Bought a "new" bike - 2006 Ninja 650R

[darcane]

My normal commuter is a full size truck. I try to maximize my mpgs but it's still tough on gas. However I didn't feel too bad about it because I spent much of my time commuting on a motorcycle, my ZX6R.

Then it got stolen (April 2009).

I had no budget for a bike, so I bought an R1 that was really cheap because it was broken and I had a bunch of spare parts already. When I finally got it running, something new broke nearly every time it rode it and it was turning into a money pit. So I sold it.

And bought a Ninja 650R in excellent shape for the same low price as I sold my beater R1.
Not my bike, but it looks exactly like this:

Reliable and EFI. Slower and not as nimble as my old bikes, but still very fun to ride. I'm happy. First tank: 52mpg.

I probably won't do a whole lot to it, but I do plan on changing out the sprockets to get the revs down.

[jkv357]

Congrats!

I've got the Ninja's main competitor, the Suzuki SV650. Last tank was 52 MPG for me as well, with my best at 58 so far.

I geared-up 1 tooth on the countershaft and dropped cruising RPMs about 500.

Post up your numbers in the "What's your best motorcycle MPG" thread.

[alvaro84]

I had to do a bit of research. So it's the same as our ER6f - shapely beast. Once I sat on one, it felt a bit heavier than Teresa (marginally heavier in fact, it just felt like), but I couldn't try how it rolls.

A forum mate @ Hungary had one for quite a while, and it was reliable indeed.

Good luck to your next tanks

[darcane]

jkv357: An SV650 was on my list of choices, but I just don't like the looks of it as well and I got an awesome deal on the bike. It has a salvage title, so I spent quite a bit of time looking it over and riding it trying to find problems with it. Nothing wrong other than a few scratches. Because of the salvage title and the owner needing cash (cracked the case on the tranny in his daily driver) I got it for about half of what the other 650s were going for. I'll post numbers in that thread when I get a few tanks of gas ran through it so it's not based off just the one number.

alvaro84: yeah, this would be an ER6f to the rest of the world. It's got a little heft to it, but it really isn't bad. I can tell it's heavier than my old ZX6R, but not much. I'm real happy with how it rides, especially for the price. I don't think I could have bought a better bike for the money.

Pic of my actual bike:

[jkv357]

I came very close to purchasing the Ninja 650 back in '06 when I bought the SV650n (no fairing). I had previously owned a Ninja 750 that I was very happy with.

Six of one - half-dozen of the other.

Curious to see how you will do with MPG on the next few tanks.


Jay

[autotravis]

I bet you'll soon enjoy better than 52. I have an 07 ZX6R and I get ~44 even though I like to "play" (I just got it, you can't blame me ). I previously had an 08 250R and I miss getting ~60 on that thing...

[darcane]

Second tank: 52.8mpg.

However, it's been a while since I've had a functional bike and I'm... playing... too much. Even with that, it's 2.5 times better than the truck, so it's all good.

With it being a torquey twin, I figured it would be geared lower. Highway cruising is about 5000rpms at 60mph (GPS, not speedometer which is off about 10%). That's about the same as my old '01 ZX6R (I usually got 45-50mpg with that).

[Grant-53]

Popular bike for being comfortable and reliable. See craingvetter.com about making a full body fairing as he is making for a Ninja 250.

[darcane]

Well, I tried some thing with the last two tanks. First tank, I was really killing myself trying to maximize mpgs. Coasting whenever possible, riding behind big rigs (which I noticed keeps me significantly warmer as well), 60mph max, full tuck on the freeways. Second tank, the exact opposite. WOT/near WOT acceleration, 75mph on freeways, etc. Basically, having fun with it.

Tank 1: 55.3mpg
Tank 2: 47.6mpg

I was surprised I couldn't pull better numbers (I'd managed 60mpg with my old ZX6R) with the first tank. It still serves its purpose though... low to mid-50s is leaps and bounds better than the truck.

It's getting time to park it though. Riding is less fun when I have to chip ice off the bike first.

[jkv357]

Cold temps and winter-blend fuel aren't helping your numbers.

I bet you will see a significant mileage increase in the middle of the summer.