Harley/Shadow gas mileage

Since I bought my KZ650 as a gas saver, I'm always interested in what kind of mileage other people get out of their bikes.

I've been suprised to hear Harley guys telling me they're getting 40-45-50 mpg out of their Hogs. A guy I work with has a 2001 Honda 750 Shadow and swears he gets 45-50 mpg out of it, more on the highway.

Are V-twins just inherently more efficient that I4s?

Well don't take me to seriously but I can possibly answer your question. V twins have more torque than inline fours and they use only half the amount of RPM's as inline 4's. They do have bigger cylinders but at a 5000 RPM red line. They wouldn't use much gas. That is as far as I can get ya. I hope that helps. And don't forget the gearing!

I'd be really unhappy if I only got 45-50 mpg out of my bike on average :woohoo:

If you want to show them up, ride your bike like the average cruiser rider, shift at 2k rpm and accelerate slowly, ride as slow as you can, rpm kills gas mileage.

If your bike is well tuned, you should be able to get 60-65 mpg, if you really try.

I have a 750 twin (well tuned) and my best has been 85 mpg, but that was at a max cruising speed of 45 mph and gradual acceleration while shifting at no more than 2k rpm.

GPzInfested (my Nephew) has a 40 mile drive to work. He has been getting 50-55 mpg by using this method on his GPz750 Turbo. His mileage drops into the twenties when he starts playing around.

The 750 Shadows do alright, my friend gets over 50 mpg and about 55 on the highway.

steell wrote:

I'd be really unhappy if I only got 45-50 mpg out of my bike on average :woohoo:

If you want to show them up, ride your bike like the average cruiser rider, shift at 2k rpm and accelerate slowly, ride as slow as you can, rpm kills gas mileage.

If your bike is well tuned, you should be able to get 60-65 mpg, if you really try.

I have a 750 twin (well tuned) and my best has been 85 mpg, but that was at a max cruising speed of 45 mph and gradual acceleration while shifting at no more than 2k rpm.

GPzInfested (my Nephew) has a 40 mile drive to work. He has been getting 50-55 mpg by using this method on his GPz750 Turbo. His mileage drops into the twenties when he starts playing around.

I wish that was the case. I hypermile my bike; short shifting, 55-60 mph, max on the highway, shut it off at stoplights, coast on long downhills with the engine off, etc. I get around 40mpg. It's only an estimate, since my gauges were off being restored and I haven't been able to get an accurate mpg reading, but almost all of my riding is to and from work, and I know what that distance is. There is absolutely no way I'm getting 50+ mpg out of my KZ 650.

I frequently go on group rides with Harleys and other V-twins, like my buddy's Aprillia 998cc fuel injected Caponord. My KZ1000 consistently gets from 7% to 10% better fuel mileage than the others.

seanof30306, if you are riding it the way you say you are, then something is really not right on your bike.

When is the last time you did a "complete" tune up? Including checking/adjusting the valves and syncing the carbs?

Like I said earlier GPzInfested gets 50-55 mpg on his 750 Turbo when he really tries, I was riding it today though and I bet it only got in the high twenties (that sucker's still accelerating like gangbusters at 130 mph!!)

My 750 twin gets 55-65 mpg riding normally, but 85 mpg if I cruise at 45 and drive for mileage. But I went through it and did a complete tune up, and I do mean complete.

Dude,

I don't know if you've been following my "adventures" on here since I bought this bike last July, but I've done nothing but "tune" it since I bought it.

It has new Dyna Green coils, new Dyna S ignition, new Accel wires, new plugs.

The carbs have been completely rebuilt and synched, and the valves have been adjusted multiple times.

It has a new chain and sprockets (530 chain, 17t front, 41t rear).

The bike runs perfectly, with one exception; I think it's fat. The bike has a Mac 4-1 and pods, so when rebuilding the carbs, I rejetted them to 17.5 pilot jets and 110 mains. The needles are non-adjustable.

It runs great, but it smokes a little black smoke at idle and when you get on it, the pipe is sooty, and the plug chops are blackish, too. I was originally very pleased that in cold weather, I have to use little or no choke, but, I've realized that is probably another indication that it is fat.

I've been waiting to get my gauges back before I started working with the jetting so I can run a few tankfuls through it to establish an accurate baseline. Now that I have them, though, I have another damn electrical issue to get worked out, first (another post).

That said, though, I just don't think you're going to see the kind of mileage you're talking about from a KZ650. There was an extensive discussion about it on KZ650.info.

forums.kz650.info/index.php?topic=176.0

While there were a few posters getting upwards of 55mpg, by far, most were in the high 30s /low 40s. With the bike jetted properly and using my hypermiling techniques, I think the upper ceiling for me is 50mpg, given the fact that I am 6'5" and go 290.

If I could get 60 mpg out of my bike, I'd be turning cartwheels down main street!

steell wrote:

seanof30306, if you are riding it the way you say you are, then something is really not right on your bike.

When is the last time you did a "complete" tune up? Including checking/adjusting the valves and syncing the carbs?

Like I said earlier GPzInfested gets 50-55 mpg on his 750 Turbo when he really tries, I was riding it today though and I bet it only got in the high twenties (that sucker's still accelerating like gangbusters at 130 mph!!)

My 750 twin gets 55-65 mpg riding normally, but 85 mpg if I cruise at 45 and drive for mileage. But I went through it and did a complete tune up, and I do mean complete.

It seems that if you're compairing a 4 cyl 650 w/V-twins, you may be compairing apples w/oranges. I really don't know anything about the inline 4's milage, but I have a 750 twin, and agree w/Steell. The worst milage I got was around 48, and that was doing a lot of hiway, 60-70mph w/hard accel, and before I finally got it tuned right. I recently got 68mpg doing the harley cruse speeds of 45-55. Thats with pods and 3.5 main jet sizes larger than stock.

seanof30306 wrote:

I've been suprised to hear Harley guys telling me they're getting 40-45-50 mpg out of their Hogs.

They should be getting around 300mpg since the bikes spend all their time on a trailer :laugh:

Well, I guess there's something to that V-Twin efficency.

I ran across a guy with a Buell XB12X. It's a beautiful bike, and he swears he's getting 60 mpg out of it. It's a 1200 cc bike!

I looked on the bikes webpage, and it's EPA mpg is 51 city / 64 highway. I guess he's right.

www.buell.com/en_us/bikes/adventure/xb12x/specs.asp

I would say on my past KZ750 and KZ1000 bikes I got between 40 to 50 mpg. I just filled up my ZRX1200 yesterday and was getting 41.8 mpg, not being the nicest on the throttle too.