Ok so up until I read this forum I had not really thought about saving money at the pump with my bike which returns between 40 and 50mpg. My jeep routinely gets 16mpg average. I am curious to what I can improve this to on my bike. On a long trip I saw 52mpg once but I was flying at upwards up 90mph which can't be that good for mileage, it was just long and straight. I'm going to make an excel file and start tracking my techniques to see which ones are worth it. thanks for some inspiration. oh yeah i have a 98 honda CBR 600F3 with really low miles.
Welcome to CleanMPG! Wow, you're already getting terrific mpg but of course you hope/expect that from a bike. With some new FE techniques I wouldn't be surprised if you end up getting better than 60 mpg. Anyway, I recommend browsing and reading in the "Articles" section. Definitely have a look at Beating the EPA - The Why’s and how to Hypermile by xcel and External Factors Affecting Mileage, or why 'YMMV' by tarabell Did you see this thread by antrey, who regeared his bike for lower rpms? http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5738
On my '97 Honda Shadow 600 I've gotten as much as 65 MPG on a tank just by driving conservatively -- gradual acceleration and braking, anticipatory driving (i.e., red lights and other expected slowdowns), avoiding excessive speed, and route planning to avoid traffic and lights. I also kill the engine at a long (~30+ seconds) red light.
I don't think regearing my bike would help that much since dropping 500 rpm's at cruising would go from 7500 to 7000 at 80mph. just driving slower is a better fix since i do about 6000 at 65. I started turning the bike off today when rolling to a stop and then bump starting it before getting there if the light turned green while rolling. also turning it off at long lights now. sometimes there are 2+ minute waits at the big intersections here in Sacramento. mostly i'm going to focus on maximizing existing potential energy by cruising in neutral or with the clutch in and bump starting when its time to go. my last 3 tanks with all stop and go city driving i've gotten between 42 and 44 and i'd like to improve that. on the highway i think it will be hard to improve since i'm just cruising. i will definitely make sure I top off my tires to 36front and 42 rear often, and avoid high speeds.
a big prob with me is that having a supersport automatically makes it HARD to go slow. i'm sure i could go up 10% just by keeping it under 8 grand when i accelerate and stop full throttle redline upshifts at 14,000 could probably raise it another 5-6%.
This Monday, a coworker mentioned that loosening his Harley's belt increased his highway mpg from 51 to 56 - you may not have that problem.
interestng, I have a chain but it is installed at the 'loose end' of the tolerances. 56 on a harley, wow!
Hi ptowntsi...Yes, regearing your bike just 500rpms at your high speeds may not do that much for your MPG. As you suggest, slowing down will help a lot. Antrey & I just talked about our regearing efforts which were more extreme than yours. He regeared over 10% & got much better MPG. Decades ago, I regeared 15% & got ~10% better MPG, going from 66MPG to 74MPG over flat highways. I took an 8200 mile western U.S. vacation & while traveling over many 10,000+ foot Rocky Mountain passes still only used 120 gallons of fuel.
I have been hypermiling my Nissan 350 z and am averaging 38 city and 42 Hwy. No more burnout's and power slides around the corners ( maybe on special occasions just for fun {^:^} ) I have a BMW GS1200 that I am going to start hypermiling which will be very hard as I am a speed junky on my bike. Ratings are 54 MPG but I have jessie bags and several other aerodynamic obstacles that I am not willing to give up as they are a necessity. My Goal is to make my commute from Las Vegas to Los Angeles on 1 tank of gas instead of two tanks which means average MPG needs to be 64... I will need tips and tricks...... :flag:
I have a Yamaha Majesty 400 and a Burgman 650. I've found I can greatly increase the gas mileage on both just by accelerating more slowly and only accelerating to that speed I can maintain before I have to slow again. (Assuming no tailgaters.) Reducing my speed 5 mph on the interstate has helped a lot. On my Yamaha Majesty, I get 63 or 64 mpg in mixed ridng. On the Burgman 650, I get 54 mpg and I'm working on improving that.
Usually regearing is first order of business when trying to improve FE on a MC.You save more energy from friction losses when dropping the RPMs 10% on a 8000 RPM bike thandropping 10% on a 5000RPM bike.I using 8000 rpm to mean RPMS at usual cruising speed-top gear. I would give your right wrist a rest,and put on the largest countershaft sprocket that would fit. Charlie
so far i adjusted my riding a bit, got 53mpg on my last 5 tanks even with some city riding. thats riding 80-85 on the freeway as well. I go the speed limit on surface streets as braking distances are so much tighter. so thats a 6-8% increase over what I used to get. Does anyone know where I can get a bigger sprocket for my 98 600 F3 honda. Will I need to get a longer chain? I've thought about getting a 2005-2006 ZX-6r or a 2004 R1 but they don't get the gas mileage that I do and aren't as comfy as my F3.
Haven't tried it, but I expect using a substantially open throttle and shifting as early as possible will help during acceleration; it does in automobiles. Motorcycles have very high Cd's compared to automobiles, so air drag is going to go up much faster with speed on a bike than in a car. Keep the speed down and keep the aero drag as low as possible.
Try Ebay,Chaparrel(mis-spelled) or Dennis Kirk. No you can get away with the same chain since you will go up just one tooth on the countershaft sprocket. Yes, many guys say change the chain and all sprockets at the same time-heck with that--that is $120 easy.A front sprocket is maybe $25 delivered. Charlie
(Assuming no tailgaters.) A person on a cell phone in a F-350 15 ft behind you can be a slightly intimidating thing ...... Chris Cross
Something else you can do is change your sprocket configuration.... would drop your cruising rpm's, etc.
Mike, In the early stages of my hypermiling experiments with my TW200, I switched from a 3.57:1 to a 3:1 ratio on the drive sprocket. Mainly did it just because I hated hearing the engine turn that fast going down the road. I did that by going from a 50T to a 42T rear sprocket. It seemed to up my mileage from about mid 70s to mid 80s. I'm averaging 89mpg now and I'm about to go to 2.8:1 (+1 to a 15T front). I'm just going to drive normal and see if the mpg comes up a bit. -Rider
I will try that on my 2005 Springer. I did my own service recently and I think I got the belt too tight anyway. BTW, I rode my Harley very easy on the last tank and I still only got 47.3mpg. I think the extra weight from the T-bag loaded with gym bag and laptop doesn't help. I suspect it's also a wind resistance issue.
this site should help you out.... it has all available Gear Ratios for your bikes...... http://www.jtsprockets.com/52.0.html f3 = http://www.jtsprockets.com/52.0.html?&L=0&sel_uid=3952&p=
On my 2006 Yamaha Vstar, I'm averaging 46-52 depending on how much time at interstate speeds I spend. I keep it between 60-65 on all highways, but can't seem to get much better mileage. I've talked to other Star owners and I am besting their mileage by 10-15%, but I think I can do better.
