Is this normal gas mileage?

DavidR8

DavidR8

Joined
May 31, 2017
Messages
1,149
Location
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Bike
2013 BMW R1200RT
STella is on her second tank of gas under our ownership.
Riding a 90%/10% combination of city and highway.

Here's the figures from my second tank of gas.
e57c0bc7953c326e1a86d60262cbf9ec.png


What say ye o ST experts?


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Re: Is this normal?

I'm doing about 125 miles a day and using right around 3.0 gals which equals out to about 41 miles per gal.

Not sure what that translates to liters...

Oh, yeah, and that is California gas, where you will get the worst gas mileage around! :eek:4:
 
Re: Is this normal?

Hmm that doesn't seem great. I get on all highway when I run fairly hard at 125-130 kmh, 51.1 mpg. Combined I still get around 40 mpg. Seems you are a tad rich in my opinion. Igofar hopefully will chime in on this as he is the tops for mileage due to his OCD tune ups.
 
Re: Is this normal?

cdnemsguy said:
Hmm that doesn't seem great. I get on all highway when I run fairly hard at 125-130 kmh, 51.1 mpg. Combined I still get around 40 mpg. Seems you are a tad rich in my opinion. Igofar hopefully will chime in on this as he is the tops for mileage due to his OCD tune ups.
Click to expand...

Yeah it feels low to me as well. I forgot to mention that about 50% of that distance was two up.

I'll need to fill tomorrow so I will have another data point for comparison.


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Re: Is this normal?

18.74 liters = 4.95 gallons
194 miles divided by 4.94 gallons = 39.27 mpg
Sure your not mixing numbers/gallons/liters/kilometers/miles up?
40mpg is typical for a sporty ride....
 
Re: Is this normal?

There's something wrong there. The only time I've used much more than 5.x l/100 km the thermostat wasn't working properly, only showing two bars on the gauge. I replaced it, the gauge read three bars and the gas mileage returned to 'normal'.
 
Re: Is this normal?

What does your instant liters/100km readout, or even the average? 2 up will make a difference as well as the position of the windscreen on the highway.
 
Re: Is this normal?

Ltimb said:
18.74 liters = 4.95 gallons
194 miles divided by 4.94 gallons = 39.27 mpg
Sure your not mixing numbers/gallons/liters/kilometers/miles up?
40mpg is typical for a sporty ride....
Click to expand...

I thought the measurements were in kilometers and liters, so 194 km and 18.74 liters, giving the 9.65 liters/100 km, or 24.38 mpg(US).
 
Re: Is this normal?

Thinking his bike is showing miles not kilometers.... And just mistaken them for kilometers....
Edit: Recently I did 3600 miles with a pillion pulling a 300 pound trailer, sometimes doing 75-80 with windshield all the way up, other times going up and down mountains and the worst I got might have been 35mpg So yes 25 is not right/good..

MajorTom said:
I thought the measurements were in kilometers and liters, so 194 km and 18.74 liters, giving the 9.65 liters/100 km, or 24.38 mpg(US).
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Is this normal?

Remember on your calculations that US gallons and imp gallons make a difference. I think the US gallon is 3.78 l and imp is 4.54l
 
Is this normal?

Ltimb said:
18.74 liters = 4.95 gallons
194 miles divided by 4.94 gallons = 39.27 mpg
Sure your not mixing numbers/gallons/liters/kilometers/miles up?
40mpg is typical for a sporty ride....
Click to expand...

Pretty sure I've got it right.
(I take photos so that I have dates and I don't have to remember the figures)

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20d9087dcf4bf23d1d0898fb646cb4bf.jpg



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Re: Is this normal?

Ltimb said:
Thinking his bike is showing miles not kilometers.... And just mistaken them for kilometers....
Edit: Recently I did 3600 miles with a pillion pulling a 300 pound trailer, sometimes doing 75-80 with windshield all the way up, other times going up and down mountains and the worst I got might have been 35mpg So yes 25 is not right/good..
Click to expand...

Definitely kms.
cd080d3c258ea41afdec79eb85a6ea09.jpg



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Re: Is this normal?

Ah, I saw your other "WOW" post. Could very well burn the fuel doing that... I do a track day and a very heavy throttle all bets are off...

DavidR8 said:
Pretty sure I've got it right.
(I take photos so that I have dates and I don't have to remember the figures)



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Click to expand...
 
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Is this normal?

cdnemsguy said:
What does your instant liters/100km readout, or even the average? 2 up will make a difference as well as the position of the windscreen on the highway.
Click to expand...

The average was a high of 13.5k km/l at one point then dropped to 11.2 where it is now.


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Re: Is this normal?

MajorTom said:
There's something wrong there. The only time I've used much more than 5.x l/100 km the thermostat wasn't working properly, only showing two bars on the gauge. I replaced it, the gauge read three bars and the gas mileage returned to 'normal'.
Click to expand...

I read a bunch of threads about thermostats today. STella hit one bar by the end of the block and three a block or so later. She has never shown less than three bars while running.


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Re: Is this normal?

Ltimb said:
Ah, I saw your other "WOW" post. Could very well burn the fuel doing that... I do a track day and a very heavy throttle all bets are off...
Click to expand...

I'm a pretty conservative rider so today's 'wow' inducing run was short and honestly a very rare event.


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Re: Is this normal?

DavidR8 said:
I read a bunch of threads about thermostats today. STella hit one bar by the end of the block and three a block or so later. She has never shown less than three bars while running.


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Click to expand...

Its not THAT you bike shows three bars while running, the important question is, How long does it take to reach 3 bars?
Your bike should reach three bars in the time it takes to start your bike, put your helmet and gloves on, and drop her in gear.
You should wait until at least one bar is showing BEFORE you even start riding your bike, as this will make sure your engine is lubricated properly.
Your gas mileage is terrible, whether one up, or two up riding.
If your bike is taking a long time (more than two or three minutes) to reach three bars, I'd say replace the T-stat since this is a new to you bike and you don't know the service history.
If your running a K&N filter, that could contribute to issues if its really dirty or oily.
If your running the shield in the up position, that makes a difference too.
My bike gets approximately 56 mpg. ridden in sport mode.
The idiot gauge on the dash reads 56-59 at an indicated 80 mph on level ground, on a good day, but I also ride with the shield down all the time.
Try replacing the T-stat, cleaning the 5 way tee, doing a TB sync. and putting in a new OEM air filter and see if that helps.
Igofar
 
Re: Is this normal?

Town riding will knock the miles per litre way down, not only because you are burning fuel without moving, but because you are not running at the most economical speed.

The average fuel display isn't showing the same consumption from you dash readout / fuel pump photo. The readout shows 13 ish km/ litre. The calculation comes out at about 10 km / l

Here in the uk, we cannot set the display to show gallons. We can set it to show miles or km though. On long runs, two up, fully loaded riding to enjoy ourselves on country roads but always staying legal, we get between 9.5 - 9.9 miles / litre. I can easily get it higher by using a higher gear, but i do tend to use a lower gear, simply for the flexibility that it offers. The fuel consumption improves when riding at steady 60 - 70 mph on open roads to about 10.5 miles / l. 10 miles per litre is about 16 km / litre.

Suggestion. Reset the average fuel consumption readout when you fill up. To do this, you need to hold down the Fcd segment of the control near the left speaker grill for a few seconds. You can switch what the display shows by cycling through the same FCD button.
Also, reset one of the trips each time you fill up - which I guess that you do anyway from the photo. Put some fuel injector cleaner into the tanK before you add the petrol.

Make sure you fill the tank to the same level each time. Just under the flange at the bottom of the kneck, or just to that odd little bar are good reference points.

Fill up prior to going for a decent run. Keep the revs up so that the engine can spin freely by using one gear lower. Try to avoid towns, and get out for 100-200 miles, and fill up again. See what the average display is, see what your calculated average is, and work out how many miles you had left in the tank - assuming 29 litres per tank and using the average miles per litre

If you have a satnav, get the distance that it thinks you have travelled and compare with your readout mileage.

In all the above i am trying to find out if things are consistent. Your actual miles per litre is the number of miles you have actually ridden ( not necessarily the same as the readout) divided by the number of litres of fuel used. If someone has fitted a speedo healer, or has fitted a different size tyre, the readouts will be wrong.

Last thought - after a long run without using the brakes ( ie coast to a stop), check the brake temperatures. You should be able to hold them in your hand. But approach them carefully in case they are hot ! If they are hot, your brakes are dragging and using up fuel.
 
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Re: Is this normal?

Igofar said:
Its not THAT you bike shows three bars while running, the important question is, How long does it take to reach 3 bars?
Your bike should reach three bars in the time it takes to start your bike, put your helmet and gloves on, and drop her in gear.
You should wait until at least one bar is showing BEFORE you even start riding your bike, as this will make sure your engine is lubricated properly.
Your gas mileage is terrible, whether one up, or two up riding.
If your bike is taking a long time (more than two or three minutes) to reach three bars, I'd say replace the T-stat since this is a new to you bike and you don't know the service history.
If your running a K&N filter, that could contribute to issues if its really dirty or oily.
If your running the shield in the up position, that makes a difference too.
My bike gets approximately 56 mpg. ridden in sport mode.
The idiot gauge on the dash reads 56-59 at an indicated 80 mph on level ground, on a good day, but I also ride with the shield down all the time.
Try replacing the T-stat, cleaning the 5 way tee, doing a TB sync. and putting in a new OEM air filter and see if that helps.
Igofar
Click to expand...

For what it's worth:
My bike has always taken a couple of minutes to get to 3 bars since the day it was new. I've never timed it, but I know I often pull out of the driveway with less than 3 bars. When it's cold out, it might take several minutes.
Also, I have never gotten anywhere near 56 mpg. The BEST I ever did was a long highway ride in heavy rain where I kept my speed to around 60 mph and I got just about 50 mpg. Usually, it's between 40 and 44 mpg depending on how I ride.

I don't disagree that his gas mileage is terrible... just thought you might be raising his expectations too much.
 
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