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Lousy Mileage

3K views 26 replies 16 participants last post by  p_rod 
#1 ·
I just bought a 2012 Adventure with 4200 miles. I ride pretty fast but not that fast, all on road with lots on highway.

My mileage started at (I think) 48 when I bought bike. I am now at 41 MPG.

My previous bike with a 2007. My mileage was never this low.

Any thoughts?
 
#2 ·
How fast? Speed kills mileage. I get a little over 60mpg at 60mph in the summer. 75mph drops the mileage into the 40s. Cold air is denser and drops fuel economy more. Winter fuel is more volatile and drops even more.
 
#4 ·
I just rode hundreds of miles with temps in the 40's at 75-80 mph into a wind through Texas and my gas mileage was around 30-35 mpg. Once the temp warmed up to 60's and I hit the mountains it was up around 50+ mpg. Now riding around at 50-65 mph its 55-60 mpg. Mileage varies with the environment and circumstances a lot on this bike.
 
#11 ·
Cold temps shouldn't effect mileage. Seems like your mileage got better the closer to home you got. Does Arizona even have winter blend fuel? I know in the winter months my mileage goes down in all of my vehicles. I hate winter blend fuel! Cold temps with normal blend gas should actually improve mileage because of the colder denser air.
 
#7 ·
Winter blend fuel is not about octane but octane but volatility.
 
#9 ·
Don't pay a lot of attention to the dash mpg readout. Mine is pretty much useless when compared to actual mpg manually calculated by taking miles ridden and dividing by gallons used.
 
#17 ·
I find the trip computer on my 2012 DL650 is very useful. I reset trip 2 when I fill-up. I have recorded every drop of fuel and the mileage on the odo when I fill.

Over about 74,000 miles it has averaged 95% accuracy vs the distance/mile calculation. As it gets warmer it is consistently pessimistic with it becoming more pessimistic. (ie the mileage it shows is worse than actual in hotter weather, getting down to 93%.) In temperatures nearing freezing it becomes very accurate being at 100% or in extreme case slightly optimistic. This means in cold weather i have to be careful not to assume I have more fuel than I do.

..Tom
 
#10 ·
OUTBACKWACK, lovin' the new avatar.
 
#12 ·
Colder temperatures will increase fuel consumption regardless of whether winter blend fuel is used. The computer riches up the fueling to compensate for the denser air to maintain an appropriate A/F ratio.
 
#13 ·
The other factor that will affect mileage is tire pressure. I went from 34, 36 to 36, 40 (front, rear) last summer and gained 4 mpgs.
 
#14 ·
It isn't the mixture that affects fuel because of denser air. The throttle isn't opened as much to get the same amount of air molecules for the same power as in warmer temps.

What colder, denser air does is to increase the power needed to punch through it. Motorcycles are very aerodynamically dirty. Colder, denser air and high speeds are the enemy to fuel economy as more power is needed to push more air molecules aside.
 
#16 ·
It isn't the mixture that affects fuel because of denser air. The throttle isn't opened as much to get the same amount of air molecules for the same power as in warmer temps.
Only true if you do not take advantage of the extra power from the denser air charge. My throttle hand tends to get more aggressive with additional power on tap.

Doesn't the ECU enrich the fuel mixture during engine warm up based on intake air temps? In colder weather, engines take longer to reach operating temp, so would burn more fuel, right? I could see this impacting mileage more if you make shorter trips.
 
#15 ·
I really haven't noticed much (if any difference) in fuel economy in winter. 100% gasoline is widely available at most service stations here, and I use that exclusively in my DL650. It costs about 20-30 cents more per gallon than the E10 fuel.

Back to the original post, as long as you keep your speeds below 70mph, you should get pretty decent mileage. Are you riding it with the side cases on? Those will definitely affect mileage from what I've read on this site.
 
#27 ·
Bikefree: I think mocowbell has something to consider, along with the winter blends and colder temps:


Back to the original post, as long as you keep your speeds below 70mph, you should get pretty decent mileage. Are you riding it with the side cases on? Those will definitely affect mileage from what I've read on this site.


If you are staying around town, ditch the cases for a tankful to see if your mileage increases any. With my previous Beemers, (3 airheads and a big K bike), every time I'd leave my bags at home, my mileage would increase quite noticeably. It amazed me how much mileage baggage scrubs off the mpg's :)

And I also make my own calculations for gas mileage as mentioned previously. The "computers" aboard the DL are pretty optimistic from what I get from a calculator...same goes for the speedo (about 6 mph fast) and the thermometer from what I can tell is about 6 degrees higher as well. Wish there was a fix for that. :beatnik:

Cheers!

Pat
 
#20 ·
Yes. That's why longer warm up times use more fuel.
 
#21 ·
"And here I thought I knew it all"

Sexual Intellectual?:biggrinjester:
Them winds and speed will make the big differmence. Poking around the mountains of Colorado using 85 octane I got 63 mpg on a BMW 1100RT. I don't think I've gotten over 60 mpg with the Wee but I haven't had the chance to do Colorado like that again.
Speed kills...mpg. Slow down and smell the road kill.
 
#24 ·
My worst fuel economy was 26.41 MPG riding into a strong headwind with an 80 mph speed limit. My best fuel economy was 62.5 MPG riding at about 45 on the river road between Presidio and BBNP. That is a lot of dynamic range and it can make it challenging to plan fuel stops. The dominating factor in fuel economy is simply the vector sum of your ground speed and any wind. My average economy over 20,000 miles is 46.5 MPG.

I think a larger displacement bike would experience a lower average fuel economy, but not as large a dynamic range.

I also think a more modern engine might provide better fuel economy.
 
#25 ·
Sounds like your best and worst economy was in the same situation as mine on my 06 Wee. Got around 60 mpg between Study Butte and Presidio. I assume you were probably blasting down I10 when you hit that 26 mpg figure? I had a cross/tail wind and was down in the mid 30s heading back east on 10.
 
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