Any Motorcycle MPG sites ? - Gas Savers

razmataz · 07-06-2007, 05:57 PM

Does anyone have another source for motorcycle MPG ?

This is the most complete source and a lot of it is based on owners.

http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/Motor...uide/index.htm

DISCLAIMER:
Owned reported estimates are based on data from riders rather than official sources. Since the source data cannot be verified Total Motorcycle does not guarantee the accuracy of this data.

General:
Unlike automobiles, motorcycle Fuel Efficiency is extremely difficult to calculate and it is important to remember these numbers are general guidelines as what to expect under the exact same conditions. Each rider will get different numbers for their own motorcycle due to accessories, riding style, type and formulation of gas which varies from each city.

Personal motorcycle ratings are not official or my not be indicitive of every model for that year. As these figures are not required by law in North America to display we wish to thank the many motorcycle manufacturers for sharing these numbers with us and with you.

Hockey4mnhs · 07-06-2007, 07:09 PM

most people just guess on this site but those #s might give you a good chacnce at a close guess of what its made to get

Sludgy · 07-09-2007, 07:28 AM

I've looked for a comprehensive bike FE table, but it seems like there is little out there. The company sites that have some mpg info are: Buell, Harley Davidson, and Suzuki.

It surprises me that there aren't more fuel injected cycles out there. FI increases both power and FE, both important reasons why we buy cycles.
Amazingly, America leads the pack in EFI. HD has EFI on most, if not all, of their 2007 bikes. (Buell doesn't count.) Hell, you can even buy a garden tractor with an American closed loop Kohler EFI engine.

Why aren't the Japanese bikes using EFI, particularly on their small to midsize bikes?

korax123 · 07-09-2007, 05:50 PM

Well buy a smaller bike get better FE hehe. I'm looking @ a YZF600R as my next bike and they clock in anywhere from 48mpg-63mpg but my lil 250 kicks but right now at allways over 70mpg. My commute is 55mph to and from work though so it helps with almost no stop and go.

So fuel injection really doesn't help much. The YZF600R is carb'd and it gets better mileage then your Honda 600cc so FI isn't always better.

Ryland · 07-09-2007, 11:11 PM

Honda makes a number of fuel injected motorcycles, altho they don't sell many of them in the US, my personal favorit is the CB400Fi a 4 cylender 400cc and it's a vtec engine, so it goes from being a 2 valve per cylender to 4 valve per cylender engine, they sold a few of them carburated, non vtec, in the US, but they are hard to find, altho they are amazing motorcycles.

red91sit · 07-16-2007, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryland

Honda makes a number of fuel injected motorcycles, altho they don't sell many of them in the US, my personal favorit is the CB400Fi a 4 cylender 400cc and it's a vtec engine, so it goes from being a 2 valve per cylender to 4 valve per cylender engine, they sold a few of them carburated, non vtec, in the US, but they are hard to find, altho they are amazing motorcycles.

I have a Carbeurated, non-vtec CB400F

, but it's from 1976. I would also love it's never modernized conterpart.

BisbeeWarrior · 07-17-2007, 12:39 PM

I would imagine the reason Japanese manufacturers don't include EFI on their smaller motorcycles has to do with price. The smaller bikes are expected to sell for much less than larger ones. HD doesn't really have this issue since their smallest bike is 883cc and folks who purchase a Harley generally already expect to pay a higher price than for a Japanese model. Also the HD EFI is a simple throttle body system if I remember correctly, most of the Japanese models using EFI are multiport.

EFI on motorcycles is still relatively new, there are still driveability issues with EFI that you don't have with carburetion. I expect we'll see more EFI in the near future.

As for motorcycle mileage, it varies greatly with rider weight and riding style. My Mom is routinely seeing over 100mpg on her 125 Vino scooter, I would expect to see a bit less if I were riding it if only because of the weight difference. Remember, the proportion of rider to machine weight on a motorcycle is much different on a 500lb machine than in a 4000lb machine.

That being said, I am seeing mileage in the low 50's on my Warrior while many people on the Warrior forum can get no better than mid-30's. I think I'm doing okay for a 1700cc machine.

beatr911 · 07-18-2007, 05:26 PM

Hondas plans are to FI all new bikes by like 2010 or so, even the 50cc scooters in 3rd world countries. The challenge is to make a cheap, effective FI system.

That being said, modern M/C carbies are pretty damn efficeint. Dial them in and they nearly equal current FI systems for both hp and fuel efficiency. Of course they'll not account for seasonal changes like a closed loop FI system will and driveability is still better with FI.

Sludgy · 07-19-2007, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beatr911

Hondas plans are to FI all new bikes by like 2010 or so, even the 50cc scooters in 3rd world countries. The challenge is to make a cheap, effective FI system.

That being said, modern M/C carbies are pretty damn efficeint. Dial them in and they nearly equal current FI systems for both hp and fuel efficiency. Of course they'll not account for seasonal changes like a closed loop FI system will and driveability is still better with FI.

Anyway you slice them, bikes are WAY behind cars in technology. They're just getting around to EFI on bikes but it's been on most production cars for 15 years. Very few bikes have closed loop emission control or catalysts.

Auto manufacturers are already using DFI / ultra-lean burn to improve FE. But it'll be 2020 before we see the first DFI bikes.

Likewise, I'm not sure there are any bikes with cam phasers, VVT, or Atkinson cams.

There are no mass-produced diesel bikes, except a few made by Hayes Diversified exclusively for the military.

IMHO, there are no technical reasons why a bike with a 100 mph top speed can't get 200 mpg when driven normally. All they need to do is add some car FE technology and a few (minimal) aero aids.

bugsih · 07-19-2007, 06:53 PM

My 2002 goldwing has a closed loop FI system and does pretty good for a 1800cc motor at 45mpg...

razmataz · 07-20-2007, 01:56 PM

Actaully bikes are WAY ahead of cars in engine technology, it just isn't geared toward FE, but performance.

Bikes get good enough FE that it isn't even measured (thus the posting of this thread) and emmisions controls were not even required on motorcycles until recently. I'm not even sure if they are even required now in most states. Definetly not tested after initial purchase.

Sportbikes typical use the exhaust system to extract more power. It is tuned and variable (with moving parts) to create different back pressures at different RPMs. No cars are doing that! There are a number of things on bikes that come directly from racing, testing and design that show the detail and thought that go into them. Some of them even make it onto production cars.

Performance sells (Japanese\European) bikes!
Bikes excel in performance with complete model changes occuring even faster than the Japanese car updates.

BTW this is my first FI bike and I love it. It runs great, requires less maintenance and ALWAYS starts right up.

red91sit · 07-21-2007, 03:24 PM

Also, they have made motorcycle engines with Variable cam timing. The Honda CB400 in Japan has this, as mentioned earlier in this thread. The other thing is, most sport bikes are running around 150 hp/liter, 100 hp/liter is about the minimum you'll fine these days. Which is right about the maximum cars have (except for exotics, and the S2000)

Ryland · 07-22-2007, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by red91sit

I have a Carbeurated, non-vtec CB400F

, but it's from 1976. I would also love it's never modernized conterpart.

the newer one is a water cooled inline 4, insted of air cooled, alowing the engine to be much more compact, slightly wider then a twin cylender air cooled engine.

Sludgy · 07-23-2007, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by razmataz

Actaully bikes are WAY ahead of cars in engine technology, it just isn't geared toward FE, but performance.

Bikes get good enough FE that it isn't even measured (thus the posting of this thread) and emmisions controls were not even required on motorcycles until recently. I'm not even sure if they are even required now in most states. Definetly not tested after initial purchase.

Sportbikes typical use the exhaust system to extract more power. It is tuned and variable (with moving parts) to create different back pressures at different RPMs. No cars are doing that! There are a number of things on bikes that come directly from racing, testing and design that show the detail and thought that go into them. Some of them even make it onto production cars.

Performance sells (Japanese\European) bikes!
Bikes excel in performance with complete model changes occuring even faster than the Japanese car updates.

BTW this is my first FI bike and I love it. It runs great, requires less maintenance and ALWAYS starts right up.

Bikes are ridiculously behind cars in technology. The average bike emits more HC and NOx than the average car. And scaled for displacement and weight, bikes are the true fuel hogs, not Hummers. The only thing keeping bikes from being regulated out of existence is the fact that bike numbers are too low to affect smog or national fuel consumption.

A lean burn, long stroke, single cylinder DFI / VVT bike of about 250-300 cc should be able to go well in excess of 120 mph. When geared properly and with a few fairings, such a bike should be able get about 200 mpg. That bike design would be just barely catching up with car techology.

mustngr · 07-27-2007, 07:13 PM

Bikes are not in any way behind cars in technology. The market, certain mechanical/ aerodynamic characteristics specific to motorcycles, weight and production costs dictate what's available.

Fuel injection adds weight, cost and complexity to a bike. Controlling most fuel injection systems is difficult in aircooled designs due to the vast temperature fluctuations. Intake systems, radiators and airflow measuring devices dictate awkward layouts, reduced fuel capacities, etc.

Fairings and aerodynamic developements aimed at optimizing fuel economy present their own set of problems. A bike that is faired for maximum fuel economy will get you killed in the first crosswind. Ask Mr. Vetter. Just a fact of life.

I agree that a lot of the available technology cold be combined to make a practical, comfortable and safe commuter, but who'd buy it when most of the buying public is looking to escape the boredom generated by practical, comfortable, safe commuters? How many people would line up to buy the 2 wheeled equivalent of a Prius?

Not only are bikes a minor segment of the motorng public at large, but they represent a small segment of the profits generated by the manufacturers themselves. Most of the Japanese companies make more money by far with their other interests (in shipping, financing, industrial equipmant, aeronautics, ice cube trays, etc.) than they do from their automotive and motorcycle production.

For now you gotta build your own.

slurp812 · 07-29-2007, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sludgy

Anyway you slice them, bikes are WAY behind cars in technology. They're just getting around to EFI on bikes but it's been on most production cars for 15 years. Very few bikes have closed loop emission control or catalysts.

Um, they have had DOHC for 30+ years! Way back when almost no automobiles had overhead cams, let alone two of them. 600cc crotch rockets all have over 100hp, at the tire! EFI is great for emissions. Yea they are behind in the FI dept cause of the added weight, complexity which doesn't do much for a 400lb bike. The motor itself on metric bikes is where their technology is. My G/F's 2002 Monte Carlo has all that FI automatic headlight, electronic stuff on it. all you gotta do is to turn the key and drive. But it has a 40 year old push rod motor in it. Technology is just applied differently for 2 wheels...