200cc consumes absurd amounts of gas

[Azhule]

"Back on topic"...

Do you do a lot of "short trips"? A cold engine even when tuned properly will not get the best fuel economy possible... short trips have also been known to cause a little extra carbon build up on the piston and exhaust valve(s)

When you replaced the piston rings, did you check the cylinder for warping? Did you hone the cylinder?

Also... when is the last time you cleaned the engine from carbon build up (piston and valves)?

I have a 197cc Lifan push rod engine, an "aftermarket" Mikuni VM26 clone carb... I think the jetting is somewhere around a 20 (summer) or 25 (winter) pilot and a 110 main..., Denso Iridium Spark Plug, a Denso Coil on Plug upgrade, ceramic wheel bearings, and an FMF T2 muffler... I'm also riding the bike around 5,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level

Bike gets anywhere from 50 to 110 miles per gallon (U.S.) depending on where I ride it, how I behave with the throttle, and of course my "need for speed" (83+ mph Chinese Dual Sport)... I find that I actually get the best fuel economy when I "accelerate hard/fast up to the speed limit" and then "putz around like grama does" (most of my 80 to 110 mpg fills comes from that style of hard accelerating/grama cruising)... if you "grama" your way up to speed you are probably using all the fuel trying to slowly accelerate over a long period of time

Say you go slower to accelerate up to speed, you get about 20 mpg over that long 1/4 mile trip to accelerate up to speed... compared to a much lower 7 mpg over the first hundred or so feet when you blast up to speed quickly and then you get 80 to 100+ mpg the rest of the 1/4 mile while "at speed"

[franque]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

blah blah blah... This whole thread is just a waste, (Frank drops microphone and exits stage left).

I'm not sure if you're referring to me, but I gave the list of things for his benefit, and then I didn't post anything more because I didn't have anything to say. I'm really confused why you bother to keep posting on this thread, because you clearly have nothing positive to contribute.

If he wants to get better mileage, he isn't hurting anyone, or did I misunderstand?

Additionally, to imply that the OP is too poor to buy something else, or that it simply is a matter of working hard to be rich is not only trite, but it is rather disingenuous and unnuanced. The majority of countries don't work that way, due to political/cultural/socioeconomic reasons that are quite complicated.

It seems that you probably haven't been outside of the US, but a little bit of sympathy/sensitivity goes a long way, and even if you're born in Appalachia, you have it better off than 90% of the world in terms the ability to advance economically, even if you were educated at MMI.

To the OP, I would try to put another 500-1000+km on it before you decide that it isn't getting good enough fuel consumption, it could be that it just needs the rings to be broken in. Do you know anybody with a similar engine? I would try to see what sort of mileage they're getting.

If it is getting blowby, it would probably not be enough to register a loss of oil, unless it was really bad. I would check out the things that I already listed. By any chance, does it still have the stock airbox?

[OneLeggedRider]

Haha, no I wasn't referring to anyone other than myself, my name is Frank.

[pete]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

Haha, no I wasn't referring to anyone other than myself, my name is Frank.

Good to see someone speaking Fankly...

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by Azhule

Say you go slower to accelerate up to speed, you get about 20 mpg over that long 1/4 mile trip to accelerate up to speed... compared to a much lower 7 mpg over the first hundred or so feet when you blast up to speed quickly and then you get 80 to 100+ mpg the rest of the 1/4 mile while "at speed"

Which is why I said moderate acceleration, not slow poke. Also consider that in urban riding, you stop every 1/16th of a mile, so 20mpg between each stop, or 7, will also make a difference.