| Author | Message | ||
     Fltwistygirl |
So, almost 20K into my relationship with the XT and I got nearly 60 mpg's on our excursion back from the beach today. Riding was a combination of stop and go traffic, and "spirited" riding on the superslab. I came to expect 60-66 mpg on the petite-in-comparison City-X so given we had the bikes loaded with stuff for 2 nights at the beach with a kid, including a shovel for digging out shells and whatever else. I am thrilled. At this rate I figure we are spending roughly 1/2 as much on gas riding it as the car (25 mpgs). Can we attribute the great gas mileage to the "spring blend" of gas, higher miles on the bike, new plugs, or ???? B. (Message edited by fltwistygirl on March 23, 2011) | ||
| Froggy |
Road conditions, tire pressure, vehicle weight, aerodynamics, engine load, throttle position, altitude, and octane can all be factors. Congrats on joining the 60 club, lets see if you can join me at 75MPG  | ||
| Etennuly |
Hey Froggy, I have done it on Blastulys!  Got right at 80 mpg once. Best I have seen on my Uly loaded for camping was 61.2 on the BRP. Who says 45 mph is a bad idea? | ||
| Crusty |
My daughter regularly got 62-65 MPG on her Blast during our trip to the 25th Anniversary Homecoming; and we were running 70 - 75 MPH. When we were in Wisconsin, we tanked up, and she had gotten 72 MPG keeping the speeds down while doing local rides. Buells have always gotten decent fuel mileage while producing decent power for a pushrod engine. | ||
| Gunut75 |
Thats why I love my XB sooooooo much!  | ||
| Union_man |
Mine got better mileage after 20,000 too!  I love my bike! | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Arhh! So Jealous! Still not getting near that, and have 20K on my XT.  My X1 did better. | ||
| Vecchio_lupo |
Those big throttle bodies have alot to do with it. My S3 will turn in 55mpg at 65mph with steady input, that drops to around 40mpg with higher speeds or burst of Wide Open Throttle. My 08 Uly turns in 60+ mpg with Zero G windscreen W/ Laminar Lip, and Palmer brackets raising it up. Unless I start to flog it, then I drop into the high 30s. So the key for me is smooth steady input with sub 80mph speeds. I was running with some BMW F800GS guys, we were going 90mph and stopping for fuel every 150 miles. On the return we ran 70-75 and could go 200 before the yellow light came on to scare me. | ||
| Darth_villar |
I got over 45 mpg last week cruising at mostly 75-80. Not bad for a 88" :P | ||
| Brijasher |
Rides from 12000ft down to 5000ft can do it too. http://www.njdot.us/buell/ulygan2.php?selected_use r=brijasher I'm working on the 70 Froggy! =D | ||
| Tastroman |
I never get better than 43mpg. What gives? | ||
| Buellerxt |
I'm right with you Tastroman. 41-42 is my average. Maybe we're good at math, or lack imagination. Okay, I'll drink the lemonade and play the game. Let's see, how's this: I took my bags off, went for a ride on a smooth back road, FOCUSED on gas mileage, kept my speed below 45 mph, tucked in behind my windscreen and averaged, oh say 61.863, no it was 63.187 mph. Still looking for ways to improve it.  (Message edited by buellerxt on March 24, 2011) | ||
| Buellerxt |
Ah, maybe we're focused on the wrong thing, Tastroman, and missing great opportunities to get super high gas mileage. Maybe it's all in road selection and deciding when to fill up. Don't just ride and fill up when the bike needs gas. Plan ahead, with focus on big numbers, and GET THEM! For example, Albuquerque has a nine mile hill on the west side of town. Next time through I may fill up at the top, coast down and try hard to miss lights, idling is a no no, then fill up at the bottom and post my mileage! Better yet, maybe I should carry gasoline to the top of Sandia Crest, coast down the 15-20 miles, and fill up at the bottom, compute the super high mileage and report back! I have a friend who loves to mess with mpg focused folk, you know the kind that run over to your bike at a fuel stop and see how much gas your bike took, so they can 'feel good'! He stops way short of filling up and gets a kick of watching their depressed/questioning looks! (Message edited by buellerxt on March 24, 2011) (Message edited by buellerxt on March 24, 2011) | ||
| Froggy |
You will burn more fuel going up the hill than you would save by coasting down the hill. If you really want to pull it off, find a long flat slab of road (about 100 miles, as your results won't be accurate from the under 10 mile events), get up to 50mph, put it in 5th, and do not accelerate or slow down. For bonus points, ditch the sailboat windshield, get rid of the stock ape hanger bars in favor of clubmans, ditch the gigantic bags in favor of a tank bag, change the front fairing and tail section to that of the XBRR, and enjoy your easy 75mpg. | ||
| Etennuly |
I got my Uly to do 41 mpg on twisted roads once. It was the hardest I had ever ridden it for a tank full. Like a 200 mile track day on secondary roads. When I did 60+ mpg, mine was loaded with full camping gear and clothes for three days in my three hard bags. On the BRP the speed limit is mostly 45 mph and it is watched regularly, so slow go it is. But nothing special about how I rode it. My Uly usually gets between 49.5 and 53 mpg cranking on it in the twisties in East Tennessee.....down hill and up. It is averaged over 200 miles of riding tank after tank. My mileage is far worse on Interstates. Cruising 75 will usually net about 47mpg. I ran it near 100 mph for a tank full in fast traffic one time that had my low fuel light on at 135 miles. It was around 38 mpg. There was/is a long term fuel mileage comparison chart floating around here somewhere. It showed the difference in model year mpg on the Ulys. Froggy has a mileage advantage or two. He runs his tires at 100 psi, he weighs 62 lbs, and head on he is no thicker than a cardboard cut out of himself. | ||
| Johnboy777 |
All I know is my bike gets a lot better miles per gallon when I ride in Canada - must be all of that fresh Canadian air. ... | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
76 mpg from the bottom two gallons in my tank. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
"Froggy has a mileage advantage or two. He runs his tires at 100 psi, he weighs 62 lbs, and head on he is no thicker than a cardboard cut out of himself". Now THAT is funny!  That is the diet I need to be on! | ||
| Crusty |
You only think it's funny because you haven't met him. | ||
| Etennuly |
 What he said! | ||
| Crusty |
And you don't want to try his diet if you want to lose weight; that boy can eat!  | ||
| Ourdee |
There is less rolling resistance if you ride on the line instead of the bare pavement. But I can sacrifice a little mileage. | ||
| Buellerxt |
That would definitely help, no doubt, Froggy, but hey Man, I like those bags, I like that windshield and Laminar Lip, I even put risers on those bars, I put lowers on the forks, and like them, and most of all, Froggy, I am abiding by your mantra of 'don't worry about it, just ride' so I can't be worrying about mileage! I applaud you though. Those are seriously impressive numbers. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Froggy only rides downhill with the wind in neutral with the engine off. | ||
| 99savage |
Don't worry, whatever you save on gas you will spend on tires. Ride on | ||
| Froggy |
Vern, you got it backwards, 62psi and 100lbs 99Savage, there is a direct correlation between fuel economy and tire life. Remember, I got 18,000 miles on my last Scorpion Sync. | ||
| Uly_man |
These are outstanding numbers given that a US gallon is 3.78541L and a UK gallon is 4.54609L which is 0.76068L less or 20% more. As said mpg is a bit subjective but if one US gallon = 3.78541L thats 15.85 miles per L if its 60 US mpg. On a 16.7 L tank thats 264 miles per tank. At 75 US mpg thats 19.8 miles per L and 330 miles per 16.7 L tank. Almost as good as a C50. My bike is tuned (can, filter, etc), UK gallons and I am a big heavy guy. I get 42 mpg (town only), 55 mpg (on mixed miles), maybe 62ish on a run while riding with care. I also get better results with, about 6%, better rated fuel. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Well, unfortunately, this 116 m.p.g. seems a one time event...so far. Filled up yesterday after a 112 round trip jaunt to work, and it took close to 3 gallons. I let the bike warm up for a good ten minutes yesterday morning, and a good 3 before I returned home yesterday afternoon. On the 116 mile trip it may have run for a minute before I got on the road. And now I am giving waaaaay tooo much thought to what I can do to get a repeat performance. Unfortunately I'm in flat ol' FLorida, so froggy's coasting down the hill in neutral technique will prolly not work so well for me! The tank that got the stellar mileage was purchased at a racetrac petrol station in the Largo, FL area. Most of the 116 miles were piled on enroute from TSP to Leesburg, straight shot, no stops other than the initial stop n go traffic which seemed like hours, but in reality was prolly no more than 20 minutes. Then 60 mph + interstate riding, til we got to the secondary 55/60 mph roads, and finally the 45 mph roads. I then rode 8 miles in 45 mph traffic to work, and filled up at another racetrac. Sooooo, here's some more questions for all you Uly mpg optimizers: 1. Would warming it up excessively ding my mpgs by 30%? 2. Did I get a better blend near the gulf coast than here in the middle of the state? 3. Is a two hour straight shot ride a better recipe for higher mpgs than riding one hour, shutting it down for 8 hours then riding another hour? Thoughts, please! Thanks a bunch. B. | ||
| Froggy |
1 - 10 minutes idle???? That is 10 minutes of ZERO MPG! I don't even let my bikes idle for 30 seconds at a red light. Yea, you burned some fuel sitting there, but not enough to cause a 30% in my opinion. Other factors are involved. 2 - Very possible. If you bought gas at a station that does not use ethanol blends, you will get about 10% better fuel economy than gas that has 10% ethanol content. coming back to Buelltoberfest, I found a station about an hour away from Vern's that was no ethanol, and was able to get 54mpg on my gas guzzling 1125R instead of around 50mpg. 3 - Yes a single 2h ride is better. If you stop for 8 hours, the engine has cooled off, you will need to cold start it, which runs the engine extra rich till it warms back up. Also, riding in flat Florida should net better fuel economy than the mountains of NY. Lets say I travel 10 miles generally uphill, due to needing more energy to ascend, I would get say 30mpg going up the hill. Even if I could coast all the way back to sea level, I would need to travel 10 miles without running the motor to have an effective 60mpg. While gravity is your friend, rolling resistance, wind, traffic, stop signs and the general fact that your not going to find a 10 mile straight shot downhill road, you will not have regained all of that lost energy. In a flat state, you can hop on the highway, throttle lock, take a nap, and then stall 280 miles later when the tank finally dries out. No changes in speed or altitude mean you use less energy. Uly_man, due to the lack of UK Buellers I can't recall the last time I used a UK gallon unless it put it in brackets and marking it such. Either way the fuel economy is fantastic, I can routinely go around 250 miles before the gas light starts flickering on and off. Ourdee, riding on the line results in less traction, which would reduce fuel economy similarly to riding on wet roads. (My theory, I don't feel like spending 250 miles on a double yellow) | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Thanks for response Froggy. One other factor I neglected to mention: wind. It was very gusty both days. There is only one non-ethanol station in my general area, about 25 mins away. I do need to check it out because the city-x LOVED that gas in MN. Happy happy bike with that petrol and cooler temps. I'd imagine the Ulys would as well. My ten minute warm up the other morning was more of an exception than a rule. If it's "cold" out, you know, less than 65 degrees when I leave at o dark thirty, I like my handgrips to be toasty warm so let it run for about 5 minutes! And you know how we chicks like to take stuff with us? I made three trips back into the house/garage to get "just one more thing". The down side of using two different bikes for one two day class. |
