Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125841
It no longer matters how fast it goes or how good it looks. N ow it only matters how far it will go on a gallon of gas. ..... " T hey 're comi ng in a nd kicking th e tires ! Kick ing t he tires!" ran ted the dealer wh o had called us up . " It's a wh ole n ew breed of customer. He doesn ' t kno w an yth ing about motorcycles. All t hat he wa nts to kn o w is what k ind of gas mileage it gets." What we've do ne here is to assemb le a list of the b ikes that we've tested in the past two years with the gas mileage we obtained in riding them. The gas mileage figures were o btained under normal use , that is, street riding , both on and off the freeway if the bike was freeway legal. The bikes were often accelerated hard but the figures do not reflect any race track usage. They were obtained partially at cruising speeds of the past, i.e., up to 80 MPH. Touring bikes were used partially for touring and mileage obtained during that kind of use is reflected in those figures. These figures don 'I refle ct maximum possible mileage because we didn't try to get the best possible . mileage. Better mileage could be obtained by accelerating more slowly and evenly, by closing t he throttle earlier when slowing down, and by running at smalle r throttle openings. Equipment, too, can be modified and adjusted for gas mileage. A friend of ours who owns a Ducati 750 GT took a trip recently and experimented with gas mileage by running alternately at 65 to 70 and at the 55 MPH limit. When he rode at 55, his mileage fell from 51 miles per gallon to 42 MPH . Some of the reason may be engine efficiency at the two speeds, but he's also looking into carburetor metering at lower throttle openings. His lower speed fuel mixture was probably too rich because of incorrect needle setting, throttle cutaway or air screw setting. The rider looking for imp ro ved mileage should look to the state of tune of his machine. Make sure th at it is properly tuned and mai ntained. T ire condition and pressure, chain and sprocket condition, bearing condition thro ughout the drive train , and brake drag all have their effects on gas mileage. Changing gearing - usually to taller gearing - may improve gas mileage, parti cularly if a maj o r po rt io n of the m ach ine's usc is at high speed (if you can call 55 MPH , the current Ca lifornia max im um, high speed) . A road rac ing fairing would pro bably also improve mileage. Low speed mileage co uld be up ped by ligh tening the bike. Finally, mileage will be altered by wind conditions and the amount of load that th e b ike is carrying. The chart below reflects figures for bikes operated under similar and fairly stand ard conditions during the past few ye ars. Where we recorded significant va riation during testing in gas mileage. it is noted . 1973 Honda XL-175 60MPG 1973 Kawasaki 175cc F-7 55MPG 1972 Yamaha 200cc CS-5 40-45 MPG 1973 Suzuki GT·250 30-40 MPG 1972 Yamaha 250cc DS-7 40-52 MPG 1973 Yamaha RD-250 35-40 MPG 1974 Yamaha RD-250 42 MPG 1973 Harley-Davidson SX-350 Sprint 46MPG 1973 Honda CB-350 Four 45-57 MPG 1973 Yamaha RD-350 35-40 MPG 1974 Yamaha RD-350 36MPG 1974 Honda CB-360 46-55 MPG 1973 Yamaha 360cc RT -3 45MPG 1974 Kawasak i 400cc S-3 23-28 MPG 1973 Honda CB-500 Four 40 MPG 1971 Kawasak i 500cc Mach III 24-32 MPG 1973 Triumph TR-5T 500cc Trophy 49-57 MPG 1973 Suzuki GT-550 32 -34 MPG 1972 BMW 600cc R-60 48-50 MPG 1973 Yamaha 650cc XS-2 39 MPG 1972 Honda CB-750 37MPG 1973 Honda CB-750 43MPG 1972 Kawasaki 750cc H-2 Mach IV 30-35 MPG 1973 Mota-Guzzi 750cc V -7 Sport 28-31 MPG 1973 Norton 750cc Commando Combat 40MPG 1972 Suzuki GT-750 40MPG 1973 Triumph 750cc X -75 Hurricane 22-26 MPG 1973 Yamaha TX-750 35 MPG 1973 Norton 850 Commando 40MPG 1974 Kawasak i 903cc Z-1 37-43 MPG 31 •