Yes, Blue, i have been through all of those.
New plugs, clean filter, I DON'T USE THE STUPID MPG METER, it is WAY off. I think it says 27+, i have not looked at it in months, always 92 octane, i switched to a 55 high tire 3 weeks ago, before i was running the 50 size. Stock width, 41 tooth, stock front tooth, chain is adjusted, bearings seem ok. Foot definitely not dragging. I have lowered pegs, so i have to really stretch my foot and actively break with my rear, Rear brake releases fine, front might drag a little bit. That is one point that i have not worked on but i don't think it could cause such a dramatic change.

It does pop quite a bit when i get off the throttle. It does backfire when i do stop accellerating on the freeway, so if i go 30-70 on the on ramp, once i get to 70 and stop accelerating, i almost always does one backfire.

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I get at least 150-180 miles from a tank.I've got a Yosh full system and a PC3, stock gearing.

Mad

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And i get 125 Miles out of 5 gallons of fuel. That was my most recent fuel up 3 days ago, it was exactly 5 gallons and 126 miles on my trip meter. I ride very smoothly. The bike does not see over 75 MPH ever. It is just a cruiser except for when i get on the free way 1-2 times a day. Then i do 20-70/80 in as fast as i can. :) My computer says i am out of fuel when i hit 95-105 miles EVERY TIME :(

* Last updated by: viperkillertt on 9/30/2011 @ 1:44 PM *

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Have you had your throttle body’s synched yet I bet that’s your problem!

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You're seeing the fuel gauge go to "EMPTY" at 95 miles?What do the inside of your pipes look like.Mild dusting of carbon black soot?OR....1/4 thick built up carbon?Sheesh....something is VERY WRONG with your fuel/burning/injectors/MAP.Something.Pull the #4 plug out...take alook.What's it look like?Any fuel smell in there?Better get that sorted out before something goes BAM.Your mileage just isn't right.Unless you ran wide open everywhere!I would be VERY concerned about that fuel mileage and WHERE it's going.Your fuel is going somewhere Viper.Sheesh.

Any fuel smell when she's been ridden,or parked in between rides?How about sitting overnight....fuel smell?You should not have ANY smell of fuel.None...unless you just came back from a hot Sun ride where the tank heated up.Then you might get a little...but not very much.Shouldn't smell any if she's like sitting overnight or something.How about when she's cranking to start...any fuel smell then?It's going somewhere.Do you have a California Model?The one with the evaporater canister on it?THAT might be plugged?IDK.

I don't want to beat it to death,but you're sure you have the right plug in there?There are several possible things it could be...but the book is not specific(again) as to fuel consumption.Least I couldn't find anything.Closest I could find was "poor running"...some of that stuff in the back(appendix)."engine runs poorly"....sheesh....but nothing concerning abnormal fuel consumption.Your KLEEN air system is okay(?)(Assuming you have one on there).I don't think mine does.Maybe.Not sure what the Kleen Air System is.Something to do with the exhaust gases or something?IDK

Popping quite a bit sounds like unburnt fuel getting out.Throttle body tightened down?Injectors clean and working right?Man...put some Gumout concentrated injector cleaner in there...on a full tank.1/2 bottle.Run that down.Refill...pour the rest in there.Maybe more than twice.IDK.Could be gummed up somehow.Maybe have the shop check your fuel pump....make sure she's at the right pressure?This is pissin ME off.27 mpg IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!!!125 miles on a tank...no way.Even if your guage was not working right....you should NOT be having to fill back up at 125...nowhere NEAR that.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 9/30/2011 @ 8:13 PM *

YAY!!! YOU GUYS FINALLY BELIEVE ME :)
Every time i bring this subject up, people just assume i drive like a devil. I am a very calm rider and I am usually able to get great fuel economy out of pig bikes. With my old VTR1000 it was normal to get about 30. Almost no one could say they really got 40 around town. This bike, i have tried everything i cant imagine. Something very strange has been going on.

Ok, back to your questions. Yes, very rarely will i smell fuel. I think it is often though when i have fueled up recently. I ran a half of bottle of fuel injection cleaner about 2-3 months ago, shortly after i bought the bike.
I replaced the plugs and i did not notice them very fuel smelly. Umm, the exhaust is actually pretty clean. My supra ran rich and it had a thick layer of carbon. This pipe is not bad at all. The bike should not be cali because it was originally purchased near Seattle, WA. The plugs were exactly the same as the ones that came out. They are the stock plugs. I have never checked out the Kleen system. I will see about that. Again, on the freeway it does pick up to maybe 30mpg, but not much more. I would LOVE to get 180 miles out of a tank. The most i have ever gotten i think was about 133 and it took over 5 gallons then.

I have been thinking lately that my noise that drives me nuts maybe is the aftermarket exhaust with a small leak at the exhaust manifold. I have not had ANY time to test my theory, but i think this weekend i will look at the manifold and see if there is some carbon buildup around the exhaust ports that could be barely leaking. This extra backpressure could cause some issues, probably not the only issue, but i can not think of anything else that could cause that noise. I have had the shop check it out and they say it is mechanically sound.

One other question, What A/F meter would you recommend? I have a wide band, but i cant think of how i could connect it to this bike. I definitely do not want to weld a bung into my expensive exhaust to do testing.

I will keep you updated.
-Josh

* Last updated by: viperkillertt on 9/30/2011 @ 9:51 PM *

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Good fuel economy on the ZX14 is kind of an oxymoron, most of us here did not buy it for good fuel economy.... We bought it because it was the fastest production motorcycle available. After checking the ZX forums many of the people there get 130-150 per tank... so Your really not too far off at 125. I am guessing the dude who sold you the bike beat the balls off of it and damaged something. Or maybe it is a combination of things: dirty air filter, plugs(gapped correct? correct plugs installed?), throttle body out of sync, injectors clogged or dirty as hell (most of those injector cleaners will not do shit after the injector is clogged), caliper not fully releasing, bearings wasted, or maybe some engine damage. Maybe the guy was a wheelie maniac and slammed down the front repeatedly and killed the bearings? It could be something as stupid as that, it might be nothing to do with your engine. I would put it up on stands and make sure everything moves nicely without binding.
Good luck, I hope you figure it out.

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Thanks Seno,
The previous/1st owner was a rather large man, i believe 6' 2"+ and he built this bike as a cruiser. It is a comfort bike, not a race bike. I ride it the same as he did. The motor runs extremely well. Very smooth. The only thing that happens is the popping on deceleration. I am going to run some injector cleaner in her and see. I have ridden her 3k miles since i bought her and i am very pleased with the purchase. I just know that the bike is capable of better fuel economy and i am guessing it is something simple. I might go and tear it down sometime, but probably this winter.
Thanks for your comments.

* Last updated by: viperkillertt on 9/30/2011 @ 10:19 PM *

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Viper...did you 'try' my suggestion about resetting the 'avg' display AFTER you've been cruising for a while with minimal throttle changes?In like 6th gear at say,3500 rpms?4000 tops.Try that my man.See if your 'avg mpg' doesn't come up pretty well...up in the 36 mpg range(or more)I can get mine to pull 41 mpg over a good stretch of time/miles by manipulating the gear and rpm combos.Gonna take several miles to get it to recalibrate.So be patient.I think you're gonna see a higher mileage doing it this way.If you're driving it this way...there's NO WAY you will get 27 mpg.The only time I ever saw 27 mpg was when my ignition advance was way off.This cannot happen however with the factory wheel in there...at least it can't change time(unless something in the cams or whatever are going bad).And yes...the bike did backfire(on decel),and yes,everything else was working right,including plugs and air filter and such.That's insane.Your meter 'may' be not working right.It happens.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 9/30/2011 @ 11:33 PM *

Blue, i have done that AVG reset MANY times. I gave up because the meter is so far off. I remember when i got the best AVG ever on the meter. I was completely babying the darn throttle for a full tank. Then i actually calculated it, it was the worst fuel ever. The meter said 27! I was very excited because this was a big jump. The real number for the week of riding was just over 21MPG! That was back in May, when i had the 39 tooth rear sprocket. Since then i don't look at it or use it. I reset my trip meter every time i fuel up, i am OCD about it. I have been doing it forever on all of my cars. It was 21MPG.
When i do ride on the freeway the REAL mpg does pick up a few points, but not enough. This is a 1.4L motor. It definitely should get 35+ when cruising at 60-70 on the freeway. I get about 29mpg at 65ish in 6th.

As i have said, i am going to run a half bottle of cleaner in her starting tomorrow. The injectors are basically the only thing left, but the bike only has 13,600 miles. There is no reason for them to be bad this quickly. I will update when i have info.

* Last updated by: viperkillertt on 9/30/2011 @ 11:54 PM *

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As i have said, i am going to run a half bottle of cleaner in her starting tomorrow. The injectors are basically the only thing left, but the bike only has 13,600 miles. There is no reason for them to be bad this quickly. I will update when i have info.

And do some wide open throttle with the injector cleaner and go past 7,500 rpm just beat the piss out of her for a tank or two to let the injectors really open up and clean out your engine sounds like its been babied to much thus carbon build up just remember hang on for dear life!

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Thanks! Will do and yeah, with the colder weather she has seriously some extra balls! I felt it the first day that it was in the 60s, man, quite a bit more power :)
Thanks!

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"the meter is so far off"....I'm a tad mixed up here.You ran a tank,measured it...and got 125 miles a tank,right?Okay...and your meter(avg)is showing what again?Sounds to me like the meter is dead on?(27 mpg)IDK...maybe I'm misunderstanding this deal.I think your meter is fine,but something is killing your mileage.IDK what it could possibly be since we've covered about everything possible.You could I guess get the manual and start at all the 'conditions' in the appendix concerning the fuel injection system and stuff along those lines.If she's running smooth and fine otherwise,as Hub said,I can't figure out WHAT could be going wrong.Something.

The MPG meter is at least 4MPG off when ever i have compared them. Also, my bike is about 7% off, so i am not exactly getting 25 mpg, but about 23-24. I have stopped trying to think about that lately because it makes me a little depressed.

One other thing is anytime i decelerate it pops a lot. I am thinking that maybe the chain did get adjusted wrong when they put the APE tensioner in. When winter hits, I am going to warm up the garage and check it out. I am guessing it is 1 tooth off, but it would make sense. Anytime i pull off the throttle, the bike pops a bit.

* Last updated by: viperkillertt on 10/4/2011 @ 10:37 AM *

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Ya...maybe your timing is off?.IDK.If you have the factory wheel on there...I don't see how it could be off...unless the chain did somehow jump a tooth...but I would think that jumping a tooth would REALLY throw things off...so much so that the ECU wouldn't be able to correct it...probably would get a code.Can't imagine it continuing to perform smoothly in all areas.Maybe one tooth off really wouldn't affect the actual running performance....just the fuel burn efficiency?Maybe?I know when mine was off...by how much I've no idea,the fuel mileage dropped from around 36 mpg to a stunning 28 mpg.And yet the engine DID still run almost the same.She had trouble idling smooth,and starting right up.Had to crank her a bit longer.But otherwise,she seemed okay.Power while accelerating wasn't the same...a tad weaker...but if you didn't really notice it...you might think nothing was wrong.It could be your timing....yup...maybe.

Didn't you say something about cam gear/chain worn a while back?I thought you did.Maybe not.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 10/4/2011 @ 1:45 PM *

The APE was on the bike before i got her, so it could have been the previous shop that did it.
No, no cam gear/chain wearing that i know of.

But what you just described sounds like me, slightly off and a huge difference in fuel economy. I am guessing that it is flowing fuel just after it should start and then continuing after it should stop.
I don't know this for a fact, but it sounds right. I have always felt that this bike is no where near as powerful as i expected it. It felt sort of similar to my old bike, well, not really, but i thought it did. I did ride my old bike 3 months after i bought this and it was slow as snot. But i do expect more. I will update when i have time to play with it this winter. Thanks guys.

* Last updated by: viperkillertt on 10/4/2011 @ 1:53 PM *

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MrViper, I am sorry to hear of your problem, not only frustrating but leads to total disinterest in yor bike when you should be having the best riding of your life. I have a 07 model with pc3,yoshi r77 and local guy mapped it,191hp, I sit on 70-80 mph and can get 180miles no probs at all,infact if I go slower my milage is not as good, if you want the map I will give you the guy who done mines email add. Chin up it will get better.

MrViper, I am sorry to hear of your problem, not only frustrating but leads to total disinterest in yor bike when you should be having the best riding of your life. I have a 07 model with pc3,yoshi r77 and local guy mapped it,191hp, I sit on 70-80 mph and can get 180miles no probs at all,infact if I go slower my milage is not as good, if you want the map I will give you the guy who done mines email add. Chin up it will get better.

Thanks. I do love the bike a lot. It has been my only transportation since may when my supra was stolen and wrecked. I have totally got used to the fuel economy and plan on fixing it this winter. I am probably going ot tear into the motor and replace the chain and reset the cams. I have the feeling that they might have jumped one tooth. I get a lot of popping any time i get off the throttle and i have fixed everything else that could be a problem. I do not have any carbon build up on my exhaust though after 3k miles. Actually dynoing it would probably tell me what the problem is. I am guessing that it would dyno low.
Thanks for your words of encouragement. Safe riding.

* Last updated by: viperkillertt on 10/12/2011 @ 10:37 AM *

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I have now had my 14 for 3 weeks and had a chance to check gas milage. The first 2 tanks were getting 36-37 mpg. Now I am getting just above 38 mpg. This is a stock to the bone 2006. I think that is pretty good considering my zzr600 got around 42mpg. I also have a 2007 boulevard M109 that gets 38-40 mpg, while my 2006 M109 got 40-43 mpg. Both of the boulevards depended on the type of driving. Either way, it sure beats the 14-15 mpg that the Ford Lightning gets.

Good one Black!I've had mine as high as 42...once or twice.

Yeah, my supra got 14-16 around town, so i quite complaining after a while. I am pretty certain the cams are off by 1-2 teeth and that is my problem. Not certain, but since i thought about it, it would make a lot of sense with the instant popping that occurs every time i get off the throttle. Some fuel is being sprayed after TDC so it is just being partially burnt in the exhaust. I bought a new house 4 days ago with a 4 car garage, so i will have lots of space to work on the bike this winter. It is attached and mostly insulated, it will be very comfy to work in this winter.

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I would go to a shop with a dyno and see what kind of HP you are putting out. If there are any real problems they will show themselves on the dyno. If you are severely under, there is a real problem, and you might want to let them deal with it. If you have normal numbers then ride it and don't worry about it. You have a $13,000 motorcycle that puts out 150HP/liter. Why would you expect great gas mileage? Maybe you should consider buying something else? I had a ZX-11 with a full Vance and Hines that put out 131HP at the wheel and got 50+ MPG...

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<q>You have a $13,000 motorcycle that puts out 150HP/liter. Why would you expect great gas mileage? Maybe you should consider buying something else? I had a ZX-11 with a full Vance and Hines that put out 131HP at the wheel and got 50+ MPG...</q>
Please people, stop telling me i have the wrong bike. I love the bike, but when fuel economy does not correspond to your bike or riding style, then something is wrong. I love this bike, but i know something is wrong and that is why i am fixing it. This bike should be getting over 35MPG on freeway. That is what my old superhawk got and i am completely happy with that. It does not though and i am going to fix it!
Next spring i expect to have great new results after a winter tear down.

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Hay viper if you can take videos as you rip her apart and fix the problem maybe you can help someone else out!

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No problem.
I am simply going to start by taking the valve cover off and seeing where the timing marks are. I have the feeling they are off. I might also purchase a new cam chain and check the valves while i am in there. only 14k on the bike now, so not really necessary, but why not. How easy is it to drop the motor? Changing the spark plugs were a B****h! I don't think i want to do any more work with the engine in the bike. Maybe this would be simpler, i have not started yet obviously.

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