javawave wrote:
[quote]Road_Hawg wrote:
answers and they said 25-30 MPG was normal. quote]

Thats not normal. If it had an opened up air box and performance exhaust and jetted, in your case re maped for performance. that may be. but for a stock set up, thats not normal.

I knew it was at least not what a lot of others were getting, which means mine is different than what most if not all here are getting. Another thing, the tech told me today the gas cap had a vent on it. Not that I can see, and if the cap is vented, why is there a vent on top of the tank under the tank cover? I looked it up in the service manual, it has a vent tube with a hose on it on top the tank. These are the kinds of things that just make me skeptical of what those guys are telling me.

A little update here. It has been a couple of hours or so since I shut the bike off. I went out and started it up and stuck my nose almost on that pump vent tube. Any closer I would have had it up my nose. I didn't smell anything at all. It is definitely heat related. I guess it is normal. Kinda weird you gotta let your bike sit outside and cool off before you can put it in the garage. If it is doing it today at 76 degrees, I dread the Texas summer when it will be 100+. Seems to me it would be illegal for a manufacturer to design it to vent to the atmosphere. The fuel tank on cars vent to the vapor can and the fumes are sucked back into the engine and burned when it is started. Seems like it could be dangerous filling the garage with gas vapor, especially with the water heater in the corner of the garage. It was bad. When I brought my kids home from the school bus stop, my son turned around as soon as he stepped in the garage and said, what smells like gas? Anyway, I appreciate all of you responding, and if anyone finds anything more on this, please post it. Like I said, I trust you guys more than the dealer at this point.

UPDATE: This will show my ignorance but being the technical kind that I am, I will teach myself until I know exactly. The fuel pump I was talking about under the left chrome cover is not a fuel pump, it is a pressure regulator in the intake system. I found it in the parts book. The fuel pump is mounted in the bottom of the tank on the left side. It's a good sized one too. I don't know why fuel vapor would be coming out of a pressure regulator in the intake (Air) system. Don't make sense to me, but then, I don't know how this all works yet either. This is all under the chrome cover on the left side of the bike between the jugs. Looking at the schematic I have theory.

After a long ride the engine is hot. Shut if off, and one set of intake valves are open when the engine comes to rest. The fuel injectors dribble some fuel down into a hot cylinder, and the fuel vaporizes upon contact with the hot piston. The fuel vapor goes up through the open intake valves, into the intake throttle body and then through the air hoses that are connected to the throttle body, to the pressure regulator where it is expelled through the vent on the regulator. This is exaggerated when the engine is started because of the flow of air. Probably wrong, but looking at the schematic, theoretically it looks like it could happen. Maybe I am over working this one. Like I said, the technical side of me wants to know why and how.

Sounds quite logical to me. I've always likened it to me burping after a good meal. Mine doesn't do it every time, but it's happened a couple of times.

I just realized after looking at this thread again that my theory is probably off base. The carb models smell too. It has something to do with hot fuel vapor being vented though. I am convinced this is normal albeit unsafe in an enclosed garage.

My bike is an 05. I to smell gas on start up with choke pulled. Usually i just push choke in a little to stave off SVS. I believe the tank however is vented to the atmosphere and this in itself would cause gas fumes to be freely vented and cause concern in an enclosed environment such as a garage. I think there is room for concern on this if you have a gas water heater in your garage. It may however be the nature of the beast when your consider the tank venting design.

The vent in the tank should not really let enough fumes out to have a gas smell, it's more to let air in/out. Not so much gas vapors.

I have had this happen too. A lot of people report that you want to stop the bike and shut of the gas and let it run a while to let it burn off the gas pressure, I shut mine off a block from the house if I remember. Anyways, many report it works, I do it all the time and no further problems.

Heck when it was real hot once I forgot and the tank was about empty in 30 seconds, the float was stuck.

MC

Anything I ever had that ran on gasoline gave off some vapor after parking in an enclosed space, Car, bike lawnmower. they all do it. It doesn't take much, shoot, you can have a can a gas in the garage and after a while start smelling it..

That's about my only complaint about the bike is the gas smell. My wife has taken all stored clothes out of there and soft-sided suitcases (basically anything with fabric) because she says they smell like gas. And boy, does it ever. Of course, I do pull straight into the garage after riding and shut it off. And for whatever reason, the PO of the house built this two stall garage to house his race cars he built, and the garage is absolutely sealed--no ventilation of any kind. No windows, vents, and the doors are sealed tight. I think I may need to vent the garage and park outside for a few before rolling in the garage.

RK

Road_Hawg wrote:
I asked them about my fuel mileage (another thread here) and they said 25-30 MPG was normal. Maybe it is, and maybe it's not, I don't know for sure because I don't know enough about the bike. But, I do know others here at the clinic are getting 40 and 45 MPG. This makes me skeptical of what that tech is telling me.

One thing you'll have to remember.... the bikes not broken in yet. The gas milage on my `06 Roadie was about the same as yours... until I got about 2 or 3,000 miles on the "clock". Now I average 45MPG. I get less if I run her hard.... you know what they say, " You gotta feed them horses"!

MikelJay wrote:
Road_Hawg wrote:
I asked them about my fuel mileage (another thread here) and they said 25-30 MPG was normal. Maybe it is, and maybe it's not, I don't know for sure because I don't know enough about the bike. But, I do know others here at the clinic are getting 40 and 45 MPG. This makes me skeptical of what that tech is telling me.

One thing you'll have to remember.... the bikes not broken in yet. The gas milage on my `06 Roadie was about the same as yours... until I got about 2 or 3,000 miles on the "clock". Now I average 45MPG. I get less if I run her hard.... you know what they say, " You gotta feed them horses"!

I have realized that since I have put some miles on it the fuel mileage has gotten better. I also realized that driving style affects mileage dramatically on the R*. I have an ongoing fuel mileage thread I have been adding data to. You can view it HERE. I tried to put in all the data I thought would be significant.