Using the power of compounding to improve motorbike's fuel economy.
The most popular question in India to ask about an automobile is, what's the mileage of the vehicle? Even if it's a luxury vehicle where the cost of fuel consumption is a tiny fraction of the cost of vehicle itself. We are so obsessed with the mileage figures.
While thinking about the power of compounding a thought came to my mind whether this can be employed to improve my motorbikes fuel economy?
There was very less chance of any breakdown but a high chance of reward. That is, the risk reward ratio was favourable. So I instantly started working on it.
There were 10 areas where I worked, each giving the fuel economy rise of roughly 2 to 5%, Well I estimated the figures roughly with experiments.
Though the experiments were rough for these small parameters the total outcome was solid.
Starting point-
Commuter motor bike-
Engine specification-
110cc single cylinder,
4 stroke,
natural air cooled,
long stroke,
8.1hp,
4 speed gear box,
Carburetted,
Chain drive
Starting mileage (average fuel economy)-
60kmpl (kilometres per litre of petrol (gasoline))
Mileage improving measures taken along with the reasoning-
1) Reduced braking-
This is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about increasing the mileage of the motorbike because we burn fuel to increase our kinetic energy, but when we apply brakes this kinetic energy is converted to heat energy and wasted to the atmosphere. (Ever touched the brake drums or brake discs after stopping? If not, then try it but cautiously to avoid burn injuries. That is why there ventilated discs, to dissipate waste heat quickly to the atmosphere.) So to reduce braking is the obvious first thing to do.
How to reduce braking?
Just think that your vehicle does not have any brakes.
Not even the engine braking is possible. No excuses except absolute emergency. You will automatically find the ways to reduce braking.
(Engine braking is when we use engine friction to reduce speed of the vehicle e.g. closing the throttle, or downshifting the gears. This kind of braking also wastes energy.)
Common sense tells to plan the journey in advance and slowly reduce the throttle before the planned stop, so as to automatically reduce the speed to zero without applying brakes.
Reduced braking alone has the most impact on the fuel economy. Simple thing to keep in mind is braking wastes fuel.
2) More use of higher gears-
The sole purpose of gears is to increase the efficiency of the vehicle in different operating conditions and performance requirement.
So make the best use of it, try maintaining that speed where your vehicle is in the top gear and engine is feeling comfortable, that is producing maximum torque. This speed varies as per the characteristics of the vehicle. So you have to use your own judgement.
Keep it in mind, the higher the gear along with comfortable engine RPM, the better is the fuel economy.
3) Slow and steady acceleration coupled with constant speed-
Opening throttle slowly as the vehicle picks up the speed is the right way to use the fuel. Most people do the opposite, that is they open the throttle much more at start and start closing it once the vehicle gains speed quickly. But this is a bad thing if you want better fuel economy. Instead do the opposite. Open the throttle as minimum as possible.
The throttle is the fuel tap at your hand, you will burn fuel as much as you open it. So if you want to burn less fuel then open the tap as minimum as possible.
Maintaining constant speed-
This is a very crucial point. Most people find it very difficult to do in city traffic where constant stream of obstacles like speed breakers, cross roads, traffic signals, pedestrians, rash driving of people, mistakes of drivers etc are there.
On the highways it is easy to maintain a constant speed.
If you want to maintain a constant speed then you will have to use your brains logical thinking a little more.
Do you know, it is possible to avoid traffic signals?
You must be thinking yes, by taking alternate rout. But what if the alternate rout is a very long one? Sometimes a little longer with less obstacles may conserve your fuel.
But there is another way- An information of the traffic signal system.
Do you know that traffic signals are programmed to work in unison? They are programmed by keeping in mind an average speed of the traffic on roads. They are programmed in such a way that they permit the smooth non stop flow of traffic. We just have to know that speed, and the easiest way is to look at the roadside sign boards. The speed they tell us to maintain is the speed you should go. If you start driving with that speed you will see all the signal magically turning green when you arrive.
This phenomenon indeed looks magical to most people, who sit pillion with me. But now you know the secret.
But what if there are no signals or no sign boards? Simply just estimate the average speed of the traffic roughly and drive with that speed. If you do it then there will be minimum vehicles overtaking you, also you will be overtaking the minimum number of vehicles. So you can maintain a constant speed.
Keep the throttle as steady as possible.
4) Maintaining the good quality of engine oil-
Engine oil is a very important part of the fuel economy equation.
A good quality engine oil minimizes friction, dampen vibrations, keeps the engine cooler by spreading the heat and reduced friction also results in the lower heat generation.
All these things increase the life of engine, reduce the breakdowns or the repairs needed and lower the fuel consumption.
Though good quality engine oils are costlier, they are worth the cost. They save much more in the fuel saved and they save a lot when break down headache is concerned.
In my case using a different engine oil was a breach in the insurance contract, so I let the service centre guys fill company recommended fuel, but on taking my bike home I pour some wear resistant engine oil additive.
After filling good quality engine oil or a wear resistant additive to the engine oil you will quickly feel the change in the smoothness of engine in carburetted bikes.
5) Keeping the drive chain clean and lubricated-
The drive chain is the link between engine and rear wheel, through which power is transmitted. The drive chain is made of small links, these are always in the motion, friction and under tension, exposed to atmosphere.
They encounter centrifugal force when motorbike is moving therefore any lubricant applied to them have tendency to get removed because of centrifugal force as the speed of the motorbike increases. On top of that, because of the sticky nature of the lubricant and exposure to atmosphere, dust and dirt easily cling to the chain, increasing the friction, damaging the chain. So if you are a daily user of a motorbike, you should lubricated the drive chain weekly, inspect for any dust or dirt accumulation and clean whenever necessary.
6) Keeping proper air pressure in the tyres-
The tyres bear all the weight of the vehicle plus the rider plus any luggage. The whole weight is spread on only a few square inches of the tyre surface. There has to be enough air pressure in tyre so that only the required amount of area comes in contact of the road.
Lesser this area, lesser will be the friction.
But that does not mean you can put a bicycle tyre on a motorbike to improve fuel economy. The manufacturers have generally estimated the most efficient size of tyres, because the tyre has to sustain the weight of the loaded vehicle plus the power of the engine and braking forces.
So the only thing which remains in our hands is to keep the tyre pressure recommended so as to keep a minimum area of tyre in contact of the road.
It also prevents the overheating of the tyres.
To check the frictional losses you can spot any slope in your daily rout and ride it with the engine OFF, in neutral, and check out the max speed it gains and the distance it travels without the aid of the engine. You will quickly come to know when there is need for chain lubrication and tyre air pressure checking or if there is anything else wrong.
7) Filling the petrol (gasoline) from best fuel station-
Though the type of fuel is same i.e. petrol (gasoline), the chemical composition of the fuel changes with the refiner. This is because of a number of factors like, different crude oil sources(the composition of crude oil is itself different in different parts of the world), then there is different refining machineries, layouts, parameters used etc. Therefore the vehicle's mileage changes with the manufactures. Then comes the fuel stations, their machinery for fuel dispensing also changes, then the maintenance of that machinery is also different. Therefore the mileage also changes with different fuel stations, even if the refiner is the same. But be careful
8) Keeping the air fuel ratio at optimal i.e. tuning the carburettor for optimal ratio of air and fuel-
Some carburettors don't have this manual setting, they are tuned in the factory itself but in my case, I had to manually tune it for optimum efficiency.
Tuning the carburettor is very simple and needs only 5 to 10 minutes and a screw driver. You just need to know which screw is for idling adjustment and which one is for the ratio adjustment. You can refer your motorbike's manual or ask a knowledgeable person.
First start the engine, warm it up if starts from the cold, keep it in the idling condition, if it stalls then raise the idling speed by rotating the idling screw of carburettor clockwise. Then start working on the ratio adjustment screw. First start rotating it on the clockwise direction so as to tighten it till engine is just about to stall, then slowly start rotating it anticlockwise, and observe the rpm rising, then it increases to a maximum value and then begins to fall on further loosening. Again tight it a little bit till that maximum RPM. This maximum RPM is where the ratio is optimum. Then go to the next point.
9) Reducing the idle RPM to lowest possible-
After completing the above step again go to the idling screw. Loosen this screw till the engine just remains in the running condition. Any more speed wastes our precious fuel and money.
10) Keeping the spark plug clean-
Spark plug does the job of igniting the air fuel mixture. It gets dirty because of deposition of carbon. As it goes dirty it can not produce the sparks efficiently. As a result the fuel doesn't burn properly. Again as a result more carbon is deposited on the spark plug. And this build up goes on till we get fed up of the starting problem and clean the spark plug.
Now you must be thinking what is the role of the power of compounding in here??
You can observe here that each parameter itself is acting like a simple interest. For example, if good quality engine oil can give you a rise in mileage of 5% then you will get that 5% rise on all the fuel burnt. In the same way, if you only keep the drive chain lubricated and don't do anything else then the same thing will happen. Suppose in both the cases the mileage rise is 5%. But when you combine these 2 things together their effective rise in mileage is not just 10% but it is more than 10%, this happens because-
When the first effort(good quality engine oil) increases the starting mileage say A to increased mileage say B, the second effort(drive chain lubrication) increases the B further to C. Now again the same thing happens in reverse too. That is the first effort also increases the increase in the mileage because of the second effort. This way they help each other increasing their output.
And this my friends is the power of compounding.
Now imagine such 10 interdependent systems in action. Their combined output will do wonders.
In my case friends, these 10 efforts increased my bike's mileage from 60 km per litre to,
Hold your breath,
An astounding figure of 90 km per litre.
That's the magic of power of compounding.
A massive increase of 50% in the mileage.
Do it and check it yourself.
Sumit
The POWER is when,
you use ODDS
to get EVEN..
