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View Full Version : Week of October 25th - October 31st 2010 (Nat Avg $2.82)


Right Lane Cruiser
10-25-2010, 06:57 AM
Welcome to the last week of October!

Damp roads and a headwind greeted me this morning, but I had warmer temps and the traffic was mostly reasonable... unusual for a Monday morning!

52F, 5mph headwind from the SSE, overcast with wet roads:


101.0mpg for 15.0mi (Home to work)

The tank is steady at 100.1mpg over 623.1mi with 9 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

groar
10-25-2010, 07:49 AM
the traffic was mostly reasonable...

Here also the traffic was back to OK sooner this morning as schools are in holidays for the next 10 days, so a lighter traffic :)

Denis.

epurvee
10-25-2010, 07:54 AM
Woo hoo! I broke back into the 80's honestly this time! The adjustment on my sgii is around 14%, and the last time I hit mileage like this on a trip was before I had adjusted, or when it was at 0.
I have had better commutes home, but my way back wasn't too bad today.

80.4 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work
58.4 MPG / 11.4 Miles work to home

PaleMelanesian
10-25-2010, 08:19 AM
Wet roads and a headwind here too. Crazy weekend weather - several tornadoes from this storm system! :eek: It's passed and things are clear now, but a bit damp.

Only 70 mpg on the home-school-work routine. Damp roads and a stiff headwind helped keep it down.

The tank is down to 78.3 / 133 miles.

PaleMelanesian
10-25-2010, 01:10 PM
Out for lunch. ~80 degrees and gusty wind.

48.8 / 2.1 mi going there. I took the short/fast/busy route to not be late meeting "someone". ;)
100.0 / 3.8 mi return. Warmed up, taking the optimal route.

The tank is down to 78.1 / 139 miles.

------------------------------------
mpg math
2.1 / 48.8 = 0.043 gallons
3.8 / 100 = 0.038 gallons (less than the short route!)
(2.1+3.8)/(.043+.038) = 72.84 mpg.

It still surprises me how much a single low segment can affect the average.

Right Lane Cruiser
10-25-2010, 04:16 PM
I tried hard but the combination of wet roads and red lights was just too much to hit triple digits. :p

I had to stop at most of the lights this afternoon. Not fun.

60F, 17-23mph tailwind from the SE, light rain:


97.9mpg for 15.4mi (Work to home via slight detour to avoid one of those stoplights)

The tank is steady at 100.1mpg over 643.6mi with 9 of 20 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

Day Total: 99.4mpg over 30.5mi

Die2self
10-25-2010, 07:48 PM
Last week I ended having to take a vacation day to stay home with the son because of Parent Teach Conf's (no school). We ran a few errands but it was a horrible 18.6 over 3.6 miles (truck didn't even get warmed up)

last weeks efforts 24.3 MPG over 110.5 miles

today with supper gusty winds from the South was not a fun ride home.

home>school>work
- 25.6 / 13.3 miles (60F S@10)

work>home
- 23.8 / 13.1 miles (76F S23 Gusting to 32)

daily avg = 24.7 / 26.4 miles
tank is just under 1/4 with 352.3 miles and rolling. We will see how it goes with the rain in the forecast.

RobertSmalls
10-25-2010, 07:59 PM
70/76mpg to work and back on the new commute today. Charge sustaining both ways. It turns out the new commute is actually 9.0mi, which is shorter than I recorded last time. A tank of gas, used exclusively for commuting, would last me 8 weeks. Not bad, but think of what I could do with a PHEV-12. :D

I made no effort to drive for economy on the way in (other things on my mind, don't you know). For whatever reason, my car reverted to its old "no LB in the first five miles" behavior. On the way home, I hit traffic. It will take a few tries to learn where to hit the kill switch for minimum disruption and good mpg.

I'm down to three bars of fuel left, so I'll be able to post a (hopefully) > 70mpg tank within a few weeks. That'll be the last such tank for me this year.

I half-jokingly asked another engineer where the EV charging stations were in the parking lot. ;) There are none, though I was checking out the power poles running along the road, and more importantly, the lamp posts throughout the lot. EV charging stations, especially 120V chargers at places of work, don't need to be right next to the building. It wouldn't cost the company too much to throw up some coin-op (or free) 120V outlets next to the lamp posts.

Gas-x
10-25-2010, 09:06 PM
Woo hoo! I broke back into the 80's honestly this time! The adjustment on my sgii is around 14%, and the last time I hit mileage like this on a trip was before I had adjusted, or when it was at 0.
I have had better commutes home, but my way back wasn't too bad today.

80.4 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work
58.4 MPG / 11.4 Miles work to home

Can you explain the adjustment on the scan gauge for me? How long has it been adjusted?

alvaro84
10-26-2010, 12:17 AM
Nice weather on the way back home, a little damp road around our village. shiNIN could catch a bus so I made some fire in the furnace instead of riding to the train station.
It's raining in the morning, so Teresa coasts much worse than on a dry road. But it's finally a sub-3l/100km tank, and I'm pretty close to 80mpg too. (Low fuel light has not come out so far, trip meter is at 371.4km)

(...and last weekend she played that 'instrument panel data loss' game again, this time the tripmeter jumped back by 43.5km, good that I was on guard (I checked the odometer too, it stayed where it was before). It became a bit too frequent lately - true that it was a non-issue when I did not FAS... may soldering a big capacitor at the right place could solve it...?)

Right Lane Cruiser
10-26-2010, 06:45 AM
Nice work, Alvaro!

I decided to drive the Elantra in today. This is the first time I've driven it any reasonable distance since I had the maintenance done to it and though it isn't quite up to my normal standards, the results weren't bad considering the weather and my rusty technique. She rolls really well now that I don't have dragging brakes anymore. :)

61F, 13-18mph headwind from the SSW, drizzle and water covered roads:


56.9mpg for 14.6mi (Home to work)

The tank is back up to 43.6mpg over 267.2mi with 9.9g left and the guess gauge indicates one needle width below 5/8.

We'll see how she handles the projected rain and high winds this afternoon.

epurvee
10-26-2010, 07:41 AM
Pretty good commute to work this morning.
Very good commute home!

77.3 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work
62.3 MPG / 12.0 Miles work to home

PaleMelanesian
10-26-2010, 08:04 AM
85.6 / 10.7 home last night
72.2 / 12.5 home-school-work this morning

The tank is down a tenth to 78.0 / 162 miles. Still above F, though. :D

alvaro84
10-26-2010, 10:09 AM
Huhh, I just see now that I've just finished the 100th tank with Teresa. Yay me :o
It also means I used a lot of fuel :o

groar
10-26-2010, 10:17 AM
And you avoided to waste a lot of fuel :thumbs_up:

I'm jealous of your 3.0L/100 average, mine is 3.6 - 4.1 and my best is 3.15.

Denis.

alvaro84
10-26-2010, 10:21 AM
Did you manage that 3.15l/100km with an 1.9l diesel in a ton-weighing iron cage? I've never tried cars (but I'm going to, eventually) but that sounds amazing enough to me... I'm just a gnat on the road with this sub-200kg bike :)

groar
10-26-2010, 02:06 PM
Alvaro, here is my 1.13t iron cage : http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/groars-1997-megane-modding-thread-4659-6.html#post191250
Not only it's aeromodded, but I can easily FAS without any risk as it's a old turbo diesel without any direct injection, nor high pressure pump, nor common rail, nor over complicated electronic, nor diesel particle filter... This record has been achieved thanks to my last change : a diesel FAS kill switch (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34455).

This is a 27 months result, tank after tank... but thanks to Sean, Andrew and much others I received a lot of motivation and competences :thumbs_up:

But others have very good results, such as Sean, Andrew and others who are participating to CleanMPG's FE Challenges (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35135). I would like to have an insight, but none was sold in France :( I'm thinking about buying a second hand prius II as soon as budget permits, as pollution is now a bigger priority than the cost of the car per km (in France gasoline is 15% more expensive than diesel).

Denis.

PaleMelanesian
10-26-2010, 02:13 PM
groar, you still have the longest non-hybrid tank. That's no small achievement.

Sean has the best distance.
You have the best non-hybrid / diesel.
I have the best gas-only.

Except for the Insight marathon, of course.

Right Lane Cruiser
10-26-2010, 04:34 PM
Man, what terrible weather on the way back home!! :eek: Wind that strong is no good unless it is a direct tailwind.

It seems I have some belt slippage, too. I had new belts put on when I had the maintenance done and though they were fine on the way to work one of them keeps squeaking every time I start or stop the engine. :(

Mileage was just "okay," though the hit from stopping to open the garage door wasn't too bad. (The third stall is unpowered.)

42F (31F windchill), 26-37mph cross/tailwind from the SW, raining:


49.2mpg for 15.1mi (Work to home)

The tank is now up to 43.8mpg over 282.1mi with 9.6g left and the guess gauge indicates 9/16ths.

Day Total: 52.7mpg over 29.8mi

Hopefully tomorrow is better.

By the way, those of you who followed my FAS button install for the Insight might remember that tiny little momentary switch I used? I found a use for two more -- I rebuilt the key fob for the Elantra. ;) The old surface mount buttons were worn out and required extreme pressure get them to function... so I used my big old blunt soldering iron (still need to get a miniature one for this stuff :o) to attach two new ones. I did have to remove a bit of rubber from the button membranes as the new hardware isn't quite as low profile, but it works quite nicely now! :)

RobertSmalls
10-26-2010, 06:10 PM
It seems I have some belt slippage, too. I had new belts put on when I had the maintenance done and though they were fine on the way to work one of them keeps squeaking every time I start or stop the engine. :(The belt is probably a little loose now that it's broken in. It should deflect 0.25-.5" or so under the force of your thumb. If it's loose, your guy can fix that in three minutes.

Gas-x
10-26-2010, 08:06 PM
Wow was there ever wind on drive home! I avg a very low 35.6 over 63.8mi... trip into work was 38.9...hard to see these numbers after the warm summer months....

alvaro84
10-27-2010, 12:12 AM
I got the low fuel light on the way home, right at the end-of-town sign. This makes a 2.95l/100km - 79.77mpgUS, just a little short of 80... well, maybe next time. Or some other time, we still have a few 2-up East trips to do. Finally we sold the flat, but still have the garage and the cottage, and we need the money for our future home.
Yet I'm planning on having a look at a house in a near village (even closer to my workplace, like 15km instead of 25, it would worth a try to bycicle at least at times :)), we almost have the price without selling the rest. The place is ~32km from where we live now.

groar, how much did those aeromods help? I always found them interesting even though I know that the biggest aerodynamic problem on a bike - is the rider :confused:
And I can't imagine any half-assed mods. Teresa must look either (dirty but) absolutely pretty or a complete ratbike :D

Right Lane Cruiser
10-27-2010, 06:50 AM
Well, I've got bad news... and worse news. :p The bad news is that it is snowing and my mileage is tanked because of it. The worse news is that that squeak is getting worse and it probably isn't a belt because my ScanGauge shows differing voltages before and after squeaks. :( Looks like my alternator is on its way out. Good thing I had Lantrific's battery on the charger last night! I cut out a lot of my FASing too as that seems to be aggravating the issue.

This isn't good as I'm supposed to loan the car to my sister's family while they are visiting and I doubt there is time to order and get an alternator installed... never mind the fact that I'm clean out of cash to do the job anyway. :ccry:

Blah morning indeed!

34F (22F windchill), 23-33mph headwind from the SW, snowing and slick roads:


40.3mpg for 14.8mi (Home to work)

The tank is down to 43.6mpg over 297.8mi with 9.2g left and the guess gauge indicates 2 needle widths over the 1/2 mark.

alvaro84
10-27-2010, 07:22 AM
Oh... no snow here this morning, just mild frost and nice, dry road.

I've never done such a thing - how much work does it take to replace an alternator (ok, I'm sure it depends on the model)?

epurvee
10-27-2010, 07:52 AM
Wife forgot her lunch at home so I had to drop that off for her on my commute in, which takes me over a not as advantageous route. Still managed to do well over it but I bet I could have been close to 80 again today if I could go my good way.
Had to drive out to a dinner my wife voluntold me for, and got very good mileage both ways.

73.3 MPG / 12.0 Miles Home to wife's office to work
62.3 MPG / 31.2 Miles work to dinner location
64.6 MPG / 34.7 Miles dinner location to home

This tank is just at 63 MPG according to the sgii, and that will be my best one ever!

PaleMelanesian
10-27-2010, 08:37 AM
Actually changing the alternator is no big deal. Gaining access to it is the issue. :rolleyes:

-------
81.3 / 10.7 home last night
70.9 / 12.5 home-school-work this morning. Traffic. :rolleyes: I tried using more speed at one stretch to accommodate traffic better. We all got jammed up to a red light anyway. It cost me gas, and saved everybody zero time. I'm not doing that again.

77.7 / 185 miles on the tank.

Right Lane Cruiser
10-27-2010, 02:05 PM
My alternator is kind of buried under some power braking hoses. :p

I had a trip out to meet a friend for lunch and it was still acting flaky. It was a highway trip, too. :p

39F (30F windchill), 18-27mph wind from the WSW, raining:


38.4mpg for 7.5mi (Work to Noodles)
41.7mpg for 7.3mi (Noodles to work)

The tank is down some more to 43.4mpg over 312.3mi with 8.8g left and the guess gauge indicates 1 needle width under 1/2.

Day Total: 40.1mpg over 29.7mi

I'll be dropping the car off at 3PM to have the mechanic take a look. Maybe the belt is just too tight and is torquing the bearings a bit. I dunno but wish I didn't have to drop it off and also wish I didn't have to contemplate whatever this is going to cost me so I can hand the keys to my sister tomorrow with a clear conscience. :(

Right Lane Cruiser
10-27-2010, 03:40 PM
Well, I dropped the car off.

41F (32F windchill), 17-26mph crosswind from the WSW, raining:


50.7mpg for 14.4mi (Work to mechanic)

The tank average is back up to 43.7mpg over 327.6mi with 8.5g left and the guess gauge indicates 2 needle widths under the 1/2 mark.

Day Total: 43.1mpg over 44.2mi

deleond2
10-27-2010, 03:40 PM
The weather is beginning to cool down just enough that my mpg have begun to dip under 21mpg. My two tanks for OCT were 20.3 and 20.8. This tank is at 3/4 with a 20.8 mpg. It is only a matter of time before my next tank drops below 20. The small trips to the gym (6miles round trip) kill my mileage. I bet my mileage would be much better If I went to the gym in the AM before work, and then the truck will already be warm for the AM commute. I would like to workout right after work (w/ a warm engine) but I need to get home to help the wife with the kids.

Right Lane Cruiser
10-27-2010, 04:36 PM
Bad alternator. :(

RobertSmalls
10-27-2010, 05:15 PM
Oh, I was taking about the Insight, which obviously doesn't have an alternator. Or power steering hoses.

Well, you can always keep driving it, and grid charge the 12V. You'll see a big mpg boost, too. Probably not suitable for handing the keys off, though.

70.0/78.8 for me today. I've had ~10% better mileage on the way home every time, and I'd like to know how much of an elevation difference I'm looking at.

There are a couple of hairy portions of the commute I'm still trying to figure out. There's a usually-green traffic light in a busy (at 5:10pm) 45PSL around a slight corner so I have a hard time timing it. Maybe I can watch for breaks in oncoming traffic to guess the state of the light in advance.

Right Lane Cruiser
10-27-2010, 06:24 PM
Hi, Robert -- I thought about it but the hand off bit is what kept me from doing it. Plus, the car was getting noticeably sapped of power (with a chirp or very short duration squeal) whenever the alternator would decide to (sort of) do its job. Either functioning or not it was fine, but that bog down and then release when the device came online was disconcerting and made predicting response of the car difficult at best. :p

For your corner, are you watching the tail lights ahead of you? Any reflections (windows, signs, other vehicles) you can use?

Right Lane Cruiser
10-27-2010, 10:30 PM
Got the car back with a new alternator. That cost a pretty penny! :( They used a fair amount of fuel so my tank average is now down to 43.1mpg over 331.9mi with 8.3g remaining and the guess gauge still shows 2 needle widths under the 1/2 mark.

At least now I can hand over the keys to my sister without qualms.

alvaro84
10-27-2010, 10:59 PM
Filled up yesterday, checkpoint shows the same 2.95l/100km as the light-to-light data.
Bad that all the gas stations I use are close to my workplace so I have to stop when the engine is cold and prolong its warm up (yeah, I know I could refuel when going to work but I did not want to get up before 5 am, sorry) :( There's another later along the route - but it closes exactly when I finish my work :mad:
Checked tire pressure too (ooops, I definitely need an early stop for it), both wheels were OK, close to sidewall max (2.9bar, 44PSI). Made sure they are at 2.9.
After fillup Teresa behaved a bit strange, like she was running lean - we're going on a ride today so I can check if it was just a mood or it's the gas (more ethanol than usual?)...

Right Lane Cruiser
10-28-2010, 07:35 AM
No driving for me yet -- I'm working from home but will be heading out in 1.5hrs to go pick up my sister's family at the airport.

epurvee
10-28-2010, 07:50 AM
Best trip ever with the metro on the commute to work!
Not as good commute home.

82.4 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work
55.3 MPG / 12.0 Miles work to home

PaleMelanesian
10-28-2010, 08:25 AM
77.7 / 10.5 - home last night
92.5 / 9.3 - to music practice
71.5 / 9.5 - back home, late
69.1 / 12.9 - this morning, home-school-work

Except for segment 2 (elevation drop and tailwind), disappointing. :(

I did find a slight detour on the school dropoff routine that gives me +1 or +2 mpg. 1/2 mile of 55 mph highway, and skip one stop sign. The highway portion is perfect, too - light timing mean low traffic, start high, accelerate downhill, then slow on the uphill to my right turn.

77.3 / 227 on the tank.

Right Lane Cruiser
10-28-2010, 12:51 PM
Picked up my sister and her family:

37F (27F windchill), 18-22mph crosswind from the WSW, overcast with light rain:


50mpg for 72.5mi (Home to airport and back)

The tank is back up to 44.1mpg over 404.7mi with 6.9g left and the guess gauge indicates 2 needle widths over 3/8th.

RobertSmalls
10-28-2010, 06:00 PM
Sean, I was sitting with my engine off, next to a Ford FISO with a squealing belt when I thought about your car. Belt replacements are tricky because if you don't put it on tight enough, it'll squeal after a couple weeks and the customer will come back. But if you put it on too tight, it applies too much of a load and can damage your bearings.

It's news you just can't use, but it's one reason I do my own belts, and I tend to set them just tight enough so as not to squeal. This means occasional readjustment as temperatures or other conditions change. American cars tend to use automatic belt tensioners, which just never made sense to me from a cost and weight standpoint.

Also, alternators fail all the time, so it could have been unrelated to the belt job you had done.



Strong winds today, bringing cold air in from the west. I got 77mpg on the way in (best yet) and 71mpg on the way home (worst yet). I couldn't lean burn as much as usual on the way home.

I've ordered an MPGuino, and one of Peter Perkins' Insight BCM gauges. Can't wait for all the parts to arrive. I need more instrumentation!

aaronl
10-28-2010, 10:26 PM
My fuel economy has not been that great lately. Now that I live in a city, it seems like 2/3 of my trips are purely for the sake of reparking my car to avoid tickets on street cleaning days. Sometimes it takes quite awhile to find a parking spot. Those parking expeditions always give me atrocious numbers. But this weekend, it's time to forget about the perils of city driving and go for a record tank. I'll be driving to Santa Barbara and back, a distance of 333 miles each way. Somehow, I've never driven a trip nearly that long in my own car. In my experience, I get my best results driving at low highway speeds on a warm engine, so I should have a very good chance of beating my record tank. Anyone want to guess what I'll manage?

epurvee
10-29-2010, 07:59 AM
Commute this morning was not so great. Pretty cold out, but also didn't have good luck with the lights, and had my key glide points on a long down hill broken up.

63.1 MPG / 11.0 Miles home to work

PaleMelanesian
10-29-2010, 08:24 AM
67.9 mpg / 10.6 mi / 72F / 16 headwind - home last night
91.6 mpg / 8.9 mi / 65F / 7 tailwind - to music practice
72.7 mpg / 9.3 mi / 55F / 6 headwind - home late
63.8 / 12.9 / 40F / 6 tailwind - this morning

The tank is down to 76.4 / 270 miles and down to F on the gauge.


3.5 gallons above F means that my last tank was really 79.2 mpg, not 81.8. I topped it off three times at three different pumps and it just wouldn't take any more. :confused:

Right Lane Cruiser
10-29-2010, 09:54 AM
Day off today so probably no driving. :)

alvaro84
10-29-2010, 11:55 AM
I had a day off yesterday. We went to the house we'd like to have a look at, just from outside, the current owner had to work. Maybe on Monday.
Also went to the town nearby to deal with electricity bills of the cottage at the East. The office of the electricity company were closed... sounds boring, doesn't it?

But at least we had 2 nice rides around. ~150km for the 2 days, with pumpkin soup. And this new tank still feels suspicious. More vibration, some surging, I think I need more throttle for the same effect... and I won't get rid of it this week - it'll take until our next East trip.

This morning I won't go home, but visit my mother and go to the grocery market too and stay in the town.

RobertSmalls
10-29-2010, 07:29 PM
I started the week with three bars out of 20 left on the fuel gauge and the low fuel light about to come on. The last bar went out about 20 miles ago, which is making me nervous. The FCD says 722.1mi / 70.0mpg. If I fill to the first click, how close to the bottom of the tank am I?

I won't make it to November without a fill, that's for sure.

Edit: I've already beaten my tank record by three miles!

Right Lane Cruiser
10-29-2010, 07:50 PM
Robert, fill level doesn't matter to the number of bars other than how long it takes to get off of the 20th bar. Regardless of fill, every other bar should be the same level of fuel in the tank.

Based on my 1600mi tank attempt (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?p=128842) I had at least 1.24g left once my last bar went out. I wasn't quite dry but starting to hit fuel starve at that point (the car started stuttering approaching a hill but idled fine). You should be fine if you assume another gallon.

ItsNotAboutTheMoney
10-29-2010, 08:21 PM
Date|Time|Description|Miles|mpg|gpCm|soc|*F|Prpn|Wind|Notes
10/25|07:48|Work (S)|20.6|55.1|1.81|6|40|||
10/25|17:45|Home (N) (gas station)|20.2|57.5|1.74|5|50|v light rain||Some just driving
10/26|07:28|Work (S)|20.6|54.9|1.82|5|50|||
10/26|22:20|Friend to Home (N)|37.9|77.7|1.29|4|55|||Virtually alone
10/27|07:31|Work (S)|20.6|53.2|1.88|5|57|||
10/28|07:27|Work (S)|20.6|50.2|1.99|5|52|||
10/28|17:49|Home (N)|20.8|63.1|1.58|4|64|||
10/29|07:39|Work (S)|20.6|51.2|1.95|5|39|||
10/29|15:44|Home (N)|20.8|59.2|1.69|4|52|||
||Week Total|202.7|58.4|1.71|||||

Right Lane Cruiser
10-29-2010, 08:26 PM
Robert, I went back through my thread data again and I calculated with one commute too many. I started sputtering on that hill right around 0.7g after clearing the last bar on the fuel gauge. I've consistently been able to drive about 2 bars worth after all the bars disappear from the gauge.

RobertSmalls
10-29-2010, 09:47 PM
Thanks, Sean, that's the data I was after. It looks like I have about 0.4gal / 30 miles left. I think I'll EV over to the gas station around the corner tomorrow morning so as to lock in a 70.0mpg tank.

shiNIN
10-30-2010, 12:55 PM
Alvaro didn't finish a tank either so I guess I may write here too :D
I had a lovely ride today again... I mean, the sun shined, the temperature was nice, I used bad quality but nicely curvy roads (that's why I went slow... I'm a temperamental one and since I lost most of the burden I had in my life, even my beginner trips are more brave and I use a higher speed. That doesn't do good to my little baby bike's fuel efficiency but I'm a hedonist), the sun shone into my eyes the way back and I was okay just coasting on those lovely slopes :) My average speed was 30mph (slightly under 50km/h), unusually low. This tank seemed to be worse than the usual, due to my brave quicker rides, but Ciliegia's scale isn't something that helps enough to figure out if it will be over 80mpg or not... I have to wait till I fill her up again, probably on Monday.

groar
10-31-2010, 04:18 AM
groar, how much did those aeromods help? I always found them interesting even though I know that the biggest aerodynamic problem on a bike - is the rider :confused:
And I can't imagine any half-assed mods. Teresa must look either (dirty but) absolutely pretty or a complete ratbike :D

I consider hypermiling matches 80% of saving while aeromodding matches 20% even if I drive only at 70-85km/h 43-53mph.
I can see effect of some aeromods only in an indirect way, per example the grill block do have an effect on engine heating and noise in classical wipers. I can feel the effect of some aeromods in a direct way, per example with the rear wheel skirts the acceleration is stronger and it's more complicated to keep a steady speed when the road isn't perfectly flat; with some other mods I can keep a constant speed on small downhills while I was loosing some speed without them.
Aeromods do help with hypermiling as they permit to use advanced techniques more often and longer :cool:
About the ugliness of my car, I accepted it since a long time, which permits me to advertise my record on it :) the white chloroplast was just painted in black to keep under WAF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_acceptance_factor) ;).

Here are few pages with a few links to bike aeromodding :

http://www.outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=623
http://ecomodder.com/blog/diy-aero-fairings-honda-125cc-motorcycle-214-mpg/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_fairing


Denis.

Die2self
10-31-2010, 09:30 PM
Fill on Friday on the way home

454.4 miles
19.550 gals (after 3 clicks)
23.24 MPG (or 4.3 gals / 100 miles) lost some ground due to cooler weather

Weeks info
24.1 mpg / 132.4 miles

Changed the oil this weekend with clean 0-30W mobile 1. Last oil change was 10/17/09 last year. I only put on 7000 miles last year, wow. You think I need to change the oil twice a year?? ( I actually thought I had in the spring but I guess I didn't, oops)

aaronl
11-01-2010, 02:37 AM
My fuel economy has not been that great lately. Now that I live in a city, it seems like 2/3 of my trips are purely for the sake of reparking my car to avoid tickets on street cleaning days. Sometimes it takes quite awhile to find a parking spot. Those parking expeditions always give me atrocious numbers. But this weekend, it's time to forget about the perils of city driving and go for a record tank. I'll be driving to Santa Barbara and back, a distance of 333 miles each way. Somehow, I've never driven a trip nearly that long in my own car. In my experience, I get my best results driving at low highway speeds on a warm engine, so I should have a very good chance of beating my record tank. Anyone want to guess what I'll manage?

Well, that didn't go quite as I expected.

On Friday, I refuelled just before getting on the freeway, and then drove 329 miles without stopping or dropping below 5th gear. 11 miles in, I was up to 55.9 MPG, so I was off to a great start. Due to terrain, I then dropped a bit below this, but kept making it up and getting back to 55.9 or 56.0. My average stayed very close to this number for about the first 120 miles.

Then, for some reason, it started to drop. And continued. Over the next 200 miles, the average dropped to 53.0 at a fairly uniform rate. I couldn't figure out why this happened. There were some mountains along the way, but the grades were gentle enough that I wouldn't have expected much of an impact. Still, 53.0 MPG would have been excellent for me - if the ScanGauge had been accurate!

The trip back was a lot worse. My tank average kept decaying at a similar rate. When I refuelled 90 miles into the return trip, the ScanGauge was only indicating 51.7 MPG for the whole tank. The actual economy as measured by filling the tank was only 48.6 MPG. Still a personal record, but not by the margin I had hoped for. I may well have filled the tank a bit more completely than I did the last time, though - I don't do much to control for that, figuring that it will average out between tanks.

The rest of the return trip was even more horrible. The new tank stayed in the 43-45 MPG range the whole time. I thought maybe the new adjustment I dialed into the ScanGauge was overly pessimistic, but I made a stop 40 miles from home, and over those last 40 miles, which I'm very familiar with, I managed 49 MPG, which is about what I'm used to - and that includes looking for parking! I don't know why most of the return trip was so much worse than the outbound trip and what I can do locally. Winds might have been a factor, as there were strong headwinds/crosswinds for much of the way.



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