Nonscientific in town MPG comparison
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Road Captain
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 537
Likes: 3
From: Dothan, AL
Nonscientific in town MPG comparison
So I have had this 96" 6 speed for 5 year now and occasionally wonder what the MPG is with the 95% in town driving I do. I know that there have been several threads about it but I thought it would be neat to compare my regular mildly aggressive style of riding and a "grandpa" just putt around and see what the difference in the MPG would be. Topped off the tank and drove normally for me and ran it down to about 10 miles left showing on the reserve. The next tank I filled back up to the bottom of the neck and ran it down to about 21 miles showing on the reserve display.
Riding like I normally would I used 3.885 gal. to go 115.8 miles which comes out to 29.80695 MPG.
Riding like an absolute grandpa around town with no highway miles at all as before I used 3.638 gal. to go 118.1 which came out to 32.46289 MPG.
this is doing my normal daily start up, short warm up while helmet is donned and then making my normal daily trips about town for work, the store etc.
It appears that I did get nearly 3 mpg more riding extremely carefully and only cracking the throttle the least amount needed to ride, but the boredom factor was not worth the 10 miles per tank savings.
Now before any flaming starts this is a completely stock bike, with same gas station used but that is as scientific as I am going to get on this crap and I will probably not figure it up again unless there is an absolute need to.
Riding like I normally would I used 3.885 gal. to go 115.8 miles which comes out to 29.80695 MPG.
Riding like an absolute grandpa around town with no highway miles at all as before I used 3.638 gal. to go 118.1 which came out to 32.46289 MPG.
this is doing my normal daily start up, short warm up while helmet is donned and then making my normal daily trips about town for work, the store etc.
It appears that I did get nearly 3 mpg more riding extremely carefully and only cracking the throttle the least amount needed to ride, but the boredom factor was not worth the 10 miles per tank savings.
Now before any flaming starts this is a completely stock bike, with same gas station used but that is as scientific as I am going to get on this crap and I will probably not figure it up again unless there is an absolute need to.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 100,455
Likes: 19,811
From: Centennial, CO
Seems like I ride like you do, mildly aggressive most of the time. I get around 40MPG when riding "normal" for me. If I baby it, I've gotten 45MPG. And just for giggles, I get 49MPG on the hwy, 70-80 MPH passing everything in sight. You can see my set-up in my sig.
Road Master
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 900
Likes: 1
From: Denver, CO
I generally get between 30 & 35 so you're right in there with me. Mine's the 103 but doesn't look like that makes a lot of difference. I'm pretty much highway speeds most of the way to work with not a lot of weekly around town riding tho. As scientific as I've gotten is to know that I can get back and forth to work 3 times before I need a fill. Usually have a gallon left, but gas is cheaper where I live so don't try to stretch it out and make it in to work on that 4th day otherwise I'm filling up there at .15cents more/gal.
Yeah...I know, saved a whopping .90 cents. Oh well, it's the principle!
Yeah...I know, saved a whopping .90 cents. Oh well, it's the principle!
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 987
Likes: 1
From: Maryland
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 56,052
Likes: 88,847
From: Western South Dakota
39 on last fill-up cruising 80-85, but that's high.
Prior to that around town it was 36/37.
Prior to that around town it was 36/37.
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Elite HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,906
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From: SE Louisiana
On my recent ride to Sturgis I made a point of checking mileage on (just about) every tankful. I always filled with the highest octane available, which in the Black Hills region was often 89 or 87 (my '07 FLSTN always ran fine on any of it). Riding up from Baton Rouge was a lot of 70-80 mph. Through the week at the rally, mostly under 70 mph, often way under. Riding home I took a more leisurely route, mostly under 70 mph. I was a bit surprised to see that gas mileage per tank (rounded to nearest whole number) varied from 40 to 52.
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,778
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From: Badlands of ND
On my recent ride to Sturgis I made a point of checking mileage on (just about) every tankful. I always filled with the highest octane available, which in the Black Hills region was often 89 or 87 (my '07 FLSTN always ran fine on any of it). Riding up from Baton Rouge was a lot of 70-80 mph. Through the week at the rally, mostly under 70 mph, often way under. Riding home I took a more leisurely route, mostly under 70 mph. I was a bit surprised to see that gas mileage per tank (rounded to nearest whole number) varied from 40 to 52.