Long rides and your GT750

[h2okettle]

" Another thing I did was adjust the oil pump rod as far to the rear as it would go. " I do the same exact thing as you and couldn't agree more. But, watch mentioning that on here. There are people on here that insist on manufacturer suggestions, per oil specifications nearly 40 years ago. What do you mean, you ran an extra fuel cell ? You strapped a small fuel jug to the luggage rack, for reserve ? Awesome story.

The first time I mentioned about leaning the over rich oil pump, I did did negative feedback from the professionals.. Before I posted it though I had already rode over 40K miles this way.. Figured I better have some R&D time to report with.. Still, I may get flack from it, but I figure I have the miles and trouble free engine to back me up.. I have probably wasted more injector oil by myself, than most of the board combined..

On my rear luggage rack I mounted a 2.5 gallon fuel cell.. The kind a race car would use.. Small black plastic with large opening on top, foam filled, so it would not slosh.. I had a vent hose from the top and for my fuel line I drilled a hole in the bottom corner and used a Russels fitting to screw my hose to.. Then a fuel line that ran along the right edge of the frame.. Right at the edge of the tank on the right side, I hooked an on/off lever valve with a 90 degree elbow and fuel line heading under the tank to tie into the single fuel line with a brass T.. It was gravity fed as the tank on the rack is higher.. I would run the front tank until it ran out and was ready for reserve. At that time I would turn on the fuel cell.. I would continue riding until it ran out of fuel again, then turn the stock tank reserve on.. Then I looked for a gas station.. I would usually get 200 miles by that time…

Allen…. Rides without adult supervision !!!

[pearljam724]

If, you have them available. I'd like to see pictures of exactly what you configured with the hose connections and the petcock. Fittings, etc. The most impressive thing to me about your trip. Would be the fact that you did it 2 - up on a bike with less than 60 hp. It's a challenge in its self to ride with a passenger on a larger and more powerful bike a very long distance. I know the bike was laboring big time up some mountain summits, lol. Then you would have to throw in higher altitudes affecting power. Did you change your jets often, depending on that day's terrain ?

[GT750Battleship]

Hi....in 1976 I rode a GT750M from Sydney to Perth...petrol stations in those days were a L O N G way apart...so the solution was to buy a second hand fuel tank..weld a new section on top,to give me nearly 24 litres of fuel,over the stock 17 litres. It looked very ugly,but served its purpose really well...typical GT750 performance,not one bit of trouble on that trip.....not even a flat tire !
Cheers,
Roger.

[h2okettle]

If, you have them available. I'd like to see pictures of exactly what you configured with the hose connections and the petcock. Fittings, etc. The most impressive thing to me about your trip. Would be the fact that you did it 2 - up on a bike with less than 60 hp. It's a challenge in its self to ride with a passenger on a larger and more powerful bike a very long distance. I know the bike was laboring big time up some mountain summits, lol. Then you would have to throw in higher altitudes affecting power. Did you change your jets often, depending on that day's terrain ?

I could not find a picture of the setup showing the hose routing and valve.. I do have the cell and hoses off now, but can lay it out on the ground showing how it looked.. Email me at twowheelsonly@knology.net .. Just put GT750 in the heading, I can take the pictures to send to you from my phone.. I don't know how to post pictures on the board. Sorta stuck in 8 track world, and just happy I can send emails..

Yeah, the mountain part of the ride was a little more interesting.. Up around the 6-7K foot mark was not so bad.. Just smoked more… Now when we climbed Pikes Peak in Colorado, that was a challenge… The higher we got the more throttle and dropping gear selection lower.. There is a rest area/store about two thirds up the mountain, and we had to stop.. The bike temp was climbing fast and it spit out some water.. Never got into the red, but the bike was not happy… After about a 30 minute wait, the temperature was back down low.. We took off again and never got out of 2 second gear after the 10k foot mark, where the tree line stops… Also remember my sprockets were 15/43, stock was 15/47.. The closer we got to the top I finally put it into first gear, partly because it was bogging from the slow cars being in front of us.. When we got to the top, we pulled up in front of the sign that read Pikes Peak 14,100 feet….. A big accomplishment for the bike, being loaded down with two full saddlebags, tour box on top, and 2 people..
As far as carburetor jetting, The bike still had the factory jets in it, and the needle in the stock position.. Stock air box and filter… Never changed any of those (except air filter) in all the miles I put on the bike.. The only time it had any issues was when the bike got over 8K feet… You could feel the power loss, but I just downshifted as needed..

Allen…. smokeless an desperate !!

[T350guy]

Great Story

[lasse]

You guys are making it way more complicated to do a bike trip that needs be!

Went to Italy on my T500 last year as it was stock, no issues, lovely trip, done so for 4 years!

[h2okettle]

You guys are making it way more complicated to do a bike trip that needs be!

Went to Italy on my T500 last year as it was stock, no issues, lovely trip, done so for 4 years!

Not sure what you mean by "more complicated"… My fuel cell was for iron butt rides where I have a short time to make a long distance.. I had 50 hours to go from the Atlantic to the pacific.. Extra fuel is needed for the close to 100 miles between gas stops.. At the speeds I was traveling my stock fuel tank range was not much over 100 miles before hitting reserve. Riding 1200 mile days to do this would be tough if not impossible to do without extra fuel... You ride a T500, so you know…
Anyway, I would like to hear more about your Italy ride on a T500… That is very impressive !!

Allen….. Rideaholic !!!

[pearljam724]

You guys are making it way more complicated to do a bike trip that needs be!

Went to Italy on my T500 last year as it was stock, no issues, lovely trip, done so for 4 years!

Not sure what you mean by "more complicated"… My fuel cell was for iron butt rides where I have a short time to make a long distance.. I had 50 hours to go from the Atlantic to the pacific.. Extra fuel is needed for the close to 100 miles between gas stops.. At the speeds I was traveling my stock fuel tank range was not much over 100 miles before hitting reserve. Riding 1200 mile days to do this would be tough if not impossible to do without extra fuel... You ride a T500, so you know…
Anyway, I would like to hear more about your Italy ride on a T500… That is very impressive !!

Allen….. Rideaholic !!!

Your fuel cell idea is a fantastic one, Allen. I ride a lot myself in very remote places. Gas stations are always far in between. These places are very hard to resist cracking the throttle. Lots of steep inclines with hair pins, switchbacks, etc. Often, I'm sweating bullets hoping I can make it to a fuel stop before the motor stalls. I believe, using your idea. I may configure something to put on the back of both of my GT's. They both have the handy dealer option rear rack. If I can only find a suitable tank to be secured back there. I'm thinking of finding something similar to a tank that is added to an outboard fishing boat. I'd like it to be 1 - 2 gallons. Not any bigger. But, it really wouldn't make any sense to hook the reserve up to the main tank if I only have 1-2 gallons strapped to the back. I could just poor it in, if I need it. Regardless, of how one inputs throttle. These bikes are not very good on fuel. Especially, should you ride in a mountain region. I would like to find a very small flat tank that I could strap to the back.

[h2okettle]

The lack of fuel stops out west will make you nervous… Also sometimes I would just head down some old road to see where it goes.. I try to make sure I start with a full tank just incase there are no gas stations… When we we out in Montana riding the back roads, fuel stops were spread far apart.. Even when I jumped over to the interstate for fuel, I could go 60 miles before I found fuel… I had been used to the East coast where gas stations are plentiful..
If your not planning to plumb it into your fuel line, then just a 1- 2 gallon gas tank would be the easiest to use.. It already has a pour spout as a boat tank will not.. A 1 gallon tank would be better also, as when I had the 2.5 gallon fuel cell, I cracked the arms of the luggage rack with the weight, after a time..I had the rack re welded, and had rebar put into the tubes before welding.. The factory racks are thin chrome tubing.. Later I found a rear rack that had bracing bars that hooked to the tag bracket.. This supported the rack much better…


Allen…. Have fuel, will travel !!