Computer MPG vs Actual MPG

[YammerHammer]

I ride an 08A; have put approximately 5700 miles on the bike and computer vs actual has been with .2 of a mile on every fill up. The reserve indicator comes around 200 -220 miles and will always take 4.8 gallons to fill if gased immediately. I have put on over 60 miles on reserve and still had .7 gallons remaining in the tank. Very impressed with mileage and accuracy of on-board computer. DD

 

[KillerMedic]

07AE with 2605 on the clock, filled up this morning. Commute to work is 16.5 miles, 12 on highway, altitude from 300-550', temp ~73 am 85-95 pm, 65-80mph on hwy, 25-45mph off. I am 6'3", 255lbs, stock screen, sidebags on, ~30lbs gear and luggage. I let the bike warm up to 1-2 bars temp before riding (time it takes to don earplugs, helmet, gloves and backpack.)

GPS top speed at 121. I had a few "spirited" miles on this tank. 243.9 miles on tripmeter, 237.6 on the GPS, 18.5 miles on reserve clock, took 5.578 gallons (centered.) The computer said 44.2mpg, calculated on GPS was 42.6mpg.

This seems to be the norm for me and has improved about 1.5 mpg from 0 miles on the clock. I did avg better on my only long trip (over 350 each way) to Florida for 4th of July, about 43.5-44.5 depending on speed (70-80 when I could, some 35 in small towns.) So far I have been :clapping: with my results.

Medic...out!

 

[lacofdfireman]

07AE with 2605 on the clock, filled up this morning. Commute to work is 16.5 miles, 12 on highway, altitude from 300-550', temp ~73 am 85-95 pm, 65-80mph on hwy, 25-45mph off. I am 6'3", 255lbs, stock screen, sidebags on, ~30lbs gear and luggage. I let the bike warm up to 1-2 bars temp before riding (time it takes to don earplugs, helmet, gloves and backpack.)
GPS top speed at 121. I had a few "spirited" miles on this tank. 243.9 miles on tripmeter, 237.6 on the GPS, 18.5 miles on reserve clock, took 5.578 gallons (centered.) The computer said 44.2mpg, calculated on GPS was 42.6mpg.

This seems to be the norm for me and has improved about 1.5 mpg from 0 miles on the clock. I did avg better on my only long trip (over 350 each way) to Florida for 4th of July, about 43.5-44.5 depending on speed (70-80 when I could, some 35 in small towns.) So far I have been :clapping: with my results.

Medic...out!

WOW, I don't see where I am going wrong. Either I always pick the wrong Bike, Car, Pickup or something but my mileage is never as good as everyone elses. Only time I have ever seen over 40mpg's and it was only 42.2 or so was when I purposely rode for 2 tanks at below 70mph's. You get 42 and run over 100mph. I just don't get it. I know with my Dodge Dually pulling my fifth wheel trail everyone claims to get 10-11mpg towing. Me, I can only get 7mpg. Oh well I guess you gotta pay to play...

 

[Harald]

WOW, I don't see where I am going wrong. Either I always pick the wrong Bike, Car, Pickup or something but my mileage is never as good as everyone elses. Only time I have ever seen over 40mpg's and it was only 42.2 or so was when I purposely rode for 2 tanks at below 70mph's. You get 42 and run over 100mph. I just don't get it. I know with my Dodge Dually pulling my fifth wheel trail everyone claims to get 10-11mpg towing. Me, I can only get 7mpg. Oh well I guess you gotta pay to play...

I seem to get the same vehicles that you do! :blink:

I have gotten into the low 40's on my bike while babying it. Of course this is babying by my standards and might very well be thrashing it for a guy who gets 50mpg on his bike - it's all relative.

Since putting the PC-III on, I only get mid 30's but am loving my FJR! :devil:

 

[KillerMedic]

WOW, I don't see where I am going wrong. Either I always pick the wrong Bike, Car, Pickup or something but my mileage is never as good as everyone elses. Only time I have ever seen over 40mpg's and it was only 42.2 or so was when I purposely rode for 2 tanks at below 70mph's. You get 42 and run over 100mph. I just don't get it. I know with my Dodge Dually pulling my fifth wheel trail everyone claims to get 10-11mpg towing. Me, I can only get 7mpg. Oh well I guess you gotta pay to play...

I seem to get the same vehicles that you do! :blink:

I have gotten into the low 40's on my bike while babying it. Of course this is babying by my standards and might very well be thrashing it for a guy who gets 50mpg on his bike - it's all relative.

Since putting the PC-III on, I only get mid 30's but am loving my FJR! :devil:

I may have been a little misleading above, there was literally a few as in maybe 2-3 miles wringing her out with the top speed being 121. It does not take much to hit that speed on this bike. Most of the tank was cruising and with a throttle lock. This makes a BIG difference in MPG. Your speed will fluctuate on elevation changes but watch your computer and the MPG stays pretty consistent. Now use manual throttle on the same road while trying to keep your speed constant and watch that computer mpg dance all over, dropping to the 20's in some cases. I saw 17mpg once when passing a car up-hill in 4th gear.

Medic...out!

 

[Beamer Reamer]

For PCIII owners, anyone go through the exhaustive process of testing different maps for MPG? Seems like it would take several tanks per map to get a good average.

 

[DaveFJR]

I agree with previous posts, how & where you ride have the biggest impact on MPG. With a DFO, filter & snorkel job mine runs better and MPG didn't change much. If I had to guess maybe 3 - 5%. The difference between my computer and odometer calculated values are 0 to 10% and usually near 10%.

 

[Neville McNaughton]

I've just completed a 3,800 mile work trip, saddle bags, top box and tail pack, K&N, PC111, Custom Map, Two Brothers. All kinds or roads from back country to free way, driving with economy in mind and I have a trip average of 43 mpg. This on a 2005, I weigh 215 at 6'1". Tires will last 7,000 miles running 75 mph on the freeway. By contrast playing hard which means big throttle openings in lower gears tires last 3,000 miles.

As for miles on reserve I budget 35.

With all the upgrades I have on this bike cannot imagine changing as the gains must be minimal. The heat issue is minor and mostly solved and a great benefit for the next few months. In October I will ride from Cleveland WI to Prince Edward County in Ontario and the temps will be somewhat cool, a little heat seems like a benefit.

Neville

 

[gsozz]

My computer on my 08 with a PC3 installed has been showing 58 to 60 mpg hiway at about 70 mph........I don't think that I believe it though.

 

[CHRIS_D]

For PCIII owners, anyone go through the exhaustive process of testing different maps for MPG? Seems like it would take several tanks per map to get a good average.

I was originally running Wally's smoothness map which definitely made a difference in the throttle smoothness of my 2007. However I was not happy with the gas mileage, my mileage prior to the PC3 install was around 38 to 40 MPG on the hwy (I run around 80 mph @ around 4.1K RPM), and after the PC3 install w/Wally Smoothness map WENT down to around 30 MPG :dribble: My normal commute (mostly around town) mileage prior to the PC3 = 42 MPG, after the PC3 install went down to 36 MPG. I really like the smoothness of throttle using the PC3, but the mileage drop was unacceptable to me. I examined all the available maps and customize mine by bringing down most of the "turn on times" that where below 3.75K RPM mark. I then gradually zero out the map numbers above 3.75K RPM. Basically in essence I'm running Yamaha's stock map above the 4K RPM mark and adding just enough fuel in the lower RPMs to maintain the throttle smoothness. My goal is to hopefully increase overall MPG all the way around.

Since installing my updated map and riding my normal commute (I have only used about 1/2 tank of gas so far) it seems that I have not lost any of the benefits of the smooth throttle response and I'm getting better gas mileage (by just eyeing the odometer versus gas level) than with the old map. I will however report back when I have some firm calculated numbers after running a few tanks of gas..

 

[El Toro]

My FJR is stock. I keep my display set on external temperature, finding this more interesting and less distracting than an mpg display. I calculate my gas mileage based on tripmeter and gas pump displays at most fillups. Occasionally I'll reset the ave mpg display and then check it at the next fill up. I've probably done this 4 times in 3.5 months and 4500 miles of ownership. Each time I've checked it, it has been very close to the value computed independently with tripmeter and gas pump displays.... like within half an mpg.

I know mpg displays provide motivation to conserve gas since you can directly see just how much the throttle affects gas consumption. Still, I find them distracting, and I also think they can contribute to accidents on both cars and bikes because they just encourage the obsessive compulsive folks to accelerate at a snail's pace. We're seeing more and more of that, especially in recent weeks as there have been gas shortages in Nashville.