MPG

[s2racer]

I'm doing my theory test shortly then booking in for DAS assuming I pass

I'll be looking to get a bike over xmas and i will NEED to use it for the odd commute, my daily run is a 150 miles round trip.

What are my options?

I like sports bikes but i can't see anything that is going to deliver the 55mpg + i need.. it's a dual carriageway and mway run so it's pretty economical in the car, about 55mpg in our vectra diesel

i've looked at the Suzuki Bandit 600 which a lot of people say is a good first bike.. budget i guess upto 3k, want something reliable as it'll be car backup/alternative

any thoughts?

[Rach*]

I'm a girl, I don't know how to work out MPG, but the CBR600 FV, without thrashing it, much , gives about 130 miles to a £15 tank (roughly)

[RumpleFugly]

Slightly more leftfield choice could be the Kawasaki ER6(F) which is funky little machine and would give you the economy you are looking for. Cheap to insure as well (group 10) and 70 odd horsepower should be enough for a a first bike.

Worth a look at least...

[Rach*]

RumpleFugly said:

Slightly more leftfield choice could be the Kawasaki ER6(F) which is funky little machine and would give you the economy you are looking for. Cheap to insure as well (group 10) and 70 odd horsepower should be enough for a a first bike.

Worth a look at least...

There are some really nice ER6's bout

How about a GN125 with slapper thrown in?

[shouldbworking]

Rach* said:

I'm a girl, I don't know how to work out MPG, but the CBR600 FV, without thrashing it, much , gives about 130 miles to a £15 tank (roughly)

www.torquecars.com/tools/uk-mpg-calculator.php

Assuming ~£1.11 / litre thatd be 43.4 mpg


My little 125 just returned 80mpg off its first tankful! 150 miles a day would kill it in short order though and be bloody uncomfortable to boot.

[Rach*]

shouldbworking said:

Rach* said:

I'm a girl, I don't know how to work out MPG, but the CBR600 FV, without thrashing it, much , gives about 130 miles to a £15 tank (roughly)

www.torquecars.com/tools/uk-mpg-calculator.php

Assuming ~£1.11 / litre thatd be 43.4 mpg


My little 125 just returned 80mpg off its first tankful! 150 miles a day would kill it in short order though and be bloody uncomfortable to boot.

Thats pretty good already decided to ride the bike home next time, so long as its not snowing

[supersingle]

Ducati ST2.

Comfy and good handling bike with good economy due to desmo engine. hth.

[Ash77]

My 06 Suzuki SV650s is a sporty flickable bike with 70 odd bhp.
Apparently does 0-60 in 4ish and 0-100 in 10ish.
I've had nearly 60mpg out of a tank a few times and
typically get mid 50's on days out.
Its about 155-160miles to reserve so nearly 200 range.
Its a v-twin, so narrow with lots of low/mid grunt
and great for filtering. They're well capable of racking up
6 figure mileages by all accounts.

Its light and renowned for the twisties etc but also as a strong all rounder.
I went from Doncaster to my Dads in Peterborough and back
on 1 tank (185 miles), with some left after going 70
all the way down (yawn) and 85-95 coming back into a strong headwind.

Might be sold by the time your looking but theres details and pic here.

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=117549

[G Man]

I have a 200 mile commute which is easy on a BMW K1200S ... average MPG 50

I would say if you are doing 150 miles a day, comfort is very important, heated grip, wind protection, good riding position.

So I would choose a bike on the later and worry about MPG later

[rsv gone!]

If it was for the occasional commute then just get what you like. A consideration with sports bikes is that most have small tanks so you'll struggle to do your commute on one tank. A major faff!

If you're using it more often then 750 miles per week is going to eat consumables like tyres at quite a rate. Your Vectra WILL be cheaper to run - by some margin, I'd say.

[Graham]

supersingle said:

Ducati ST2.

Comfy and good handling bike with good economy due to desmo engine. hth.

I think Im going to look for an ST2/3/4 to go with the monster. The monster is great but occasionally I need to carry some kit about and a monster would look silly with paniers and a top box the ST stuff looks fine though. Its a pity the ST is no longer in production


cheers

Graham


Edited to say the monster (695) gets around 50, but with only the bug screen 150 each day might get a bit tiring..

Edited by Graham on Monday 15th September 09:26

[The T Boy]

G Man said:

I have a 200 mile commute which is easy on a BMW K1200S ... average MPG 50

I would say if you are doing 150 miles a day, comfort is very important, heated grip, wind protection, good riding position.

So I would choose a bike on the later and worry about MPG later

You're going to be spending a lot of time on the bike so get something comfortable and suitable for the motorway miles.

A reasonable sized sports tourer would actually be more economical than many smaller bikes at motorway cruising speeds anyway. My Sprint ST 1050 is more economical than my old SV650 purely because it doesn't have to work so hard.

[rsv gone!]

Graham said:

supersingle said:

Ducati ST2.

Comfy and good handling bike with good economy due to desmo engine. hth.

I think Im going to look for an ST2/3/4 to go with the monster. The monster is great but occasionally I need to carry some kit about and a monster would look silly with paniers and a top box the ST stuff looks fine though. Its a pity the ST is no longer in production


cheers

Graham


Edited to say the monster (695) gets around 50, but with only the bug screen 150 each day might get a bit tiring..

Edited by Graham on Monday 15th September 09:26

Make sure it is the ST3 as a minimum.

[RizzoTheRat]

Depending on your budget the new '09 XJ600 Diversion looks rather nice, massive improvement on the old Divvy.

A TDM900 will give you over 60mpg cruising on the motrway, and still be fun on the backroads. There's a lot of other all-rounders like the VFR and Sprint ST that should be fairly comfy on the motorway and still give a reasonable mpg.

Alternatively you could get something like a Dauville cheap enough that you could then get a sportier bike as well in the summer.

[black-k1]

The thing about mpg is it is so heavily influenced by how you ride. Even big engined bikes will return comparatively good mpg figures if you stick to speed limits, ensure acceleration is gentle, ensure throttle action is smooth and conserve momentum through good forward planning. The big question is why would you want a large engined bike to then ride it like a 125? What it does mean though is that bikes that ‘encourage’ you to ride fast will use more fuel, not because they are any less efficient, but because you are using the throttle more.

Aerodynamics also have a very big influence on mpg so it’s worth choosing a bike with good aerodynamics. (My old BMW K1 had the same engine frame as my previous BMW K100RS, and was actually slightly heavier, but consistently returned a good 5 to 10mpg more because of the better aerodynamics!) Human beings are not particularly aerodynamic so it is a good idea to look at bikes that that have a fairing that allows the air to flow around the rider although, big fairings have to ‘punch’ a big hole in the air and can result in more fuel usage.

As has been mentioned, comfort will also be very important and this is more likely to come from slightly larger bikes. (This applies to both physical size and engine capacity.)

While mpg is very important, with those sorts of mileages, so will tyres, chains, servicing and other consumables are you can easily save more in longer service intervals and good tyre wear than you can save from a couple of extra mpg.

[G Man]

Graham said:

supersingle said:

Ducati ST2.

Comfy and good handling bike with good economy due to desmo engine. hth.

I think Im going to look for an ST2/3/4 to go with the monster. The monster is great but occasionally I need to carry some kit about and a monster would look silly with paniers and a top box the ST stuff looks fine though. Its a pity the ST is no longer in production


cheers

Graham


Edited to say the monster (695) gets around 50, but with only the bug screen 150 each day might get a bit tiring..

Edited by Graham on Monday 15th September 09:26

I had a ST4S beautiful bike, but over geared and there is a lot of vibration

[mojitomax]

I've just bought BMW f800st. Rode to work for the first time this morning. 45miles through the city and motorway. Returned 70mpg accordin to the trip computer. Very comfy too (especially considering my last bike was an fzr600-now consigned to weekend hooligan machine)

[SplatSpeed]

big low power engines give good mpg

bmw or maybe a pan euro

[G Man]

Rach* said:

I'm a girl, I don't know how to work out MPG, but the CBR600 FV, without thrashing it, much , gives about 130 miles to a £15 tank (roughly)

I calculate you are getting just over 40 mph .... which means you have a been giving it the beans with a strong right wrist ....

[Hooli]

Rach* said:

I'm a girl, I don't know how to work out MPG, but the CBR600 FV, without thrashing it, much , gives about 130 miles to a £15 tank (roughly)

(miles devided my litres) x 4.54 = mpg.
so 130 miles on say 13.6 ltrs is 9.56 then times by 4.54 (litres in a gallon) to give 43.4mpg

id say to get good mpg on fast roads you need
a) a buddly great lump of tupperware (oops fairing)
b) reasonably good lump so its not working its arse off to do the speed you want

having said that even my gsx1400 without even a screen will do 53mpg if i stick to limits & acclerate at car speed. more like 45mpg at 100mph though