WTF mileage???
WTF mileage???
I've got a '79 Shovelhead 80" and my (new to me) '92 Electra Glide Sport 80". On a bad day I've never gotten bellow 45 miles per gallon. I've watched my BFAM slowly move up over the years from a 1200 Sportster, to 80" Shovelhead (the one I have now), to 88" Softail he turned into a Woods 95" high compression beast. Now he's on a 103" Road King with a mild stage 2 cam. Through all this I have watched his mileage slowly go down to 40 mpg (average) with his 103 Road King.
Bikes I've had in the past are '74 IT 175 (2-stroke), '69 Honda CL350, '86 Honda 700 Nighthawk, '05 V-Star 1100, '79 FXEF Shovel and now my '92 Electra Glide Sport. The reason I'm bringing all this up is I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around people saying they are getting 30, 33, 35 miles per gallon from a 80" or 88" Harley. What gives? Am I living in some alternate universe or something???
P.S. . . . 95% of my riding is at, or close to, sea level.
Bikes I've had in the past are '74 IT 175 (2-stroke), '69 Honda CL350, '86 Honda 700 Nighthawk, '05 V-Star 1100, '79 FXEF Shovel and now my '92 Electra Glide Sport. The reason I'm bringing all this up is I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around people saying they are getting 30, 33, 35 miles per gallon from a 80" or 88" Harley. What gives? Am I living in some alternate universe or something???
P.S. . . . 95% of my riding is at, or close to, sea level.
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2019
Posts: 409
Likes: 103
From: Roanoke, VA
Yep as above but to be sure make certain that the cylinder heads are tight! The bike might run but get lousy mileage and won't show backfiring until it's plum wiggling loose. Learned that by accident! And turns out my 89 was a year where pullouts were not unknown.
Tourer
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 469
Likes: 158
From: Alberta
Gas mileage is a variable. So many things enter into the picture, speed, aggressive riding, elevation, state of tune of the bike, level of fuel in tank at fill up and so on. Each of our numbers are going to vary a bit and you have to compare bike to bike with the same bits and in the same or similar location with respect to elevation to get even close to an accurate gas mileage number. I know on my bike, stock, and living at around 3000 feet and all of my riding is around that elevation of higher up to about 4500 feet. My average will be between 45-50 MPG, based on the Canadian gallon. Not sure what that would be in US gallons. I'm old fashioned and never really caught onto the metric way of figuring out mileage.
Even with all the variables, my brain says that to get 30-33 mpg with an 80" Evo i would need to:
1) run very crappy gas
2) run my motor very rich
3) keep the rpms above 3,000 ALL THE TIME and . . .
4) make sure my float valve never closes so I'm dumping gas out the overflow as I'm riding down the road.
If your getting 33 mpg with an 80" motor while the guy next to you is getting 40 mpg from a 103" motor wouldn't that grab your attention and tell you something is wrong?
1) run very crappy gas
2) run my motor very rich
3) keep the rpms above 3,000 ALL THE TIME and . . .
4) make sure my float valve never closes so I'm dumping gas out the overflow as I'm riding down the road.
If your getting 33 mpg with an 80" motor while the guy next to you is getting 40 mpg from a 103" motor wouldn't that grab your attention and tell you something is wrong?
HDF Community Team
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,434
Likes: 800
From: Colorado
Fuel is cooling on an air cooled twin motor, and the Evo motor has more torque when it's run on the richer side as well.
So yes, you can leave it run on the HD tuned leaner side to get MPG, but it will be more happy/burn up less with less MPG run on the richer side instead.
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Road Master
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 1,153
Likes: 1,283
From: Texas Hill Country
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 21,032
Likes: 12,557
From: South Carolina
An Evo getting low 30`s is in need of help.
My `89 Softail dropped that low last summer, I discovered the start enrichener was not seating properly.
I rebuilt the carb and now it is at 52 MPG (EV 27 cam Keihin CV 40 carb).
My `89 Softail dropped that low last summer, I discovered the start enrichener was not seating properly.
I rebuilt the carb and now it is at 52 MPG (EV 27 cam Keihin CV 40 carb).
Rode about 300+ miles this past weekend. Rode it harder than I normally do, trying to keep up with my friend on his 103 Road King. 50% of the ride was around 70-80 mph. At 80 mph my bike is sitting at 3800 rpm's if my tach is accurate. When I gassed up the math told me 44.2 mpg.
Dan89FLSTC mentioned an enrichener not seating properly. This weekend I discovered the zip ties that hold the (broken plastic) 'Choke' *** to the bracket is preventing it from closing all the way. Going to need to replace it with a better one. The Mikuni one I found online is metal where the OEM one is plastic.
Dan89FLSTC mentioned an enrichener not seating properly. This weekend I discovered the zip ties that hold the (broken plastic) 'Choke' *** to the bracket is preventing it from closing all the way. Going to need to replace it with a better one. The Mikuni one I found online is metal where the OEM one is plastic.