Is there some sort of official index of gas mileage for bikes?

I have always been curious to see just how much money I am saving by riding my bike and not driving my ITR.

My sense is that it's not much, I doubt the bike gets more than 40mpg. Anyone done their own tests, or know where I can find some concrete info?

 

My 04 gsxr 600 gets approx. 44mpg. I test and ran it til it ran out of gas out on freeway. Had to push it for 1/4 mile.

 

We should make an index. I know that my 600rr did around 40mpg on a good day.

 

During gentle break-in riding I got ~55mpg on my '05 R6. Serious floggings will net me 35-40mpg.

 

If i drive alot in a week. Spliting up time between the bike and car i only save about $2. I fill the bike twice for about $16 and the the car for about $18

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ross R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is there some sort of official index of gas mileage for bikes?

I have always been curious to see just how much money I am saving by riding my bike and not driving my ITR.

My sense is that it's not much, I doubt the bike gets more than 40mpg. Anyone done their own tests, or know where I can find some concrete info?</TD></TR></TABLE>

By the time you add the cost of buying, insuring, and maintaining the bike, any gas savings are negated. I ran the numbers comparing a Ninja 250 (50mpg) to my Miata (25mpg).

125 miles a week commuting. $2.50/gallon. 30 weeks a year "bike-able".
$375 to fuel the Miata
$187.5 to fueld the Ninja
-----------------
$187.5 savings/year

Cost of bike+gear: $3000
16 years to break even (excluding insurance and assuming maintenance is a wash as the Miata would need less).

Or, to justify having a bike (and commuting on it)...
If the life of the bike is 5 years, it costs $412/year instead of $600 to have the bike (again excluding insurance).

 

You'll go through tires like crazy compared to a car.

 

Yep, I get around 30 ish on my bike, not to gentle though.

The car gets the same if I don't flog it.

 

i only get about 130 miles on a full tank, never ran it until empty...its a 4.5 gallon tank. that only equals 28.88 miles per gallon ouch

 

I bet you don't fill 4.8 gallons though. You need to devide your miles from a full tank by the amount it takes to fill it back up.

 

I usually put in anywhere from 3-3.5 gallons and I get anywhere from 120-130+ miles. I think I put 3.9 once and I had 155 miles on the odo.

I used to get 200 miles per tank on the R with 10 gallons so 20MPG on the car and about 40 on the bike. No matter how hard I flog it I always seem to get 40MPG on the bike. But I fill up when I hit 120 miles so I dont know how big the tank actaully is or how much gas is left in the tank when I fill up. I dont trust my gas gauge

 

You could just read the manual

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RebornGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You could just read the manual </TD></TR></TABLE>

Its somewhere in the bottom of my closet I think.

Im a man. Im a man who built the Efiel Tower out of steel and brawn. I cant be bothered with reading an instruction manual.

 

You get better gas mileage on a motorcycle than in a car. You should replace your tires and brake pads more frequently on a motorcycle than in a car. But for the trade-off in performance (ie, almost no other car out there can touch you) and commutability (not the math stuff, but sharing lanes and finding parking), then motorcycles win.

FWIW, I get 25mpg on the SHawk, 35 if I take it real easy. I fill up every 85 miles because the tank is not setup to use all 4.3 gallons (more like 3.0 gallons before I get a work out).

 

Next time you fill up reset your trip odometer. When you fill up after that divide the miles on the trip odo by the gal of gasolene you pumped in. Its on the pump, btw.

 

30-33 mpg in town

40-48 mpg highway

and I know I could do better, I am running really rich. The bike is jetted for seal level, and I am at 5200 feet. It runs awesome at sea level though

I just fouund out today I need a new rear tire. After 6000 miles the belt was starting to show

 

just found out what i get out of a full tank today... the hard way... had to limp my bike to the gas station. 136.6 05 yamaha r6

 

I just fouund out today I need a new rear tire. After 6000 miles the belt was starting to show [/QUOTE]

6k miles? That's a lot! I've heard from some people that you're lucky to get 3500.
I got 3700 with a tire that I NEVER did a burnout on, of course it was a Mich Pilot Sport. I have a harder Battlax 02 rear and a soft Battlax 01 front now. Nowadays I spin the tire alot but I don't make it smoke, I don't expect it to last half as far, can't wait for it to wear out so I can put a sticky one on now that I have the bike set up like I want and am confident that it won't suprise me and come up too quick.

My bike had +2 rear for awhile, I just put -1 front on last week I know the mpg is gonna be way down now but it's way more fun also!!!

 

My 97 CBR9 used to do between 25 and 40 ish after about 3-4K on rears it used to mis-behave

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladeboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

FWIW, I get 25mpg on the SHawk, 35 if I take it real easy. I fill up every 85 miles because the tank is not setup to use all 4.3 gallons (more like 3.0 gallons before I get a work out).</TD></TR></TABLE>
Pretty much the same for me on my RC too. I have to plan out my routes and know exactly where the gas stations are located. Kinda sucks.

 

about 210km before switching to reserve then its another 30km or so before Im dry, CBR250RR

 

Don't know exactly, but I'm getting in the neighborhood of 40mpg give or take.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backlash &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Pretty much the same for me on my RC too. I have to plan out my routes and know exactly where the gas stations are located. Kinda sucks.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Kiyo (Kiro?) Watanabe makes a c/f gas tank for the SuperChicken. It holds 6 gallons! That would extend my range to 160-180. Of course, it also lightens your wallet by $1800...

And then Fuel Cel (or was it Jet Cel?) makes a similar one for $1100.

I'll be shopping for a 250 soon if gas prices keep going up...!