Fuel Mileage

First topic message reminder :

My wife and I took our new-to-us '02 scoots on a 156 mile ride this past weekend, most of it freeway riding, but about 35 miles of two-lane roads. Running at 70 mph indicated on the speedo, the GPS says 68mph. We measured the distance with GPS - the odometer on our bikes is also just a bit optimistic and said 160.6 miles for a real distance of 156.1 miles.

We filled up after our ride and calculated fuel mileage using the GPS distance. My bike got 49.9 mpg and my wife's got 50.5 mpg. She only weighs 135 lbs and I weigh 190, so she always seems to get a bit better fuel mileage on a bike than I do.

I've seen some folks claim getting fuel mileage in the 60's mpg. I'd think you'd have to ride pretty conservative to get that?

Our bikes were ridden by an older couple before we bought them, and they were treated pretty gently and they didn't even change their own oil - they took them to the dealership. They traded them in on new ST1300's. The old belts, when I replaced them, still measured new spec on width and there wasn't even any belt dust in the cover. Their V lights came on and they had the dealership check the belts, but the dealership didn't replace them - just reset the light.

So our bikes are basically new condition with a break-in run.

I thought the v light didnt activate until the bike got to 18000 miles unless theres trouble!! 18000 is quite a break-in run!

That's what we bought our bikes with on the odometer - mine (the one I picked) had 18,005, my wife's 18,017. The couple that previously owned them brought them in to have the V lights checked out and they ended up trading them for ST1300's. The dealership had checked the belts and reset the lights, but my wife and I took the bikes for a test ride and bought them on the spot.

I also put new rear IRC tires on both of them as the old Bridgestone Hoops were down to the wear bars. The dealership gave us the parts as part of the purchase deal, but I wanted to do the work myself to familiarize myself with the FSC600. We got Malossi kevlar belts with the bikes.

I can't believe that the dealer didn't replace the belts. The light should come on at 16,000 miles and the belt should be replaced at that time. If they have not been replaced I would replace before I road them too far away from home. Like I said I'm amazed that the dealer would go to all the trouble to take the ctv cover off and not go ahead and change the belt. Even if you had less than 16,000 miles on the belts they still would be twelve years old and I wouldn't feel comfortable with twelve year old rubber belts.

We did not go to the dealership that day to buy Silver Wings. We were there to get an air filter for our Honda generator. We just happened to see the Silver Wings and were looking at them and talking about how nice they are. They had plates on so we figured somebody owned them. It wasn't until the service manager came out to get the plates to transfer them to their new bikes that we found out they were trade-ins.

Then the owner of the dealership came out (we had bought a lot of bikes from him in previous years) carrying a couple temporary plates. He put them on and told us to take those Silver Wings for a ride. By the time we got back those bikes weren't going anywhere except home with us.

In the deal making he said they had had the bikes in the shop because the V lights were on and they had checked the belts and reset the lights. He didn't say if it was that day or sometime previous. But I suppose the service dept does whatever the owners want as far as putting new belts on. Part of the deal was that we got new belts and new rear tires, and I put them on myself.

They also checked the VIN's and there was a recall to replace the centerstand brackets and it had never been done. They had the parts in stock and we came back that afternoon and picked up our new bikes after they did the recall on them.

So that's what I know about it. I also know that when I replaced the old belts the dimensions were almost the same as the new belts. After replacing the belts, the bikes don't ride or act any different than they did with the old ones. So I kept the old belts for spares.

I'm glad to hear you changed the belts. Yes I agree most of the belts I seen replaced looked good and were almost the same size as a new belt. I have seen some dry rot(cracking) on old belts. If I remember right there is only about two mm difference between the minimum and maximum. But I sure feel more confident knowing it's been replaced.   

Ken VB wrote:

not even broke in compared to the 375,000 miles I put on the 1500

Did you have to do an overhaul in those miles??  I am amazed. I heard about a Reflex in San francisco that achieved 300,000 miles, not sure about maintenance history.

Belts---I stick with OEM belts, with SilverWings and Burgman 400's (had 2 new of each) I go 20,000 before changing belt----but know following maker's recommendation is better.

Now at 300,000 plus rubber band drive scooter miles, only one broken belt underway---I carry spare belt as dealers for the most part will not have one in stock. SilverWing pretty hard to change belt roadside----Helix wasn't.

Age and wear and probably heat belt killers-----Lite that comes on only mileage not condition of belt indicator.

Well the title of this topic was "Fuel Mileage" so I thought I'd chime in with my recent results:

On 250 mile RTE up to Conneticuit last Sunday, mostly interstate riding, I got as high as 45+ mpg and as low as 39+ mpg. Given the 90,000 miles I've put on my SW my fuel economy is what it is.

Tim

Topics do tend to get derailed... Not sure why but there it is. Might be better to bail and start a NEW topic.

Tim, on my resent lunch ride with friends it was 180 miles half hwy and half country roads (below 60 MPH). Got 64.5 on the slow half and 59.3 on the hwy half. Not bad for a Swing with 32000K miles. At least I am happy. I get in the upper 40's around town.

SteveO

SteveO wrote:

Tim, on my resent lunch ride with friends it was 180 miles half hwy and half country roads (below 60 MPH). Got 64.5 on the slow half and 59.3 on the hwy half. Not bad for a Swing with 32000K miles. At least I am happy. I get in the upper 40's around town.SteveO

That you were maintaining steady speeds and mostly below 60mph is the key to your impressive fuel economy.

Any time you are dealing with stop & go-type / around town (on & off the throttle) riding OR are cruising above 5000PRMs fuel economy suffers. And the higher the RPMs the worse it gets.

When I was running a 'Darkside' rear tire the final drive ratio was changed and I got much better fuel economy both locally as well as at interstate speeds.

Tim

Tim you are right about the lower speed, but I was very please with the high speed return trip. It was above 70 MPH most of the way.

SteveO

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

When I was running a 'Darkside' rear tire the final drive ratio was changed and I got much better fuel economy

Tim, how much better did you get?

And of course you corrected for the change in the odometer.

Did you start out with an odometer error stock, and did you partly size the rear tire to help correct that?

Did you end up with taller gearing? How much taller?

Thanks
GeoB

George, the tire I was running was a 165/70R-14 Sumitomo. There was a ~5% odometer, while the speedo was spot on. The mpg numbers I calculated took that 5% error into consideration. I can't tell you any exact figures, but given that tire size/ circumference you may be able to calculate the ratio. Using the Sumitomo did lower my cruising RPMs by 500-600 rpm and along with using Dr Pulley sliders (which also lowered those RPMs) there a noticeable difference in average tankful MPGs.

It has been over a year since I removed the Sumitomo (the edge treads were showing too much wear) and i wish I could still get one mounted. No dealer will accept the responsibility of mounting a darkside tire, and the independent guy who mounted the original Sumitomo destroyed two new Sumitomos trying to replace that original one. HTH
Tim

Essentially I wanted a handle on if you went taller or lower.

So- did Dr. Pulley get credit for some of the increased mpg? Was that change made at the same time as the Sumitomo?

How many miles did you rack-up on the Sumitomo?

Do you suppose mounting the Sumitomo is especially difficult? I have mounted other tires, on my Reflex, no good tire tools. Don't really wanna do that again really.

Doesn't really matter right now. My Michelin Pilots should have been here by now. I might feel a faint anger stirring deep in my bosom..  right now, on two different items, two different sources, two different carriers, on-line they indicate my stuff as delivered. But none of it is. I been here ALL the time, others here too. Tires supposed to have been delivered two days ago. Crooked jerks. Similar situations in the past, I have called them, management says, "Problem is on your end, we delivered them". I get that when I pay for over-night delivery too. Welcome to the post-consumer society, now the corporations have the full power of the gummint in their long yellow teeth.

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

Given the 90,000 miles I've put on my SW

What repairs have you needed? Have you replaced the clutch sheaves? How about new brake discs?

90k... maybe I should re-think this entire scooter issue as I have been thinking of selling my 14k 2005 SW model. Rode it yesterday. It is such a NICE machine. I can afford the gas but I would sure like greater range. I have a place in west TX though I live in Fresno CA. After I fuel up and burn up the burn-uppable road I won't have enough fuel to get back to the closest station.

I have just wanted to thin-out my stable. Or I could just keep everything, let my estate worry about it. I like my Reflex a lot too. Took my SW out to Brian's Ranch airport to do some flying. One mile through thick loose decomposed granite sand. I don't choose to do that again. Was worse than my old BMW R50.

Bought a Yamaha TW200 as part of my Grand Plan (3900 miles from an 80+ year-old guy, less than 1/2 the new price). It will go on the back of my RV. Has a small tank. 1.8 gallons I think. I got 140 miles on the last tank but I had only fumes left. Took a ride, was going to loop up through the mtns and get some dirt riding in. Hadda turn back, not enough fuel on-board, so I ordered one of them after-market larger tanks, 2.8 gal.

Also have two (2) Honda Trail 70's, I've had them for close to 30 years. I have grand kids now, I can give them to my gurl. I had figgered I'd put one of them on the back of the RV.. but I find myself imagining being camped at Tahoe with RV and sailboat, then running into town on a Trail 70 for dinner. Can you say "Bug Splat"?

So, I got tired of paying bills and worrying about money hassles... so I hired this guy, told him I'd pay him $100,000/year but he needed to take on all these worries. So, after a few months and he has looked over my fortune he asks, "Uh.. where do I get my $100,000 from?

Natchurley I said "That's your worry".

Thubbadubba wrote:

What repairs have you needed? Have you replaced the clutch sheaves? How about new brake discs?

George

I created a new topic to answer some of your questions

Tim