| Author | Message | ||
     Mantraman |
i've read that i should be getting 45+ mpg with my 2009 ulysses. i usually bet between 32 and 36 mpg. stock muffler, k&n air filter, michelin road tires, factory off road only ecm (designed for stock muffler, according to buell). oh, yeah....there is air in my tires! any suggestions? thanks | ||
| Big_island_rider |
What is your riding style? How loaded down is the bike? Ethanol in your gas? I ride road only and mildly aggressive. Almost never two-up, wife rides her own, I weight 165 and sometimes put extra clothes in my bag. I consistently get 47mpg with premium, ethanoled  gas. | ||
| Tribe29 |
Wish I had some advice. Obviously something is wrong. I ride with 3 cases, 2 up and sometimes an avg of 90 mph on a tank and have never been below 40 mpg with about 50k between my Ulys. 07 averages 43, 06 averages 46. Have you verified your odometer is working correctly? | ||
| Griffmeister |
06 and 07 bikes usually get better mileage than the later ones, but that's also with the stock ECM. Riding style could have a lot to do with it. Mine's an 08, with a lot of relatively short trips I can get as little as 36 mpg no matter how I ride it. If I take it out on a day trip and ride it pretty hard, the first tank will start to get over 40 mpg and the second will be around 44 mpg. Seems like it likes to be beat on for extended periods. | ||
| Reepicheep |
With side bags, a far less than svelte rider, and my commuting riding style, 40 to 43 mpg is normal. The bags make a difference. I could even see it when I had the Uly on a trailer being pulled by the Saab (which had a pretty accurate fuel economy meter). I ran for a long stretch with the side bags on, took them off, and ran for another long stretch, and saw my Saab economy go up by about 2 mpg. Now in NC, riding through the cool mountains with flowing curves, good riders, outstanding throttle control and moderate speeds and pretty much never touching the brakes (just ease throttle on, ease it off), I saw like 55 or 60 mpg. I also suspect they get better gas there than I can get in Ohio also (oxygenated summer gas will cost you a couple of MPG's, as will heat). | ||
| Tootal |
I have noticed 5 mpg difference between good fuel and ethanol. Mine is an 06 but it has 07 maps in it. It gets 50 with gas and 45 with ethanol. You should get roughly 40 with ethanol and 45 with gas. I run 3 bags also. Which windshield are you using? | ||
| Hughlysses |
I typically get 40-45 MPG with my stock-ECM'ed 2009-powered 2007 Uly. I see absolutely no difference in fuel mileage between straight gas and ethanol gas, which goes against what most people find. | ||
| Arry |
I agree with Griff.. If you're doing a lot of short hops, on a cold engine, your mileage would be way low. For example, a short commute to work, on a cold motor, then a short commute home, again cold. I don't commute to work, but when I'm doing lots of short hops, I notice my mileage is way low. Normally, I'm getting mid 40's (stock ECM). | ||
| Mrakz83 |
What kind of speeds are you riding at? At 60-70 mph average, I can't break 40 mpg but if I'm at 50-55 mph, I'll be in the 50 mpg range. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Mrakz83- The 08's got pretty miserable gas mileage when they were first released, but there were at least a couple of updated factory ECM maps (that dealers would install at no charge while the bike was under warranty) that significantly improved the fuel mileage. I wonder if your bike was ever updated? Most of us can at least get in the 40's even at speeds above 70. | ||
| Pedalpimp |
I am in the low 30's, '08, EBR ECM | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
I get average of 53 mpg with the top case and tank bag. I'm 150 lbs, have the adventure windscreen on the palmer brackets. K&N air intake, jardine exhaust with SILENCER TIP OUT, and I drive it moderately hard. 70 to 85 everywhere with no less than 45 mile trips on 92 octane gas. 34 psi front and rear. But I don't slow down for corners 😂 | ||
| Mrakz83 |
Hugh- a few years ago I replaced my cracked stock ecm with and EBR ecm programmed for my stock bike. I didn't notice any change in fuel efficiency between the two ecms... To my disappointment. Edit- I don't know if the stock ecm was ever updated, though. (Message edited by Mrakz83 on April 26, 2016) | ||
| Tempest766 |
upper 30s for me, unless I take a long ride a moderately warm and dry day. Then I've seen it as high as 43. And there is nothing but crappy gas anywhere near here: 93 octane, but still with that damned corn alcohol in it year around. | ||
| Sagehawk |
Yall don't forget with short hops and cold motors, it takes 180c temp to come off of cold start enrichment. If fan is on, key off, that turns off fan at 150. Then you have to warm up again. I changed my cold start to go to 100% at 160c. Helps some here on gulf Coast as I have moderate temps year round. Also, timing advancement is active till your 180c is hit. Datalogging showed 7 or 8 minutes of run time before I got to 180c and come off of cold start enrichment. Now on other side, with fan on and key off it takes no time to hit that 150 and turn fan off. I've mentioned this in other threads and there wasn't any response as to what you other folks are set up at. | ||
| Fargojeff |
I track every drop through my bikes. Buell is at 43mpg over the past year. I'm 6' 240lbs, bike is stock '10 xp but 2/3 of the miles I've had an TKC80 up front and either a TKC70 or Karoo3 in back. The killers are cold, town wind and speed. At 60-65 without wind and on street tires 50+ happens, blasting about town when the temps are below 40f, low 30's happen. Most of my miles have been at 70-80 with a throttle lock on. 10% or less ethanol should only reduce economy by 2-3%. That's the energy loss by volume.  | ||
| Woodnbow |
Typically we get 50mpg. It just doesn't seem to vary much more or less. 2 up, luggage, and I weigh around 195. This is on an 08. | ||
| Tootal |
Typically we get 50mpg. It just doesn't seem to vary much more or less. 2 up, luggage, and I weigh around 195. This is on an 08. Shoot, in Colorado I get over 60 mpg! Altitude and Attitude make a big difference in these bikes. The nice thing about fuel injection. Like I said, I get 45 ethanol and 50 on gas but I'm in St. Louis which is only 560 feet above sea level. As soon as I climb out of this hole my mileage goes up. I love Colorado!  | ||
| Woodnbow |
;') Attitude may be the reason I'm only seeing 50! I love to hit the loud switch... My wife asked me last winter as I had the Uly in pieces on the floor, "Do you think we should get a bike that doesn't encourage hooligan behavior? A Road Glide maybe?" | ||
| Tootal |
When I was a teenager I was driving my dad's 64 Rambler. I had a car load of friends and went around a 90 degree corner fast enough to pop both hubcaps off the wheels on the left side. The next day dad was not amused at the missing hubcaps. He asked me if I was hot rodding the car last night. I said, how do you hot rod a 64 Rambler? He said, you can hot rod anything!! I went back and found the hub caps. I have a Road Glide too and trust me, you can hot rod anything! | ||
| Big_island_rider |
I too have a Road Glide and Tootal is right. I myself have been known to travel "several" miles above the speed limit on occasion. However I have the full "fender couch" since I bought the bike so our daughter could ride on it without falling off when she used to fall asleep. No hot rodding for me when she is aboard though. And to add to the MPG question I average 43 on the Glide, same conditions as above. | ||
| Etennuly |
 I did it with my dad's 1970 AMC Hornet 4dr with a 304. That car would hotrod if you consider a 5 1/2" wide bias ply, smoky, one tire sizzling, long burn out hotrodding! I spun it out during my second long burn out and moved all of the crap he had on the under dash shelf into the back seat! Took me an hour to get it all back to where he wouldn't notice. He busted me on the stuff in the trunk that I had no way of knowing where it originally was!  My '06 Uly loves the Smoky Mountain's twisties for it's best fuel mileage. I can consistently do 55 mpg + cranking on it. Highway at 80 + will drop it into the mid 40's. It's lowest ever was a track day kind of thing where it got 41. I run all three bags, at least partially loaded all of the time. | ||
| Sagehawk |
Brother Hotrodded our 62 rambler American classic , broke a con rod in 3Rd cylinder. Sat for a month. I got my license about then and dad said if I could fix it, I could drive it. My first automotive repair ever. Dad was surprised a coupla weeks later hearing the rambler running again. I've never looked back. That 62 was a perfect beach car. Got stuck maybe twice. Could not get out of its own shadow on a cloudy day with that in line 6 but man we had some times in that thing. And no, I never let my brother ever in that car! | ||
| Glenn |
I get at least 50 on my 2007. better in the mountains and with non-ethanol. | ||
| Ourdee |
I get 42 to 50. Usually settle in at 44 MPG. | ||
| Ourdee |
I'm trying something to see if I can bump it up 1 MPG on my average.  | ||
| Etennuly |
I doubt that will do anything but sound better. I did similar stuff on my Uly, and on my former City-X I did the race kit and Buell pipe. The mileage did not change enough to notice on either of them. That might partially be because when it sounds so awesome one tends to get up on the pipe more often! | ||
| 96s2t |
On any viehicle, the key to good mileage is low wind resistance and low RPM. Bags, large windshields, large helmets above a small windshield are not good. Try cruising at a steady speed then tuck down behind your windshield and notice the bike speed up without changing the throttle. | ||
| Ourdee |
Already went to a Shoei RF-1200 to make my fat head more aerodynamic.  | ||
| Ourdee |
 It was time for fresh BBQ paint. Bike came with a Hawk pipe on it. I didn't like the sound. So, I put slightly larger outlets on it. I plan on making an insert for one side that will be wrapped with fiberglass and pass in front of the other opening inside. Hope it will stop some of the high frequency noise. |
