Gas mileage comparasion Venture vs RSTD

[Wade 2000]

I ride a lot with 2 RSTD's, one guy gets 45mpg and the other riding 2up gets 42mpg consistently. I have a RSV and 2up I get 42mpg as long as its under 75mph. We all run pretty close mgs's if we are riding solo. Same tire pressures, same suspension pressure, the only difference being body weight and wind resistance with the RSV faring. So I loose..... 1/10 of a gallon per fill up at 150 miles but I have a radio. So do I really loose??? Plus I have an extra gallon of go juice so maybe I win.

I check mileage at every fill up. And yes I do the math so this analysis is based on 3 bikes at at least 20,000 miles all on the same roads, at the same speed, with the same wind, hills, speed limit ect.....

[Blinker]

The one thing that effects MPG more than anything else is wind resistance. Remember 'Resistence is Futile'... I don't care which bike your riding. Do 80mph in fifth gear and you'll loose 20% to 25% in engine effiency unless you have a 65mph tailwind. We've discussed this in the past, but maybe it's time to bring it up again. Fifth gear is fine for covering long distances at 75 in comfort, but don't expect to get max mpg on much over 65. Case in point. I own both 1st and 2ndGen's. With my '83 I used to get 36-38mpg around town. On my first trip of any distance, using the lower gears a lot thru the Sierras, I was surprised when I filled up to get 50mpg. I thought it was a fluke, but surprisingly others also experienced the mpg jump. Ever since, when traveling in a majority of twisties the same thing happened. 2nd-3rd-and 4th gear once in a while, engine braking into a curve and powering out, and 50mpg. On the flats 37-38. I didn't own a 2ndGen yet, but when I did buy one, the milage suffered when running on the slab, and when pulling a trailer to Cody I was lucky to get 25-26mpg. Damn!! But when I took a 160 mile ride without the trailer up to Shell Falls south east of Cody, we topped off at a station in Greybull. Up to the falls and back in twisties. Topped off again in Greybull and low and behold the bike pulled 40mpg. Same type of high mpg riding. 2nd-3rd, and 4th maybe.

 

I might also add that pulling I-80 thru the Sierras I ran in 4th gear, and 5th the rest of the way. No difference in fuel milage. It was strictly the trailer and the added wind resistence.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it....

 

Resistance is NOT futile....It's Voltage divided by Current! BTW...06 RSTD consistent 40-42 mpg two lane country road....K&N air filters and Bubs 2-1 exhaust.

[djh3]

My RSV was pretty much in the low mid 30's. Back when I posted in May there 33-35 seemed to be avg for 65-70 and 32 anything over that. I since got a carb sync and it helped a little, maybe 2mpg across board. Now a friend of mine has told me thre may be some truth to the higher grade gas better milage thing to some extent. The higher the octane say the 93 the less ethanol in it. So I dunno May try it this weekend. May be just an old wise tale.

[RandyR]

My RSV got 42-43 mpg running at 65mph on mostly level ground. That's using regular gas, whatever was cheapest that I could find (better than the 85 octane stuff). ditto for my 2008 RSTD (maybe gets 1/2 mpg less than my RSV).

[rougeray]

In reference to having a vibration at 70 or below in 5th gear bear in mind that the speedo is off by 5-6 mph. You are actually only doing 65. I never run below 70 in 5th gear. When merging with traffic on the interstate I'll typical run up to 80 or 85 before shifting. Sometimes even higher depending on the traffic.