Gas Mileage

R12C-R18TC said:
Quote: "The identical bike can have identical accelerations but different fuel consumption depending on how it is ridden."

When a certain mass (motorcycle) is accelerating in an inertial frame of reference, the energy expended is the same whether it be an electric vehicle or piston powered. The only variable related to mpg is choice of diesel, ethyl alcohol, etc. Nature can't be tricked into providing extra acceleration for free.
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Nature can most certainly be coaxed into providing less acceleration of the bike for a given fuel energy input. The most simple case is if you are riding your brake. You can compensate for that by adding extra throttle to get the same acceleration. Operating at a less than optimal place on the torque curve (trying to accelerate in 6th while going 30mph as an example) results in the same thing. More throttle required to produce the requested torque at the wheel. Since f=ma and energy in joules is newton-meters, sure...energy at the rear wheel for a given acceleration is fixed. That's a tautology. But fuel consumption is a function (among other things) of how efficient the fuel energy is converted into mechanical motion at the rear wheel. And that is a function, among other things, of how the bike is operated. You will never get near 1-1 energy transfer from fuel to motion, so you're not cheating nature. Another way to look at it is to consider the fuel required to maintain a fixed speed on the highway. In that case, net acceleration is zero in both cases, but fuel consumption isn't the same if you are using 4th gear or 6th gear.
 
I manage around 50 mpg, but this requires a bit of freeway travel to the dealer, all in town and I get 45+ just do not run the crap out of your bike, it is Heavy...
 
The sound of the motor during spirited acceleration can be addictive but has the downside to make your economy worse. When I first got my R18, I was around 40 MPG because of this.

I still ride it spirited, but as I’ve found the handling edge, I carry more speed into corners so I don’t need to accelerate as much out of them. I’m now averaging about 44MPG.

If it’s just riding highway with steady speed around 60, I can get 50 MPG indicated. But I find highway riding a snooze fest, so I mostly stick to back roads and enjoy the sound of the motor accelerating on every corner. I’m fine with losing 6 MPG for the more fun ride.
 
I was reminded a day or two ago that the snadder sound from the stock pipes is quite good during hard pull accelerations. BMW did a good job with this.
 
nielsm said:
The sound of the motor during spirited acceleration can be addictive but has the downside to make your economy worse. When I first got my R18, I was around 40 MPG because of this.

I still ride it spirited, but as I’ve found the handling edge, I carry more speed into corners so I don’t need to accelerate as much out of them. I’m now averaging about 44MPG.

If it’s just riding highway with steady speed around 60, I can get 50 MPG indicated. But I find highway riding a snooze fest, so I mostly stick to back roads and enjoy the sound of the motor accelerating on every corner. I’m fine with losing 6 MPG for the more fun ride.
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Ride it to put a smile on your face you can't go wrong !! !
 
Calboy said:
I never got 40mpg or above, so I have a question for the ones that do.
Do you guys stay in the power band most of the time and never short shift, or do you actually ride this bike as if it had a 300cc engine and ride it with the mind of a 85 year old rider?
What's the secret of your spectacular mpg?
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What sort of gallons you are using makes a difference and overlooking that factor causes confusion. Imperial and US gallons being very different capacities. As a general rule higher octane and less ethanol improve mpg . How the throttle is used is a personal factor.
 
I took a 2022 R18-B for a test ride from Sturgis PowerSport BMW up to Deadwood, SD and back..... here's the details. The bike had 83 miles on it when i returned it.

Revved it up to 3500 hard going up hill 4 times, the rest, all shifts 2300- 2600, with most getting me at 1900 to 2000 on the next gear. Lots of 4th ,5 th and 6th gear. I'd say the bike really doesn't like 6th gear at 55 mph indicated, 60 is probably better.

I currently own a 2018 Sport Glide with the 107 CI motor, stock. I rode this pretty much the same as I do my 696# Sport Glide. The bike is significantly and noticeably heavier during slow speed maneuvering in parking lots. Center of gravity is also, way, way, way lower than the HD... But in CA, where I live, Lane Filtering is legal and would be a lot more hairy to do than on my Sport Glide, due to those big jugs jutting out to the sides, taking up clearance.



R18mpg1.jpgI
 
Deleted member 939 said:
The speedo on the R18 is happy,+4mph.
If you really want to verify gas mileage use a gps to get a correct miles traveled and divide by gallons used.
Mileage will improve with break-in.My guess is the bike isn't fully broke in till around15- 20,000.
I'm knockin on 15 and she seems to be gettin there with a bit more power and exhaust note.
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Actual miles vs odometer, verified with GPS, is .0223 less than odometer on bike.
 
2021 Classic FE rode from Tampa to Sturgis and back, that being 2k reach way and adding 1k on the odometer while there, that's 5k total. Before I left I received all bmw updates available. My average mpg was 44. Was 38 before that upgrade.
 
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