260mi on one tank of gas

[Tonyvdb]

So Ive only been doing city driving on this last fill of gas and I wanted to see if my low fuel light works and how far I can go on one tank. My low fuel light just came on on my way into work this morning and Im at 260mi on the odometer. Is that good? It seems to be given most seem to recommend filling at 200mi.

[Mart656]

I would think that's pretty good for city driving. Mine came on at mile 253 while on a trip last year. I was actually getting worried and thinking the fuel light was not working. I was all smiles when it did.

[debron]

Very good. should be around 50+ mpg!

[ghostler]

So far I'm impressed with the Voyager XII, mine is a 2001 and I filled right at 4.0 gallons with 216 miles on the trip OD. that's 54 mpg. After the Golden Aspen Rally, rode direct from Ruidoso to Clovis, plus some loitering mileage locally prior to filling. Of course not fighting a headwind helped.

[chevyman1]

Question? Is that mileage with the stock speedometer or the corrected speedo.
I run a corrected speedometer reads 3 mph over actual and I can only get on average 40-42 mpg.

[ghostler]

My speedometer is reading true, confirmed by GPS. Not long ago I recognized I was getting premature side wear on my 130/90-16 Pirelli MT66 Route front tire, more than the center, so I've been pumping it to maximum tire pressure on the casing.
(I probably should stop riding twisties at speed. )
If I keep tire pumped to maximum, she reads true.

I'm at 4,300 ft elevation and Ruidoso is at 6,900 feet. We seem to get slightly better gas mileage on both the motorcycle and cages at these higher elevations versus sea level.
Plus, I wasn't fighting a head wind most of the way. That helped.

[debron]

Corrected speedometer and/or corrected odometer?? My stock speedo and odo are both off but by different amounts - the speed is off by more than what the odo is off (10% vs. 2-3%.) If I were to correct the speedometer by replacing that tooth gear thingy my odometer error would be off in the other direction, giving much lower MPG. When I get 52 on my stock odometer (which I often do,) that's about 50.4 - 50.9 true. A corrected speedo would result in showing about 46-47mpg in the same conditions when in reality it's 50-51.

[Mr Jensee]

Isn't it amazing that these old dinosaur carbureted 4 cylinder bikes that weigh at minimum 850 lbs without a rider can accomplish in fuel mileage what the engineers have been banging their heads together to get with direct fuel injection?

[ghostler]

Ron, there is an old saying, young riders set a destination, older riders set a direction. I've checked my odo with the GPS and speed and they are very close. Exactly how much? My memory is starting to fizzle;
I'm just glad I get twice the mileage of a cage.

I used to be meticulous with the cages and bikes, keeping statistics and records. I was the guy with the pocket protector full of pens. Since retiring not any more.
About every 200 miles I fill up, put in about 4 gallons with 2 to spare. That is good enough for me.
And yes for carburetted as good a gas mileage as fuel injected, this is enough science for me.

[Tonyvdb]

I'm running the un corrected speedo so that puts the OD close to accurate. Either way here I pay $18 to fill the tank with premium gas and it runs fantastic. No complaints here.

[debron]

I'm just glad I get twice the mileage of a cage.

+1 to that!

[cushman eagle]

Do any of the fuel injected touring bikes get the milage our VXIIs get?I get several bike magazines,and it seems they all get about 10 MPG worse.

[ghostler]

Do any of the fuel injected touring bikes get the milage our VXIIs get?I get several bike magazines,and it seems they all get about 10 MPG worse.

I think those bike mag writers have lead feet.

[cushman eagle]

I wondered about the way the bikes are riden,but did not know if their milage ratings are accurate.

[ghostler]

I really don't know. I'm easy on the throttle and braking when long distancing, keep a steady speed, use cruise control a lot. Then too, one must remember that our bikes were tuned according to EPA regs the year of manufacture.

Since, EPA has tightened the reins. Very few places check our bikes for lean tuning to meet EPA. Here in NM, Bernalillo County where Albuquerque is requires smog testing, rest of NM is rural enough for it not to be required. Then too, I don't know if that is only for cages or includes bikes over a certain CC. A good number if not all once the warranty period is over tune them to best running and not according to lean tune.

The electronically emission controlled bikes (i.e., the fuel injected) monitors emissions to ensure they meet EPA. So, I could imagine that some of that mileage loss may simply be due to that. A friend's 2012 Yamaha V-Star 1300 Tourer gets around 42 - 46 mpg, when I've been riding with him. My 2001 XII uses a little less fuel than his.

Normally I'd think his to get better gas mileage as it is a tad lighter than mine. Regardless, I'm happy that I get good gas mileage about akin to what my Harley rider friends are getting, if a tad less. Then too, I don't know if they are taking into account odometer error and thus are reflecting true gas mileage.
I get 39 mpg towing a trailer, still better than my cages, I'm stoked.

[ohiojack]

Well I still have some bugs to work out. My 1200 back and forth to work, country ride of about 10 miles round trip only gets 35 mpg. Bike has been synched and new plugs installed, and just came back from a 2500 mile trip. On my trip I only got around 33 to 35 mpg