What's your best motorcycle MPG?

[lightflite]

2 bikes in the garage both at or approaching 100 MPG (imperial) - which is presumably 80 mpGal(US)

Go to work machine - says Yamaha XT125 on the side, means Malaguti 125 enduro version. I have moved it to the longer gearing as used on the Super-motard and begun the process of sorting the whole package. Top speed is now the same in 4th and 5th and the last tankful approached 100 MPG. I am using it for a 15mile commute (mainly) with 5 miles outside and 10 miles inside the city.
More to come, but some more gentle mods required - among them a quicker (better engineered) throttle.

Other bike is my Ducati 350CC Sebring, had it from new, built 1961, 150,000 miles approx: 100MPH, 100MPG, but not at the same time. Needs a rebuild when the sun comes back this year.
andrew

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by Christ

If you need a pic, lemme know. While you're at it, Check out Vetter's site: Craig Vetter, designer and inventor of the Windjammer fairing,Triumph Hurricane Motorcycle and fuel economy motorcycles[/url]

Pay specific attention to his fairings and aerodynamics, but don't mind the freaky scooter he's driving now. He's a little eccentric by some measures, but I believe he's out for the best he can do. He's a very good study, though. You'll likely learn alot from him.

Huh... those scooters are really freaky But their numbers speak for themselves! He's a genius, even I've heard about him.

But that Vetter Alcane Fairing doesn't look promising for me. I got totally excited when I saw a yellow BMW F650GS tail behind one of these fairings. That bike is is pretty close to my Teresa (F650CS), they usually get very similar FE (the CS is often better by a few mpg). Then I read the article (chapter 2) and I saw this:

Carol and BMW: 56.55 mpg Craig and KLR: 58.72 mpg 65-70 mph... awful headwinds.)

Last time I rode in awful head/sidewind, at ~60-65mph, 2-up(!), I got 66mpgUS (3.54l/100km), not 56, with my stock CS. It was my absolute worst this year. So I'm not convinced that this fairing can do any good to the shape of an F650

Tucking myself seems to help, though, at least 1-up. It feels that I can coast longer that way than in an upright position. Doesn't work too well in a hot weather though, when I badly need the wind in my cordura suit and feels stupid with this wide handlebar

Anyway, our best tanks with the 2 bikes are:
2.68l/100km (87.8mpgUS) with Ciliegia, our Hyosung GV250 - I must admit that my best is only 82.2mpgUS on this bike, the absolute best is my girlfriend's (well, Ciliegia is her bike, so I don't mind). It's still open what long time average we'll get.

2.38l/100km (98.9mpgUS) with Teresa, the BMW F650CS. With Pulse&Glide I can often do tanks in the high 80s, and sometimes even over 90 In the winter, and without P&G 70s are typical (last winter I had a ~60% sized radiator cover on, it seemed to help a bit)

I'm still curious how I could improve aero for them (probably only in theory, these mods can easily be bad for the looks and rideability (is there a word like this?) ) - this fairing looked interesting, but the numbers turned me off.

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by grendel

hello all i'm riding a 600 fazer 2001 commuting 47 motorway miles and am achieving 194 per 11.94 ltrs = 73 mpg. which is around 55-60 mph at just under 5000rpm

most blokes at work laugh at my 'grandad' riding but at 112p per litre can't afford to cane it. It takes me an hour to complete the journey but going 70 - 80 it only knocks off around 10 minutes which isn't worth the fuel.
some blokes at work are actually coming around to the idea of eco riding, most don't even check their tyre pressures regulary.
got a smaller sprocket to fit today 47t so will see what that does.

We're in the same boat, other riders don't understand me either and I did the same math about speeds and times with the same result... I can't mod Teresa's gear ratios (she has a belt drive), but we're most probably do it for Ciliegia, it should help FE (she revs 7000 at 100km/h, it should not cause any problem to have a longer transmission with a nice overdrive gear or two)

[ASV]

yes you can mod Teresa's gear ratios you can buy a shorter or wider drive belt
Ten mil shorter or one mil wider will make a notable difference in transmission range
And more slider weight will drop rpm

if its A GY6 or clone

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by ASV

yes you can mod Teresa's gear ratios you can buy a shorter or wider drive belt
Ten mil shorter or one mil wider will make a notable difference in transmission range
And more slider weight will drop rpm

if its A GY6 or clone

I think it's a different type of belt you're talking about - I was a bit confused about this length and width thing, but I think that must be about a CVT belt. Teresa doesn't have anything like that but a toothed belt (like Harleys), which works the same way as a chain, it just doesn't need regular lubing
I wasn't clear enough, sorry.

And the problem is that a taller ratio wouldn't be useful anywhere except freeways.
- The present 5th can't be used under ~70km/h (44mph) at all so making it longer would just increase my overall speed (more aero drag);
- and make me go in 3rd in town instead of 4th (4th feels lugging down from ~50km/h (31mph) by the speedo, now I cruise a bit over it but under 60 (37mph) in 4th and stay under 3000rpm - if I don't P&G, of course);
- also would lose the ability to cruise in 2nd in the 30km/h zones (19mph), would have to fallback to the still less favorable 1st gear;
- which 1st would be ridiculously long for a 1st

So as long as I can't build a 6th, overdrive gear for long freeway trips (and I can't that's definitely ninja level for me ) I wouldn't poke with these ratios.

Ciliegia, on the contrary, has quite short gears, 5th is usable from ~40km/h (25mph) on level road (and revs 7,000 at 100km/h(62mph)), so making these gears a bit taller won't hurt.

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by WTFM8

Ecomodding techniques have driven the mileage on my V-strom to 60 MPG! Would never have guessed a 650 could get that high with so little effort.

LOL A colleague of mine has a DL650 too, and he also got over 60mpg (3.8l/100km, 62mpgUS) when rode in my pace I'm curious how far I could go with that bike. Or some really experienced hypermiler.
It seems to have somewhat worse FE than my F650CS (I got 3.08l/100km=76mpgUS and utilized no coasting back then only a hint of DWL) but has a 22l tank.

[kawboyCAFE]

here is a list of the bikes i have owned over the years and about what they got for fuel mileage.

1) 1977 kawasaki kz650: about 35-40 mpg

2) 2001 yamaha vstar 650: about 50 mpg

3) 1974 harley davidson sportster: about 35 mpg

4) 1985 honda magna 750: about 40-45 mpg

5) 1967 honda dream 305: (dont know, never got it running)

6) 2004 suzuki katana 750: about 35-40 mpg

7) 2002 yamaha virago 250: about 75 mpg

8) 2009 yamaha c3: about 100 mpg

9) 2009 yamaha zuma 125: about 85-90 mpg

10) 2009 honda rebel 250: about 65-70 mpg

11) 2009 kawasaki vulcan 500: about 50-60 mpg (current bike)

ya know, out of all these, i think the zuma 125 is the one i miss the most. that thing was just fun to ride. had pretty good get-up too. i am planning on doing a couple of things to my vulcan, but not much. i will probably change gearing a little, and maybe slightly re-tune it. oh well, there is my list.

[frugal builder]

The little Yamaha Vino 4T in the garage has gotten 118mpg. I only goes 37 mph, though but sees mostly sub 30 use. It's driver weighs about 100lbs less than I so my mileage will vary.

[kawboyCAFE]

vino is a good scooter. very dependable. i thought about getting the vino 125 a while back. i probably should have.

[AMDparts]

hi, i'm new here. i've changed a 150cc fourstroke liquidcooled variomatic 16" scooter to a recumbent sittingposition. this with some gear- and epoxifiberchanges gives a nice mpg-number. my last tank was 109.5mpg at about 65 miles an hour.

kind regards,

abel
heerhugowaard
the netherlands