[pittdave]

After all of my work and looking for a new bike notwithstanding, i'm wondering about gas mileage
I am aware of the addage of 'increase performance = decrease gas mileage"
After adding the cruzers and rejet to 142 and the stock KN air filters. I had my first long ride since the rejet today and on the highway crusing at 75-80 mph and 5500 rpms, i noticed the mileage was horrible. Down around 28/gal. I had to fill up at 80 miles. On the ride back, it was all back roads, 55-60 mph and 4500-5000 rpm and the mileage was much better. I filled up at 95 miles, but thats because nothing else was near. I could have gone another 25-30 miles.

is this difference normal, or could I have an issue thats causing poor highway mpg

 

[slimvulcanrider]

normal

 

[pittdave]

so higher revs and cruising speed sucks down that much more gas?? geez

 

[Vulcan2000]

28 mpg is pretty low in my opinion when we only carry 3.2 gallons total. For me the increase in power is not justified in an overal evaluation because I have not heard anyone state any real super power gains with those same modifications. So far with the riding I do there has never been a situation where I felt I needed more power either for speed or just to get up a hill. Unless my riding makes some dramatic changes I guess I will leave my motor in the stock configuration. JMHO.

 

[Chris32250]

28 mpg is pretty low in my opinion when we only carry 3.2 gallons total. For me the increase in power is not justified in an overal evaluation because I have not heard anyone state any real super power gains with those same modifications. So far with the riding I do there has never been a situation where I felt I needed more power either for speed or just to get up a hill. Unless my riding makes some dramatic changes I guess I will leave my motor in the stock configuration. JMHO.

I agree.... everyone wants "more power"... And heck, I would like some to... but I don't "need" it. I like high gas millage and filling up less frequently.

 

[Deviate]

I ride my bike to work just about every day, 27 miles or so each way, depending on the route I take. Most times I take US1 which is mostly highway until I get into town. And I usually run at about 70-75mph (which is right about 4800-5000 rpm). Mix that in with some 45-55mph riding around work. I get between 48-52 mpg regularly. Now that is all stock exhaust, air filters, etc.

I'd have a hard time justifying additional power at a cost of nearly half my mpg.

 

[CW-4]

I just took my summer trip, 2300 miles and my mpg was around 48-52 running at 65 to 70 mph, got 60 mpg on a tank running with Denny at 55 mph, and one day I got 70.3 mpg when doing the hills around the Dragon at 30-45 mph, but there was a bunch miles of downhill with the clutch in too. But then again my setup is stock and I don't take off like a B.o.o.H. either.

 

[Knifemaker]

Kinda normal. 28 sounds low however.

I use to joke that if you ride going at any speed that goes over 5000 rpms you could actually watch the fuel gauge move down. Not really that much of a joke as fuel consumption goes way up there.

If you consciously try to milk it by watching your revs and not being hard on the throttle you can get some impressive mpg figures.

Doing an earshave, rejetting with BIGGER jets, yeah, mpgs will suffer. You can't have your cake and eat it too as they say.

If getting good gas mileage is your main concern, leave the bike stock and ride it like an old man......

 

[spock750]

I did a ride a couple of weeks ago in Mankato. It was a short 130 mile run but we did fill up at around 100 miles. I got 48.8 miles to the gallon and it is stock.I filled before I left to go home and then checked at the next fill. Same mileage. I'll take the nearly 50 miles to the gallon anyday. Even on my intown driving I still get around the same. The stock bike has plenty of power on it's own. If you want more, get a bigger bike. JMO

 

[shark88]

I got it down to 38 mpg once, but I was maxing out when shifting and 75 mph+ on the highway, right now I average 48.

 

[Vulcan2000]

Doing an earshave, rejetting with BIGGER jets, yeah, mpgs will suffer. You can't have your cake and eat it too as they say.

If getting good gas mileage is your main concern, leave the bike stock and ride it like an old man......

There is the possibility that you missed the point being expressed by several members here including myself. That is: to go through all those modifications for an increase in power and destroy your fuel mileage by a -40% or more does not seem to be an effective return on the time spent for modifications nor the total costs. Also comparing the power increase from the changes seems to be minimal as no one has proven any real significant increases. No one has shown the VN 750 to be greatly underpowered in its stock configuration and sustained highway cruising at 70 - 75 mph is no problem. I have not read anyone telling of uphill riding problems either. The bike is great in the stock engine setup for what it was designed for.

Now there are some that want real power and I understand that. For them I would think that a different choice in a different motorcycle would be wiser. Sport bikes and screaming crotch rockets can fill that need or even the new Boss Hoss with a 606 cubic inch V8 and two speed trans have a bit more power if there is that desire. Nitro burning setups give real power to a regular gas burner but you do not see that very often on four cylinder motors and there are reasons for that.

"You can't have your cake and eat it too as they say." I agree but if you want a sirloin steak dinner you don't go to McDonalds just because they serve beef.

"If getting good gas mileage is your main concern, leave the bike stock and ride it like an old man......" No one said it was a main concern but it is a secondary concern and when the bike can run faster than most roads in your regular riding range can handle (even above any speed limit postings) why push it beyond what you can use when you can get all you want from a different machine that has a suspension designed to handle the extra power? (I'll leave the "old man" comment alone.)

Everyone has their own opinion and that is why some still hang out here on this VN 750 forum and ride other style bikes.

JMHO

 

[kc2dgq]

Even for a modified VN750 with ear shave and aftermarket exhaust and re-jetting the carbs.....If done properly, I would think that less than 30mpg would suggest something is wrong.

Since mine is mostly stock and only coastered, I am still getting 50MPG on average....and I drive to work on the interstate doing 70-80MPH a lot of the time to keep up with traffic.

Look at your plugs....is it running rich? are the floats stuck? Is there any gas in the oil case? Un-burnt fuel in the exhaust?

I would think that you certainly should get better mileage than what you are getting now....even if you modified it properly and ride it hard.

LMHO.....

 

[slimvulcanrider]

Even for a modified VN750 with ear shave and aftermarket exhaust and re-jetting the carbs.....If done properly, I would think that less than 30mpg would suggest something is wrong.

Since mine is mostly stock and only coastered, I am still getting 50MPG on average....and I drive to work on the interstate doing 70-80MPH a lot of the time to keep up with traffic.

Look at your plugs....is it running rich? are the floats stuck? Is there any gas in the oil case? Un-burnt fuel in the exhaust?

I would think that you certainly should get better mileage than what you are getting now....even if you modified it properly and ride it hard.

LMHO.....

Coasters don't affect gas mileage as the reed valves only pump air into the exhaust to give a false O2 level in the exhaust.

I have a heavily modified Ignition and fuel system on my bike and I am averaging between 25 and 35 mpg's depending upon how much I twist the throttle. the mileage might improve after I tune my exhaust though.

 

[Knifemaker]

There is the possibility that you missed the point being expressed by several members here including myself. That is: to go through all those modifications for an increase in power and destroy your fuel mileage....... X

Everyone has their own opinion and that is why some still hang out here on this VN 750 forum and ride other style bikes.

I didn't miss the point here, and I was only responding to the OP's question, not commenting on what other members "expressed". I was attempting not to make a judgement call, just point out that mpg suffers altering the stock intake, and riding hard. Ride it like "an old man" was of course a joke, but was to show that riding the bike the opposite of hard could net a good savings in fuel.

I really don't know why one would want to alter the bike from stock myself...but it's their bike and they can do whatever they want. You are correct, the slight increase in power really is not that much.... But not everyone places importance on gas mileage anyway.

I wanted more power myself....and I solved this by buying a 145hp Sport/Touring bike and selling my Vulcan.

I've said this before and guess you just missed it....... If getting great gas mileage IS your main reason to own a bike....get a scooter. If you want to go fast.... Buy a fast bike.

From what I have seen here over the years the Vulcan seems to have become a "platform bike" that others have used to play custom bike builder with. This is pretty cool really, the amount of modifications/transformations some of the bikes here have gone through is amazing.

But yeah, if you alter the bike with bigger jets and an earshave and try riding the bike like it's a sport bike, don't be surprised it's burning more gas....

 

[Gemguy]

I have a stock 2003 with iridium plugs. I like to rev each gear and some highway and mostly around town I just filled up today and I got 45.99 mile per gallon. A little low but I know that I like to rev and downshift so that's not too bad.

It just occurred to me that maybe she's starving for air and you should check your air filters.

 

[new rider 9984]

personally as long as im getting 25 plus on average and i got the wind in my face im frickn happy as hell cause it beats riding in a 15 to the gallon cage with no a/c and a crappy radio

 

[new rider 9984]

and i have an idea on the fuel issue as well it wont increase your millage but it will increase your range its really simple thing to do get a bigger tank

 

[mjohnson7633]

just made 700mi trip with my vulcan, 70-80mph and averaged 36mpg. have new filters for return trip and gonna try to keep it under or at 5k and try to get into the 40's. i can baby my kz and best i've done is 29mpg. but it's not stock and wicked fast. but both are still better than my 15mpg superduty.

 

[romeobravo172]

To me 36 seems to be low, I average 47, but I'm not a hard rider. There can be a lot of variations involved here, flat ground, hills ect,ect---

 

[Knifemaker]

To me 36 seems to be low, I average 47, but I'm not a hard rider. There can be a lot of variations involved here, flat ground, hills ect,ect---

And that's all there is to it. You can't figure a fair MPG figure on just one tank of gas....or two. You need to track fuel consumption over at least a month of riding or 5-600 miles...over diffrent terrains and diffrent conditions. That's why the call it "estimated average fuel consumption" I can go out on my "145hp 1300" and get 44 mpg if I try.....or..... I can get 32 mpg pretty easy too.

I can go out next week and try the same thing over the same course....and come up with diffrent numbers. So going by one ride, of one (small) tank is not a fair measure of ones MPG average.