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Post by pwbike on Jul 5, 2012 22:29:42 GMT 10
I recently purchased my first bike, a 2002 model VT400. It is secondhand and has done around 21,000 km. It was purchased from a dealer. My test ride was around suburban streets and the bike seemed OK. However when I took it for a proper ride in the country I found that it can't hold 100 km/h on even a slight hill. It will do about 100 km/h on the flat, but doesn't gain speed when the throttle is held open. The bike has carburettors and not fuel injection, and a chain instead of shaft drive. The fuel economy also seems very poor. Filled the bike up and went off on my ride from Melbourne to Eildon. On the return trip the bike started to conk out and I switched the fuel tap to reserve, this happened just short of 200 km from when I'd filled up. Is there something wrong with this bike? I'm very disappointed with the lack of power out on the open road and the low range acheived on a tank of fuel.
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tintin
Hunter
'07 Shadow ACE vt400
Posts: 87
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Post by tintin on Jul 5, 2012 22:56:59 GMT 10
hi and welcome. my 07 vt400 fuel injected, chain drive gets about 200kms on the country miles to a tank, higher economy if i ride like a sane person, so dont worry about ur economy so much. as for the power output, my bike cruises on 140+ full throttle on empty country roads but sees about 120kmh on open highways. if 100 is your absolute max u have a problem (as u have probably guessed). wish i could diagnose it but i cant. best of luck mate.
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Post by mrc on Jul 6, 2012 5:35:01 GMT 10
By the sounds of it she's running a bit rough, when was it serviced last, or better still service it yourself, all you can do in these situations is eliminate potential problems one by one, air filter clog up, dirty carby or needle not seating right, even right down to the tyre pressure...
My 2010 400 cruises on about 110 on the open road, there is a bit more there if i want it but just remember shadow bikes are not race bikes.
Mine loses about 5-7kph going up a 10% hill so when i feel the power about to decrease I adapt by gear changing before the reduction in speed.
If your open throttling all the time you will chew the juice on any bike, fuel consumption is controlled at your wrist mostly.
I hope you sought it out mate, the shadows are really a great bike.
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Post by nobby on Jul 6, 2012 6:08:20 GMT 10
HI mate, which dealer did you get your beastie from, if it starts with S....., it coudl explain a lot of things.
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Post by pwbike on Jul 6, 2012 7:08:29 GMT 10
Thanks for the advice so far. I bought the bike from A1 in Ringwood. They didn't disclose that it was a grey import, I found that out when I was refused insurance by Swann. I subsequently got insurance from insuremyride.com.au without a problem. The bike has no toolkit, no manual and consequently no service history. I'll be complaining to the dealer when I get a chance, hopefully this weekend. It starts well and runs well, but just doesn't seem to have any power at higher speeds. As an example, up through Acheron Cutting (Black Spur) it dropped all the way back to 60 km/h and I had to change down a couple of gears to maintain that.
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mrsumo
Elder
Safe Riding
Posts: 67
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Post by mrsumo on Jul 6, 2012 7:09:55 GMT 10
Hey pwbike
I'm with mrc, I have no problem getting 110 or more if I need it.
In terms of fuel economy, I get about 220km per tank using premium and that is all city riding. I use to get about 260km per tank, it's now dropped because of my exhaust and air filter.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2012 10:45:21 GMT 10
No power and high fuel sounds like needs a tune, check the air filter element make sure its clean or replace and same with your spark plugs x4 that should make a difference. See you Sunday ;D
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Post by Mac on Jul 6, 2012 23:03:52 GMT 10
Aldo had a 400 & had no trouble keeping up with those of us on 750's or bigger. A decent tune up might be your answer
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Post by Richo on Jul 7, 2012 6:55:53 GMT 10
What Shane said. Start simple replace air cleaner and plugs. If that doesn't work it'll be a fuel problem. A tank drain and flush and a carby clean should sort it out. But if your not mech minded best take it to a shop.
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Pete
Scout
Pete aka Jack Daniels
Posts: 225
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Post by Pete on Jul 7, 2012 9:26:53 GMT 10
Hi Mate I'm only new to bikes (Have a VT400 but on my L's) but can offer some advice on when my gray import sports car was lousy on fuel? if this helps I changed the air filter (as mentioned previously), and you may as well do a service on it because you have No service history so replace plugs and might as well do oil change. Then the most telling factor for fuel economy that was directly related to performance is the O2 sensor. Replace those because if they are stuffed (simplyburnt out or caked with exhaust carbon) the bike will automatically run rich, which is just too much fuel. too much fuel is A/ Bad for fuel economy and B/ bad for performance. Running rich is usually evident by bad fuel economy and poor performance which usually equals bad O2 sensors. If the bike has after-market exhaust the O2's may simply be disconnected. Again, please check what other members say because I'm going by my old carburettor sports car that had same symptoms and I currently don't have much bike knowledge other than recently adjusting my gear shift pedal so that's not the highest knowledge job to judge my bike knowledge by
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Post by pwbike on Jul 7, 2012 11:36:01 GMT 10
As it happens I am mechanically minded (having worked as a mechanic in the past), I checked the air cleaner this morning and while it's not new it certainly doesn't look very old or clogged and dirty. The O2 sensor idea is worth checking too. I'm taking it back to the dealer as I beleive I have paid too much and there is something wrong with it that they should sort out.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2012 17:22:43 GMT 10
Good luck pwbike I agree with you, I'd take it back too.
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Post by pwbike on Jul 7, 2012 19:51:30 GMT 10
Thanks for all your suggestions and advice :-)
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Post by pwbike on Jul 10, 2012 22:07:05 GMT 10
Update: I still haven't taken the bike back to the dealer, but I rode it again on Sunday. Filled it up with fuel, then through the outer suburbs, around the edge of the Dandenongs and into the country, rolling hills and sweeping curves and some tighter stuff. An hour or so of that, then some higher speeds on country roads. It seemed OK, then I hit the freeway and rode it hard. While the engine sounded busy it was easily maintaining 100 km/h on the flat. I wound it up and saw an indicated 130 km/h before backing off again. I cycled it up and down between 95 and 110 km/h over the next 30 odd km. Then eased off as traffic was heavier and the speeds came down. I exited the freeway and continued home on arterial and suburban roads. I noted that the bike would hold 80 km/h on hills without too much effort. So it seems like it worked better this time out. Maybe it needed a bit of harder riding to 'blow out the cobwebs' or something. Maybe I had a bad lot of fuel the first time round?
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Post by Richo on Jul 11, 2012 7:04:33 GMT 10
Yeah sounds like stale fuel give her some premium and give her a bit of a thrashing see if that helps.
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