| Author | Message | ||
     Labully |
I've recently bought a '97 S1 Lightning and absolutely loving it. However I feel like I'm not getting the kind of mileage I should be and wanted to ask what you guys are averaging per mile and in range per tank. What's also interesting is that when I fill up after having to flip to the reserve tank, I'll fill up on about 2.5 gallons, the reserve tank is supposed to hold .7 gallons, so wheres the other .8 gallons? (it's a 4 gallon tank.) | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
My X1 gets high 40s to mid 50s. Fuel injected so most likely will be a bit better than carb. People usually err on the side of jetting rich for carbs since the other way makes holes in pistons. | ||
| Lake_bueller |
Mileage will vary depending on the type of riding. When I'm cruising on the freeway with my S3T, I get in the mid-50's. If I'm in the twisties and riding hard, I've been as low as upper teens. As for the "reserve", I can rarely get more than 4 gallons in my 5.5 gallon tank. It's the same in both my S3T and S1W. | ||
| Ebutch |
About 36 mpg 190lbs always pegging throughtle.95 S2 with wide bags  Lots of curves.Get 5 gals. in tank if holding bike upright.very hilly in Finger lakes Too. (Message edited by ebutch on April 19, 2016) | ||
| Akbuell |
Fuel injection is marvy. I get consistent readings in the 50-53 MPG area with my X-1's. As compared to a recent but carbed Sportster that read in the high 30's. | ||
| Purpony |
I ride all back roads on my 99 X1 and get right around 55mpg constantly | ||
| S1owner |
96 S1 small tank 50 miles per gal rock solid all day long | ||
| Screamer |
On my S2 - mid 50s, S3 - high 40s, and I think my son got low 40s with the S1 we used to have (highway). For the capacity question - there were some issues with roto-molded tanks that had excessive wall thickness - some (but very few) to the point where capacity was reduced. I can't remember for sure - I think it was only S1 and M2 models. Stated capacity and usable capacity may not be exactly the same - even on a tank with normal wall thickness. | ||
| Loose1 |
'97 S1 mostly freeway, 70mph, Mid to upper 50's mpg. I got upper 60's a few times. The weather plays a lot into it. Matt | ||
| 46champ |
I get 45 to just over 50 depending on how I ride and how much freeway riding I do, makes it better. I usually go on reserve at 130 to 140 miles miles on to trip meter. That usually means I have about 2 gallons of gas left my tank holds 5.2 gallons from dry to plum full. The large amount of reserve capacity is not unheard of for any of the carbed tubers. I have a 99 M2 so I do have a bigger tank than you do. | ||
| Oopezoo |
Haha.....I'm always paranoid with how much fuel my little S1 tank holds. My daily commute is 120 miles round trip. I've always been pretty sure I could make it, but I chicken out every time and stop for gas on the way home. I haven't had enough seat time on it to really get an accurate and/or reliable fuel consumption number. | ||
| S1owner |
120 no problem but you will want gas for the next day | ||
| Mikeyp |
My mileage nosedived once i put a Mikuni on my S1, not that i really care. Does you bike have one? | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Just a guess, but maybe the 4 gallon is the full capacity of the inside of the tank, but when you fill up you can only fill it to the bottom of the filler hole. Even when you pull out of the gas station, you still have a little air pocket at the top of your tank. | ||
| Buellrobot |
~45 mpg – highway 75-80mph | ||
| Oopezoo |
We will see....I rode it to work this morning (Nothing broke, fell off, or leaked for the first time YAAAA!). I have 75 miles on this tank and 57 miles to get home this afternoon. Here is a stupid question.....as this is the first carburated bike I've ridden in well over a decade, and my first street bike that doesn't have a fuel idiot light. If you know you are going to get into the reserve part of the tank, do you switch it over before you take off, or do you wait till it kicks and sputters so you know you have hit reserve? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Technically, you could just run it in reserve all the time. When you're out of gas, that's it though. | ||
| S1owner |
It was very obvious when I needed to seitch to reserve. Run till it sputters ir looses throttle response reach down switch to reserve. Then you know you have 20 mikes or so to go | ||
| Oopezoo |
Awesome.....thanks. I've had it sputter and die on me twice, but that was when I headed down the road when I forgot to turn the gas on. Both times, I wasn't expecting it so I ended up coasting to the side of the road until the light bulb between my ears turned on. If I'm expecting it, it shouldn't be a big deal to reach down and switch it over. | ||
| Bd3 |
I have had a 2001 M2 since last November and did the coast-to-the-side-o'-the-road-trick twice before figuring out how to switch to reserve on-the-fly. Then I learned to just switch over whenever my tripometer was north of 100 miles. Last week I broke off the plastic lever on the petcock when switching over a little too aggressively. I have a new $20 petcock from Acerbis on the way. I only get 3.3 gallons at the most in the tank just after switching to reserve and consistently get in the low 30's mpg. It idles and runs smoothly but my sparkplugs are black. The previous owner "re-jetted it". I have yet to even check the size of the carb jets as I am just enjoying riding the thing and don't want to risk screwing it up. Eventually plan to lean it out a bit to improve mileage and reduce carbon deposits. | ||
| Harleyelf |
Be very careful when you install the new petcock. The tank material is soft as butter and you can easily over-torque the mounting bolts. | ||
| Labully |
@Mikeyp Yep. I've Got a Mikuni flat slide Carb on it. You think that's why I'm only getting 70 miles per tank? Maybe the Carb needs a going through? You all are getting much better mileage than me haha | ||
| Cupcake_mike |
properly tuned it shouldn't matter what carb you have on it, your MPGs should be relatively the close to stock numbers...as long as we are talking about stock engine internals. Do some plug chops and get that engine running right. Running an engine rich is, obviously, better than running it lean but it will still cause problems down the road. Carbs are easy, especially cause you only got one to worry about. | ||
| Oopezoo |
So here was my ride today on my '98 S1 with the small tank. I was forced to switch it to reserve at 105 miles. I filled up at the closest station at 123 miles. I ended up putting 2.97 gallons in it. No idea what the "usable capacity" is, but I was starting to sweat until I saw the gas station. | ||
| S1owner |
Looks like you found your limits now just use your trip od and you have itmade | ||
| Oopezoo |
yup, I was just hoping for a little more. With a round trip of 120 miles, that makes it a little hairy. Guess I'll have to pull the trigger on a manta tank one of these days if I want to ride it to work on a regular basis. | ||
| Labully |
I'm still getting 35 miles less than you oop. Might have to clean and re-jet the carbs to see if that helps. You're running the stock Carb? | ||
| Oopezoo |
Yeah, that would irritate the shit out of me. I am running the Stock carb (but I rejetted it), forcewinder intake, and a Borla CF exhaust. Man this bike runs good | ||
| Phelan |
Fact- people at sea level will get significantly more power and less mileage than us folks at 6000 ft or more. The higher the elevation, the less power, better mileage you will get, among the afore-mentioned other factors. | ||
| Ratbuell |
My tubers all run lo-mid 50s for MPG. XB (Uly with 9 primary gears), mid-40s. 1125, high 30s. MPG is inversely proportional to HP. Horses are thirsty  |
