MPG With Your Drifter 800/1500 ?

[1999 Drifter]

Just did readings today for the last month of riding my 1999 drifter 800 debaffled, no EPA,
53mpg highway
51 in city
Thats Imperial gallons,   1 us gal  =  .83 imp gal

[chief]

LOL... so that would be about 46 mpg...

sounds reasonable.

[Homey237]

OK, everybody point their finger at the "dope" (that would be me) on my claim of 75mpg on my Drifter 800.

Once again my "metric challenged" U.S. brain failed to recognize that my "odometer" on my Canadian made Drifter with my Canadian made speedometer (kph) is in "killometers" not miles.  That gave me the high mpg's on my calculations.

A thousand lashes with a Canadian (metric) wet noodle.  I gotta give serious thought to changing my "meter" to a U.S. model.

Now................I need a nap.     

[chief]

MPG can be an indicator of the health of the bike... Plus, old habits are hard to break. I rode too many years on bikes without gages where you had to look at the odometer to determine if you needed to stop for fuel.

I'm in the habit of writing the mileage on the fuel receipts (partially a bike thing, partially an expense account thing). I don't actually calculate the mpg often anymore, but I do on occasion and I have a bunch of receipts to do it with!

[ski.dive]

I don't pay attention to mpg.
The Drifter is not a Prius, it's a toy...LOL

[Nunk]

47 mpg.  Only aftermarket part is Vance and Hines Longshots. 

[JHoffman]

good thing to know, considering I'm planning to switch to aftermarket pipes shortly

[chief]

I recommend coasters and plugs personally... no marbles for me.  Not gonna use my favorite cat eye on the bike... <g>

Any of you guys ever play marbles - I mean really play marbles when you were kids? (circle, win/lose etc)

[pcarrell]

what do you guys mean when you say "marbled"?

It's a fancy way of saying that we disabled the reed valves.  We do it when we swap to aftermarket pipes.  It eliminates popping and backfires that the stock exhaust masks.  It's easy to do, and it works well.  You can read about it here" http://www.gadgetjq.com/smogstuffremove.htm

[JHoffman]

I have a 1500 and if I ride 50/50 city and country (60mph or so tops), I get around 45-47mpg.  If I run 80mph up on the hiway, the mpg drops pretty dramatically down to 33-35mpg.  My engine is basically stock, with only V&H longshots and it's been marbled.

what do you guys mean when you say "marbled"?

[chief]

Mods, terrain, driving style, loading are amongst the many things that can impact mpg/kpg. I have an instantaneous MPG indicator on my truck... I have seen it jump from 4mpg to 114mpg in minutes based upon what I was doing (making it a pointless display btw).

The truck also has an average mpg display. If I reset it, it displays silly numbers, but over a period of time the displayed mpg is almost always within the same range.

[drifter1946]

It depends on it like one goes. I use 5-6 litres by 100 km, the maximum Distance 250 km. (800)

[funkeydragon]

With my 800  I average 45 mpg which is consider good and BELIEVABLE ! I have a mild cam , stage 1 kit , debaffled stock exhaust. and a K & N air filter. I get about 42 doing 70 +. about 46 doing 55. My Honda 400 gets about 52 mpg.

With mine everything stock I get about 200 km with a tank wich is about 125 miles if my calculation is correct.
How does it sound with the debaffled stock exhaust? I am considering doing it.

[Homey237]

I agree, Chief, but I think I do a pretty good job of trying to do a fair and impartial evaluation.  I do it mostly for fun, of course, but as I go along I'm gonna have to start documenting this so I have something to look at 3 months down the road.

But what if..............?

[chief]

75mpg is very dubious. You need to be careful with your recording and measure over a longer period/#tanks to get a true number.

[bubbabland]

Mid 40's with a 2002 800...aftermarket longshot pipes and rejetted carb.

[pcarrell]

I have a 1500 and if I ride 50/50 city and country (60mph or so tops), I get around 45-47mpg.  If I run 80mph up on the hiway, the mpg drops pretty dramatically down to 33-35mpg.  My engine is basically stock, with only V&H longshots and it's been marbled. 

[Slick]

 With my 800  I average 45 mpg which is consider good and BELIEVABLE ! I have a mild cam , stage 1 kit , debaffled stock exhaust. and a K & N air filter. I get about 42 doing 70 +. about 46 doing 55. My Honda 400 gets about 52 mpg.

[1SG CAV]

I'm getting about 12 miles to the Gallon in my 1500. Let me explain why. My ride has a (%$#^#%#$#) hyper-charger on it, instead of the standard air intake system. I hope to have the MPG increased when I get it Dyno'd. I also have a power commander on my ride. With these two added after market devices, my ride runs like @$#*, but it runs so I ride. You can smell the gas flumes two car lengths behind me . I really am praying that getting it dyno'd helps. So for now I'll live with 12mpg.

[Homey237]

I've only owned my 1999 (Canadian made) Drifter 800 for about 2 months now and I've been extremely surprised and pleased with the MPG (miles per gallon) that I'm getting with a cycle of this size.

For the past three (3) tankfuls of gas I have been monitoring my fuel useage.  The first time I calculated 65mpg.  My best guess is that this would have been 50/50 city/hwy miles, but I'm not really sure.  The second time I did it it came out to 67mpg.  Today, I filled the tank with 1.2 gallons and went 90 miles.  That comes out to 75mpg !

Is this what I should normally expect to get or am I dreaming ?  My son has a Honda 750 and is averaging maybe 55mpg.

Can anyone explain this phenomenon ?     I'd like to hear from all Drifter owners as to what mpg they are getting and be sure to put your engine size next to your results.