Thinking fuel mileage............

[The Beekeeper]

was pondering the limited fuel range of the Gen1 and 2 Maxes and got to wondering what stock production gasoline powered street bike ever produced offered the longest range from a full tank of fuel?................................Tom.

 

[a113ycat]

My 95 Max gets about 30mpg unless Im pounding the throttle. Out of all the bikes I have ever owned and that has been a LOT by the way the ones with the best mpg were the small displacement engine bikes. My sons Vespa gets about 50 but will not go over 25mph I had a 1972 Honda CB350 twin that would get around 45 or so
Here is a link that shows the Best MPG bikes out there
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/MotorcycleFuelEconomyGuide/best-motorcycle-MPG-over500cc.htm

 

[COP RUNNER]

i I GET 45-46 MPG. ON THE HWY. MUCH LESS AROUND TOWN ! . HERES THE THREAD . . http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=4728

 

[Blurr]

My money would be on a Honda Tail 90. I'm trying to find the link but I remember a guy who documented getting over 77mpg on one.

EDIT: remind me to look at all the links in a prior posts before opening my mouth...

 

[Fire-medic]

What about the airhead BMW's w/the 9 gallon tanks from the Paris/Dakar models?

was pondering the limited fuel range of the Gen1 and 2 Maxes and got to wondering what stock production gasoline powered street bike ever produced offered the longest range from a full tank of fuel?................................Tom.

http://www.airheads.org/images/stories/gunsmoke/tani_side_view.jpg

 

[bazwell]

I also have a 50cc Benelli with a MASSIVE 70cc big bore kit.
If it's not stationary, it is full throttle.
I was always amazed that the fuel consumption was exactly half of the v-max.
Based on that, I think the v-max is good!

 

[rusty]

was pondering the limited fuel range of the Gen1 and 2 Maxes and got to wondering what stock production gasoline powered street bike ever produced offered the longest range from a full tank of fuel?................................Tom.

Harley Davidson....Big gas tanks with low hp & low rpm motors =50 hwy mpg.:biglaugh:

 

[RaWarrior]

Hmm...good question. One one hand you'd expect it to be a purpose built tourer like a Goldwing, but while the big bikes tend to have large fuel capacities they're also not terribly efficient. On the other there's little "lightweight" bikes like 250's and 125's in euro/asian markets that can get over 100mpg but might only carry a gallon or two.

My Max(115hp) usually hovers in the high 30s....38-40mpg for normal riding. I've never bothered to ride it carefully for...well, ever.

My old Magna V30(68hp) would average around 45, but with careful riding it would get well into the 50's, think my best ever was 56 and that was all at like 55mph and very few stops.

My starter GS450A(22hp) would give mid 40's regardless how you rode it. I think that was due to the torque converter clutch system.

So in comparison, the Vmax is a very efficient engine. A 1200 Harley gets around 40mpg, but only returns half as much power, the rest is wasted shaking the handlebars and annoying people going gardening. The guy we ride with that has a 96" fatboy usually takes about the same amount of gas as I do at stops....so high 30's. Nothing special....par for the course for any "big twin".

 

[sdt354]

What about the airhead BMW's w/the 9 gallon tanks from the Paris/Dakar models?


My old R100/7 BMW came close to 50 MPG, coming home from a trip low on fuel, cash, and light on the throttle. It had a 6 Gallon tank if I remember right. It was no where near the fun, and comfort of the Vmax. Still, it had its own charm.
Steve

 

[one2dmax]

I actually have one of those on the list that I took in on trade last year!

 

[BorgBiker]

If we're talking about number of miles on a single tank, I think that a sport tourer such as the St1100 or Gen 1 Concours would be at/near the top. They both have huge tanks (Connie has 7.5, St is similar) and they are usually ridden fairly conservatively. I knew a guy with a early '90's Connie who could get over 300 miles per tank pretty consistently.

If we're talking about mpg, you'd be looking at a street mini from the '60's or 70's. A lot of them could go more than 100 miles on a tank, which held less than a gallon.

With modern bikes I know the Ninja 250 gets about 79 or 80mpg, and the Eliminator 125 likely gets better.

It's not just about engine efficiency, gearing is critical. So many bikes get between 35 mpg and 50mpg, and sometimes bigger slower turning engined bikes like Harleys get better mileage than smaller bikes revving higher. Somebody probably has a equation to figure it out, but I'm a bit scared of math :whistlin:

 

[bazwell]

When I was selling second hand bikes, I could tell everyone that the range on the tank was 200km.
I was selling mostly Jap bikes, and the manufacturers make the tank size so that they hit reserve after 200km!
The V-max is the only obvious exception I can think of, getting more like 160-170km per tank before reserve.
You can therefore get a pretty good idea of the fuel consumption by just looking up how much fuel the main tank holds!
I'm sure it's not 100% accurate, but if you look into it, I think you'll be surprised at how often they do it!

While I'm on the subject of strange conventions that happen most of the time...
If you are driving a car and you don't know which side of the car the fuel filler is, you should look at which side of the steering wheel the fuel guage is. I'd say that about 95% of the time the filler is on the same side!

:biglaugh:

 

[The Beekeeper]

I was thinking distance per tank full, Like RA Warrior, my line of thinking was between the touring rigs with larger fuel capacity or a smaller cc bike.................Interesting thought Bazwell on the fuel fill, my 92 chevy PU would fall under that but my wifes 02 Buick does not......................Tom.

 

[Fire-medic]

I was thinking distance per tank full, Like RA Warrior, my line of thinking was between the touring rigs with larger fuel capacity or a smaller cc bike.................Interesting thought Bazwell on the fuel fill, my 92 chevy PU would fall under that but my wifes 02 Buick does not......................Tom.

I often wondered why manufacturers didn't just put an arrow pointing to the relevant side under the gas symbol on the gauge.

 

[BorgBiker]

On most cars, you can see a little arrow next to the fuel symbol that's pointing to the left or right. Our PT Cruiser has it pointing to the right, and that's where the fuel filler is. Our Sebring Convertible has it pointing to the left, and the filler is on the left.

I learned this from a friend who worked for Enterprise Rentals... they fill up tanks a lot I guess!

 

[naughtyG]

While I'm on the subject of strange conventions that happen most of the time...
If you are driving a car and you don't know which side of the car the fuel filler is, you should look at which side of the steering wheel the fuel guage is. I'd say that about 95% of the time the filler is on the same side!

:biglaugh:

On my gf's Eunos Roadster (Mazda MX5), steering wheel's on the right but filler's on the left.
Must be in the 5% :ummm::biglaugh:

 

[RaWarrior]

Almost everything I've seen has a little triangle somewhere in the gas gauge pointing to one side or the other.

The only thing I've noticed about fillers is that on pickups, the fill is always on the driver side. Never seen a truck, even back from the 50's-60's that had it on the passenger.

For others cars it's kind of a toss up. I suspect many import cars have them on the passenger since they were primarily designed for right hand drive and didn't want the extra expense of moving the filler back to the driver's side for left-drive markets.

 

[bazwell]

On my gf's Eunos Roadster (Mazda MX5), steering wheel's on the right but filler's on the left.
Must be in the 5% :ummm::biglaugh:

LOL!

G, on an MX5 the fuel guage is on the left of the steering wheel.
Observe .. http://www.sharecg.com/v/10916/gallery/6/Texture/Mazda-Mx5-Dashboard?interstitial_displayed=Yes# :biglaugh:

Well, on that one it is.

I guess you still don't understand that the steering wheel is ALWAYS on the right. :rofl_200:

I am yet to see a little triangle, so I'm going to guess it's on American made cars!

 

[KJShover]

I am yet to see a little triangle, so I'm going to guess it's on American made cars!

Me too,
I went out to the garage, and checked the dodge and explorer. No arrows, or triangles. None in the '55 Tbird either.
Hmm wonder where the triangle would be on a filling neck at the tail of the car. I sold my Cordoba otherwise I'd go look.

 

[bazwell]

Me too,
I went out to the garage, and checked the dodge and explorer. No arrows, or triangles. None in the '55 Tbird either.
Hmm wonder where the triangle would be on a filling neck at the tail of the car. I sold my Cordoba otherwise I'd go look.

Well, I guess it's not American cars either.
I wondered about the fill points behind the number plates before, because a few Aussie cars have had that. I think I decided that they count because if you follow that rule, you can still put fuel in.

Thought I'd better check the three at our house. Jap, Aussie and European built, all were right. :biglaugh: