City Vs highway FE - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

bdesj · 03-03-2011, 07:24 AM

I`m wondering if motorcycles generally get better mileage in town than on the highway. Soon after getting my motorscooter, I contacted Atomic Ass to see what kind of tips he might be able to offer regarding efficiency with CVT and centrifugal clutch, and in the course of the exchanges that followed, he mentioned that his efficiency suffered on road trips. Well, I thought that was some kind of weird fluke for his modified Burgman, but now it looks like my numbers follow the same trend. Is it the same way for all, or even most, motorcycles?

In thinking more about the issue, I see how it could be that way- lousy aerodynamics are known to make high speeds (but how high?) bad for two wheeled FE, and being so light in comparison to cars, it stands to reason that stop and go would affect them less. Maybe I`m just so used to thinking the opposite that accepting thaose differences is a bit difficult.

BTW, that my results "seem to follow" AA`s is really the best I can say for sure at this point because my mileage is pretty erratic. I think some of that has to do with being newly back into the two wheeled world and still not having set manners/methods as well as serious fluctuations in our weather over the few months since I`ve had the scooter. Oh, and I can see for sure that it`s tough to get even fills at the pump, and those small differences in fill level have an exagerated effect on my numbers too- trying to be more careful about visually noting where the gas comes up to.

Odin · 03-03-2011, 02:16 PM

in city driving a lot of gliding can be involved, not so much on the highway

Frank Lee · 03-03-2011, 02:21 PM

Gold Wing fe is definitely worse in town.

bdesj · 03-03-2011, 10:16 PM

Thanks, Frank. GW follows traditional car rules in that respect- noted.
Odin, gliding aside, how do you do MPG-wise city Vs Hwy? And what kind of bike?
Anybody else?

I`ve been picking at that "Best motorcycle MPG" thread and aven`t found anything along those lines yet- may as well sit down and go through it in a more orderly way, but it`s going to take some time to read through 24 pages. On a different note, I should be able to get some solid highway FE data for my bike very soon, as I`m planning to take an extended road trip with it in about two weeks. It`s going to be somewhere around 1400 miles total, almost all highways.

bikepilot · 03-04-2011, 08:37 AM

It really depends on the bike and your riding style. My Bandit 1250 did quite a lot better on the highway, my TL1000S did better on the highway, my 919 worked out about the same either way and my DR250SE does better in the city. In general small/light bikes are better in the city while big bikes tend to be better on the highway.

alvaro84 · 03-04-2011, 09:30 AM

For me it doesn't hurt to go in the city with my BMW F650CS. It usually does for others with the same kind of bikes.

bdesj · 03-04-2011, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alvaro84

For me it doesn't hurt to go in the city with my BMW F650CS. It usually does for others with the same kind of bikes.

Since you`re here on this forum, I would venture to guess that you hypermile to some extent. Maybe the "others" are a lot harder on the throttle than you are? Does "the same kind of bikes" mean F650 series, or more generally? From what I`ve read, those BMW singles (especially the injected models) achieve pretty impressive efficiency for their power- sure wouldn`t mind having one.

Bikepilot: "In general small/light bikes are better in the city while big bikes tend to be better on the highway."
From what people are saying here and on the similar thread I posted on a scooter forum, that`s starting to look like how it works, at least in a very general way. So many variables do make it hard to determine though.

EDIT:
Wow, Alvaro- you`re getting REALLY impresive mileage out of that bike! The CSs are belt driven, aren`t they? Fuel injected?

alvaro84 · 03-05-2011, 01:11 AM

Yup, the CS is the fuel injected, belt driven incarnation of the F650 line. GS' are also fuel injected, but chain driven. Classic/ST models (before 2000) are carbureted.
Interesting that the new G650GS has the same engine, but the new F650GS' are 800cc twins... they have good FE for their displacements too, anyway, but probably worse than their 650cc singles (it would be nice to try one).

And yes, I do hypermile.

kawboyCAFE · 03-05-2011, 02:08 AM

there is no right answer for this. it depends alot on your speed, acceleration rate, driver weight, weather, etc. the MPG number might be totally different on the same bike for 2 different people.

bdesj · 03-05-2011, 03:27 AM

Muchos thankyous to everybody for the input here. As Kawboy said, there are lots of variables, but there does seem to be a trend. I`m going to link to the thread I started on the other forum in case anybody wants to check it out- I found it pretty interresting.
Highway/City MPG

Quote:

Originally Posted by alvaro84

And yes, I do hypermile.

Noted. And pretty damned good at it, obviously.

Either the CS remained pretty rare in the US or my local dealership didn`t push them for some reason- I frequently see various versions of the "classic" Fs and GSs around here, but don`t think I`ve seen any belted ones. Yeah, whoever is in charge of model naming at BMW could have made things a little simpler, eh? Aside from the name confusion, they sure look like great multi purpose rides and I hope one (any version) finds its way into my shed some day.