KymcoForum.com

My K-Pipe's odometer just rolled over to four digits today. Those are miles, not kilometers. One thing I noticed when it rolled over from 999 to 1000 is the thousand digit popped up the left. Any idea how high the odometer can register? There's room on the display for at least two more digits there! Who knows, maybe I can be take pics when my K-Pipe racks up 10,000 miles and again at 100,000 miles.

I've noticed that my bike's gas mileage gets a little better with each tank. I averaged 99.7 mpg on the last tank; I'm sure it'll be over 100 mpg when I fill up again. And that's with stock gearing.

What's the shifter look like on your 2017? Just curious; you probably know from reading posts here that the 2016 models had a linkage kit added to basically reverse the shift pattern the bike came with. I'm just curious if it's still that way on the 2017 model.

There are some clever, bold folks here who have done things with their K-Pipes, like changing the gearing. I'm trying to resist until I get a few more miles on mine. I'd like a higher top end, but I don't like how it already struggles on hills even with the stock gearing. I do like the 93-95 mpg I'm seeing so far. The one thing I've done was remove the Kymco lettering off the tank. The all-caps lettering just looked too generic and clunky to me, and I prefer a naked look on any bike. I also removed the K-Pipe logo that's under the seat. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't removed the K-Pipe decals; I especially wish I hadn't used acetone to clean up glue spots, as I found out the black there is a thin layer of black paint over a white plastic, and comes off easily. Luckily, it's a generic flat black.

I am looking for suggestions for a windshield. The only one I've seen pictured on a K-Pipe is the Puig Rafale, which isn't for me.

What? Shop manual inaccurate? Take a look at the specs on pages 1.1, 2.1, and 6.1 in the shop manual and decide which set of valve clearance numbers printed on each of those three pages is the right one. However, I do have to think that since this engine type is popular in a lot of countries where the bike owners have more important things to fret about than optimum valve clearance, it's a fairly robust engine, and maybe I worry too much. Maybe the specs are just guidelines.

You and I were in the same mood the other day, Woodsrat. I took my Pipe over to my cabin in Ohio's Hocking Hills area. (One of the reasons I wanted a Monkey Bike was I wanted something light I could easily load in the back of my truck by myself and haul there). It's hilly there also; I was down to second gear a lot of times before peaking a hill. I did discover that the bike is skittish on gravel; I probably should have realized that would be a problem on such a light bike with skinny tires. I tried going down a very steep hill on a gravel road and quickly realized I was skating, not slowing, as soon as I applied the brakes. I ended up sideways before somehow, impressively, getting stopped without dropping the bike. Going back up the hill, I had to waddle-walk the bike, since the back tire was bucking and washboarding as it tried to gain traction on the gravel.

Believe it or not, I'm not complaining. As soon as I got back on level ground, I began thinking how much worse my day could have been had I been on the Kawasaki Concours that I used to have, one of the older ones with that huge, 7-gallon belly gas tank. I think I would have been in a world of pain on that road on that bike.

Third and final results from me:

80 miles at 0.843 gallons to refill for 95 mpg. No mods, getting ready to do that 300 mile initial valve adjustment.

Results from my first full tank. I'm 6 foot, 180 lbs. I really tried following the user manual guidelines about taking it easy at first and varying the speed:

The fuel gauge began flashing consistently at 73 miles. It took .836 gallons to refill the tank. If I'm figuring this correctly, that's about 87 mpg, which isn't bad. I haven't yet calibrated the odometer against GPS, however, I have checked the speedometer against a mapping app on my phone and my bike's speedometer is surprisingly accurate; compared with a speedometer top speed of 54 mph, the app registered 52 mph as the real top speed.

The manual says to use 91 octane or higher. Somewhere in my mind I recall that Asian 91 octane is the same as our 87 octane. (And honestly, I'm not sure I take anything in that manual as being 100 percent accurate). Anyway, I ended up putting regular 87 octane in mine mainly because I forgot to do otherwise. Am I remembering correctly on the octane difference? What octane are you guys running?

Also, looking at that petcock. There's only two positions there; I'm old-school and used to three positions on my petcocks--On, Off, and Reserve. So, on the K-Pipe, are the positions On and Off, or On and Reserve?

Thanks. More I look at the listing, maybe these actually are pics of the 2017 K-Pipe there. Here's the link:

https://ocala.craigslist.org/mcd/6064993705.html

Glad I ran across this forum! I was at a dealer today and looked at the K-Pipe. A couple of questions:

The dealership had three 2016 models on the floor. I asked about the 2017s, and the guy I spoke with said they were available, but the dealership wouldn't be ordering any until all the 2016s were sold. He offered $200 off, bringing it to around $2,000 out the door. Of course I'd like to pay less, but what's a reasonable offer on last year's model?

He said the two clear lights in the tank plastic are running lights. I get the impression from reading the posts here that that's not correct, that they're actually where the turn signals are for the rest of the world. Right or wrong?

Finally, he said the shift pattern is four-down. I questioned that, and judging from what I've read here, that has something to do with a recall? What's the deal, is this bike supposed to have that shift pattern, or does that mean it's an older, pre-recall model?

Would you take it, or instead wait for a 2017 model to become available?

Thanks.