1081 miles in 48 hours

I had the weekend to myself and my wife had to work so I decided to go for a ride.... to Minneapolis and Sioux Falls.

I left Kansas City at 3:45 Friday afternoon and arrived home at 3:43 Sunday afternoon. I rode to Des Moines, IA and stayed there Friday night. I rode to Minneapolis on Saturday morning and had lunch with a couple friends and then around 2 I left and headed to Sioux Falls, SD where I stayed that night. Then I took I-29 south all the way back to KC today.

I spent $94.16 on 26.761 gallons of gas for an average price of $3.518. The last time I filled up I had 998.6 miles so I have an average fuel economy of 37.3 MPG. The scooter doesn't like 70-75MPH interstate driving and especially not the horrible west wind yesterday that really ate up my gas mileage. If I keep it at 55MPH I have gotten as much as 66MPG out of it and around town I regularly get 51 to 54 MPG so 37 is a heck of a drop.

The bike did very well with the new Dr Pulley sliders as far as having the power to do whatever I needed it to do and I had no mechanical problems whatsoever. I am going to open up the variator and look everything over just to make sure everything is fine but I suspect that it's all up to par.

This trip left me less than 100 miles away from the 20,000 mile mark so I'm excited about meeting that milestone.

I had a blast doing this ride this weekend and hope I can do it again some time. Oh, and this adds 2 more states on my map (when I get around to updating the thing.)

I would return the drive line to complete stock and new belt to get some decent gas mileage-----37 ain't good.

Just came off 5960 mile scooter trip @60.4 mpg all stock drive line----not going slow---Burgman 400 with 32,000 miles----maybe apple and orange comparison but....my silverwing at highway speed did 55-60mpg average.

Before I did anything to it I made 3-4 long trips at 70MPH speeds with original weights and it would get 40MPG so your statement that you got 60MPG out of yours at 70MPH seems a little disingenuous. Perhaps you also missed the part about the high winds eating up my MPG.

Roy,
Sounds like a great trip. Glad you had fun. I feel the same way about milestones. When we went to Texas this last month 3000 miles was my longest trip. We were gone for nine days but rode only seven. Keep having fun and ride safe.

What windshield?? if high look thru...there went gas mileage, too.

Sounds like a good trip! A lot of miles in a short time.

Thanks Cathy & GHM-PM. I had a lot of fun..... which is what this thread was all about.

YOUR trip...YOUR bike.... YOU had fun. Enough said. Thank you for sharing.  

MPG depends on

- how heavy you are ?
- what other weight you carry ?
- last time you cleaned the air filter ?
- how toll is you windshield ?
- tire pressure
- tire size (new / old / DS)
- wind speed
- how steep your drive is
- what type of gas ? (best Shell highest octane)

At 75 mph, 1081 miles : 26.761 gal = 40.39 MPG .... that's pretty good.

There is not that much you can do after a certain speed because you run out of pulley combination. Front and the back pulley get maxed out. From there on is just spinning faster and faster so all the above mentioned work against you.

The only way you can get 60mpg on this scooter is if seats on the stand and let it run.
The best you will ever get is about 50 mpg.

2 cents

Gas Mileage=throttle opening. There are times Silverwing will run freely at low throttle openings---like downhill, tail wind. High head winds,slow down, no need to fight nature on small displacement machine. Tip: mark throttle with white paint:1/4/1/2/3/4...wide open you can feel with hand.


I get good mileage on reg/cheap gas/will buy straight gas when I can....if not too expensive.

Always I buy only new bikes/scooters----50,000 miles is trade in time or less if I don't like bike. Recent bikes that went over 50,000----GS500E Suzuki, nice cheap bike---Concours 56,000...I didn't like it=top heavy and just plain heavy but cheap to keep, one Helix 50,000 miles------AND I don't monkey with them trying to make them something they are not.

Recent trip to BC---I did put K&N air filter (from junk box)in my burgman, thinking why use up expensive OEM paper filter-----Only benefit I saw=more intake noise and didn't fit as good as stock. It is back in junk box.

Feel for machinery helps, too.

In case of SilverWing---Givi adjustable windshield seems to be best go thru air and rider comfort.
Top boxes can create drag....and handling problems......reg oil changes with WalMart 10-40---2,000 mile interval for me.

Tires: anything Honda recommends/approves, inflated to their specs.

Silverwing you should be able to feel when opening the throttle more does nothing.

Note: I have new TU250 Suzuki, planning on using it in DEC to complete my 2013 4 corners US ride/goal to relieve boredom in Chattanooga-----it get 70mpg on highway, ridden hard and 90 used on slow parkways----standard gearing/windshield/$15 Stanley tool box 24 in wide as top box....and is a lot cheaper to keep than rubber band drive scooter over miles---it has 6,000 miles today.

I am not MPG freak---treat scooter as scooter and it works for me. In today's world you can still go thru $30 a day gas in the US on scooter.

I'll try not to give you my whole life story like Grins does with every post but:

I noticed a similar pattern when I rode with some friends to Louisville from Nashville a couple of years ago. We took back roads (55 mph max) there and I estimated around 55mpg on the way there. When we stopped for gas as a group I was around half a tank.

On the way back I didn't know in advance we'd be in a hurry but we took the interstate and rode fast +-80mph. I would estimate I got approx 40mpg on that leg and when we all stopped for gas I was close to empty. It seems like riding faster affects the swing's mpg a lot more than shifty bikes.

Smorkle, good for you any day near 500 mile is a big day in my book, I try to keep my days between 300-400, thats comforable and fun. Above 400 and it becomes more work. My son is the Swing owner, he's been avg probable 50 mpg average riding, much as I would expect. Around town my wife's 650 Burgie gets 45 mpg. My K1200LT get 35-40 around town.

On our recent 2500 miler the Burgie and LT both were getting 50 mpg avg 65-70 mph, but once in Nev where the limit is 75 and you better do that or get run over, both our avg dropped to 40-45 mpg and the ride felt a little hectic. Sounds like your scoot did what it was suppost to. 60mpg at 70 mph on a 600+cc scoot. Nice if you can get it! I once caught a 50 lbs 10 foot long rainbow trout!

CathyN. I like what you have done to you scoot. I looked at and reviewed you add ons and I like.

Smorkle, your mileage was right on with mine when coming back from Oklahoma this summer. At 70-80 mph I just barely got 40mpg. Came back in two days, around 670 miles first day and just over 690 the second day. Rain on both days.
About a month ago we rode 2 up puttering on the Northern Neck of Virginia. All secondary small back roads and achieved 52mpg on a beautiful day.
On my Swing anyway, the miles per gallon go down pretty fast at Interstate speeds.
Sounds like you had a great trip.
Dick

johnd wrote:

CathyN. I like what you have done to you scoot. I looked at and reviewed you add ons and I like.

than

Thanks, John. Bob did all the add ons and he does all the maintenance.

The add ons make for a more safe and comfortable ride for me. Thanks to this forum and it's many active members it has been a smooth ride.