Gas Mileage and Riding style

[burning1]

Riding style has a greater impact than pretty much any other factor. I got about 13 on my race bike. A hyper-miller could probably get 50 on a GS.

[twocool]

A hyper miler could easily get 80

My "lifetime average" is around 64..


Cookie

Riding style has a greater impact than pretty much any other factor. I got about 13 on my race bike. A hyper-miller could probably get 50 on a GS.

[slipperymongoose]

Who buys a naked or sports bike Witt the intention of being an economy hypermiler?

[twocool]

I don't know about hypermiler...but I did buy my GS500 for the economy......twice as good as my car....I have a long commute!

But you are missing Burning's point completely...
Cookie

Who buys a naked or sports bike Witt the intention of being an economy hypermiler?

[slipperymongoose]

I completely get his point the harder you twist and the longer you rev it out the worse your economy will be. Riding style makes the biggest impact on economy. And yes I agree the gs is economical, bikes by in large are more economical than cars. BUT, with the freedom a bike brings and the rush it can give who hypermiles all the time on the bike? Not me ill tell you. But if you we're on a long trip of course the hypermiling techniques apply to get the most range. All I'm saying is who buys a 'big' naked or super sport for economy. Now I will say that I am not including scooters, and bikes 300cc and under cause if it were me and tomorrow I wanted to buy a bike to commute with the sole purpose being economy I would go low displacement. You might even say its a catch 22. I dunno without being face to face its kinda hard to convey the direction im going in.

[twocool]

My 125 cc scooter, and my 250 cc Honda only got slightly better mileage than my GS500....But I do go quite a bit faster on the GS..and its better for long trips...so the slightly worse mileage is a good trade off........

There are some fairly large displacement bikes out there which are rated for pretty good mileage.......

Again, it is not really the displacement which matters......If you are gentle on the throttle, you don't use all the HP which is available, and good mileage is possible......

If you are a fan of the "Top Gear" TV show, they did a mileage contest between a Prius and a larger engined BMW.........they ran both cars at or near the Prius top speed........the BMW was just "loafing" at this speed......and the BMW got better mileage!


But the point you missed is that differences in fuel, whether real or imagined....will never add up to anything significant.........as compared to riding style........


Cookie

I completely get his point the harder you twist and the longer you rev it out the worse your economy will be. Riding style makes the biggest impact on economy. And yes I agree the gs is economical, bikes by in large are more economical than cars. BUT, with the freedom a bike brings and the rush it can give who hypermiles all the time on the bike? Not me ill tell you. But if you we're on a long trip of course the hypermiling techniques apply to get the most range. All I'm saying is who buys a 'big' naked or super sport for economy. Now I will say that I am not including scooters, and bikes 300cc and under cause if it were me and tomorrow I wanted to buy a bike to commute with the sole purpose being economy I would go low displacement. You might even say its a catch 22. I dunno without being face to face its kinda hard to convey the direction im going in.

[slipperymongoose]

Did you not read the part in my last post when i said i completky get the point and riding style makes the biggest difference? And im a hugr fan of top gear, and yes I did see that bit. And if we break into the fuel side of it let me just say this. Every little bit helps.

If I get better mileage out of a certain brand and a certain octane than another ill use that. My comparison is I do a quick average fuel consumption on my calc every fill up. and I can get a variance of between .1 and .5 L/100 km between brands and octane so every little bit helps. Which is why I posed the question in the other thread. Just so happens that the fuel that gets the best mileage also seems to make the bike run at its smoothest.

Now you may argue that .1 - .5 isn't much that you should worry about. Think about this: lets for simplistisity say that between 2 batches of fuel there is .25 L/100 difference you made note of over the course of a couple months to get a decent set of averages filling up once a week. You pay the same price for both batches and batch A gets you the best economy while batch B is the thirstier of the 2. You fill up then for 1 year with batch A which compared to batch B on average saves you 13 litres of fuel (.25L x 52 fill ups = 13 litres). On my bike this is nearly a tank of fuel so I go back to my statement of every little bit helps. Now depending on how long you keep the bike will make the real difference in long term savings here. And because the fuel price changes more often that you fill up who knows the $ savings but over time it would add up again depending on how long you kept the bike. Every little bit helps.

And again yes I agree there are a number of bikes out there with big Displacement that get quite good mileage. My BMW is a prime example is gets the same economy (sometimes better) as my gs did. And it's 800cc direct injection. But really is fuel economy the first and only thought on your mind when you buy a bike?

[twocool]

Jeeze slippery, you sure put a lot of stuff into one post...so its hard to break it down and have a useful, (or meaningless) argument....

We agree on about half, and disagree on the other half...

Starting at the end of your last post.....

People will buy a bike for any number of reasons.........maybe no reason...maybe they just fall into a certain bike......

For me, and it's just me......what tipped me to buy the GS was its low purchase price.....it was when they were phasing out in the USA so there was a big price drop......and my local dealer does not add additional "fees" like assembly or destination fee........

So for about $3000 (US) (I got $1000 trade in on my old Honda) I was on the road with a new bike....

But fuel economy was also big on my list.....and the gs could easily go highway speeds, where my Honda was a bit lame above 60 MPH.......

So its a bunch of factors..........


The beauty of motorcycles is there are so many variations available, you can get what fits your needs and desires.........

Now to disagree, where you still miss the point..........

There is no proof of any kind that one brand, or changing octane has anything whatsoever to do with fuel economy............

measuring fuel economy down the the tenth is pointless....as it falls within the "noise level"....

Do you track your mileage on Fuelly?   Have you ever looked at the various GS's on Fuelly?  Are you aware of the typical variations of fuel economy for the SAME rider on the SAME bike using the SAME brand, and the SAME octane?

Burning points out that he can get a low of 13 MPG....while I have documented a high of over 80 MPG (on a single tank)...so there you have a 500% variation, (and that's based only one one factor, riding style.....)

SO....1% or one tenth of 1% is insignificant and meaningless....

Cookie

Did you not read the part in my last post when i said i completky get the point and riding style makes the biggest difference? And im a hugr fan of top gear, and yes I did see that bit. And if we break into the fuel side of it let me just say this. Every little bit helps.

If I get better mileage out of a certain brand and a certain octane than another ill use that. My comparison is I do a quick average fuel consumption on my calc every fill up. and I can get a variance of between .1 and .5 L/100 km between brands and octane so every little bit helps. Which is why I posed the question in the other thread. Just so happens that the fuel that gets the best mileage also seems to make the bike run at its smoothest.

Now you may argue that .1 - .5 isn't much that you should worry about. Think about this: lets for simplistisity say that between 2 batches of fuel there is .25 L/100 difference you made note of over the course of a couple months to get a decent set of averages filling up once a week. You pay the same price for both batches and batch A gets you the best economy while batch B is the thirstier of the 2. You fill up then for 1 year with batch A which compared to batch B on average saves you 13 litres of fuel (.25L x 52 fill ups = 13 litres). On my bike this is nearly a tank of fuel so I go back to my statement of every little bit helps. Now depending on how long you keep the bike will make the real difference in long term savings here. And because the fuel price changes more often that you fill up who knows the $ savings but over time it would add up again depending on how long you kept the bike. Every little bit helps.

And again yes I agree there are a number of bikes out there with big Displacement that get quite good mileage. My BMW is a prime example is gets the same economy (sometimes better) as my gs did. And it's 800cc direct injection. But really is fuel economy the first and only thought on your mind when you buy a bike?

[slipperymongoose]

Yep looks like we're gonna have to agree to disagree here. No I don't track my mileage with fuelly I can't be bothered my calculator does the job just fine. I got my way and it works just fine. I'm in tune with what works best in my car and bike and I'm happy with that.