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Fuel economy

21K views 37 replies 27 participants last post by  Sabre-t 
#1 ·
So I have a completely stock 2013 Voyager. Just wondering how many miles you guys are getting on a tank of gas. I am riding extremely conservatively, and I get about 140 and my fuel alert kicks on. Then I get about 25 miles and she is empty. (I ran out once). This just doesn't seem right. My dad has a Street glide with stage 1 kit and gets 280 on a tank. He has just under a gallon more capacity but that is only about an extra 45 miles.
 
#2 ·
So I have a completely stock 2013 Voyager. Just wondering how many miles you guys are getting on a tank of gas. I am riding extremely conservatively, and I get about 140 and my fuel alert kicks on. Then I get about 25 miles and she is empty. (I ran out once). This just doesn't seem right. My dad has a Street glide with stage 1 kit and gets 280 on a tank. He has just under a gallon more capacity but that is only about an extra 45 miles.
cs, 175miles / 5.5 gal = 32mpg.. try releasing the parking brake.?
you have serious tune issues, should be able to get 40+ 45mpg outa v17 motor.
 
#3 ·
Despite what everyone else will say, I only get 30mpg with the big three installed. Stock the best I got was 34mpg but that was driving like grandma on Quaaludes. From the factory EPA ratings for the bike is 36mpg.There are plenty of people that get lower mileage they just don't talk to much about it. Alot has to do with speed and driving habits.
 
#4 ·
Yup I can totally see that. I get about 32-36 and if I'm heavy on the throttle it gets to about 26. But why? It should be getting 200 miles to a tank with ease. I hate to keep bringing it up in my posts but my Hayabusa got 210 on a tank and it was tuned for Power, not MPG.
 
#36 · (Edited)
riding the tork curve is opposite to optimal fuel mileage



I ride a lot of bikes different sizes and configs. I find a common denominator in their behavior regarding performance and mileage.
in the mountains I achieve some of the best mileage on any machines. often tell slower fellas that its because Im going downhill 50% of the time.. I did say they were slower..
butt the common denominator is that if you stay down in the gears 1 or 2 below where most try to ride the tork curve, you are operating the motor at Top Efficiency for both performance and mileage..
riding the bottom of the tork curve only works at a steady speed on straight flat road with no wind and you find optimal wind resistance profile, usually 60's mph. push it harder, yor pushing a huge wind bow wave and you will burn more fuel.

but in 3rd gear climbing the twisties and let 3rd gear do engine braking at variable 30-40mph, almost every motor will yield its top fuel numbers, very often well into the 50mpg range..
even at these slower speeds you will yield 5 x 50 = 250 miles per tank.
 
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#5 ·
with bike fully stock, I was getting about 35-37mpg. Playing with the EJK controller after installing V&H slipons and a K&N air filter. Getting 40-42mpg now. But I am not at end of this process as I am hunting down air leaks in system. Hoping to get this improved even more when I'm done
 
#6 · (Edited)
Everyone complains about the gas mileage. I can go over 50 miles farther on my Voyager than I could my last road scoot, a Yamaha Venture, and it had a 6 gallon tank.... best MPG I ever got with it was around 33 mpg. Unless I ran 50mph then I got 50.

I get 200 miles on a tank with my Voyager all the time.

My get gas light comes on at 1/4 tank. Usually around 150/160 miles.....

I can still go another 80 miles before it runs out of gas. BUt if you like to pretend your Voyager/Vaquero is a sport bike and try to run it like one, you will get some terrible gas mileage. If you want better gas mileage run a little slower. Stop leaving a stop sign or red light like you are n a drag race.

Get a gal gas can, put it in the saddlebag, run till it quits, then you will actually know about how far you can go and how far you can stretch the tank. It will go a lot farther than you think it can....

I have always carried at least a qt of gas with me. I used to live where gas stations were minimum 100 miles apart and some 180 miles apart. Now they are about 1 to 5 miles apart.

Thats all you need to know....
 
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#23 ·
Everyone complains about the gas mileage. I can go over 50 miles farther on my Voyager than I could my last road scoot, a Yamaha Venture, and it had a 6 gallon tank.... best MPG I ever got with it was around 33 mpg. Unless I ran 50mph then I got 50.

I get 200 miles on a tank with my Voyager all the time.

My get gas light comes on at 1/4 tank. Usually around 150/160 miles.....

I can still go another 80 miles before it runs out of gas. BUt if you like to pretend your Voyager/Vaquero is a sport bike and try to run it like one, you will get some terrible gas mileage. If you want better gas mileage run a little slower. Stop leaving a stop sign or red light like you are n a drag race.

Get a gal gas can, put it in the saddlebag, run till it quits, then you will actually know about how far you can go and how far you can stretch the tank. It will go a lot farther than you think it can....

I have always carried at least a qt of gas with me. I used to live where gas stations were minimum 100 miles apart and some 180 miles apart. Now they are about 1 to 5 miles apart.

Thats all you need to know....
I have a Vulcan 1500 and it seems to get terrible mpg-like 25. So, I am going to try this this weekend. Great idea!!!
 
#8 ·
How conservative is "conservative"?

Speed is everything. Motorcycles are hopelessly unaerodynamic. If "conservative" is doing 80mph on the freeway; but not accelerating hard; then those numbers make sense. It'll suck the fuel down pushing all of that wind out of the way. The light weight of a motorcycle only helps it when it's accelerating from a low speed. Wind is the great equalizer. That's why a 5 passenger 4 door sedan will burn less fuel than you will. It's much more aerodynamic.

If I cruise along 55mph roads I average in the low 40's. Cruising the interstate at 70-75 sees the upper 30's. Pretty typical for these bikes. I've got a Vaquero.

Unfortunately the range just isn't great. The Harley's frame lends itself to a larger tank. Our bikes have more 'frame' for the tank to maneuver around and that takes up precious fuel storage. Best you can do, really, is just plan ahead and figure the relatively short range as a fact of life.

Could be worse. Was out on the Jet Ski's this weekend. 2015 Kawasaki STX-15F. 16.4 gallon tank. Filled up twice after a day on the lake! Watercraft of any sort are gas guzzlers.
 
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#9 ·
My 2012 got low 30s when new, but once I got around 5-10k miles on it, that increased to the mid-hi 30s. I now have the baffles drilled and a Thunder stock air kit and a Gman fuel controller. I'm now getting 39-40 riding easy up to 65 mph or so, and 35-36 to and from work, with a few red light on my 11 mile trip each way. My overall average on the last 10 fillups is 37.4 with a best of 41.2. My low fuel comes in steady around 155-160 normally.
 
#10 ·
Stock 2012

My Stock 2012 has averaged 37.2 MPG(Calculated) since I got it 1800 miles ago. I find if I just cruise sub 60 MPH I can get in the low 40's but once I run up to highway speeds it drops. My Fuel light will come on between 150 and 170 depending on how fast I'm running.

Craig
 
#12 ·
I also have a stock 2013 Voyager. I get close to 35 mpg, + or -. I don't back off on the throttle to save gas but I'm not too hard on the throttle either. The bike I had before this was a Vstar 1300 and it didn't get much better mileage.
 
#16 ·
Just finished a 2500 mile trip to and around northern Virginia from Georgia. On the highway, 70 or below, I got high 30's to 40 mpg. At 75 mph or faster it dropped very quickly to 32 - 33 mpg. That's was while hauling my big ^$$ (270 lbs) and luggage. In the twisties and on rural roads, I got a consistent 37 - 39 mpg, not running real hard, but not poking along either. Running only 89 octane (10% EtOH). Bike is stock.
 
#18 ·
2012 Voyager bought used with 27.5K. Bike is stock.

I have seen as low as 34mpg and as high as 44mpg on our MPG display. Realistically it is about 36-38 in mixed driving.

On the highway, it depends on speed, I can get 39-40 if I stay closer to 70mph.

To me the MPG is decent.
 
#20 ·
My MPG has been fairly consistent lately Last tank of gas went 222 mls GPS and took 4.848 gllns at fill up for an average of 45.8 mpg. The dash display showed 46.5 mpg. This is a mixture of hiway and easy cruisin (well I did get into it a few times heehee).

Add into this the fact I run 87 octane I'm not spendin a lot on gas, cept for the fact I ride this Vaq a lot!!!

RACNRAY
 
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#21 ·
I kept track of the overall mpg for more than 25,000 miles. The bike is a stock 2010 Voyager and the conditions ranged from freeway speeds to city with most of the miles on ordinary highways (60-65 mph) and winter to summer temps. I averaged just over 41 mpg.
 
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#22 ·
I filled up Saturday nite and had a nice ride. Weather was mild and not much wind, these cruisers are not aerodynamic at all and mpg suffers anytime there is a side or head wind.

The ride was mostly hi-way 65-75 mph, with some stop n go and a cruise up thru Old Cutler Road at the perfect time where there was little traffic, in the middle of the hiway rides.

I continued that tank into Sunday's ride and at fill-up had traveled 223 mls on GPS, skoot took 4.665 gllns for an average of 47.87 mpg.

The tank b4 this one which saw a lot of stop n go and ridin into the wind only achieved 42.55 mpg.

RACNRAY
 
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#25 ·
2010 Voyager 13K miles. I have the PCV and AutoTune module. My mileage is down in the mid 30's even after letting AutoTune "customize" my map which is a joke. I've had nothing but problems with AutoTune. I even sent it back to Dynojet and they said it's fine.

AutoTune keeps pulling more and more fuel from my map, to the point the bike will stumble when rolling on the throttle. It had some of my cells down to -50.

Yesterday I loaded a stock map from Dynojet and went for a 200 mile ride. The bike averaged just over 40mpg. I have an O2 bung welded in the same position that the Euro bikes use.
 
#26 ·
This last tank of gas with about 5% in town city traffic went 238.2 mls GPS (my tripmeters read lower at 215.2 mls due to altered rear pulley size and taller profile tire) and took 4.778 gllns for an average of 49.85 mpg.

RACNRAY
 
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#27 ·
Man, I get 32 on a good day. I need to get my bike tuned.
 
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