Just got in from a ride today. 191 miles until the fuel light came on. :headscratch:

I wish I could do that well.... mine traditionally illuminates around 175-ish miles....

I have done 215-220 before my last bar started to flash..

I normally find a gas station before this happens but when I don't I can only fit 5.3 to 5.5 gallons back in the tank... So I would be good for another 30 miles before I get too nervous

Dave

You're riding too slow.

Dude, you're so gonna leave me behind on the way to Cody... :shock:

It's about 200 miles from my place, to Tortilla Flat, and back. I filled up right before getting on the 101, took 10 to get there, rode up to the end of the pavement, came back down, and took the east 101 (with a brief stop at Cycle Gear) back home, and filled up at the same station off my exit of 101.

I had to stop at Cycle Gear because my throttle lock came apart! I noticed it after I stopped for lunch. Somewhere out at Tortilla Flat is a locking mechanism for the NEP cruise control. It fit so well without using the metal adjuster, that I didn't tighten it down at all. Little did I know, if it's not tightened down, there's nothing holding it on!

Oh yeah, and speaking of riding too slow! Yesterday, I hit an indicated 190mph!! Whoa! And the bike was still pulling! I just got scared and backed off. The broken white lane dividers were starting to look like one long white line!

I second that one! My light comes on around 150. What gear
do you guys freeway ride with? I never seem to make it
out of 4th unless I really wanna ;-)

:cool: TJ :cool:

I usually get 180 or so before the light comes on. I've gotten over 200 to a tank though, while looking for a gas station.

I've seen 220 before the light (well, the flashing bar on mine) came on. Two up, fully loaded saddlebags and tankbag, averaging 72mph on my way back from NeXXt last year. My rear tire was shot, so I was taking it easy.

I've noticed my milage goes to down real fast once I break 80mph.

TJ, I alway use 6th for highway droning. Seems silly not to, to me anyway. Hell I suppose I could use second........ :razz:

I usually average in the lower thirties, in case that was the question, get about 150-160 miles before the "warning"

Ahh, that's my prob.. I never drop below 80 on the freeway..



Heck, I never let my cruising RPM drop below 5K-5.5K. Lets
just say I like to be near the meat of the powerband ;-).
This usually means 4th gear, 'cause 5th is 90MPH and
6th is 100! I like that "sweet spot" I get at 80-85MPH in
4th gear..



Must just be my preference to keep the motor in the heart
of the RPM range, as I get crappy gas mileage out of the
1000F too.. (same riding style, around 5K RPM in 5th leads
to 80-85mph)

:cool: TJ :cool:

Nah, it'll work out. That road is hard to ride fast, so unless I get my special mojo going and decide to power-slide around every corner, I'll be taking it slower. I've only found that special mojo twice on that road. Last time it killed a tire in 1200 miles, so I try not to find it much any more... You're gonna love the road though. I've got wood thinking about it.


Unless I'm accelerating, I get to sixth quickly. I use it in town (of course, I'm usually doing 50-55 in town). On the highway, I usually go 80-95 in sixth.

Most of the time I get to about 180 miles indicated before the light comes on; subtract 8% for my sprocket change. I do tend to ride slightly aggressively.

Here's one for ya. I'm looking at my receipt right now and it says 5.91 gallons (on 159.4 mi = 26.94 mpg.). The kicker is I ran out of gas and coasted the last half mile. I thought this thing had 6.3 gal. cap.?

'02

5800 mi.

Pretty weird. I've put over 6 gallons in mine, at 240 miles.

Yep, that's why I'm getting worse gas mileage than everyone
else. 80-95 in sixth eh? Hmmmm, guess I'll just have to deal
with 30 MPG, 'cause I like staying in the powerband too much
in 4th ;-)

I'll have to try running in 6th when I head to the hill country
(long run) though to see what my peak mileage will be..

:cool: TJ :cool:

My mileage had dropped down into the 30 - 32 mpg range during the colder weather months.

Last week, I gave the bike a Chevron Techron enema and the mileage jumped back into the 37 - 39 mpg range. :grin:

When I am riding on the freeway, or on straight stretches of hiway, I go to 6th gear. That's why I own a torque monster like the BlackBird. If I wanted to keep it buzzed all the time, I would ride a 600.

kickstand or centerstand when refueling?

I've never noticed a difference. It seems to take the same amount either way. Have you seen a difference?

[quote="spEEdfrEEk"][quote=Redbird]I've noticed my milage goes to down real fast once I break 80mph. [/quote]

Ahh, that's my prob.. I never drop below 80 on the freeway..



Heck, I never let my cruising RPM drop below 5K-5.5K. Lets
just say I like to be near the meat of the powerband ;-).
This usually means 4th gear, 'cause 5th is 90MPH and
6th is 100! I like that "sweet spot" I get at 80-85MPH in
4th gear..



Must just be my preference to keep the motor in the heart
of the RPM range, as I get crappy gas mileage out of the
1000F too.. (same riding style, around 5K RPM in 5th leads
to 80-85mph)

isn't this kind of hard on any motor????

Did you mean, anything BUT a Honda??

any motor even a honda is still subject to wear and tear speeding up the process doesnt help, i certainly wouldn't want to buy that bike knowing his riding habits, after all when pro riders put their bikes through that kind of wear the motor is torn apart and gone completely through.

There's not a direct correlation like that.

HP = force * speed

If you increase the speed of the motor, you reduce the force it is producing to achieve the same HP.

So...the question would be: which produces more wear; speed or force? I tend toward speed slightly in my opinion, but not by much. Especially not in a motor with the composite cylinder liners we have. I know he's not doing any "damage" to it, and if there is any wear acceleration it would be slight.

i agree that the cylinder walls might not see the same wear as say cam & crank bearings, riding my bird at freeway speed in 4th or 5th gear at 6,000 to 7,000 rpms makes me feel like i am unecessarily putting stress on it.

hows this: who has the highest odometer reading here? b.t.w. i as a rule never exceed 4,000 rpm. :lol:

ill start: 2000 cbr 1100 xx 28,354 mi.

47,800 miles. I've been traveling constantly for the last couple years, so I have an excuse for the low miles.

There is one guy in Europe with over 100k and no repairs, and many in the 70+ range.

WOW! maybe i am dating myself but i can remember a time when a bike with more than 15,000 mi was considered well on its way out. its nice to here that the bird will stand the heat, maybe i'll start riding at 1,000 rpm over my limit. :grin: :grin: :) :)

Hmm, I don't see how riding anywhere near 6,000 RPM is
hard on the motor. It's near the middle of the rev range for
a bike that redlines at 10,800. Riding the bike below 4K
RPM, to me, is practically bogging it --> which IS tough
on the motor.

Plus it's not super safe to do that on the freeway, as you're
sorta out of the powerband and can't exercise "getaways"
in freeway traffic when needed. I tend to wanna keep
my bike in a nice "punchy" RPM when I'm riding, but
that's just me ;-)

Heck, the bike doesn't even feeling like it's cruising until
5K ;-)

:cool: TJ :cool:

The last 4 tanks, since the power commander my flasher came on at 125 - 127 miles. Before the commander, it would flash around 150 - 175ish.
Sorta sucks. But i've been running the gears longer and not shifting as much running the back roads. See what the Avons do to ya'.

maybe somethings wrong with my hearing but when i get the bird over say 6,000 rpm it sounds like i'm winding it out a little, maybe i'm just not used to the performance side of this bike, the other bikes i've owned seemed to have a lower key sound to them. :shock:

Will,

I think there's something seriously wrong with your bike... I can help by taking it for scrap value. $500 sound about right? :grin:

If you're not taking it over 6K, that's cruel and inhumane punishment on the engine. Try it a couple times, you'll love it. _Most_ of my city riding is between 4000 - 7500 rpms, and I only try to conserve engine wear on the long haul on the expwy. 'Course, lately I noticed she's a bit thirsty... :razz:

Depends on what your roots are. If you're coming off a
600cc sportbike (like me for example) 6K RPM is nothing.
It was very typical to cruise on the freeway at 7.5K on
the CBR 600F3.

Perhaps that's why I keep the bird around 5.5K. It
just feels really punchy there and seems to be quite
a comfortable cruising speed for the motor..

:cool: TJ :cool:

I'm enjoying this thread, I thought the way I rode was, well, normal. Now I don't know.

Unless I'm running the corners hard or trying to make time, I'm in 6th gear if I'm doing 40mph or more. This bike has more low end power than anything I've ever ridden. :grin:

To ride down the highway in 4th to stay in the powerband seems strange to me unless your are talking rush hour and not doing normal highway speed.

Here is a test for y'all... My bike will slow down to 1000 rpm in top gear, stock gearing, and pick right back up when you roll it on. This is on level ground or even on a slight up hill. Sometimes I get lazy and ride it like a big moped and leave it in 6th. I have even made regular right turns into side streets (at high speed) in 6th gear.

Perfect carb. sync. and tunning has a lot to do with it.

well took all of your advice and went out and got on it a lot more esp. on the freeway, the bike handled everything i threw at it and then some, got the rpms up 10,500 at some points, my only worry is if driving like this has any long or short term affects, i really love this bike and want to keep it for a long while... :-o

Willxx wrote:


You mean like PERMA GRIN??? :razz: :razz: :razz:

I thought maybe you guys were kidding about the mileage your getting until I saw so many posts of guys getting a lot of mpg. I have put 12,000 miles on my 2001 in 15 months and have never got more than 150 before the light starts blinking. Most of the time 130-140. I just chalked it up to big engine... big thurst, plus I just gotta give it a twist or two each time I ride. I ride half freeway and half street most of the time.

Freeway 5th or 6th at 70-90 mph.... I like to keep the revs up when traffic gets heavy or I am coming up to an interchange. By up I mean 6-9K.

Trent

Hey Will, no offense, but you will find out what the rev limiter feels like when when I take you to Mesa Grande. :shock: This bike is designed and built to get up and go fast as fuck for a long time! Ring the shit out of her :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Hey Trent, where are you located? I'm in N. San Diego County.

Yeah, I've bounced off the rev limiter on numerous occasions. Bike felt so smooth over 10K that I didn't even realize I was that close to the redline!

[quote="PGA XX"][quote]Hey Will, no offense,[/quote]
none taken, just i'm not used to really agressive style of riding, it's not like my previous bikes werent capable just trying to stay in one piece and keep the bike from sliding across the asphalt, lotta bad drivers out there!!!!

gday fellas
sorry to dig up an old thread but i was searching for fitting instructions, maybe with pics, for the NEP cruise control, which needs to be modified to fit the bird as far as i can tell , anyway, as for fuel usage, here in oz we are in k/ph not miles so im not sure what the conversion rate is but i can get 300 kilometres before the last fuel bar starts flashing, thats on a ride day, going to work and home during the week, i get about 260 km`s

Carlos had instructions with pics on the main site, but I think it's still down. Carlos?