Fuel Economy Problems

[Tarkor]

Just purchased a brand new 03 XX 1 month ago. In that amount of time, I've put over 1200 miles on it and I'm not sure how many tanks I've run through. Problem that I'm finding is that I'm getting 120-130 miles on a single tank, roughly 20mi/gal. I'm not revving it particularly high, 5-6K is where I try to keep it, and am doing a combination of city/highway riding. It just went in for it's first servicing, recommended at 600 but couldn't get an opening in the shop until 1200 miles. I mentioned the mileage problem and that every bit of info I could dig out showed a 35-45 mpg rating for these bikes, however they were unable to find anything wrong with it.

My question is if this is what I should expect, if there's a change I should make in my riding to improve performance, or if anyone knows what might be causing this?

Appreciate any help you can give me!

[Guest]

You left the E-brake on, common mistake with new bird owners

Seriously, Maybe it's just breaking in, rings settling in and all that. Are you sure your tank is getting empty when you fill it? How many gallons are you putting in, and when are you doing that?

Don't always trust the fuel guage, there have been a few guages known to read way off. My warning light comes on and I still have 2 gallons left, I've just grown used to it.

[Herc driver]

20 mpg :shock: I can only imagine you're figuring your mileage wrong or...you're driving everywhere in first gear. Hell, you should be getting close to 30 mpg even if you were constantly ripping up the pavement. I have a carbed bird and still consistantly get 37 mpg. Make sure you reset your odometer (I ALWAYS do) and take an acurate reading when you fill up. If your bird is running smoothly, you should be averaging 35-37 mpg for combined riding and around 42-44 on the highway.

[Mithrandir]

Or he's a pom and a gallon is a different size over there...

Yes. Mileage is not so good on the XX until you get past the breakin stage. Basically once you start getting full synthetic oil in there, it will go from about 130 to 160miles on a tank around town. I only get upwards of 200miles out of a tank when I'm touring down the slab, spending all my time in 6th gear. Also, you should have been revving it up to redline some time during the breakin period. Time to start doing that now if you haven't. It won't have broken in too well if you didn't. That'll help loosen everything up and make it get some better mileage. The only breakin instructions the book gives is "don't go WTO during breakin". That is, you should be using the bike throughout it's whole rev range, not just the lower part.

[Tarkor]

Appreciate the suggestion on running it at higher rpm's. This is only the 3rd bike I've owned and I'm having to pick up tips as I go, all are appreciated! :grin:

I am aware of the fuel gauge reputation for being off a bit, I regularly run it down close to fumes prior to filling it. Living in WA state so the 'pom' comment isn't applicable in my case, quite a few others are but not that one! :wink:

[Northman]

5-6K is where I try to keep it

There's where your problem lies. I'm surprised nobody else caught that. You don't need that much rpm on the XX unless you are trying to spin up the rear on exits.

The extra rpm just kills your mileage. Ask the guys with the smaller front sprockets about that. :wink:

[demon]

Thanks Notrh, Shoulda caught that :oops:

I've dropped a tooth on front and added a tooth on back. My fuel mileage has gone to shit. If you can keep it around 3-4K your mileage will improve. It ain't no 600 so why rev it halfway to redline if you don't have to.

I think the computer in the birds really starts shooting the fuel to em starting at 5K. Going down the interstate, I am at about 4.5-5K and I can still get about 160 miles out of a tank although my speedo hasn't been recalibrated. That means a little less than 150 miles out of a tank. Approx 30 miles per gallon with reduced gearing. If I'm runnin her harder (6-7K), it dropps significantly and can almost watch it going down.

[EVLXX]

5-6K is where I try to keep it

There's where your problem lies. I'm surprised nobody else caught that. You don't need that much rpm on the XX unless you are trying to spin up the rear on exits.

The extra rpm just kills your mileage. Ask the guys with the smaller front sprockets about that. :wink:

Not only is this right on the money, but you also stated you have only got 1200 miles on her. You should gain almost another 5 mpg by the time you break 5000 miles.

Honda has built this bike with extremely tight tolerances, and it take awhile for to loosen up.

There are lots of reasons you could be getting poor mileage. What did you ride befor this bike?

[Tarkor]

Aside from this weekend, I've been keeping her under 6K the majority of the time. Every so often, have to play around :wink: especially when out for a weekend jaunt but mostly just commute type riding.

Prior bikes have included a friends '84 ZX750Turbo that I learned to ride on. My first bike was a 94 RF600R which I put 80,000 mi on in 2 1/2 years. Spent a year riding an EX500 as it was all I could afford at the time, now this. Have to say, the XX is the most amazing bike I've ever ridden! :grin:

[Tarkor]

Well, after having it in the shop for a day and putting another couple hundred miles on her, still running into the same basic issues. Realized that I've only been running through about 5 gal at a time, however, that's still breaking down to roughly 25 mpg during a combination of city and highway riding. :sad: I'm becoming a little concerned with this especially due to the 3wk road trip planned the end of August. Going to leave her with the dealer for a few days when she goes in for her 3K service and see if they can figure it out!

[RichardCranium]

Well, after having it in the shop for a day and putting another couple hundred miles on her, still running into the same basic issues. Realized that I've only been running through about 5 gal at a time, however, that's still breaking down to roughly 25 mpg during a combination of city and highway riding.  :sad: I'm becoming a little concerned with this especially due to the 3wk road trip planned the end of August.   Going to leave her with the dealer for a few days when she goes in for her 3K service and see if they can figure it out!

Just to be sure. You aren't just trying to guess how much gas you put in according to your fuel gauge or somthing like that are you? This is probably obvious but:

Reset your trip meter at fill up.

On your next fill up try to fill it up to where you filled it to last time and then note the exact number of gallons you put in to a couple decimal points.

Then divide the miles ridden by the gallons added.

You probably know that but it never hurts to be sure.

[CBRXX]

...and do that over several tankfuls, just keep track of the gallons, and tally it all up at the end. That will average out the driving differences, and any error in the fillups.

Steve

[Tarkor]

I've been doing the above on a regular basis actually. I reset tripmeter A ever time I fill up (trip B reserved for maintenance intervals) and use the pump info as the basis for the amount of fuel. Over the course of 4 tanks, has averaged out to 25mpg +2mpg per tank.

All together this is a rather frustrating issue. I'm sure it will probably end up falling under the K.I.S.S. principle as well!

[Hobicus]

Stoooopid questions:

Have you checked the air pressure in your tires?

Also.. put her up on the center stand and make sure you don't have any brakes dragging front and back. When I lost the bolt in my front brakes (my own stupid fault) it killed my gas mileage for a while.

[EVLXX]

Lots of little things can lower your gas mileage like...

Dog'n the bike, don't shift it too soon, if your shifting her and accelerating from under 2500 rpm's, your gas mileage is going to be worse than if you were hot rodding around all day.

Bad gas, some filling stations just have cheap shity gas, on road trips I always find one or two stations that kill my gas mileage. I have lost 3-4 miles per gallon before on bad gas.

Dirty chain, keep it clean and lube it often. There's half a mile per gallon right there.

Air pressure, the rolling resistance of your tires will also hurt you, just like a dirty chain, it's just more of a drag.

Saddlebags and windshields, you can quickly eat up 5 mpg with a taller shield and saddle bags, airodynamics play a huge part on gas mileage.

Sticky pads, a little friction from your brakes will hurt the gas mileage, keep them clean with alittle brake cleaner.

Do you ride on dirt roads? Whens the last time you cleaned or replaced your air filter?

How much do you weigh? Maybe it's you? Have you ever seen a bird carrying an elephant... niether have I.

Are you wearing an over sized coat? More of that airodynamics you know. You don't want to have your stuff being floppy or flappy.

And lastly... you have a FI bike, and for some reason ( which I'm still working on ) Honda made our bikes run really rich, like 11:1 kinda rich. I don't understand it, but don't compare your gas milage to anybody with a carbed bird.

Let me know what you find, I'm curious.

[mesenger1]

I commute 150 miles a day on my 99 bird and I ride untill the dome ligth comes on and I get betwin 170 and 190 miles depending on how I push it.

Full system no power commander

fill your bird tank ride it untill the light comes on, just make sure you do it where there is a ot of gas stations.

[Animal Mother]

5-6K is where I try to keep it

There's where your problem lies. I'm surprised nobody else caught that. You don't need that much rpm on the XX unless you are trying to spin up the rear on exits.

The extra rpm just kills your mileage. Ask the guys with the smaller front sprockets about that. :wink:

Ditto Chris.

I went up to Spokane and back today for a nice ride and I was nearly pegged on 4k in 6th gear, averaging about 70-72mph. Like was mentioned, no need to have the RPM's high if you dont need too.

Steve

[Brian03XX]

Hey I just got a left over 03 had 2 miles on her, now has 150 on my first tank, with 2 of the black bars still showing on the gauge. When I picked her up it was flashing so I got gas It tock a little over 5 GAL so it was close to empty, Dam dealer no free gas Have not gone past 5000 RPM... time to push her a bit :shock: :shock:

[Buzz]

Going down the interstate, I am at about 4.5-5K and I can still get about 160 miles out of a tank although my speedo hasn't been recalibrated.

Demon, although the speedo runs high about 9-10%, the odometer runs only about 2-3% higher than the correct mileage.

[pacman]

The light comes on at around 285-295 kms when riding at a normal pace averaging speed of 120 kph.

Between 5.8L - 6.2L /100 kms... :cool:

my 2003 xx is up to 7,000 kms (new this summer!)

[SSUXX]

Having owned a '99 for 5 years and now an '03, I find it amazing that my fuel light comes on at exactly 135 miles (both bikes). Bike will take between 4.3 & 4.5 gallons at fill up. Yeah, I know I should just ride with the light on but it can make you a bit nervous riding with that red light staring you in the face. The most gas i've ever taken at one time was 5.2 gallons with 215 miles showing on the odo.

[waytooslow]

my 01 the light hits at 148 everytime... always about a gal and a half still in tank.... for what it is worth

WAy

[sprack]

My 99 still gets around 30-33mpg on the hwy even after 18000mi. I get about 150-160mi on a tank and put in about 5 gallons. For some reason I get better mileage on Chevron gas, usually closer to 36mpg.

BTW, what are you running your tire pressure at? 38F/40R here.

[Buzz]

Worst gas mileage I've seen was 5.8 gallons after 98 miles. :shock:

Turned out that a battery problem caused the tripmeter to reset with 100 miles already on it.

My wife and I went riding with soft bags over a weekend recently on our '03XX and still averaged exactly 40mpg for the trip.

[xrated]

First of all, who buys an XX and wories about gas milage? Yea, it would be nice to get 45 to 50 mpg, but I didn't buy a Shadow 1100, I bought a CBR1100XX. Not trying to be a smart ass, but when you have a bike that give you the performance and HP that the XX has, it comes at a cost. I have gotten as high as 45 mpg on mine (two up and riding 65 mph) prior to installing the MIG's and a PCII with a custom map. When I push it hard, like I do when I ride in TN on the Dragon, Cherohala, the 421, etc., I drop down to 31 to 32 mpg. Mine is a 99 with 21,xxx miles on it and of course fully broke in and then some.

As far as the Honda owner's manual recommendation for break in, it says, during the first 300 miles, no full throttle accelleration or rapid starts. It mentions NOTHING about not taking the RPMs up over 5K. In fact, the two new ones that I've sold, I've told the owners to abide by those words, but DO run the RPM's up to 9 to 10K for short periods of time. Just as importantly, try not to hold the RPMs at any given speed more that a few miles at a time.