Sure, Harley's suck, but...

[cueball]

Stay under 70

down here or it gets expensive Got busted south of the border last year, $488, 8 points in one hit and don't come back for 12 months not being able to drive in Victoria set me back absolute minimum $25k in lost income for the year Thinking of that makes it easy to stay very close to the limit. NSW, my side of the river, will let us go 4/5 mph over without tickets. Victoria only allows 2 mph and then they start writing

[Guy_b_g]

I have ridden many miles with a buddy that had a Road King.. probably somewhere around '01/ '02. He consistently got 52/53 mpg... but he also consistently did about 5 UNDER the speed limit.

I also had a buddy with a Road King when I was in upstate NY. No idea what mileage he got but he was a freakin' maniac on that thing...all you saw was showers of sparks at every corner...

[crazy steve]

.....HP isn't free, it requires more fuel and air to make more HP. A hopped up Harley engine making the same amount of horsepower as an XS11 probably isn't going to get very good mileage either (plus being less reliable).

And as stated, fuel injection helps too.

Seems to me I read somewhere that the shaft drive on the XS eats up about 10% of the available power; a chain or belt is something like 2%.

But I think that's only a small part of the story. I think it has way more to do with the fact that the XS (and most jap multis) use isolated runner intakes (no common plenum) with a carb for each cylinder and are overcarburated for the best fuel economy. Harley uses a single carb that only needs to be sized for one cylinder, as only one can be drawing though it at any given time. Much better for smoother, more even fuel atomization, even with the odd-ball HD firing order. I suspect if someone tried a properly-sized common plenum single-carb setup on a XS, mileage would go up a bunch although high rpm power would probably suffer.

For the record, my '93 1200 Sportster knocks down a consistant 50 mpg, and that's after I hopped it up to 85 RWHP. I got high 50s/low 60s when it was still stock and I've heard of guys getting up to 70 with a 883. The EFI they added to the late Harleys hasn't really done anything for mileage, but did help with emissions, cold starts, and low-rpm driveability. My kid's EFI '09 Sporty gets about the same mileage as my '93, but is much smoother at low speeds.

As far as HD reliability, mine has been bulletproof so far (7 years), and I beat the hell out of it on a semi-regular basis.

But Harley's aren't the cheap thrills the XS is... as is said on my HD list:

Fast Cheap Reliable

Pick two....

'78E original owner

[jjwaller]

I also had a buddy with a Road King when I was in upstate NY. No idea what mileage he got but he was a freakin' maniac on that thing...all you saw was showers of sparks at every corner...

Shower of sparks... What was that, about 20 MPH?

[Guy_b_g]

LOL..maybe 25mph...

I had no problem keeping up on my Guzzi...but he was making good speed on the long sweepers and still throwing sparks like crazy. I stayed behind him for three reasons. Made me nervous to pass him, once I got in front of him I might miss him falling off and not be there to pick him up, and the sheer entertainment value of all that commotion.

[Special Ed]

H-m-m-m-m,
I get around 40 MPG. Keep it down below 4500 RPM, shut it down at the lights, ride it like it's an Allstate Twingle and you might get 45 MPG. But for cryin' out freakin' loud, it's a mussel bike! Let it howl and pay for the freakin' gas!

Special Ed

[Special Ed]

Oops! well of course I meant "muscle" bike! Didn't mean to imply that my beloved '79 Special was a bottom feeding shellfish. My bad!
Special Ed

[81xsproject]

While the EFI might not make a big difference on HD's, I can tell you that it does on the XS. Carburated and babying it, I got 34; EFI at 70 and the heavy throttle associated with tuning and larger 38mm bore throttlebodies, I am getting in the low 40's.

[oseaghdha]

While the EFI might not make a big difference on HD's, I can tell you that it does on the XS. Carburated and babying it, I got 34; EFI at 70 and the heavy throttle associated with tuning and larger 38mm bore throttlebodies, I am getting in the low 40's.

I get 40s with my old mikunis at freeway speeds, either naked or faired.

[81xsproject]

Did I mention that I am forced to run California gas-ohol and the 'tuning' means frequent WOT blasts..

[CruisingRam]

It is simple physics:

H-Ds make 50-70hp, max air cooled.

XS makes 110-ish HP,

More hp = more gas consumption, period

[Guy_b_g]

We wish they made that much!

Yamaha claimed 95hp for the 78E, the most powerful model. That's at the crank, not the rear wheel which is considerably less. Takes a good bit of fussing and hopping up to get even 95hp at the rear wheel.

Granted, that's still more than a stock HD.

[jjwaller]

Did I mention that I am forced to run California gas-ohol and the 'tuning' means frequent WOT blasts..

It's everywhere these days. Maybe not as much percentage, but there's some
not to mention other stuff or maybe not as much old good stuff in it.
Anyway, ALL pump gas everywhere sucks these days.

[Poprock]

HDs have a long stroke, squeeze every bit of energy out of every pop. XS11s have a shorter stroke, blow some out the exhaust port, need more strokes to make the power. Higher RPM, less fuel efficiency. But they're a hoot to ride! I think Special Ed nailed it.

[Ivan]

They might squeeze every bit of energy out of each stroke, but at least 40% of that is lost in vibration, and another 30% is lost to bad looks and straight pipes.

What good is mileage when you ride something that has the looks of roasted afterbirth and vibtates so bad the engine jumps 2" in a solid mount? At least allthose other "fags" like them and will pump your ego for having one. Then they cn all help you sling insults when a decent guy on an old XS stops to help your busted ass sporty that overheated in 65 degree weather on his ride home fron Kansas City at the 175 mile mark. He sure deserves it, since everyone knows those old rice burnres don't run for s**t. But hey, you get great mileage sitting on the side of the road.

FWIW, yeah, that was me today, trying to help out, and got called a f88khead on a POS rice burner. Then my POS calmly blew the f'n straight pipes off that busted ass sporty. Screaming Eagle got smoked by my fire breathing dragon from the land of the rising sun. Last yime I stop to help.