Poor Fuel Economy... 26mpg! HELP!

BigJim.....I'll following up on your suggestion of spraying some carb cleaner in the intakes and then try starting the bike again. Good idea. Last Nov I did spray out the 4 carb intakes in sequence while the engine was running. Not enough to stall the engine,...but just enough to know that the engine sputtered for a second or two. I did this about 5 times into each intake. Also, before remounting the tank, I poured most of the 5 gallons out into a jug and put it into my car's tank. One mistake I made BEFORE removing the tank was pulling into a gas station and filling up the tank. That made the removal of the tank a lot more difficult. I guess it's possible that the fuel level in the tank was just too low, and my '93 does not have a reserve setting on the petcock. It's either ON or OFF. I'll also try hooking my funnel/gas hose setup back in place once the tank is removed. That way I can bleed any air out of the gas line running back to the pump and ensure that I have solid fuel from the funnel to the pump itself. This time, however, I'll be using just 100% fuel rather then the SeaFoam/fuel mixture. The bike did start running for 2-3 seconds around the 5th attempt....and each attempt after that. It just couldn't stay running. What caught my attention, though, was the fact that after that many attempts at starting the bike I still could not smell fuel. Usually, attempting to start an engine multiple times in a row results in a flooded carb situation,....and you can always smell the excess gas. Thanks for you help, Jim.

 

Back in my mechanic days we had a saying "If you need to test ride it the tank will be empty and if you need to pull the tank it will be full."

Is your bike equipped with a vacuum petcock? Do you have a fuel pump? I am only antiquated with the 1st and 5th generation VFRs but both of these could be causing you not to have fuel in the carbs.