Yamaha C3, Warts and All

On Wednesday I had my 600-mile break-in service done.  After I filled up on Thursday ($3.86), I’ve been pushing the C3 hard to test its limits.  For the first time, I ran into the RPM-limiter.

At what I believe is 8000 rpm, the throttle just stops responding.  I read about this when searching for aftermarket parts, but now I can’t find it again.  (It was an aftermarket computer that listed one of its features as removing the 8000-rpm limit.)  I tried letting off the throttle a bit, but that didn’t change anything – I kept running at full speed down a steep hill, with gravity overcoming the drag of the engine.  Letting the throttle completely off slowed the bike enough to get throttle response back.  This isn’t a bad thing, but it was disconcerting the first time it happened, so be ready for it.

I pushed cornering pretty hard, but not to full.  I’m still not a good enough rider to deal with the consequences of a bad corner, so I played it safe.  The C3 had no troubles – very smooth, very stable, and even a bit of braking in the middle of the turn didn’t cause any issues.  I feel comfortable maneuvering now.

Acceleration at full throttle is good – good enough so that cars don’t feel the need to immediately pass me, until I cap out my speed and they realize that I am going slow.  At which point they generally floor the accelerator and race around me in an insane blaze of burning gasoline, only to brake hard at the next light.  It would be funny if it wasn’t so frightening.

The C3 runs easily at full throttle, and this does not seem to be straining or stressing the engine at all – it feels good, and the bike seems happy to run at that speed.  I’m going to do a better test today, because I’m going to ride to my Mom’s place in Fayetteville – should be about a two-hour ride.  Hopefully the evil sun will stay mostly behind the clouds.  I’m also interested in my fuel efficiency at that speed and RPM – so far on this tank, I look to be tracking for about 110mpg, but we’ll have to see how it plays out on the trip.  Last tank was 120 miles on .95 gallons.  I’m willing to bet that if I push hard with the basic hypermiling techniques, I can get it up to 130 mpg.  Unfortunately, the engine gets in the way of this, since it’s very difficult to coast – you can’t disconnect the transmission from the engine, so even down a steep hill, if you let off the gas you will feel the engine drag.  I need to find out if I can shut the engine off while coasting without risking damage.

Enough talk – off to ride to Fayetteville.