Gas Mileage

So my new to me 2009 FZ1 is getting less than expected gas mileage. I haven't kept a super strict log, but has been averaging in high 20's and today was 22mpg!! Everything I'm reading shows most are averaging somewhere in the mid 30's to low 40's depending on type of riding.

SO, couple of things I am going to check tonight:

Front Sprocket - owner didn't say he had replaced, but the speedo seems like it "might" be off a bit as well so I'm suspicious. How much does a front or rear sprocket change typically affect fuel mileage? I say the speedo might be off just judging by in-town traffic around me..haven't had a chance to really test this yet.

Air Pressure - checked this morning, everything was pretty close - rear was about 4-5 lb low so I corrected that. Again, not sure this is enough to account for all that much fuel mileage


Note: This most recent mileage was all in-town city driving. All at 60 mph and below - mostly at 50 and below. Mostly in 3rd gear or below - ALOT in 2nd gear.

What are your thoughts? Am I missing something to check? The engine seems to run fine - nice and strong - no apparent hicups. Just replaced oil (Mobil 1) and air filter (KN).

What kind of riding you doing? Are you always up in the powerband or do you allow the motor to cruise on occasion?

I have a 2003 Gen 1 FZ1 and I got 40mpg on my last tank, sometimes I can get as much as 44mpg. At 80mph my tach is showing just over 5k rpm.

Firstly, welcome to the site.

That sounds pretty bad especially if you aren't flogging the bike.

When you fill up allow fuel to just touch the bottom of the fuel tank baffle then slowly put another litre of fuel in to make sure the tank is full.

Then fill up a few times like this and take an average.

On a stock bike you should be getting around 35 average US MPG, 40+ MPG when cruising on the hwy and <30 MPG giving it some stick.

Definitely correct the speedo as this make your MPG calculations much more accurate.

My own modified bike uses around 32 MPG when riding around town and around 35 MPG with a combination of highways and twisty riding.

ballmead said:

Firstly, welcome to the site.

That sounds pretty bad especially if you aren't flogging the bike.

When you fill up allow fuel to just touch the bottom of the fuel tank baffle then slowly put another litre of fuel in to make sure the tank is full.

Then fill up a few times like this and take an average.

On a stock bike you should be getting around 35 average US MPG, 40+ MPG when cruising on the hwy and <30 MPG giving it some stick.

Definitely correct the speedo as this make your MPG calculations much more accurate.

My own modified bike uses around 32 MPG when riding around town and around 35 MPG with a combination of highways and twisty riding.

Click to expand...

Does the speedo being off affect the trip meter which is what I'm using to calculate mileage

I plan to check the speedo tonight

For fuel mileage you may want to run in a higher gear. My bike is turning 4000 at 60 mph and isn't lugging at all. I usually get around 44 mpg. The fuel mileage is mostly affected (cars, trucks, motorcycles) by hard acceleration, going fast and braking late and idling. It is surprising how high the fuel mileage can be when you are cruising at a constant speed. YMMV

xdjosh1980 said:

Does the speedo being off affect the trip meter which is what I'm using to calculate mileage

I plan to check the speedo tonight

Click to expand...

Yes it does as they work in conjunction with each other. Generally speaking , if the Speedo is off so is the odometer.

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ballmead said:

Yes it does as they work in conjunction with each other. Generally speaking , if the Speedo is off so is the odometer.

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Click to expand...

But you would need to check it. I have seen bikes that the speedometers all read differently but the odometers were surprisingly close.

smittynsc said:

But you would need to check it. I have seen bikes that the speedometers all read differently but the odometers were surprisingly close.

Click to expand...

This is what I've found with my last 4 bikes when verifying on GPS. It makes sense why they'd do that, I suppose.

smittynsc said:

But you would need to check it. I have seen bikes that the speedometers all read differently but the odometers were surprisingly close.

Click to expand...

My 2012's speedo was off by 8% but the odo was almost spot on according to my GPS receiver. I installed a SpeedoRD and corrected the speedo but now the odo is 5% off (reads lower).

I use the GPS mileage logger to calculate my fuel consumption (stock FZ-1). In town/city it varies from 28 to 35 mpg. Straight highway at 75 mph about 42 to 46 mpg depending on wind direction.

You guys are reporting stock bikes odometers. Things change once you change the gearing. Most stock bikes will read high for speed but the odometer will be fairly accurate. Once you change gearing, everything changes.


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On a bog stock bike I'm averaging 38 mpg (so far), the only commuting I do is to and from the hills for rides with varied riding, slow windy stuff to some er faster runs
I fill up before every ride and take the readings.

Don't bother calculating mileage when it's all in town riding. Every vehicle sucks in the city. Go for a highway run and check your mileage there. Pretty much all the mileage figures that guys are posting will be highway mileage.