How accurate is the on-board mileage computer?

[GlennC]

I went for a quick ride around town this afternoon, re-set the average mileage when I left, and returned with a reading of 83.0mpg.

I'll eventually check the computer against actual fill-ups over whole tanks, but for now since the bike is new I'm experimenting a bit with re-setting the mpg average for each ride or for various types of rides, mainly out of curiosity. I assume some folks have checked the computer against actual, and I'm wondering what the conventional wisdom is on how accurate the bike's reporting is. Among the cars I've owned, some have been very close, others not. (Those not, always optimistic).

 

[GunNut37086]

I think the instant mpg feature is a fun game to play while riding, but it should come with a disclaimer that says it's just for entertainment purposes.

I use the Fuelly app on my phone to track all my vehicles' fuel mileage. The ones with mileage calculators (F-150, Super Tenere, and NC) are ALL overly optimistic by 5% to 10%.

 

[dreamer]

Mine is very accurate, actually almost spot on, down to 10ths of a litre. I kid you not, I always fill up to filling neck and record my mileage for several reasons, so accuracy is important. I found that the computer is almost perfectly accurate or it rounds up to the closest 10th of a litre, so the actual calculated mileage is always a hair better. I have never seen such computer accuracy on any car or motorbike I owned.

 

[ste7ios]

There can be an error tolerance of about +/- 10%

Speedometer - Wikipedia

 

[77GL]

My 2012 doesn't have an instant indicator but I"ve kept track of every fill and my lifetime average in 7000 miles is 84 mpg. ( I never, ever use ethanol in any vehicle )

 

[booblinker]

Per my fuelly app I usually get about 1.5-2.5 MPG better than indicated.

 

[SilverRocket]

I'm still trying to figure out mine. Does the mpg reset automatically after each fill up?
Is there no way to keep a running average, like I do in my car?

 

[booblinker]

I'm still trying to figure out mine. Does the mpg reset automatically after each fill up?
Is there no way to keep a running average, like I do in my car?

It resets when you reset your trip meter, at least trip A, that the one I reset every fill up. and it resets average.

 

[GlennC]

I did notice that my A tripmeter reset when I filled up recently. However it also seemed to reset one time before that, for some unknown reason. I took the bike home from the dealer with 1.3 miles on both A and B and then, with no intervention on my part, trip A suddenly read much lower than trip B.

For SilverRocket, I don't think the average mpg readout resets unless you do it manually, so you could keep it as a lifetime average over the lifetime of the bike if you never do that. But then you'd never be able to reset for a single tank, ride, day etc. The best way to keep a running average is to use some kind of app (I use Road Trip), which turns out to be much easier than keeping track on paper as in the old days.

 

[dreamer]

It's a matter of settings, I recommend to check the manual. You can turn on/off resetting of trip A. If it is on, then trip A resets every time you fill up after running on reserve.

 

[dduelin]

It's a matter of settings, I recommend to check the manual. You can turn on/off resetting of trip A. If it is on, then trip A resets every time you fill up after running on reserve.

I'll have to check the manual tonight but what resets on mine after resetting A is gallons burned. Trip odometer A never resets without a button push. Some bikes (2013-2014 ????) had defective instrument pods that randomly reset trip odometers.

 

[sumo]

It's a matter of settings, I recommend to check the manual. You can turn on/off resetting of trip A. If it is on, then trip A resets every time you fill up after running on reserve.

This is true for 2016 and newer, 2015 and earlier do not have this feature.

 

[DirtFlier]

Why do you even care? Both of my bikes have a fuel economy display and I never use that function. The only way to know for sure is the calculate MPG by figuring gallons to fill-up after riding xxx-miles. Any other method is just wishful thinking!

 

[GlennC]

This is true for 2016 and newer, 2015 and earlier do not have this feature.

That's interesting as mine is a 2015. Hope I don't have a faulty cluster. Will monitor. Appreciate the post.

 

[GlennC]

Why do you even care?

OCD? I dunno, just like having the information, and the information is only as good as it is accurate. To each his own?

 

[DirtFlier]

What I found was that you could be on trailing throttle going down a long grade and the gas mileage display would zoom up to some unrealistic number. When I filled the tank and calculated the real world mileage (not just for going down one hill!), it was a far more realistic number.

If I were you, I wouldn't postpone my gas stops going by what I saw on the gas mileage display.