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CTX700 100 mpg in Vetter Challenge

gregsfc

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I recently competed in the 2014 AMA Vintage Days Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge in Lexington, OH with my 2014 CTX700 standard transmission and brakes with a 12" Madstad adjustable screen, a removed muffler with only a straight, 14" 1 1/2" o.d. aluminized pipe extension, and a Dewalt DWST08204 Toughsystem box strapped to the pillion part of the seat directly behind me. The rest of my bike is fully stock. I sure wish there had been some NC700Xs and more stock bikes in the competition, but at least there were some of us there riding with the super-slick, streamlined machines.

I've been riding with this same set up commuting to work and this summer I've been really doing well with respect to fuel economy. I have been averaging around 79 mpg since the temps got warm. Winter time was more like around 70 mpg for my commutes.

Previously, at one of the other Vetter fuel challenges @ Quail, there was a brand-new, decked-out NC700XD in the competition that finished the contest at around 70.5 mpg. I felt like our power train could far exceed that number and I was hoping through tucking and keeping myself in a high gear with the straight-shift version of this bike, I could come in around 80-85 and really show what this bike could do in a real world test.

I don't know what happened. Everything was legitimate, the ride was not all that different than going on a group ride back home except somewhat faster than a group ride, but after riding over 70 miles, I still had not lost a bar on the fuel gauge. Evidently the tucking on the highway stretches was making a big difference. When I got to the end and pulled into the station @ 150.1 on my odometer, I had lost only two bars and knew that I had the best tank I'd ever had, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw next...I filled up the tank, and it took only 1.512 gallons. I applied my normal 2.3% odometer error and came up with 97 mpg. But the official results improved on my own records, because they decided that our distance was 154, and thus my number came out @ 101.81 mpg, which beat a Suzuki DR200 by 20 mpg and all the other stock bikes and scooters by a long shot. This ride was slowed some by traffic, construction and going through some small towns, but it had alot of 60-65 mph stretches and even one interstate stretch @ 70 mph. Alot of stop-and-go, which I thought would have hurt me some.

Here are the results of the event:

2014 Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge, Vintage Days

Notice from the table that I nearly got the same mpg as Craig Vetter himself who rides a streamlined Honda Helix. I missed his score only by 1.5 mpg.

Later on Craig says he will highlight my CTX700 on the above linked page.

Too bad I laid my bike over in Columbus, OH on the way home, but it's already in the shop, and I'm nearly healed too.
 

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Sorry about the down you had.I avoid columbus like the plage.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
WOW!! Congats, on getting those MPG's. Only time I came that close I was come down out of the Sierra's. Sorry to hear about laying her down. At least you're ok and getting the bike fixed.
 
I absolutely enjoyed your post and send my congratulations! The best I ever achieved was 94.5 mpg. That was riding a steady 45-50 mph on a road that had no stops.
 
Congratulations. Like they* say, Pain Heals, Chicks Dig Scars and Glory Lasts Forever. Over 100 MPG with basically a stock bike is pretty glorious. Great job. :cool:

Goose The NC wanabe

*Well, Keanu Reeves in "The Replacments" says.
 
Awesome job, and a great story. My best was same as dduelin's at 94.5 mpg over about 292 miles. You got some amazing mileage there. Let us know when Craig posts comments about your CTX.

I wanted to go to the Vintage Days. I hope to go one year soon, and I will certainly want to enter this "race". It wouldn't take much to be in the top 30% with the Honda 700.

Congrats! And thanks for showing the world what the Honda can do.
 
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Thanks for the feedback everyone. That's what it was all about for me. Showing anyone who might care how that there is a motorcycle out there that can do light touring duty and also put out big mpg numbers in the process. It's like hardly any compromise for the low fuel consumption. I knew the 670 could hold it's own with many 250 stock bikes on a mixed ride run with some highway stretches. Unfortunately, there were no stock 250s running, but there was a Vespa 200 and a DR200 and a few other larger bikes.

The electric Zero rider, Professor Richard Goff told me that he thinks that my box helped lower my drag. I told him that I always run with that box but with much lower mpg results, but I told him also that I never tuck while riding, and that, maybe, that was what allowed for the 100 mpg; maybe tucking in conjunction with the box gave me sort of a streamline effect without being streamlined.

One thing that was kind of cool. It was the first time I had run on a Vetter run. I had heard that Craig tries to pass people and disqualify them. I wanted to get out towards the front and run a steady speed and not have to worry about that steamlined Helix with the yellow strip on it getting by me w/o realizing it. That was my plan, but when it was time to line up, the veteran streamliner guys knew the cues and got out there in front of me. I found myself near the rear; both on the way out and to start back from the AMA Museum. I was then looking @ that yellow stripped-bike behind me in the mirror; only one or two vehicles back. In both instances, I waited until the counter traffic lane cleared and was in a passing zone, and then I just whipped by three or four PTWs and got up there near Fred Hayes; the "diesel man", who is smart and knows there is an advantage to being near the front. Now here is the cool part: The hills ain't like the hills where I live in TN, but there were some hills, and everytime we got about half way up one of those hills, I'd look in my mirrors and me and the two diesels started putting distance between ourselves and the rest of the group. We were led by a couple of Harleys, and then the diesels and then me, and those lesser torque vehicles sort of fell back while the torquey guys just maintained without even noticing. And the cool part is that these torquey vehicles not only allow for a more refined and enjoyable ride, but also stay up with much lesser-performing vehicles with respect to mpg.

I'll add to the thread when we get an update on Craig's webpage.
 
...I had heard that Craig tries to pass people and disqualify them. I wanted to get out towards the front and run a steady speed and not have to worry about that steamlined Helix with the yellow strip on it getting by me w/o realizing it...

Sorry, I don't quite understand this part. Do you mean there is a predetermined lowest speed allowable, and if Vetter passes you, it means you were going below the minimum speed? (I'm guessing only)
 
Sorry, I don't quite understand this part. Do you mean there is a predetermined lowest speed allowable, and if Vetter passes you, it means you were going below the minimum speed? (I'm guessing only)

Well; not exactly: Craig doesn't want folks laying back and playing hypermiling games. He wants the group to ride like people really ride, and so if you're laying back, or if you've got a machine that can't really keep up, even on a 70+ stretch, supposedly, he'll try and pass you, and you'll be disqualified. He starts out in the back.

It's not a pre determined lowest speed, but everyone is suppose to accelerate roughly the same and keep in tight with the pack, within reason of course and not be trying to get an advantage on others.

I don't know if he is really tough about all of this or if people who try to lay back are exaggerating. In our ride, near the end, I was up just behind one of the streamlined Ninjas (Alan Smith I think), Richard's Zero Electric, which is partially streamlined, and the Hayes diesel streamliner, which means I was fourth in line behind the Harleys that were leading and setting the pace. I was in real tight behind the Zero, and yet Craig passed me by squeezing in. I didn't think at this point that he was really trying to disqualify folks running that close up at the front. I think he just wanted to get up there with the other streamliners near the end of the ride, but I did get worried. I got in the passing lane and passed everyone but the diesel and rode up there till the end. Craig said nothing about it, so I guess, since this was near the end, he was just playing. But he did say, at the start of the event, that if he passes us, we were not in contention for placing. So generally, he is controlling and watching everyone from the rear and will pass someone if they are not playing "fair".
 
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Well; not exactly: Craig doesn't want folks laying back and playing hypermiling games. He wants the group to ride like people really ride, and so if you're laying back, or if you've got a machine that can't really keep up, even on a 70+ stretch, supposedly, he'll try and pass you, and you'll be disqualified. He starts out in the back.

It's not a pre determined lowest speed, but everyone is suppose to accelerate roughly the same and keep in tight with the pack, within reason of course and not be trying to get an advantage on others.

I don't know if he is really tough about all of this or if people who try to lay back are exaggerating. In our ride, near the end, I was up just behind one of the streamlined Ninjas (Alan Smith I think), Richard's Zero Electric, which is partially streamlined, and the Hayes diesel streamliner, which means I was fourth in line behind the Harleys that were leading and setting the pace. I was in real tight behind the Zero, and yet Craig passed me by squeezing in. I didn't think at this point that he was really trying to disqualify folks running that close up at the front. I think he just wanted to get up there with the other streamliners near the end of the ride, but I did get worried. I got in the passing lane and passed everyone but the diesel and rode up there till the end. Craig said nothing about it, so I guess, since this was near the end, he was just playing. But he did say, at the start of the event, that if he passes us, we were not in contention for placing. So generally, he is controlling and watching everyone from the rear and will pass someone if they are not playing "fair".

Thanks for your reply; that's pretty much spot on to what I was imagining, to answer my curiousity :D
 
My Bike Still not

I'm a little disappointed from the lack of attention and notice that me and my CTX700 got publicly from Craig on his website on the results page. He told me that he was going to highlight my bike and even include some quotes from the email I sent him. But after nearly one month--nothing! I know that he sort of got distracted a little, because he had his streamliner and his trailer stolen with only his streamliner recovered with some damage, and so I know that had to be the priority for a while, and now he is preparing for the next event, but even so, I sure thought that he would have some pics and some quotes from me on the AMA results page by now. I don't think it's going to happen at this point. I even sent him a couple of pics, so that it would be easy. He has updated the page. He moved all the text regarding his streamliner theft to that page but nothing else.

About one week after the event, I wrote him that what I wanted to get out of participating with them was to first of all: meet and ride with all the streamlining rider guys; secondly, to do well in the event to demonstrate how fuel efficient the stock CTX700 can be; and lastly, if I were to do well, have a little write up with pics. like he did when the NC700X rider showed up last year and managed 70.39 mpg to sort of show off the great engineering of this mid-sized Honda power train. I felt like, when I saw that write up regarding the NC700X that included a praise for Honda engineering, that it was somewhat under performing even though it was good enough to get singled out on the results page. I felt like, that if I could do significantly better, that it would sort of be an update to that last performance and better represent the possibilities with this power train in a straight shift; riding and equipping it smartly. Well--I did much better than I ever felt possible with this bike on this type of ride. I even came within 1.5 mpg of Craig's own streamlined Helix with a much more powerful stock motorcycle with much more drag and horsepower; and yet nothing but my raw numbers are shown on the results page.

Looking back at last year @ the Quail event, Craig not only highlighted the NC700X, but he also posted his results right up there with the top guys even though he couldn't carry groceries. Alternatively, Craig put me in the group with the other stock bikes, which were considered less worthy than bikes that did not finish. Reg Kittrelle used 2.13 times the amount of fuel by volume as the winner on that day at the Quail Challenge. I was able to use only 1.78 times the winner's fuel for the AMA, and so I not only did better with raw numbers, but I did better in comparison with the other riders at our particular event.

It was still worth going and competing and the event was fun, but the trip was sort of a hassle since I wasn't able to trailer it up there, and I laid it over coming home. It was nice to compete well in the event and to meet all of those guys. I wasn't disappointed about that part of it, but I sure wish that Craig had decided to highlight the 670 parallel twin and how amazingly efficient it is. That was part of the reason I went. To bring back some attention to the power train we own. It would have been satisfying to bring that back for you guys and gals and the one's over at the CTX700 forum as well.

2014 Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge, Vintage Days

2013 Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge at the Quail Gathering of Motorcycles
 
One correction to my last post. I was looking over the results and information at the 2013 Quail Challenge, and it looks like that the NC700X rider actually decided to carry the groceries instead of not carry them. In the latter case he would have been eliminated from a chance to win the competition. That's the way it was for me. I did not carry them, nor was I given the opportunity to try, and so that's why he was probably included in the top table, and I was not. The way the rules work is, that if you can carry them completely enclosed in your hard-body luggage compartments and keep all the groceries in the bags, and keep all the bags upright, then you don't have to carry them in the ride. But if you do fit them, but can't carry them as specified by the rules, then you can still compete to be a winner, you just have to carry them during the competition, which of course is a penalty in weight and drag compared to those who don't carry them.

In my case, Craig didn't actually bring groceries to the event or the pre meeting, and he did not even give anyone a chance to try to stuff them in our boxes. It was obvious that they wouldn't fit by the letter of the regulation in my box, but they probably would fit if I took them out of the bags, which I contend should be the only thing that matters. At any rate, it wouldn't have changed anything, because my main concern was to get a good score, and I would have opted not to carry the groceries if given the choice, however, I would like to have been able to show that I could carry 4 bags of groceries, even if I can't' carry them the way Craig wants us to carry them. It is my belief that top boxes and or saddle bags are even more convenient that being able to leave groceries in bags, because one can simply load their boxes or soft bags and when he or she gets home, he or she can just carry in the box or bag, but Craig doesn't see it that way. He thinks that the future of motorcycles would have a trunk-like luggage compartment, like those streamliners; they would not be easily portable like many top cases, side cases, and soft bags, and so he favors that type of convenience over what most motorcyclists actually have for luggage. It's his show and his rules, and it's also why only 4 stock bikes showed up to compete.
 
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