean bike. There's a blue one parked down the street from my shop that I pass by every day and I always marvel at how cosmetically similar it is to the Hyos. It looks like the engineers got stuck somewhere in the middle of the design phase before it was fully realized and they just said .... it.
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Bloody 'ell Kesh.....you kid not. That's ridiculous...



13806:TRO1912.jpg]
 

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The Suzuki sv650 is bullet proof fun bike. Toss in a gsxr600 front end it awesome.



Leave a Hyo outside longer than 2 weeks, bolts start to rust.
 
BarryMachine said:
So I would be better off with a used SV650 you reckon? ..............





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Get real ......... see why I don't get bike work done by "bike shops"
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Bet you won't be saying "chinese crap" for too much longer
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Reminds me of back in the day when all the Butaco, Montessa, Husky, Maico, DKW even CZ!!! riders would look at your bike and refer to it as a "Yamahahaha Jap crap" ........ they'd be at the back of the field every race .......... but they still thought the winner's bike was crap cos it was made in Japan
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Jeez the SV's are some of the most reliable, bulletproof bikes out there that you can do just about anything with. I rode the sv 1000s for about 600 miles in two days. Although my butt hurt a bit, the bike performed like a champ. I have a bunch of friends who use them for the track. Heck, my one bud was just in the April issue of the magazine Motorcyclist in the me and my bike article. He has been racing those for quite some time now. So yeah, if you have a choice, and the money is about the same, SV alllllll day.



As for the chinese stuff being crap, well, until it changes I am sure the sentiments will stay the same. This is especially since those pricks steal everyone's designs and copies them into their stuff. They don't play by the rules.
 
Anyway, the latest reports that I have been seeing seem to indicate that Cal won't be on the Duc next year. Now so far they just haven't given him the contract at this weekends race like they said they would. So I wonder what has changed? Maybe they are feelin' Hayden's work and thinkin' why rock the boat right now? Hopefully, they keep Nicky. I think he is going to keep getting better. But dang I do think Cal is awesome.
 
xx CURVE xx said:
The Suzuki sv650 is bullet proof fun bike. Toss in a gsxr600 front end it awesome.



Leave a Hyo outside longer than 2 weeks, bolts start to rust.
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Would that be the old Korean built one or the new China built one?
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What you say about a better front end is dead right though ......... and then you just have a Hyo ....
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The front end on the SV is truly attrocious, but you can get a big ugly brace to fit which by accounts from SV owners makes it safer.

Now on Power output .....



The SV/Hyo combo is such a glaring example of peoples misplaced "brand loyalty" ...... as demonstrated beautifully here by Curve
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ROCKGOD01 said:
Jeez the SV's are some of the most reliable, bulletproof bikes out there that you can do just about anything with. I rode the sv 1000s for about 600 miles in two days. Although my butt hurt a bit, the bike performed like a champ.
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The 1000 is a different built bike than the 650. Not sure where the 1000 is built but I believe it was not built by Hyo.



The 1000's aparently are a very thirsty bike though ......... but I wonder if its not the rider usually, cos on paper it should be able to get good milage ........ well for a 1000.
 
basspete said:
We don't get it to bad up here in Orkland, -2 is looked on as unbelievably cold up here! Perthshire gets the real cold I've ridden bikes in -7, blizzards and been so cold I bought a bag of chips to hold during a run because I had lost the feeling in my hands!
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Not many O/seas folk realise it can get pretty cold in parts of Aust. I can tell you camping in the back of a Ute at -19 is pretty chilly!! I could not open the tailgate in the morning because the sponge insulation seal had taken on water and frozen stuck, I had to slither/fall out of a tiny side window then get my mate ( who refused to get out of his copious layers of sleeping bags until I had the heater going!! Must be a bopper!!
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) to hand me the gas stove so I could heat up the tailgate/window seal.

I've skied at temperatures well below zero on many occasions too, been caught out without a "beenie" and started to get a headache from the ice formed by a vicious blizzard crosswind whilst traveling up chairlifts
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( yes thats right Arab!! as well as racing bikes, surfing ............ I also skied obsessively!! Stick that in your couch pipe and smoke it!!
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Speaking of surfing, many moons ago I used toget up at say 4:30am for a surf at the crack of dawn. One morning it was so cold the sand crackled under your feet with the top layer turned to ice ........ in which case you run for the water which feels like a sauna, no lets just say warm/tepid?, compared to the air.



Naturally it can get pretty damn hot here too ..... just about everywhere.



Got to admit the Orkschelles seem a lot milder than I expected.
 

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