Some of My Worst Gas Mileage Today

[donaldcc]

  Changed oil and plugs in my '97 Tourer (all black) a few days ago so wanted to get out in the wind and see how she was running.  Went down through Glamis Sand Dunes southeast of the Salton Sea in southern California at the border with Arizona and Baja California del Norte, Mexico.  The field is approximately 45 miles long by 6 miles wide and extends along a northwest-southeast line that correlates to the prevailing northerly and westerly wind directions.  







 After passing through the dunes I headed south on a 2 lane road with no traffic along the edge of mtns.  Rode just over 300 mi about 1/2 on 2 lane desert roads and the other 1/2 on 4 lanes.  80-90 mph most of the day with no traffic and weather in the low 70's.



Down to Calexico, right across the Mexican border from Mexicali.  Then back up the other side of Salton Sea and home.  Spark plugs seem to be working fine.  with the '97 I normally get 30-32 mpg.  Today at speed it was about 25 mpg.  Oh well, I did get some wind.    Only saw one Highway Patrol and he wasn't looking at me.    Nice day to be out riding.  

[Serk]

Once in west Texas in a hard headwind keeping the speed above the ton mark I worked it out that I was getting around 16 MPG...

25? I get that one a GOOD day! But then again, no one's ever accused me of being a slow rider either...

There's so much to dislike about California, it's nice to see some of the NICE parts of that place!

[Bama Red]

I've also been getting 32-33 MPG on my new Valk for the past two weeks. I'll take it.

[solo1]

In 13 years of ownership, my Valk averaged 32 mpg.  When I installed the sidecar it dropped down to 25.  The only way that I got good mileage was to lie about it.

The Valk more than made up for the low gas mileage in many ways.

My Vstrom gets about 40 mpg but it's not the Valk in many ways.

[Tropic traveler]

Just like Solo1 I have averaged about 30-32 mpg on my '97. Kim's '98 & the '99 seem to do a few mpg better. Speeds above 70 or a headwind really kill the mpg. We got about 25-27 mpg on a trip to the Keys a few years back doing 65-70 with a strong southerly wind working against us. Same ride later in the day the mpg returned to the normal 30-32 when we got onto the Keys, both the winds & the speeds went down.
Aerodynamics must play a big role in motorcycle mpg. City mpg is often better than highway mpg in my experiences.   

[Whooray]

The reserve tank for the saddle bag. Is that just a small gas container? Just asking.

[Momz]

You guys should come to IZXI and do my "Mileage Challenge Tour".
I bet you can get better mileage than you'd expect, and still have a sporting time doing it.

[John Schmidt]

Geez, if I was only getting 30-32mpg I'd be pulling mine apart to figure out what's wrong. Within the last month, I rode 140 miles to meet up with other Fla. Valk riders for a BBQ at a favorite spot of ours. On the t'pike and interstate, running 75 most of the time and fighting a gusty headwind, I still hit 35mpg at fillup. That's with a HD fairing, radiator pods, and my size 12's hanging out in the windstream and me 30 lbs. overweight in the saddle.

[ricoman]

If I could get 30 as an average I'd dance in the street.
Two Valks, 1st-never over 30; 2nd-ditto.
Carbs done, synched, etc., etc. on both-never above 30.
When I hear 40+ I gotta think it's half downhill running. I have never met a Valk owner who got better than 35.

[Tundra]

Geez, if I was only getting 30-32mpg I'd be pulling mine apart to figure out what's wrong. Within the last month, I rode 140 miles to meet up with other Fla. Valk riders for a BBQ at a favorite spot of ours. On the t'pike and interstate, running 75 most of the time and fighting a gusty headwind, I still hit 35mpg at fillup. That's with a HD fairing, radiator pods, and my size 12's hanging out in the windstream and me 30 lbs. overweight in the saddle.

I have to agree with John. When I'm horsing around with the boys I get 29mpg-32mpg. Other than that I'm 36mpg-40mpg. I've done allot of adjusting over the years, now It runs good and I leave it alone. When I bought that pilot tool, I'd play with it all the time. Now I just want to ride it and NOT work on it.
  I know several with the '97 models, they seem to get less in the milage department ???

[art]

Hey Don nice to see your still riding I don't get too much these days .It is either raining ,snowing or the temp is around 30%. I don't remember when I last put gas in my valk .It must have been about three weeks ago.I am getting to the point of just putting all of my warm clothes on an taking it out for a ten mile ride.My trip to socal in Oct was a tought ride with the fog ,cold an rainy weather.It got nice in the Ca.desert into Az. but got cold in the owens valley going home to Or.maybe next year I'll have better luck.Art

[solo1]

You guys should come to IZXI and do my "Mileage Challenge Tour".
I bet you can get better mileage than you'd expect, and still have a sporting time doing it.

Monz I no longer have the '97 Valk but trying to squeeze mileage out of the Valk by feathering the throttle and not enjoying the power is not what i bought it for originally.  The ST1100 that i traded for it got 50mpg but I enjoyed the Valk more.

My current ride, the Vstrom 1000 gets better mileage than the Valk did and i can push the Strom but I enjoyed the Valk more.  My old Matchless got 60mpg but I didn't enjoy it like the Valk either.

I don't see the point?

[Michael K (Az.)]

114,000+ miles on my '97 Red&White, I get 29 - 32. Probably get better mileage if I got out and pushed but I think not.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

The pics are great. I've gotten as low as 25mpg and as high as 38mpg on my 97.