[Khan]

Originally Posted by jkv45

If you are using regular Mobil 1 10W-40 auto oil - I would change. No standard auto oils are a good choice for cycle engines due to low levels of special additives (ZDDP) you need with solid-lifter style valvetrains.

Mobil 1 10W-40 "4T" cycle oil is fine if you are using that. Rotella T6 5W-40 is a good inexpensive cycle-safe oil for general use.

The only 30-grade oil I would use be an Ester synthetic like Redline or Motul 10W-30. It's far superior to any 40 grade conventional oil, and because it flows easier when hot would most likely show some mileage increase at those speeds and revs.

In CA you aren't going to find ethanol-free gas, so there's no choice there. As far as running a "Premium" gas - that's a joke for the most part. It's typically no better than lower grade gas from the same manufacturer. If you want a fuel system cleaner, run Techron Concentrate (1oz per gal) once a year - don't buy Premium just because it has more detergents.

I would question some of what your mechanic has told you. If it was running well, I don''t think a carb rebuild was required because the "rubbers" (did he explain what that was?) were showing wear, plus his recommendation to use Premium gas because the carb was clogged by low quality gas was off the mark IMO.

Thanks for the recommendations, I will defer to the Rotella T6 next time I change my oil and will post if the mpg changes

Originally Posted by spooph

agreed with all of this.

I would recommend being scientific about this. Before you change anything, take some readings changing your riding like this:

1.) Accelerate to the speed limit taking each gear to 10 or 11Krpm's.
2.) Once at the speed limit, shift to top gear.
3.) If you need to accelerate, downshift as many gears as is needed to accelerate above 6K RPM's.
4.) Once you've accelerated, shift to top gear.

Run 3 tanks like this and see if anything changes.

After reading the power band explanations by previous posters yesterday, I started following your suggested method since today coincidentally (except point 1, I shifted at about 7-8k and stayed away from short shifting)
However, I felt the bike a bit more responsive today. Is it possible that cleaning the air filter(which was pretty dirty. took me 15 mins of dish detergent rubbing to clean it enough to be acceptable) can cause a noticeable difference or is it just psychological? Moreover, I should be refilling my tank soon and if the air filter caused any mpg changes, it should be apparent. I wonder if it will change from a singular factor.
Also, is it ok to re-use the filter or should I just buy a new one?

Thanks