I thought I'd safely finished this section of the Honda era, but no, there appears more to tell.

A new member to the Gippsland Central Ulysses group (Adrian) tracked me down from my web site rambles, as he has the same bike I used to have and he's on L's as well.

The issues that prompts me to write this article are that of:

1. Fuel economy, and
2. Fifth gear.

When I had the bike I could travel no more than 130km before I'd have to switch over to reserve. Adrian informs me that he gets 180km before that happens. Now that's a large difference to which I have no answer. Adrian also informs me that he can use fifth gear. In the 75,000 km I travelled on that bike, I swear that I only used fifth gear for about 500 km.

There are possibly two solutions to the discrepancy:

1. The engine is more effecient, and hence generates a few more kilowatts, or,
2. Adrian is a lot lighter than me.

I suspect it's a combination of both, but that sure didn't help me in 'The Outback'.

I can remember, (yes I can), that if I slowed down to 90 kph or slower that the fuel economy went up enormously. Seems I had the bike flat out just keeping 100 kph. I guess that little bit of extra speed put the bike over the edge of its design criteria.

I'm still impressed at Adrians figures.