Average Fuel Economy

[2Green2Gs]

I've normally been getting anywhere between 72-78 MPG (US) per tank, depending on if my hubby takes the NCX out for a spirited romp.

This past weekend, some friends and I took a trip down to OCMD for bike week, a bit over 200 miles each way.
We rode a mix of back roads and highway, with most of the speeds in the 50-70mph range, except for the end when we got caught up in some traffic. It was smooth sailing on the way down, but there was much more traffic and pretty bad winds on the way home.
My sportbike friends (with much larger tanks) had to stop and fill up midway both directions, but the NCX just kept trucking, with just one fill up before we headed back home. My average was 84.2 MPG (US) on the way down and 80.4 MPG on the way home. Woot!

 

[tweak89]

Wow, what kind of riding are you folks doing that you get into the 70's-80's?? I'm finding that somewhat hard to believe. I'm on my third tank (my second with the Leo Vince can on) and average 63mpg. Of course, my average speed is somewhere around 70-75mph most of that time.

 

[Cyclerosis]

This last tank achieved 70.3 mpg. I used a less aggressive throttle this tank and have been trying to make a habit of shifting up at a lower speed. Was thinking back to when I first got the bike and tried to be easy on it during the break in period. And the result was a positive one.

 

[cyrano138]

@ Tweak:

I just picked up my NC yesterday so I can't speak for motorcycles, but if cars can be considered analogous in any way, your experience isn't too surprising. In my Honda Fit at 65 mph on the highway I get 40-41 mpg. But if I bump up my speed just 5 mph that mileage drops to 38, and if I go up to 75 it drops to the mid-thirties. At 80 mph I get low thirties. All of this is according to the car's mileage indicator, but I can corroborate more or less because I keep track of all my fill ups. Anyway, the increase of fifteen miles per hour corresponds to a massive drop in fuel economy in my car, almost 25% in fact.

All of this comes from the fact that resistance to an object moving through a medium isn't constant--the faster you go, the harder it is to go. That gets complicated by the physics of geared engines, but I think it applies in a pretty simple way to speeds at the top end of our top gear. Maybe someone can correct me if I've misunderstood anything.

Hope that helps.

Jack

 

[mike5100]

I think you are right Jack. The annoying thing is that at what I would call normal highway speeds (70-80mph) my NC700X is returning about 67mpg and my pals are getting 60mpg (one on a Tiger 800 the other on a kawasaki GTR1400 no less). Admittedly it's possible that at 60mph I might get 75-80mpg whereas they don't seem to get any better mpg, the quoted huge advantage of the NC isn't there for me at normal speeds.
Mike (UK mpg by the way)

 

[N97972]

One of my big surprises (and it shouldn't be) is that the number of cold starts on a tank dramaticly effects the mpg by 5 - 8 mpg

 

[Dave D]

A recent 150 mile trip on the UK's motorways returned 84mpg, and I'm averaging 74mpg on my daily commute of 46 miles.

I don't know how that computes with US gallons.

 

[L.B.S.]

I think you are right Jack. The annoying thing is that at what I would call normal highway speeds (70-80mph) my NC700X is returning about 67mpg and my pals are getting 60mpg (one on a Tiger 800 the other on a kawasaki GTR1400 no less). Admittedly it's possible that at 60mph I might get 75-80mpg whereas they don't seem to get any better mpg, the quoted huge advantage of the NC isn't there for me at normal speeds.
Mike (UK mpg by the way)

Ya, exactly what Jack says, for me too.

With my 2009 BMW F800ST, fully loaded with camping gear, saddlegags in the expanded position, and extra weight of spare fuel cans etc., I can easily get 70 US mpg on the highway.

But! There's a caveat to that. I cannot go over 100 kph in order to get that kind of mpg. If I go so much as 5 or 10 kph over, my mileage plummets like a rock, and I see mid to low 50's. Any little bursts up to naughtier speeds, and now I'm looking at mid to low 40's.

Ultra gentle city riding gets me mid 30's. Slightly more aggressive but completely non-banzaii riding, and I see low 30's verging on dipping into the 20's now!

If I rode my 800 the way I do my CBR, I'm convinced I could easily get below 20 US mpg!!

So that's an incredible drop, from 70 mpg to below 20. Due to my very low lows, I only average out at less than 45 mpg.

 

[cyrano138]

...the quoted huge advantage of the NC isn't there for me at normal speeds.
Mike (UK mpg by the way)

That's a definitely a disappointment, but you are getting some advantage, even if it's not a huge one, and you have to consider the advantage is fuel economy relative to price. You paid significantly less than those guys for their bikes, I suspect. I would say, too, and this is just my opinion so take it with a grain of salt, that this could be an opportunity to reevaluate what you'd consider normal highway speeds. Again, speaking as a car driver because I haven't ridden a motorcycle enough to say yet, that I used to think of 80 as a normal safe speed, but now keep my interstate travel between 65 and 70, even when everyone else is doing 80 or more.

 

[Dave D]

Worked out that 74 mpg (UK Gallons) = 62 mpg (US Gallons)

 

[dduelin]

I would question the math of the fellows reporting 60 mpg at 70-80 mph on GTR1400s and Tiger 800s. People that report fuel mileage on recording sites average far less on both bikes.

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

I would question the math of the fellows reporting 60 mpg at 70-80 mph on GTR1400s and Tiger 800s. People that report fuel mileage on recording sites average far less on both bikes.

I would call BS on that also.

 

[mike5100]

yeah - well the gtr 1400 was actually 58mpg and it was the bike's computer that was calculating that so you are probably right (maybe 10% optimistic so more like 53mpg I guess)
Mike

 

[Cyclerosis]

I would question the math of the fellows reporting 60 mpg at 70-80 mph on GTR1400s and Tiger 800s. People that report fuel mileage on recording sites average far less on both bikes.

Originally Posted by dduelin
I would question the math of the fellows reporting 60 mpg at 70-80 mph on GTR1400s and Tiger 800s. People that report fuel mileage on recording sites average far less on both bikes.
I would call BS on that also.

Of course they're talking about UK gallons....

 

[Vescol]

Agreed. At that speed on my Suzuki GSF1250SA i get aboubt 15-16 km/L, approx 37 US MPG

EDIT - This was a reply to dduelin latest post

 

[Redtrk]

I'm getting around 70 mpg.

 

[Loomis]

My best is cruising 65mpg I got 73.5mpg. It's very hard to go that slow on the So Cal freeway circuit. Especially now with the new suspension. 70mph seems like a crawl. No matter how hard I push it, I can't seem to get worse than 57. Even 2 up.

 

[gkgeiger]

Ist full tank I got 66.8mpg.

 

[Whiteyez]

My best is 3.6L/100km, we have the worst fuel quality in the whole world, thats for sure, to much adulteration.

 

[daveyharr]

I average 67.5 mpg going 75 to 80 mph on I-40 to work. 44 miles one way. Bought my nc700x second weekend in August now have 7,000 miles on it. The money I save in gas makes the mounthy payments.