A Tale of Two MPG's

[dbeardslee]

Once upon a time in the midwest....

I check my mpg at every fueling, and to date the best I've been able to get out of old Betsy is 32.5 mpg. Changed the airbox in favor of pods, retuned and resynched, and I've been running about 30.5 mpg since then, albeit with my fist firmly in the carb. This afternoon I took a ride on the highway. Odometer was reading 50 miles when I took off, and I rode at a constant 75-80 mph for another 70 miles. Gassed-up and was pleasantly surprised to see my mileage was just under 37 mpg. Looks to me like riding style has a HUGE impact on mpg.

[XSPastor]

I've heard (and experienced) that riding/driving style alone dwarfs all other attempts at increased gas mileage. It can make a 30 or 40 percent difference to go from lead foot to egg-on-the-pedal style driving and I'm sure it works the same with the twist grip. YMMV

[dbeardslee]

Gotta agree with you, Reverend. I've noticed when colortuning, that regardless of the needle setting, if you crack the throttle the flame color goes to yellow indicating rich. Once it settles in at a given rpm it goes to a nice bunson blue indicating complete combustion. If I'm easy on the throttle, it will increase rpms without turning to yellow. I would have never thought that a quick change of throttle position was costing me 7 mpg or better, but there it is. Or in the Latin for our Catholic brethren - whooda thunkit.

[powerram50]

right now i am getting 25 mpg.better than my truck.

[dbeardslee]

25's about what I was getting before my head gasket started leaking. While I had it off I decarboned and lapped the valves, and replaced the valve seals and the cam chain. That got me better gas mileage and a smoother idle.

[powerram50]

i am also very generous with the gas and goose it a lot.

[tarzan]

My last tank I got 40mpg.I took on two seperate rides last month in Idaho.Went 250miles first weekend 200 miles the next.On both of those rides I averaged 44 MPG!I was hoping for close to 40 before I started riding it.I had been reading threads here and it looked like people average was from 30 t0 41 MPG .
So I have been pleasantly surprised.

[lakecountrydave]

I consistantly get 39 mpg. On my second to last tank I babied it the entire tank (not easy for me ), and I got 40mpg. I took it as a sign to twist the throttle with reckless abandon. I ride mostly country roads with some occasional highway. I have never cleaned my carbs, and I think that my valves need adjusting.

[dbeardslee]

Dave - I've tried babying Betsy, and the best I got was 32.5. If I hammered her mileage would drop by about 2mpg. Either way it was mostly back road driving with lots of changes in speed, stop signs, turns, etc. Judging by the colortune, I think what got the mileage up was just running at a constant rpm in the big gear. Yesterday was the first time I had her on the highway for any significant distance.

Your mileage sounds pretty impressive, as does Tarzan's. How do you guys have your bikes setup as far as intake, jetting, float height, and exhaust?

[Paintman]

Fun with Fuel

Last poker run i did was 240 miles while riding with a pack of bikes i averaged 35.4 MPG. Now riding by my self in the hills i avg 32 so a few MPG is worth the fun factor to me. if i ever got into the Hi 40's with it i would think somethig was wrong.


John

[lakecountrydave]

dbeardslee,

I have the stock air cleaner and exhaust. I have not tuned or cleaned the carbs. In fact the only thing I have done to them was raise the idle because she was idling low and stalling this spring. I need to readjust it as she idles at 1400 (per bike's tach) when warm. The air cleaner needs to be replaced as she is quite dirty. I usually ride on to and around the WI Rustic Routes. Here is a excellent ride report about them from Pain.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12898&highlight=rustic+route

I usuall exceed the speed limit, but within reason, and of coarse I love to hammer on her for short periods. Last weekend my lazy-*ssed riding buddy finally put his V65 back on the road after over a year. I road 45 minutes on the highway to his home. I filled up within 2 miles of his home. Then burned a tank far more aggressively than usual to remind him that I am a better rider. I refueled toward the end of our ride. My mileage was 40.6 mpg on the tank I used getting there. It was 39.4 mpg on the tank I burned with him.

[tarzan]

I have stock jets and exhaust.The bike has real low miles,maybe that has something to do wit it.It is also bare bones too except for a windshield and cheap saddle bags.So it dont weigh as much as a standard.It might have something to do with newer carbs too.I run 110 mains and IIRC 42.5pilots.The intersesting thing is on the two rides I got 44mpg,I had the stock airbox on it.This last time I got 40 and have the pods on it .So I dont know if the pods make it get worse fuel mileage or if its because of the town traffic.I'll have to take it on another long ride and find out.

[dbeardslee]

Thanks for the replies, fellers. Sounds like the exhaust and jetting mods do bad things to fuel economy. It would be interesting to do a survey on this to see if the trend holds across the board. Too bad I don't know how to do that