Break in and increasing fuel economy

[DeaninMilwaukee]

Just wondering when other people noticed better economy during the break in process.

I bought my bike new late last fall, and nearly all of its miles ( 800 miles so far ) have been commuting to work, 80% of which is at 60ish mph on the hwy.

Since new, I have been getting a dissapointing 75 or 76 mpg on every tank, but on the next to last tankful it went to 79mpg and on this fill up today I got 88 mpg.

Anyone else have a similar result with economy? It seems a very sudden and large improvement, but besides the extra miles the only other change is the weather is warmer lately.

Thoughts?

[Valiant]

Stop riding on the highway? Use stock weights?

It's not exactly surprising:
Higher rpms = higher fuel consumption.

[iceman]

If you ride near full throttle most of the time, you will suffer poor fuel economy. 80mpg or thereabouts seems good for pushing the bike to it's limit all it's life.

[dkazzed]

What everyone else said. Humans aren't particularly aerodynamic. I get about 75-80 mpg doing 50/50 city/hwy. In the city, I can do 90-100mpg, doing all highway I'm down at 65-70 mpg.

It's opposite of cars which do better on the highway than in the city. Smaller displacement bikes thrive in the city environment.

With that said, what exactly is disappointing about 75-80 mpg? Unlike my car which averages 32 mpg, I love the feeling of riding my motorcycle forever and ever and using what feels like no gas. $12 to ride 200 miles? That's CHEAP.

[Bash On!]

"$12 to ride 200 miles? That's CHEAP." Not to me (even if you're talking Canadian dollars). I go 200 miles for about $5.50 USD.

[dkazzed]

"$12 to ride 200 miles? That's CHEAP." Not to me (even if you're talking Canadian dollars). I go 200 miles for about $5.50 USD.

Gas is more expensive here. I paid $4.13US a gallon for gas this morning. But it's all relative, the people here in the UK must be envious of me.

200 miles costs $32 in gasoline in my compact car and $55 in my minivan. So $12 on a bike is cheap.

[dkazzed]

Bikes might make a little bit of sense to people in the U.S. with cheap fuel prices, but they REALLY make sense in areas where fuel costs are high.

[gn2]

I commute by scooter mainly because of easy parking at work and ability to carve through congested traffic on the few days when I encounter it..

[Urbanfreestyle]

I generally get 110miles on a full tank (2013 pcx 125 esp)

[fun2scoot]

Most of my riding is over 50mph averaging 90mpg or so, and I hypermile when possible.
YMMV, but adding a Givi D1136ST windshield (Sport Tour $89.10 shipped) decreased fuel consumption about 3%. I'm 6'2" and airflow is over the collarbone - helmet is in clean air.
I guess the larger, aerodynamic shield uses the rider's body to increase air speed past the rider (rather than the flat torso forcing the air to find variant paths) thus lowering pressure at that point (Bernouille's Principle). That gap at the base of the shield, above the grill is probably critical to making all this work; without it, the boundary layer shedding over the shield would find a dead zone needing filled and collapse downward trying to fill it. Instead, if finds a filled space and sheds past the rider.
I guess, I dunno...

[danieljw]

I can get near 200 miles a tank on my pcx that's taking it easy at around 49mph, 2015 pcx so larger tank, 125ish mpg. if I hit faster roads then my fuel ecconomy droppes a fair bit.

[RichyP]

I generally get 110miles on a full tank (2013 pcx 125 esp)

well i only got my bike last wednesday with 417 mile on the clock in total, and as soon as i got it i was scooting around everywhere, hey its a new toy feel you know!

First full tank did about 90 miles in total, that was without using the Stop/Start as well, only filled it once and its done 80miles since then with about a 1/3 of a tank left!

I have been alot more kinder to it since the refill and have been using the Stop/Start feature

[Smee]

Had my 2015 pcx125 for a couple of months now, just passed 2500m on it on daily 60m commute. At first it was 85-90 mpg and has steadily increased at 1 point to 117 which is the highest I've had (this is according to the display which is apparently quite accurate). Last few weeks it hovered around 114.6 and is now showing 116.1 (it makes me a bit ocd as you can see.... it's fitted with stop/start which I do use but on my journeys I doubt it makes much difference.

These figures are quite constant and only really change if its windy or calm. Obviously if I screwed it from every junction and had full throttle on the faster roads then it would change but in daily use its remarkably consistent. Some say the switch to summer fuel improves mpg due to different additives....I dunno? My commute is a mixture of roads and includes 10 miles of high speed......for a pcx anyway.....of 60 give or take 5.

As said elsewhere, everyone is different and mpg will suffer when the engine is working harder.......but.......on a level road, even at speed, my mpg still stays at around 115 unless theres a headwind. The engine is governed so I can wizz along up to about 60..sometimes 65 ish without the engine at peak revs. Its the hills and wind I tell ya!..

[Bash On!]

I usually don't sweat small differences in mpg. There are so many variables that can affect mpg tank-to-tank. Just enjoy your frugal scoot--you're getting great mileage regardless!

[DeaninMilwaukee]

It's not that I'm worried or not understanding that I will get worse milage due to my higher speeds, it that I am surprised that my mileage suddenly jumped so much oveter the course of 2 tank fulls after being a steady 75 mpg over all the other tanks.

[ScooteringAbout]

Did a ride today from where I live to Glasson Dock, through Trough Of Bowland. Managed 85mpg.

Quite impressed since I was not hanging about

[DeaninMilwaukee]

I'm not sure if its because winter blend fuel is gone, or because the engine has turned a corner on the break in process, but my mileage is noticeably higher now under even hard conditions.

I had the day off today, so ran some errands that let me burn a full tankful on the interstate mostly at 65+ mph, in winds high enough I couldn't always make 65 mph. The bike was wide open or nearly so for the whole tank.

In the end, tanked up at 111 miles and squeezed in 1.30 gallons for 85 mpg.

That being said I now finally get why people hate the seat hump. All my previous rides apparently weren't long enough for it be noticeable, but today it became an actual pain in the rear.

Dean in Milwaukee

[RichyP]

I have noticed my MPG getting better and better since i have had my bike and only had it for about 10days

I have been recording when i filled up, how much and how many miles per tank

06/05/2015 - Starting Mileage - 417 Miles
10/05/2015 - 509 on Clock - 92 Miles - £5:81 - Normal Petrol
13/05/2015 - 624 on Clock - 115 Miles - £6:47 - Premium Unleaded

Currently its still on 688 and the digital display indicates that I have only used 1/3rd of a tank

[MrManH]

I'm getting between 105MPG and 107MPG on average, so far only 375 miles on the odometer. I weigh only 150lbs though so that probably helps. I would say a third of my riding is done at 50MPH+ while the rest is a lot of city driving which includes traffic jams and traffic lights.

[bbronczyk]

I bought my 2015 last fall and it started out getting around 102 mpg on the gauge. Now after over 800 miles and driving around 40 mph most times it is up to almost 107 mpg. I have done a few short runs on the highway at 55 mph.