After a week without the bike, riding it home today in the high-40s temperature was wonderful. Taking it in for service fixed one minor nuisance issue [like my battery not lasting long enough] and one very large one. It seems that some time in the last few months, a small “rodent” [of what type, I’ll never know] either crawled or flew into the airbox where the air filter is and lodged there for a while. I doubt the creature survived the sub-freezing rides I made all winder, but it was certainly affecting my gas mileage and the smoothness of my engine. It left some kind of nest in there with hair/feathers or whatever it was. It was restricting the airflow substantially. Now, the engine can breathe the way it was intended and feels like it did when I first bought it.
I only recognize this now after the shop has cleaned all the mess out. “Oh, yeah – it rides much better now. Thank you!” Now, I’m back to 43+ miles per gallon.
So much for my observational skills…
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