Mileage

I have had my 94 for a week now and have filled up the tank twice so far. Both times I have averaged 42 MPG. Since it is new to me, I have been riding her fairly hard but not as hard as I'm sure I will be once I get used to her. I have had it to just a hair over 105MPH a few times on the straightaways. I am usually at 75-85 on the highway. In the twisties, it varies of course, but I do tend to gas it a bit coming out if the turns. Gotta love 98 HP on a 2 wheeled machine!!

 

On my '94 I usually got between 350 & 380km from a full tank when commuting. Touring would see a tank range of ~400km.

On my current ride ('00) I'm getting 380 - 400km when commuting. 420 - 430km when touring. I put the extra tank range on the '00 down to the fuel injection.

 

This is old info b/c I no longer have my 94 but as I recall my around town warm weather mileage was upper 40's. My around town cold weather mileage was high 30's low 40's. My warm weather long trip mileage was consisently in the low to mid 50's (at 65-80 mph). I could get 250 miles out of a tank of gas without running deep into the red light zone.:smile:

Timeframe was 2000-2002 until I sold the bike. Did have the carbs cleaned once after it wouldn't run in colder weather.

 

Well, it's been a while since I updated this. Nothing has changed, except the weather. Consistently in the mid 30s for milage and with the daytime temps in the 40s, I'm about ready to pull it in the basement and give it the winter once over. This time I'll tear into my carbs and make sure nothing funny is going on. Sometimes upon my return from my commute I'll getthe garage kind of stinky like she's running rich. Plugs should tell some of the story before I get into the carbs. This will be a new one... Those carbs nested in that V can't be much fun to get at, service and re-install.

 

I've got a '96 VFR that was gettimg great mileage up til about 9 months ago. Bought it four years ago, this month, with 8,000 miles on the bike and it now has 52,000 miles. Have never done the valves, ever, and it runs great, starts fine, idles fine, makes great power and will pull redline in 6th gear!!! For the last 6 months I've been riding and racing my new 06 GXXER 1000 until a rock in the radiator put me back on the VFR this last week. That brought back the problem with the lost gas mileage. Talking about this with a friend, who is the service manager at the local Suzy shop, brought up some interesting possibilities. He asked me if the bike is hard to start and its not ,so, the valves are probably ok, he thought. Valves out of adjustment won't always effect gas mileage, not suddenly, anyway. He did raise the thought about the catalytic convertor being plugged up, though!! Since I have experienced this problem in the past with two different Toyota pick-up trucks it seems like he could be onto something here!!! I am going to address this by having my local muffler shop cut out the 'cat' and piece in some open pipe. I'll post my results in a couple of weeks ,or so, after I get to it.

 

I've got a '94 and it has always gotten crappy mileage, like 25 to 30. I don't really care though 'cause it's a little hotrod, not a Prius.

 

Wow this is interesting reading. I'm getting in the low 40s got 42-43 on most tanks. I've see 50+mpgs where it was all freeway. I can see 190-200 miles on a tank easy. seen 230 miles on one tank and the light hadn't come yet. Done a couple hot rod runs in where the light came on around 170-180miles but that was the worse. Hmmm, Staintune and a KN filter, stock carb jetting and she's just getting ready to roll 32K, Runs like a swiss watch.

 

When I bought mine in Ca. , Going up I-5 I got 42 MPG, and anybody who knows I-5, it just doesn't get straighter than that, I sometimes ride with a 4G rider and always notice he uses less gas than me.

 

I get a pretty solid 40 - 41 MPG on my 2004, with no performance mods, all commute miles.

Which is worse than I actually get in my car, 2004 Prius, about 50 MPG. Tires and mait are quite a bit cheaper on the car too!

 

Well I got 180 out of a tank once when I had to slab it all week up to Seattle and back and the worst I got was 100.

 

Most of I-5 is just mind numbingly boring. Remember a Hardly wanting to race me one time when I was on my K12, friggn' idiot.

For the gas usage, even the same bike is going to differ a little from one to the other. Then you have aerodynamics, does one of you tuck in a little more? Tire air pressure. rolling resistance of different tire models. You have riding style, even when riding together, at near the same speed, do you snap up to speed quicker? do you shift later? cruise in a lower gear?

I know I like to ride higher in the tach than most guys.

I am not saying that the two generations may not differ on their own, but there is so much else at play, you can't be sure that is it from just riding along.

 

Here is a 5g that gets 85mpg, This guy must really tuck and use hardly no RPM's at all...ound:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000...ryZ50003QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

OK, I'll stick my neck out here and say that mileage is a non-event for me on a motorcycle (aside from the fact that it gets moocho better mileage than my Camero or my truck). I get anywhere from 38 to 56 depending (higher mileage on trips). At $2.40 gal it cost me 13.92 to fill the tank. At 50 mpg that's 20.83 cents per mile; at 40 mpg that's 16.66 cents per mile. That's a 4.17 cent diff ... $41.70 per 1000 miles. Granted, one could save 4 or 5 hundred a year with better mileage .... but then you could save one h*ll of a lot more by just not buying a motorcycle --- unless of course it is you car; then all bets are off. IMHO

 

How is that "sticking your neck out"? I'd say we all agree with that statement to a certain extent. I think motorcycles are more an emotional purchase than practical one. I couldn't care less about the mileage I get on my '94: if it's really bad, that just tells me I'm either burying my 'foot' in it or there's something wrong with the bike. If it's the former then I've usually got some good stories to go with it; and if it's the latter then I've got some work to do, which I also enjoy doing.

I'm typically more pissed at the crappy mileage my truck gets than my bike.

 

I ride a '93 vfr and consistently get 46mpg.This is running at 80-85mph on the freeway with also an ocassional bump up to 135, this also includes some tight twisties, and some stop and go traffic. This is a daily commute of 65 miles. If I ride a little less agressive i have gotten 48-50 mpg.