[Eddiepowerfm]

OK with temps going up so do gas prices. So please share what you ride (for some of you more than one bike) and what kind of gas millage you are getting. Also share if you ride mainly in city, highway, country road.

I am going on two years with my 2007 Vulcan 500 and getting between 52-56mpg. I have a 23 mile commute to work which is mostly highway, so I am riding mostly about 65-70mph. I’d like to hear from other Vulcan 500 owners.

Eddie

[briderdt]

I have tracked every fill-up and the mileage at each one, and in over 6000 miles, I have averaged almost 58 mpg. Lowest on any tank was the high 40’s, and highest was 63. That’s a lot of mixed riding – city, country, highway, and a little bit of “canyon carving” (such as I do it). I’m no speed demon, but I’m not a total softie on the throttle either.

[Gary856]

About 35% freeway at 75-80 mph, 10% city streets, 55% country and hilly roads.

GS500 – 54.4 mpg over 7,127 miles.
YZF600R – 48.4 mpg over 3,797 miles.
SV650 – 50.8 mpg over 2,882 miles.
DRZ-400sm – 63.1 mpg over 753 miles. (Not much freeway on this one.)

[CBBaron]

I have an `06 Ninja 250. I have not kept accurate records but I am getting over 60 MPG and possibly over 70MPG.
That includes probably 10% freeway (70+mph). 30-40% urban traffic with lots of lights (great practice for clutch and shifting) and the rest 45-60mph rural roads. No curves around here

I think I need to keep better records so I know for sure.

Craig

[jcwhite]

Muahaha.

2007 CBR125. My last tank of gas was 76 mpg, and that’s pretty bad for me. 95% city riding, accelerating hard out of stops. 5% windy fun bits, revving high.

Best tank ever: 100% safe, gentle highway riding (was shortly after getting my full bike license, so I was riding really easy): 126 mpg. I did the math twice.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

My 2002 Honda Shadow VLX 600cc has a modified airbox, drilled out stock exhaust and rejetting for more power. It gets about 45 mpg if I go fast on curvy roads, 55 mpg for normal saner riding on 55 mph speed limit roads with a lot of curves and some stoplights, about 65 mpg at 63 mph for long highways, and drops to about 60 mpg at 75 mph on interstates. It is not really made for 75 mph, but will do it and more- some people have rode these across the country. Stock the top speed is about 95 mph. I have never had mine over 85 mph. The vibration takes a while to get used to.

[Eddiepowerfm]

I understand what you mean. I have only been up to 80 when wanting to get away from traffic. I kind of want a bigger cruiser but I don’t want to lose out on the gas milage I’m enjoying.

[SantaCruzRider]

The last 10k I’ve averaged 38 mph on my 1-liter Kawi Concours.
This is based on gas purchased and miles as messured on GPS. As with most MCs, my mileage would be higher if I used the bike’s odometer.

[Eddiepowerfm]

So are most motorcycles odometers and speedomoters off?

[eon]

Speedometers always read on the high side, somewhere around 10% too high. Not sure why this is the case but I think it is something to do with legalities.
i.e. if you are stopped for speeding you will not be able to claim your speedometer was saying you were doing the speed limit.

Not heard that odometers are wildly inaccurate but then how many wheel revolutions are in a hundred miles? Quite a lot I would think so I guess it’s hard to be 100% accurate. SCR, have you measured the bikes odometer against the GPS? I’m curious now what kind of difference you would expect.

[TrialsRider]

has been known to happen, sometimes makers use identical speedometer components with 2 different models having different wheel sizes.
edit: K100 RS – 4.3 litres per 100 Km / 65 mpg Imp. Gal / 54 mpg US (best recorded)
…not sure how to calculate it on my 4RT, maybe smiles per liter

[Sean_D]

.. and supposedly in the US a 1997 Federal Standard allows for a 5% error, but aftermarket modifications such as tire sizes, wheel sizes, different differential gearing can cause further error.

Also apparently there can be variances plus or minus due to tire wear and tire diameter variations from temperature, tire pressure, weight load, etc.

As far as GPS goes, they are by no means 100% accurate either. Wikipedia has the following to say about GPS accuracy:

“As the GPS is an independent* system, its speed calculations are not subject to the same sources of error as the vehicle’s speedometer. Instead, the GPS’s positional accuracy, and therefore the accuracy of its calculated speed, is dependent on the satellite signal quality at the time. Speed calculations will be more accurate at higher speeds, when the ratio of positional error to positional change is lower. The GPS software may also use a moving average calculation to reduce error.”

I wouldn’t necessarily depend on GPS reading as a source of determining speedometer error. In some cases your speedometer may be the more correct.

[stu]

With my SFV650, I fill up each morning for 1.3gallons, I do pretty much exactly 80 miles a day. Thats 61.54 per gallon. 3.8gallon tank.. about 230miles per tank..

thats some 60mph straights, lots of 35-45 mph mountains.

[SantaCruzRider]

Note that the GPS was used for measurement of distance, rather than speed. I’ve compared the readings against distance measurements for Google maps and Yahoo! maps and they confirm the mileage. This was done for my daily 41 mile commute (82 RT), so it’s giving me a pretty good average.

[SantaCruzRider]

Folks on the Connie forum seem to have ODO readings that are anywhere from spot on to 10% high (none have said theirs reads low).
I checked mine early last year, but have since changed tire model on the front, which I understand will increase the inaccuracy. But I haven’t measured it.
I understand the interest in high MPG, but I personally worry about it too much as it relates to my riding and bike choice. I’ve been able to increase my mileage about 8-10% by riding at a very mild pace and keeping the revs low. But a more natural pace puts me at 38 average, which is fine with me.
At the end of the day, the bike gets nearly double the MPG of my car, gets me to work 35% faster and is provides 175% more smiles. — (OK, I admit to having no stats to back up that last measure)

[Author]

Posts