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There doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there about how to squeeze the best MPG out of a motorcycle which is puzzling because motorcycles get very good hybrid car like gas mileage and take so much less energy and money to build and maintain. My Streetbob, for example, is rated 53/34 and Harlay sells a scooter that rates in at 120 MPG. Anyhoo, wondering if anyone knows of any tricks aside from the obvious non-agressive driving, drafting, etc...

For good mileage a big V-twin (Harley) or a small 250cc single are supposed to be good bets. Cycle World did some testing about a year ago and got up to 80mpg on smaller bikes and scooters but did not test a Harley.

Drafting on a bike is a bit of a problem: if you're real close to a truck it's dangerous because you can't see potholes and debris until too late (and these are bigger issues for a bike than for a car). Yet if you stay slightly back the air spilling off the trailer slaps you around a lot, which at the very least is tiring.

If you want to coast you have to hold the clutch in. Clicking through the gearbox to find neutral and then back to get into the right gear again would be a hassle. And bikes lose speed rapidly (less weight and more drag than a car) so you don't get as much glide.

Best bet would probably be as you say to drive it gently. Any thoughts Wayne or others?

One problem is that most bike engines are optimized for performance even more than cars because that's what sells them. If a mfr could sell a mileage motorcycle we might see some better numbers.

Another problem is that in my experience it's safest on a bike to move a tad faster than the flow of traffic, and higher speeds mean poorer mpg. I commuted on I-95 on a bike for 25+ years, no accidents, 25-35 miles each way, daily for 3 seasons and on warmer days in the winter, and this strategy worked well for me. It's also recommended in police training manuals for mc cops.

Doing that on my present bike with traffic moving the way it moves these days netted me 45mpg. Over the summer I've been managing around 90mpg in the Insight (albeit at much lower speeds). So I haven't been riding at all so far this year because I've been having even more fun in the Insight. And I thought that NOTHING could stop me from riding.....

Any good mechanical tricks, mods? There has to be a way to dyno-tune for a leaner ride, maybe? I wish there was more info out there about getting good MPG on a bike, but as you say all the info is gearded to getting more power.

I've wanted to find out more about motorcycles in general and in particular getting more FE out of them.

I'm a Peak Oil guy so I bought the bike because I figured in a post peak world it would be a much easier vehicle to maintain and fuel than a car. Hell, slap a carb on and you don't even need a battery.

Leaning out the mixture might cause problems because they're already leaned out but you can regear a chain-driven bike by changing sprockets (and possibly chain as well). That might help.

One area where motorcycles cost more is tires. Generally pricier (specialty market) and don't last as long as car tires do.

Forgot to mention that scooters, mopeds, and smaller motorcycles are probably good fuel-savers for local errand-running. Other benefit is ease of parking - needs only a small space so you can often park closer to where you're going, saves time.

Okay guys. I created a forum just for motorcycles. This should help you guys find information easier.

... motorcycles get very good hybrid car like gas mileage ....
I dunno, these days my bike is my gas guzzler. :D

I had a similar post (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/general/t-any-hypermiling-motorcyclists-we-just-bought-one-4095.html)a couple of months ago. Since then I've focused on mild hypermiling -- i.e., conservative driving. Initially, since I hadn't ridden in 30 years, it was out of an abundance of caution more than a desire for FE.

Now it's both. Overall since we bought the bike I've been getting about 60. My fiancee and I did a ride of about 140 miles a couple of weeks ago. I got ~65 MPG for the trip simply by accelerating modestly, cruising at the speed limit, and minimizing braking.

The only technique I've considered adding, now that I'm getting comfortable in the saddle, is killing the ignition when stopped for more than a few seconds at red lights and such. But now a question that you or other riders might be able to answer: Can the typical motorcycle starter handle such frequent use?

I dunno, these days my bike is my gas guzzler. :D

I had a similar post (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/general/t-any-hypermiling-motorcyclists-we-just-bought-one-4095.html)a couple of months ago. Since then I've focused on mild hypermiling -- i.e., conservative driving. Initially, since I hadn't ridden in 30 years, it was out of an abundance of caution more than a desire for FE.

Now it's both. Overall since we bought the bike I've been getting about 60. My fiancee and I did a ride of about 140 miles a couple of weeks ago. I got ~65 MPG for the trip simply by accelerating modestly, cruising at the speed limit, and minimizing braking.

The only technique I've considered adding, now that I'm getting comfortable in the saddle, is killing the ignition when stopped for more than a few seconds at red lights and such. But now a question that you or other riders might be able to answer: Can the typical motorcycle starter handle such frequent use?

Yeah, I'm somewhere around the EPA estimate on my bike - a little over 50 - just by drafting, easy riding and using that 6th gear like an overdrive. Havn't been able to pull off 65 +, though. As for the starter, not sure but I know a lot of old, greasy bikers I can check with. I can't imagine why not, though. If you're not riding around in Manhattan how much stopping and starting can you be talking about? I have to admit, though, that living in the Valley, Simi Valley may color my judgement due to it's long spaces between lights and well timed lights.

Okay guys. I created a forum just for motorcycles. This should help you guys find information easier.

Thanks. Spelled "ways" wrong in the description. Tried to tell you in PM but you're over your limit.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there about how to squeeze the best MPG out of a motorcycle which is puzzling because motorcycles get very good hybrid car like gas mileage and take so much less energy and money to build and maintain. My Streetbob, for example, is rated 53/34 and Harlay sells a scooter that rates in at 120 MPG. Anyhoo, wondering if anyone knows of any tricks aside from the obvious non-agressive driving, drafting, etc...

Welcome

Your bober should show you some love.

For those that don't know Harley has been the large displacement mpg champ for years in the scooter world.

Is your bob still stock? If it is you might have something to still work with.

psy

Welcome

Your bober should show you some love.

For those that don't know Harley has been the large displacement mpg champ for years in the scooter world.

Is your bob still stock? If it is you might have something to still work with.

psyThe only thing done that would change the running of the bike is pipes. I haven't touched the engine.

Hi Renfield, I own and ride 2 harley's, an 03' duece and a 05' lowrider. The duece was getting 52mpg, then i put pipes on it and now i get about 46mpg, so the pipes didnt help FE but they look and sound great (oh well). The lowrider is still stock and i get about 55mpg with it.( both are fuel injected) I find that by not going over about 50mph i get the best mileage (hard to do on the interstate) and yes I do kill the motor at stoplights. Have not had any adverse effects on the battery or starter yet. I do run my tires just a bit over the recomended pressure and find that the bikes handle a bit crisper. I coast as much as possible and draft when I can. Side drafting seems to work pretty well too (safer).

madman

My pipes don't seem to be too bad, but I guess that totally depends on the pipes. I have Pythons with a crossover and baffles. Maybe highflow straight pipes can drop your mileage?

My pipes don't seem to be too bad, but I guess that totally depends on the pipes. I have Pythons with a crossover and baffles. Maybe highflow straight pipes can drop your mileage?

I have vance n hines big shots, also k and n filter and power programer. The shop that installed and tuned the programmer said that some people run them to lean and have big problems so they set it up a bit rich. Probably explains my drop in FE, but i don't want a blown motor either. If you change pipes on a H-D you need to rejet your carb or reprogram your computer(if you have fuel injection) or you will be running it way to lean. I used to commute to work on my harley because it got such good mileage but my prius kicks it butt so now I just ride it on the weekends or to events and such. Still love to ride, just makes sense to use the car instead, oh well.

madman

I have vance n hines big shots, also k and n filter and power programer. The shop that installed and tuned the programmer said that some people run them to lean and have big problems so they set it up a bit rich. Probably explains my drop in FE, but i don't want a blown motor either. If you change pipes on a H-D you need to rejet your carb or reprogram your computer(if you have fuel injection) or you will be running it way to lean. I used to commute to work on my harley because it got such good mileage but my prius kicks it butt so now I just ride it on the weekends or to events and such. Still love to ride, just makes sense to use the car instead, oh well.

madman

I got my pipes installed before I took posession and they gave me the disk and dongle for the reprogram so I'm not worried about that. It was reprogrammed at the shop before I picked it up. It's an '07 so it's fuel injected - they discontinued carbs altogether this year.

Renfield and Madman, thanks for the info about the starter. The bike stays at my fiancee's house in a largely rural area, but we make frequent trips into the city. The city lights themselves turn pretty quickly. It's some of those in suburbia we encounter along the way that seem to stay red forever.

Anytime you put big shots, short shots or say street sweepers on you loose low end grunt. They sound cool but wack the low end. A two in one is a much better pipe on a V-twin.

They do have to rich them up a tad to keep them from poping and melting down. Throw the K&N's in the mix and they need even more fuel. The newer bikes come with O2 sensor and air injection sometimes also.

Im wanting to get a yamaha stratoliner. They have the Epux exhaust valve, O2 sensor and air injection. The epux valve helps alot with the low end a long with the two in one pipe. But at 1800cc plus its not a mpg champ. A stump puller,,, YES!!!

psy

Anytime you put big shots, short shots or say street sweepers on you loose low end grunt. They sound cool but wack the low end. A two in one is a much better pipe on a V-twin.

They do have to rich them up a tad to keep them from poping and melting down. Throw the K&N's in the mix and they need even more fuel. The newer bikes come with O2 sensor and air injection sometimes also.

Im wanting to get a yamaha stratoliner. They have the Epux exhaust valve, O2 sensor and air injection. The epux valve helps alot with the low end a long with the two in one pipe. But at 1800cc plus its not a mpg champ. A stump puller,,, YES!!!

psy

My duece is my baby, I waited untill 2003 to buy a new H-D because I wanted a 100 year aniversery model (silver and black). I didn't get it for the FE but because I have been riding motorcycles all my life and always wanted a harley. I've changed a few things on her, like a 18"x5.5" 60 spoke rear wheel, the pipes of course, the bars, pegs, and grips with a few more items coming soon. I love my duece and will keep her until death do us part (my wife says she will bury us together:p) I agree with you that a 2 into1 pipe is better for performance and FE but this bike is about looks and sound. My other harley will stay fairly stock and when I run to the store it is the one i usually ride anyway. BTW I am getting closer to that 60mpg tankfull on the lowrider:woot: Good luck getting that monster bike(I have some stump you can pull with it:D)

Well you got one of the last Dueces ever. A friend was just at the store buying a Street Glide and was told that HD was discontinuing a whole bunch of bikes and the Duece was one of them - along with the Road King and some others.

Well you got one of the last Dueces ever. A friend was just at the store buying a Street Glide and was told that HD was discontinuing a whole bunch of bikes and the Duece was one of them - along with the Road King and some others.

Good news is.......I got mine:D

Bad news is........parts are hard to get now....later going to be worse:(

Oh well

madman

Well, I don't know how bad it will be because they aren't reducing the number of lines they offer, just the number of models per line. There will still be Sportsters, Dynas, Softails, VRSCs and Tourings. It's just that, for example, in both the softail and Touring lines there are currently eight different models and there are nine different kinds of Sportsters. They're going to cut that down a little - or maybe a lot.

Look in your parts catalogs and you will find that everything is different for the duece...except motor parts.

Well, there's always aftermarket...

In anycase, you're soon to be riding a classic. :)

Also, sometimes when they say something won't fit your bike, they don't take into account whether it's stock or not. The bags I have on mine arent' supposed to fit, but I have a turn signal relocation kit so they fit fine.

I haven't had a bike in a few years. A effort in weening myself off speed, corner bending and other sport bike insanity.

I told the wife. Im going to go get a Harley. Her jaw hit the floor. You will get mad it wont run like you want yada yada yada. So I deceided I wanted a 07 Dyne Super Glide in black. Yeah Black and chrome and the wife in leather pantys. Yep thats the ticket. I had the first one reserved that came in from the dealer I would purchase from. They called,,, I was all happy,,, drove up there. And there the bike set with a sold sign on it. It was mine. Then I looked at it. My heart sunk. The welds on the frame where worse than 50's and 60's jap bikes. Then I looked at the swing arm. They had painted right over the weld spatter for the shock gussets and where they welded on the the swing arm forks to the pivot point. The paint was all orange peeled looking. You cant have gloss black orange peeled. And then to top it off some chrome on it was bad. I was heart broken. Told the dealer,,, no way I was buying that bike. He understood and offered my deposit back. I asked that he keep it. And call when the next one came in. He did call and I went and it looked just like the other one. And yes it was a diff. vin. I then looked at a Street Glide and it had all the same issues. No way I was going to pay 15k to 18k for those bikes. I was very dissapointed with the over all quality of the bikes.

I then went to my old friends at the Yamaha Dealer. Really upset with the failure on Harleys part to put out a motorcycle worth even half of there asking price. anyway at the Hamer Dealer they just knew I had come in to buy a R1. Told them nope. I want a thunderous V-Twin. That really distorted there faces. Was really very funny. I fell in love with the Warrior. I like everything about the bike. Except those forward controls. I test rode new ones with diff. bar settings. Test rode other customers bikes. No matter the setup those darn forwards made my lower back hurt. Within 5 miles ubber pain. Tried Mustang and Corbin saddles. No help. I had to give up on it. I didnt like the Road Start 1700. Basically a detuned Warrior retro crusier. Just didnt like the weight nor the less powerful engine.

Thats when Roadliner and Stratoliner came into play. Fell in lover with the liners. Road them and man are they nice. And a bottom end to die for. Thumping monsters. Fit, finish and trim was flawless. Nice Alum. frame and swing arm. All state of the art. But with a old school pushrod v-twin. Now I just waiting for them to get a charcoal silver one in and see if I like it in that color. The "S" is loaded with chrome like crazy. So Im hoping we can get a deal hammered out. Im kind of ruthless when it comes to pricing on cars and bikes. So time will tell.

psy

Your experience with Harley is unique. I just bought my bike 5 months ago and I have none of the problems you mention. I might also point out that:

Roadliner:

Warranty 1 Year (Limited Factory Warranty)


Dyna Streetbob

4 year unlimited mileage extendable to 7 years


Usually you find that a vehicles quality is reflected in their warranties. Harley's reputation suffers from two things. First, they had a bad decade in the 80's - when they were owned by the Japanese - that they made some bad bikes. I'm not sure why they were so bad, but many attribute this to the rubberless engine mounts on rigid frames. Also they suffer from the Hardley Davidson phenomenon. My friend rides a Hardley Davidson. He got most of the parts from Ebay, some at swap meets and some parts from friends who had them laying around and he put them all together in his garage. Yeah, it's pretty much 100% Harley parts and he's working on it all the time because it constantly breaks down, but he loves it. None of the people I know with Harley's bought in the last ten years have any problems with them and noe of them have bad paint jobs or welds.

When it comes to modern bikes I've always been impressed with the Japanese bikes. I've had 2 Kawasaki ninjas, a Yamaha and now a Honda 919. Never a single issue, granted our riding season is only April/May to Sep/Oct up here in Alaska. You can tell they bikes are built well, but all I've had is sport and sport touring bikes. My friend is more into cruisers and he has always have Honda Shadows, and Yamaha cruisers etc.. He now has a Honda VTX. I've riden a few of the bikes he has had and they all seemed to be built great and handled well. I've also riden a harley sportster. Was not impressed at all other than how poor it handled and how bad it shook, but I know this doesn't reflect all Harley bikes though. It just turned me off more though. I'm not dissing Harley but I guess I'm just partial to Japanese built bikes. Maybe someday I'll try riding a bigger harley that isn't their cheap model. Just don't think I'll pay the premium price for one though.

Jees I guess I was getting away from topic a little. Sorry guys! One thing I forgot to mention is that Harleys will probably beat me in MPG though! I've had one twin cylinder bike (Ninja 500) that was awesome on fuel, but ever since my first bike I've had all inline 4 cylinders. Which like was mentioned before are tuned for performance. My newest bike now is the Honda 919 which is basically a naked large displacement sport bike and it's fuel injected. I pretty much only do city driving with it and last tank was about 42 mpg and that isn't really trying to save fuel though. IMO for saving fuel a small cruiser is the way to go. 650-750 twin cylinder should net you 50+mpg

Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing other bikes. I'm sure most of the bikes made by any company that has been around as long as Yamaha, Hinda, Kawasaki, etc... have to have some value or they wouldn't be around. It's just that people always talk about how poorly Harley's are made and it's always people with very limited experience with them who hang onto a reputation they built up over the 80's when they were owned by the Japanese.

Myserioulsy, every one that I know who owenes an actual store bought Harely who bought it in the last ten years has a great looking, relatively trouble free bike - and I know a LOT of people who have them. I also know a lot of people who have Japanese bikes and I can't say I know anyone who has a bad experience with them, either except my calc teacher who bought a Honda Davidson. He has all kinds of problems.

It like Ford motor company. They can't shake the reputation of building bad cars except that:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Five vehicles from Ford Motor Co. placed at the top of their categories in initial quality, according to a survey released Wednesday by J.D. Power and Associates.

The 2007 J.D. Power Initial Quality Study looks at both manufacturing defects and design problems in new cars as reported by their owners.

The Ford Mustang ranked as the most problem-free "Midsize sporty car" in the survey while the Mercury Milan was the highest ranked midsized car and the closely related Lincoln MKZ was the top-ranked "Entry premium car."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/AUTOS/06/06/jdpa_quality/index.html