Got my 07 new in 2010, only have 11000 miles, just put new Michelin Commander II's on it. I have never gotten below 43 mpg. Most of the time near 50 mpg. I put an ounce or two of Marvel's in every other tank or so, and every now and then, hit the rev limiter. Love it, but definitely vibrates a hell-of-a-lot more than my co-workers harley that I have had the pleasure to drive. (but they just seem small) smooth though.

Don't ask me how I know this but.... at 1 time I would pull into a gas station.... sittin on the bike while holding it up right... and fill up the tank. The next time I pulled into the gas station I put it on the kickstand... it took a lot more gas this time... are you getting the picture I could not figure out how my bike went from 43 mpg to 29 mpg overnight! Bugged the hell out of me for a week... until I did it again and realized what I was doing.
This doesn't have to be just for GP either. Just a DUH moment to remember If it happens to somebody else.
On the bright side, If you're getting real crappy mileage... Fuel it up while it's on the kickstand, And then the next time Fill it while its standing straight up...Hell, you'll get 73 mpg!

greyphart wrote:
First tank was on them. 2nd one I put in $10 @ $3.77 / gal. Put a cap of SeaFoam in as it was 10% ethanol. Longest trip of 30 miles @ 55 avg speed. Mostly around town driving. Stand on it sometimes when encountering stupidity. Roughly 8 gallons so far on 182 miles. Not good. Probably missing the obvious.

GP
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Just a thought,you said you avg 55mph,were you cusing in 4th or 5th grear when crusing at 55mph for 30 miles?

If your in 5th at 55mph with stock pulley thats lugging the motor which will reduce fuel mileage.

Also,30 mile runs arent the best way to get max mpg by any means,you need to fill it up and hit the road and run 1 tank in mixed city & open road riding.

Then run a 2nd full tank of fuel on the open raod/interstate only crusing conservatively at 65-70mph max going easy on throttle when taking off etc durring the fuel mileage testing.

Then you will have much better idea of what mileage your bikes really getting because 30 mile runs doesnt cut when it comes to checking fuel mileage.

So before going nuts retuning the carb do that 2 tank/mixed & then open road riding test when you get a chance to do so, then report back what mpg you got on each of the tanks of fuel.

Then if its still below par then who evers helping you has good mpg data to start with so when you open carb and see what current setup is they will have very good info to give much better tuning suggestions other then my fuel mileage sucked on a 30 mile run which isn't very usefull IMHO.

BTW,for another example of fuel mileage a R* gets I have an 06 silverado with pipes & stock aifilter & housing that required a slight tweak richer to fix a mild lean at steady 2k-2,200rpm cruise speed and it gets 37-38 in mixed driving and 40.5-41mpg or so on interstate rdiding in hills/mountains in NY state.

1 time i got 44mpg when i was riding only 1 up with bags half empty & wind screen in lower postion.

Along with the slight carb tweak my bike is on the heavier side because it not only has factory bags that are usually fully loaded but also have a lrg set of aftermarket bags on the rear luggage rack the the wife generally keeps loaded too adding more wt & wind resistance along with mostly riding 2 up,31T pulley for a little umph but little more rpm @ cruise speed,tall windscreen in upper position for better wind protection but more widresistance too collectively reducing fuel mileage some.

So with the 37-38mpg in mixed riding and 40.5-41mpg or so on interstate riding that my bike gets in that configuration & riding cond i feel is on par in upper end of avg fuel mileage for a decently tuned R*.

And my mileage results is with rding very conservative and going very easy on throttle taking off/going thru the gears getting up to cruise speed . When i did more mpg testing i took off harder/faster like most people do which reduced my fuel mileage by approx 2.5-3mpg on avg.

Hope that gives you some more of an idea on what realistic fuel mileage is for a R* & not the 48-50mpg you see once in a while thats done under almost perfect riding cond with maybe lighter bike with no bags riding 1 up,maybe no windscreen & little to no hills or mountains thats cond many riders dont have or ride in that result in increased mpg.

I feel shooting for 48-50mpg 1 in 10 R* owners gets as posted here in RSC isn't a relistic goal for your avg rider esp with such variation in riding style,carb setup,accessories on bike,geographical area bikes ridden in (hills/mountains vs mostly flat roads.), type road surface,etc.

Good luck.

Scott

Blackroadie wrote:
Don't ask me how I know this but.... at 1 time I would pull into a gas station.... sittin on the bike while holding it up right... and fill up the tank. The next time I pulled into the gas station I put it on the kickstand... it took a lot more gas this time... are you getting the picture I could not figure out how my bike went from 43 mpg to 29 mpg overnight! Bugged the hell out of me for a week... until I did it again and realized what I was doing.
This doesn't have to be just for GP either. Just a DUH moment to remember If it happens to somebody else.
On the bright side, If you're getting real crappy mileage... Fuel it up while it's on the kickstand, And then the next time Fill it while its standing straight up...Hell, you'll get 73 mpg!
================

AAHH,GOOD POINT!!!

Gotta be very consistant on how ya filler up each time when doing mpg test too,if possible you should use same gas station & pump each time you filler up too.

Scott

I'm thinking the same thing. I was getting absolutely horrible fuel consumption on my trip to Cleveland... 160kms to a tank (20L) roughly 8-8.5 km/L. Bearing this is mind, the bike was pulling my heavy 350lbs frame around. Since we were hauling @ss to make it there before the Indians game, we were hammering it between 110-130kph.... Excess throttle and weight may have contributed to the horrible gas mileage... The other guys were on vstar 1100's but it's a big difference. I'll try riding around the city and under more reasonable circumstances and see how she does.

No popping so that does eliminate any air leaks. Guess me and the gas stations are gonna be frequent rider pals for a while. Like having a Sporty peanut tank on.

GP

Now when u guys say poppin. What exactly do u mean by that. Also if no poppin than that automatically rules out a possible air leak

Gonna pull the tank this weekend and check the plugs. Also thinking about swapping out the electric fuel pump for the vacuum one.

GP

save your money on the fuel pump and check the carby and air cleaner,rember the Keep It Simple rule and for $20 or less you can throw the fuel pump away and replace the needle and seat,have fun

Cody wrote:
Now when u guys say poppin. What exactly do u mean by that. Also if no poppin than that automatically rules out a possible air leakusually if u have an air leak at the manifold (which I have had)..will cause popping and sometimes backfires out of the exhaust when you release the throttle. It also wont run or idle well when it gets to bad.
Ive had an air leak at the manifold and later, I had one at the header / muffler connection...both popped at decel.