Hey all I'm new to the forum and to the biker community and I got a problem I need some insight on. A couple weeks ago I bought a 2007 Sportster 1200 Roadster with 2800 miles on it. I now have about 3100 miles on it and have ran it thru 3 or 4 tanks of fuel already. I can't seem to get any better than 36mpg and I ride this bike pretty easily since I'm new to riding period. I dont hot rod it anywhere I just use it to commute back and forth to work. I travel about 20 miles round trip to work and it's mainly highway at about 65-70 miles per hour. The dealer put a fresh oil change and new air filter on it when they received the bike on a trade in and other than that its stock. I thought about throwing a set of plugs on it but according to my OM it's not ready for plugs yet and I don't see how the plugs can ruin my gas milage that badly if the bike is running fine. Any insight or tips on the problem would be great. Thanks in advance!
07 Sporty Poor mileage
- Thread starter pnags05
- Start date
marcus22
Junior Member
look into anything that might make the motor work harder. make sure you have a clean air filter. jack up the bike or just push it in neutral to see if brakes or barrings are working well with no drag. look into if the chains and belts are properly adjusted. if all seems well you might want to look into the fuel injection system making sure it is mapped right. hope this helps and gook luck!
BUBBIE
Well-Known Member
Your 07 being a ROADSTER is NOT considered stock. Maybe a stock Roadster BUT.........
HD made the 1200 roadster's with SE cams, SE Heads, higher compression pistons... MY 1200 Roadster (06 carbed) Is the same as yours but yours is fuel-injected (all 07 bikes came FI).
I put on a arlen-ness big sucker air and python3 exhaust. I get 48 least and 50 best on mileage. Before the air and exhaust changes, I got 52/54 per gallon.
Something IS not correct with the LOW fuel mileage you are getting.
You should Not be Lower than 45/49 mpg anyways you look at it.
Can't help you other then saying They ALL DON"T do that.
signed....BUBBIE
HD made the 1200 roadster's with SE cams, SE Heads, higher compression pistons... MY 1200 Roadster (06 carbed) Is the same as yours but yours is fuel-injected (all 07 bikes came FI).
I put on a arlen-ness big sucker air and python3 exhaust. I get 48 least and 50 best on mileage. Before the air and exhaust changes, I got 52/54 per gallon.
Something IS not correct with the LOW fuel mileage you are getting.
You should Not be Lower than 45/49 mpg anyways you look at it.
Can't help you other then saying They ALL DON"T do that.
signed....BUBBIE
Not sure on the entire history of the bike other then it was a recent trade in. The guy bought it brand new in 07 and hardly ever rode it. It had 2800 miles on it when i bought it. I think i'm at 3100 now. I just thought of something I forgot to mention earlier. The first tank I went thru was hard miles since I just had a new bike I went riding with my big twin buddies and rode it pretty hard. I expected 36mpg out of that tank. The very NEXT night I drilled the baffles out of my stock mufflers so here's my thinking on it right now: First tank wasn't an accurate check since it was ridden hard. Now that I drilled the baffles out I lost my throttle response and some low end torque. Would drilling out the baffles cause a 10mpg decrease in my fuel economy? If so I need to get some new slip-ons on her asap because this isn't working lol. Fuel economy was how I pitched getting this bike to my wife because we were both assuming I could run all week on 10 bucks of gas. Now mama's not happy lol
BUBBIE
Well-Known Member
********************************
Ice has a GOOD question.
Here it is: WHEN you REMOVE back-pressure you LEAN OUT the motor.. Removing the baffles (drilling out) IS Not the best nor do they sound good. Put on a set of V&H slip-ons or SE ones and be done there.
You are way rich,,, you must Not be reading what I'm saying to you.
I KNOW this bike and IF you are running in the 30's, IT is not running the way the bike is designed...
It isn't going to get MUCH better by drilling OR aftermarket exhaust.
(yes that probably Did lean it some)
There is something WRONG with that amount of fuel going into the bike or a LEAK in the fuel system and or FI system tampered with at one time...
IF pipes are not black/sooty and if the plugs are Not Black and sooty,,,,,,, IT must be leaking out.
Now you can play with it all day and IF you don't Look for the problem of WHERE the gas is going,,, a Big waste of your time to say nothing about mine.
I run my sport HARD and get 45 at the LEAST... Yes mine is carbed and yours is FI... The FI should get Better than my Jetted up carb.
These bikes run at 3000 RPM and IF you are running it UNDER at 22 or so IT is being Lugged. I keep my tach on 25 to 3000 and it doesn't burn too much fuel.
remember,
sooty BLACK exhaust/spark plugs means the fuel is going Thru the motor.... Clean exhaust and WHITE plugs means????maybe a LEAK in the fuel system like I suggested.
signed....BUBBIE
OK I gave the bike a good looking over this morning and found no leaks. Looked under the tank all around the injectors around the air cleaner and nothing. Everything looks brand new. Pipes are not black or sooty. Pulled the plugs and they look normal. Not black, oily or ashey but they are not white ashy either. I mean these plugs only have 3k miles on them so they look practically brand new. I put some fuel injector cleaner in last night and I'll run it this week and see if that helps. I called my service dept this morning and they said that the bike is fine it probably just needs to "break in" before I see any decent mileage. I would have thought that 3000 miles was "broke in". :wall
Hoople
Account Removed
If you purchased a Harley in order to save money, you made a bad decision.
LOL well a Metric simply wasn't an option. My buddy has a Shadow 600 and constantly brags about his 49 mpg's since he heard me complaining about the economy on mine. I still give him a friendly reminder that good mpg's or bad I still ride a REAL bike! LOL!