Gas milage

[stevesnj]

I don't have a bike ...yet...my main concern is fuel milage when i purchase. Thanks for the advice on brands. On a side note I have a 98 Tacoma V6 4x4 and get about 20 to 22 mpg. I seem to get better milage on BP(Amaco) Silver mid-grade. None the less I can't wait for a fun ride with great fuel milage.

 

[Mart Man FZ6]

I've got a red '07 that I got for Fathers day last year. It gets consistant 55 MPG when on trips. I just got a new blue '07 this year for my birthday (the wife wanted the red one) and it was only getting about 42 MPG. When I had the first service done, they sync'd the throttle bodies, and the next tank went right to 50 MPG. Still not as good as my other FZ, but my other bikes got 6.5K miles compared to just 1.2K on the new one.

The service manager said that the FZ's tend to be out of adjustment on the throttle bodies out of the factory. So, if you haven't had your throttle body sync checked, this may be why some of you are getting the lower mileage.

 

[Hondo64d]

Got 47 on my third tank, too. That makes 40 for tank one, and 47 for tanks two and three.

John

 

[HavBlue]

I usually try to buy Shell gas as well, I seem to get the best results with it. Also, you should get better mileage if you find a station that doesnt mix ethanol. It's getting harder and harder though to find stations that don't have the "Mixed with up to 10% ethanol" Ethanol has less energy than gasoline and thus decreses your power for a given amount of fuel so you burn more fuel to make up the power. I don't know how much of a difference it makes overall. If you consider that it has 10% less kick and that most internal combustion engines are only about 20% efficent at best: .2*.1 = .02 or 2% power loss.......... whether or not that's the case, who knows. I've heard of people getting noticably better mileage running non-ethanol blended gas, my Durango on the other hand doesn't seem to have a care in the world as long as it's gas, i still average just plain sh!tty with it.........

I can't say with the bikes but both of the cages are doing the same with or without the ethanol mix. The Jeep is getting between 20 and 22mpg while the Ford is between 25 and 28mpg. Either way they don't seem to care.

 

[CHEMIKER]

Put several tanks in it since I bought it new in March:

41.3, 42.0, 44.0, 45.2, 41.4, 40.5

The first four tanks were during the break in period, cruising in 6th gear on the highway (my commute is mostly highway). When I changed the oil at 600mi, I changed my driving style too. I now am in 4th or 5th on the highway at about 7k to 8k rpm. You can see how the mileage dropped, but I don't care, I feel more comfortable at the higher rpms. I can respond to situations by instantly accelerating or engine braking, which gives me peace of mind in traffic.

When I had my oil changed, I opted not to have my injectors sync'd as it was more expensive and added to the time they would be working on my bike. I'll have them adjusted at the next oil change and we'll see how the mileage changes...

 

[HavBlue]

I never have gotten much over 39mpg...
but it seems my bars are fairly accurate, most drop around 20-25 miles


edit: how are you guys measuring you mileage? Reset trip meter and divide it into gallons?

Nothing so difficult, I have a Hobbs meter tied into the ignition and a fuel flow meter in the line. Then take that (fuel) with the hours of operation (time) and factor in the weight of the fuel (specific gravity) so it gives me an accurate measurement based on pounds per hour. Trip meter is as happy as the speedo so that dog don't hunt unless you're after false measurements.

PS: No, I am not serious but I do factor in the odometer error.

 

[paul1149]

After initial break in I'm getting about 43 at highway speeds, and lately 51 when I cool it a little. About 1800 miles on the bike. If I can continue north of 50 I'll be pretty satisfied. But then the cost of gas is a different story. It's not like last year, when I was getting 63 mpg on baby ninja at lower prices. The info on gas brands is interesting. I'm going to give Shell a try and see.

 

[dankatz]

first tank, 46mpg of mild riding. I plan to take the bike to the dealer eventually when I reach 600miles for the first oil change. The following ones I will do myself. Yeah, my '06 Ninja 500 was already broken in and got around 50-55mpg from CITY commuting. I think picking up an '08 Ninja 250 for my wife after she takes the MSF course would be puuuurfect...
Dani

 

[dako81]

...PS: No, I am not serious but I do factor in the odometer error.

My speedo is happy but my odo is dead on. The same way in my parents Jetta, and my buddies Suzuki.

I had been followed by my friend in a newer Saturn, after resetting both of our trip meters at the same spot, on the highway for 30 miles and I had my speedo at 74-76 the whole time and he was at 70-72 the whole time following me. When we got off the highway our trip meters were exactly the same.

Maybe they're just inconsistant between all of them or the speedo is just programmed to be happy. On a side note, I guess if it likes to be at a higher number I have one satisfied speedo :thumbup:.

 

[DanG]

Come to England, our gallons go further! :rockon:

56 mpg for me :Sport:

 

[HavBlue]

Come to England, our gallons go further! :rockon:

56 mpg for me :Sport:

Is that before you factored in the odometer error?

 

[HavBlue]

My speedo is happy but my odo is dead on. The same way in my parents Jetta, and my buddies Suzuki.

I had been followed by my friend in a newer Saturn, after resetting both of our trip meters at the same spot, on the highway for 30 miles and I had my speedo at 74-76 the whole time and he was at 70-72 the whole time following me. When we got off the highway our trip meters were exactly the same.

Maybe they're just inconsistant between all of them or the speedo is just programmed to be happy. On a side note, I guess if it likes to be at a higher number I have one satisfied speedo :thumbup:.

So the odometer is dead on to a Jetta and you still don't know how it does over a measured distance. Here we have mile markers on the highways and some roads. The one I use starts at zero mile and I run it to mile 10. At that point the odometer is off by just over 2/10ths, which means that over 200 miles on the tank it would be off by roughly 5 miles.. This means that if I put 4 gallons in and just used the reading it would be 50mpg as opposed to factoring in the error which means it would be 48.7. It also means that at the 20,000 mile mark the bike will actually have about 19,500 miles on it. Funny how the small error can make such a big difference over time.

 

[paul1149]

Dan G: if that's the imperial gallon that translates to 46.6 mpg here, I think. What do you pay per gallon? BTW, my 51 mpg stat was using 87 octane, and I think with 10% ethanol content, very unfortunately.

 

[DanG]

Sorry, yes a bit of a tongue-in-cheek remark of mine about UK gallons... there's more litres in them and yes we pay nearly twice what you guys in the US pay for your fuel. We are at £5 per gallon or £1.11 per litre.... And who does it all go to? The oil companies - the high prices are as a result of higher demand... but that's a topic for another thread... I should correct myself there, most it goes to our lazy inefficient government who get around 65% of the fuel price as tax.

 

[HavBlue]

Sorry, yes a bit of a tongue-in-cheek remark of mine about UK gallons... there's more litres in them and yes we pay nearly twice what you guys in the US pay for your fuel. We are at £5 per gallon or £1.11 per litre.... And who does it all go to? The oil companies - the high prices are as a result of higher demand... but that's a topic for another thread... I should correct myself there, most it goes to our lazy inefficient government who get around 65% of the fuel price as tax.

Here in Kentucky we are charged 36.9CPG for fuel tax and this is near the bottom end of the scale for the US. If you folks want to know where your state is at go

Here: U.S. Gasoline Taxes by State

 

[paul1149]

I think that translates to $6.44 per American gallon, or roughly $.13 fuel cost per mile. That is indeed heavy. We're generally so dependent on travel here that that would be an onerous price.

p.

 

[HavBlue]

I think that translates to $6.44 per American gallon, or roughly $.13 fuel cost per mile. That is indeed heavy. We're generally so dependent on travel here that that would be an onerous price.

p.

Yeah and NY has the highest gas tax in the nation at 62.9CPG. At least they have a decent public transportation system in the city.

 

[paul1149]

They should, since presumably part of that fuel tax goes to pay for it. Paying .62 per gallon in tax is depressing. And I was just reading one theory that the market is currently so tight that the tax is elastic - that is, if they remove the tax demand will increase, thus raising the base price of the gas to fill the gap. So the proposed fuel tax relief this summer apparently wouldn't even work, at least according to this one economist's projection.

 

[HavBlue]

They should, since presumably part of that fuel tax goes to pay for it. Paying .62 per gallon in tax is depressing. And I was just reading one theory that the market is currently so tight that the tax is elastic - that is, if they remove the tax demand will increase, thus raising the base price of the gas to fill the gap. So the proposed fuel tax relief this summer apparently wouldn't even work, at least according to this one economist's projection.

I would agree with him. The problem we face in commodities concerning oil is one of increased demand by the likes of China and India followed by the reduction in output by the likes of OPEC. This has caused the price of that 42 gallon barrel of crude to jump up to well above 100 dollars per barrel. Another issue some of us face is a lack of a national fuel standard which means a glut of fuel in one area can not be sold to another area which also drives up costs.

We have the ability to reduce our dependency on foreign oil but this will not change as long as we can't overcome the environmental groups preventing us from drilling in places where deposits exist. Examples of this would be the rich finds in Alaska, the ares off the California coast and those found in the Gulf of Mexico. I do however find it ironic these same green folks will complain about the price of gas. Either way, they can't have both a green environment and cheap gas. Add to this the fact that a suitable replacement for gas is a minimum of 10 years off and we really have problems.

 

[paul1149]

The most radical enviros are delighted with the fuel crisis because it forces massive societal change on us. For years we've heard them say that we don't pay enough for gas, and they cite Europe to back that up. Gore told us in Earth in the Balance that the internal combustion engine is "mankind's greatest enemy". And now they have manufactured climate change alarmism as the perfect lever to reorder the world's economies according to their priorities.

To a very large extent, our problems are self-inflicted.

p.