Fuel economy
 

Hi Folks...

My bike has been stored for over a year but has been thoroughly serviced and I am now running it to commute with. It's got TKC80's on (I used to work for Conti) and I am doing mostly motorway miles, I am getting approx 47.5 mpg. It just seemed to empty the tank quickly, quicker than I imagined.

What's everyone else getting?

It's not even done a full week since coming out of storage and the service so I am thinking it's going to need a bit of running until it's all cleaned out and running smoothly again so I am not too concerned, but I can certainly remember it doing 150 to half a tank rather than 143 to just two small bars left on the indicator.

Rich

I normally sit at 5000rpm on motorway in top and am normally hitting the fuel trip at 200miles, though into a headwind loaded up it can be 180miles before reserve, I am on last bar around 150-160 miles, if I am on half tank at 150 it means I have been nowhere near a motorway and below 60mph.
Best regards,
Jim.

Sounds like it's normal then, I will quit worrying about it!

Cruising on the motorway coming back from Scotland to London I stooped for fuel twice after 225 miles and both times could only get approx 15 litres in the tank.

I reckon that is around 65 mpg (I am sure someone will do an accurate calculation).

Cruising speed was around 70mph and I I had full luggage (top box and panniers).

I was pretty pleased with that.

Your MPG is 5.9 L per 100km and I am currently doing 4 L /100km (filled up 300km with exactly 12l) with wolfman soft panniers attached and mixed touring/commuting which equates to 71 MPG on stock Tourance tyres. Was that economy with the old fuel or after you filled up with fresh stuff?

Fuel economy
 

I have just had a + 6000 km swing through Norway, Sweden and Finland with my newly bought Tenere 660 and fuel economy are impressing. Usually fuel countdown started around 450 km with variation from 390 to 505 km.
I had side panniers and top box from Yamaha and average speed around 80-90 km/h. Speed limits are low here....

62 to 65 mpg riding locally/urban. Bike has done 14 K. Fuel economy has got better and better as bike has worn in. On European 'A' road (French N roads) travelling at 120 kph I get about 60 mpg. I try and avoid motorways so no data for that.

All that said there are so many factors within this. Luggage has been mentioned, headwinds, roads etc. but mainly its riding style. Heavy right hand has the single greatest effect and I can reduce economy by as much as 20% on a spirited ride. Off road/trail riding also dramatically change things.

The trick is ride with a KTM and you will always feel smug as from my experience they really sup the juice. I could get away with filling every other stop by comparison to the KTM but we have a rule of one stops, we all stop, even if its a splash and dash. Mind you the KTM runs with modified cans and is a carb bike so I feel like I increase my economy by just riding behind it as the air itself smells so rich!

Without trying to be obtuse, are you sure your tank is empty ? The fuel gauge on these bikes is the most pessimistic device known to man.

At 150 miles I can be flashing 'f-trip', but still only squeeze in 13/14/15 litres, meaning there are still 10 litres in the tank (a little under half)

TKC's do impact the fuel usage - I know that by direct comparison between the Anakee's I ran a year or so back, and the TKC's I usually run. It's not alot and I couldn't give you any numbers (I don't take any notice of mile/gallon) but at the time I can remember making a mental note about it.

To give you an idea of the gauge accuracy, I can consistently get over 200 miles out of tank (I've got TKC's and a PCV, and I don't hang about), but sometimes the gauge is showing empty at 120 miles, sometimes 150, sometimes I'm still showing fuel when I get to 200..... It's like a woman, there is no understanding of it!

Try using that Fuelly site, ( https://www.fuelly.com/ ) that will give you a better understanding of your MPG

I would suggest that after the bike has been standing for a while you should add some cleaner (Redex or STP or whatever) to help flush out the fuel system and injectors. I always add some every month or two as I think it helps.

I use a little app called 'fuel use ' that works it out and you can save data as csv file so you can put it into excel.
My bike does about 235 miles to find trip if I ride 80 to 85 on motorways or 240 and up if keeping it to 70 or 75. Easy 300 mile from a tank with 21 to 22 litre refill. I've drilled the filler.
Take out the cat it improves fuel consumption.