[Geirskogul]

Okay, first fill up, with sixty miles on the bike.  2.2 gallons?  What?  That's less than 30 MPG!  I made sure that the tank was almost to the top on the initial fillup, before I started counting miles.  

Info:  
Never have to use the enricher to start the bike, live at 400-700 feet from sea level (yes, those are hundreds, not thousands) though I've taken it up into our plateau town at about 1,300 feet, riding right now in-town only, 25-40mph speed (as I'm still in the break-in period), and I don't whine the engine.  Now, the first 15 miles or so on the bike were going back and forth in a parking lot, learning to handle it, but the last 35 miles I put on today going, essentially, back and forth on level ground at 25-30 mph.  There are no gas puddles around where I park, though I see the occasional drop come out of that bottom carburetor hose.  Could it be something like a leak in the mounting hose?

The city I live in, Lewiston, is a valley town.  The downtown area is flat, but to get to my house, just seven blocks east of main street (7th avenue, go figure) one rises about 30 feet in one short hill, then it's flat for a street or two, then rises up another 50 feet, and so on it goes.  I've been keeping it on the flats, but I have taken it to work in the higher area once.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewiston,_Idaho

Oh, probably doesn't matter, but on flats it seems to be lacking in power.  I don't really know how to describe it, but yeah.  Can't really think of anything else to say.

[REpozer]

I think you would smell a gas leak like that. Does it idle/tick-over well?Tire pressure?
I can see losing some mpg riding in the parking lot and doing short trips, and of course the breakin/run-in process . Still seems low to me.

I just did a 100 mile trip and got about 60 mpg. Curvy roads a few top end burst and some low end gravel road riding, I thought my mpg was low.

[Geirskogul]

The bike idles very well.  On first start it has that low, thump thump idle that makes me want to give it some throttle a bit, but once it's warmed up, like at lights in neutral/clutch in or when I stop it in the lots, the idle is a bit quick.  I've had to find a nice idle screw adjustment that keeps it going when it's cold but keeps it from revving when it's warm.  Tomorrow afternoon, I'll pull the plug after a quick trip around the block to see what color it is.  Haven't checked tire pressure.

I hear there's an adjustment screw on the carb for the air mixture?  As I don't have the owner's manual (too poor atm) I don't know which one it is.  I'm also running (carefully) on the stock black ignition box, waiting for the greenie in the mail, but I don't think that would affect it.  As far as I know that just delays ignition when starting.  As far as I know    As far as I know, as it's both my first bike and a gear-mesh, pushrod engine, I don't hear any funny noises.  Except for those few times I accidentally lugged it from a stop.

[REpozer]

Probably wouldn't hurt to bug your dealer and have him mail you an owners manual.
If everything seems to be running fine, I would fill up continue the meticulous run-in procedure to the letter and hope fully watch the mileage improve the next 1000miles.

Some people have claimed to be getting up to 80mpg. Normal would be high 60's to low 70's

[greenie]

things should improve with time. i live in kamiah. will be going on poker run (shumate/lewiston) june 13th.

[Geirskogul]

Ah, so hopefully it will get better as the engine breaks in.  You know what kind of terrain Lewiston is.  If it doesn't get better by the 300/500 mile mark, I'll start bugging the dealer.

A poker derby sounds like fun.  I didn't know a faux-sleepy town like Lewiston/Kamiah/any other N Idaho place did events like that.

[UncleErnie]

First of all, a new bikes COMES with an owners manual.  You paid for it- get it.

Get a tire guage today.  I run front at 31, back at 33.  If you want to be scientific, your pressure should go up about 10% after the tires are warm.  Adjust when cold +/- as necessary.

Not using the choke at start-up mis NOT a badge of accomplishment.  Set a proper idle speed when the bike warms up (not too slow) and use the choke on start-up.  You don't want it to race right off, but if idle is too slow and it coughs or stalls- you could end up parked because you can't affoed a new sprag.  Better safe than sorry.

[Kevin Mahoney]

Ernie is right on all counts. Every bikes comes to the dealer with an owners manual. Your dealer is obligated to give you one it is as simple as that. Your fuel economy is quite low, but not to worry. New bikes are pretty tight. If you are at sea level (more or less0 the stock jetting will be on the lean side so that is most likely not an issue. I would be more interested after it had more than 1,000 miles on it. Also I would check it over a longer distance even then. If is a Lean-Burn engine be sure to check the TCI unit under the seat and make sure you have the updated Green one and not the Black one. It is a free replacement and can save you from a sprag failure.

[Geirskogul]

I've emailed the dealer about the manual.  And I think you guys are sending me a green TCI unit, as I have the black one (got an email saying something shipped from CMW via USPS after I asked). 

Did some plug pulls with both the new plug I ordered and the one that came with the bike.  Through all throttle ranges the plug comes out an expired-chocolate brown/white on the center and side electrodes, black-but-not-oily on the threaded side.  So pretty good, I think.

Did general maintenance, but didn't see anything wrong.  Carb air hose a bit loose (it's too short also - bad design methinks) so I fixed that, tires at 32psi apiece, good fat spark.  Can't really do the "does it turn the exhaust blue" lean-burn test, as I have the black exhaust

[Geirskogul]

There was oily stuff coming out of the small hose that comes down out of the bottom of the breather canister, so I looked inside.  There was about 1-2 mm of black stuff in the bottom, but the whole inside of the canister was covered, and it even was leaking a bit around the top lid seal and dribbling down the side.  There's a duckbill pointing up inside the canister that comes from the oil case, and the small hose that was dribbling goes down into the primary chain case (?) with another hose at the top, past a crude mesh filter, that goes straight across into the airbox.  There's a second large hose that comes from the center between the primary and oil side that goes into the bottom of the canister too, but it doesn't have a duckbill.  Took all of the hoses off and they weren't gunked up inside at all, just oily.  Also, there is a fair bit of pressure/air coming out when I unscrew the dipstick while the engine is running, enough to go "whoosh". 

It kind of smelled like gasoline inside the canister.

[scoTTy]

my canister is gone...  it was a nasty thing

[Geirskogul]

I'd take the canister off, but I have no clue where to route those three breather hoses.

Off Topic: Measured my fork oil just now - hit about 9" each with my antenna dipstick, so gave it a bit of a boost with some ATF I had lying around.  Hey, the bike actually rebounds now!

[greenie]

is your oil level a bit high?

[greenie]

i mean...your engine oil, not forks

[Geirskogul]

Don't think so.  Overnight it (as with all enfields) shows nearly empty on the dipstick, so I run it around a bit to warm it up, then let it sit for a minute or so, and it checks out about 1cm from the top of the hash marks.


Off Topic #2 - I saw someone with a teal or blue Enfield the Friday before last when I was trucking mine home.  Heading East out of Clarkston as I was heading West into town.