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Fuel economy

HarleyHarry

HarleyHarry

Banned
Hi Guys & Girls

Having asked the question about which fuel the other is about how much of the stuff.
Touching this subject last week when I picked up the new Ultra I was told by the sales manager that some people would ride the bike so hard that they hardly got 200 miles out of a tank where they should be able to do 250 miles.
I'm not a racer at all and I can only do 170 miles 37mls/us-gallon if I'm extra carefull.
The question to you all is this one: Am I expecting to much, does a new bike run more un-economical for the first while, is there something not right or was the sales guy doing what a lot of them do.........being creative with the truth?
Thanks for your input.
 
Hey there HarleyHarry. I believe the best way to answer your question is to first ask - is your ride new or used? If new then it all comes down to the break-in period. Ride it rough during this period and your gas consumption/mpg suffers permanently. Ease into the first 500 miles and follow the break-in procedures as outlined in the owners manual and you'll have good mpg. I never 'goosed' it during the break-in period. I had V&H Bigshot Longs installed along with a SE Stage 1 air filter kit and a SE Racing Tuner at the time of purchase. I have a little over 1200 miles on it today and I am getting a little over 41 mpg and most of those miles are with my wife aboard. Hope this helps. Bruce
 
If I'm riding to and from work, or around town 25-30 mpg; Freeway rides 50-55 mpg. Mileage will vary also till the engine is broken in, (800 miles today for me) till the well baby check-up and tune. I like to HOT ROD too much so I'm not surprised with my poor mileage. I use only HIGH Octane fuel 92 or over.:Banane10:
 
leapfreak said:
Hey there HarleyHarry. I believe the best way to answer your question is to first ask - is your ride new or used? If new then it all comes down to the break-in period. Ride it rough during this period and your gas consumption/mpg suffers permanently. Ease into the first 500 miles and follow the break-in procedures as outlined in the owners manual and you'll have good mpg. I never 'goosed' it during the break-in period. I had V&H Bigshot Longs installed along with a SE Stage 1 air filter kit and a SE Racing Tuner at the time of purchase. I have a little over 1200 miles on it today and I am getting a little over 41 mpg and most of those miles are with my wife aboard. Hope this helps. Bruce
Click to expand...

Hi Bruce
It has done just over 300 miles so I might have to put it down to not being broken in. Looks like if I mistreat the bike now it will mistreat me back for the rest of it's life. I best be careful.
Thanks for the advise.
 
Both my 06 Superglides get what i concider great milage.
the BBB with a 103ci motor Branch Heads and Flow matched injectors ( along with over $4000 of other goddies) gets 40mpg on long trips, the 111hp 95ci motored one gets 45mpg on trips. and both motors have over 10,000 miles on them. and are babied in no way. so they ARE broken in!
a TC96 in a E Glide or other full faring bike from my experance suck fule
a intake/airfilter, pipes, SERT and a proper tune will get you over 40mpg.
 
I have a 1987 FLHTC that I bought used in 1993. i got around 37 miles to the gallon then. I get around 30 MPG now. Since I got the bike I put on Super Trap mufflers ,MC power arc ignition, Sifton 143 Cam, S&S steel pushrods, a K&N air filter and a Keihn 40mm constant velocity Carb with a #49 low jet and a 180 jet.A crane single fire coil, When I got the bike it Dyno'd at 60 horses after all the Mods it Dyno'd at 78 horses. I did all of this because I had a 1984 FLHt that I sold to a friend to get the 87. Any time we did a roll on he walked away from me like I was standing still so I just kept changing things till I could slightly edge him out. I am not a speed demon but when I need to hit the gas hard for whatever reason I want the bike to respond quickly. Over the years I have noticed on my 4 wheel vehicle's that every time the Carb here in Ca. reformulates the gas formula I get lower MPG on all my vehicles. This year I celebrate 40 years of riding bikes my first was a 1951 Harley Duo glide. My last is more than likely the one I am riding now. I do not ride as much as I used to making it extremly difficult to justify a new bike. Besides i do not want one of the new Harleys with fuel injection and smog and whatever else they did to them. I would only have to do what I did to my present ride all over again. Course it would be kind of nice to have one of those new engines that does not seep oil out of the valve cover. This bike only has 50,000 miles on it so it should be good till I can no longer hold it up. I am already at the stage where I can not pick it up by myself if I have to. Used to replace tires on pre belt drives by laying the bike on its side on a blanket and put the front wheel on the back then a new tire on the back wheel and put it on the front. Then pick it back up. Those days are long gone. I almost feel like a 98 lb weakling coarse it may have something to do with fastly approaching 70.
Ron Meloche
 
Hot rodding it around (mixed surface roads and highway) last tank I got 38mph with my 2007 Road King, half that time with a passenger.
 
08 Street Glide with 5100 miles, I am consistently getting about 40-42 mpg on my commuting and highway riding. Most is 70 mph with about half into some good headwinds, using cruise control, and about 1/3 of the commute in heavy stop & go traffic. My last fillup showed 41.8. When I first got it, I was getting 38-40. Mileage seems to be getting better the more I break it in. Also, for some reason the mileage varies depending on how my right hand & wrist feel.
 
Hi, I have 2002 FXD mpg waries between 39-62 depending city or highway and speed. Bike has app. 13500 miles. V&H Big Shots, Ness Big Sucker stage 1.
 
10400 miles on my 103 cid, V&H Long Shots, SE air filter. Just filled up and got 41.64 mph without all the hot rodding from the previous post. Wanted to see what I would get with average mixed riding. Wife as passenger sometimes, sometimes just me. Highway speeds around 75 this tank full, lots of city driving too. I am happy with power and mileage now.

Tire and clutch and I am off to Sturgis.:57:
 
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