Intermittent Lack of Power

[gzlocal]

Correctamundo! That's the beasty! :rawk:

Thanks for all the suggestions, I appreciate all the help on this forum. I'll have to try the gas vent just in case. Thing is it's hard to tell whether or not it's going to do that until I start climbing the hill. So I'd have to stop, shut off the bike, remove the cap, go back down the hill, get up to the same speed and try to climb it again. Based on its behavior, it could very well have resolved itself at that time and climb the hill fine. I wouldn't know if it was because it was happy again or because of the cap. I'm telling you it has a personality!

[greatmaul]

Um... I'm no expert on the mechanicals of the GZ, but I'd be interested if, before each trip, you would check wind speed and direction on the internet. Lots of weather sites have them. I've found that when I'm riding I can barely notice wind at all unless it's practically gale force, but I do notice it on the speedometer.

Some days on the same stretch, I can barely keep it above 50 in 5th, and some other days I'm flying at 60-65. When I go back and research, there was a wind. It may be from the north or from the south, but it was there. It really annoys me. Oh, and I'm a commuter, too, but not daily. More like twice a week or so.

[mrlmd1]

You don't have top remove the cap completely, just crack it open to break any vacuum. If that's the problem you will notice an immediate difference in the engine picking up revs.
If you are losing power going up a long steep hill, just shift down to 4th gear to maintain your power. You may be running out of torque to maintain the speed up a long hill in 5th, and this is a characteristic of the bike, or any low powered vehicle.

[gzlocal]

Yea, I usually lose a few MPH's going up the hill, but some days it's very noticeable. I know it was very windy, so maybe there was a wind I wasn't sure about, but I don't think the wind direction would have been south to north, the front was moving in from the west. But I'm not sure. I can't look it up now, all the forecasts I can find are from today onwards.

I can't explain all the other days. It does feel like it has an all around lack of power, but I can't really confirm it until I hit that hill, so I can't accurately say if it was windy all those other days. I did think about that as a factor, but I don't recall any particularly windy days. They are usually just blustery, not really constant winds here.

I guess I need to find a way to fit a Chevy 350 inside it. Anyone got a shoehorn? :lol:

[mrlmd1]

Do you have the problem with a loss of power if you are riding along a flat road at 60-65mph or only when you go up that long hill?
There may be absolutely nothing wrong with the bike.

[gzlocal]

It seems to have more difficulty getting past 55. I can normally twist the throttle under normal circumstances on flat ground and accelerate in 5th relatively quickly. But when it acts up, it's much more sluggish. I can twist the throttle and there's nothing left.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

You don't have top remove the cap completely, just crack it open to break any vacuum.

So don't forget to ride with your spare key in the fuel cap lock. :whistle:

[gzlocal]

Originally Posted by alantf

So don't forget to ride with your spare key in the fuel cap lock. :whistle:

Exactly what I was thinking quietly to myself.... :retard:

[greatmaul]

one way I've found to test the wind effect... after struggling on the freeway for an hour and a half trying to maintain 55+ I'll suddenly get to the city and I'll be surrounded by cars and big rigs galore, so the effective wind break is super magnified. All of a sudden, I can cruise at 75mph with no problems, and that is all uphill, downhill, every single direction. The only difference I can see there is that it isn't just me against the wind.

Even if there isn't wind, if you're on a wide open road, you're fighting your own wind resistance unless you have a truck or something in front of you to break it up.

[gzlocal]

Yea, I try to hunch up when I approach hills to make it as easy as possible on the bike, but it seems to make little difference. It seems fine everywhere else. I stay well away from large trucks because they tend to throw me around a lot. I'm 6'0" and 160 lbs, so I get thrown around a lot on my tiny bike. I may invest in a small windshield and duck behind it, but I've heard some folks say it helps and some say it hurts MPG and top speed. So I haven't decided yet. I'm really wanting to wait until that magical 4000-5000 mile interval when the "true" break in period ends. This is when most people say they gain a lot of pep in their GZ, so I'm waiting until that happens before I do any carb mods or alter anything on the bike that may affect performance.

Did any of you guys experience a smoothing out, gain of pep, top end, etc. at the 5000 mile interval or thereabouts?