Chaharly Posted March 23, 2017 #1 Posted March 23, 2017 Hey guys! I was so proud of the ol' girl I just had to say something!!! Monday was about 60, so I decided to take the Venture out for a ride up to the river and just do some general cruising. The wind was blowing hard, as it frequently does in Nebraska, so I decided to see what I could get for max mileage if I went about 63 on the speedometer instead of my usual 68. I rode it in fifth while heading west toward Plainview, but after I went north into those +25mph winds I decided to leave her in fourth and continue doing 63. I rode about 70 miles straight into that wind and also through some pretty steep river hills and then had about 45 miles of the wind to my back on the way home. Now my fuel light usually comes on at about 142 miles. It didn't come on until I had 155.5 miles on the tank and when I filled it up I got 40.8 miles to the gallon. Talk about impressed man, I've only ever gotten mileage like that on this bike in California where the speed limit was mostly 55. I never realized how, on a bike that was designed to ride at 55 mph, how much that extra 10mph can really kill the fuel economy! I also on that same tank of fuel did some in town riding, as I was gonna stop to say hi to my dad who was on patrol that day, but couldn't find him and then around another small town looking for a place to pee
snyper316 Posted March 24, 2017 #2 Posted March 24, 2017 Wait, so your telling me I need to slow down in order to get good gas mileage? I always find myself creeping up to 70+, I only put into 5th when I hit about 65. I have only seen about 34mpg on a nice calm day, I guess I will try it at 55mph next time but I bet I can't drive 55:guitarist 2:
BlueSky Posted March 24, 2017 #3 Posted March 24, 2017 Happy to hear your 88 Venture is treating you well!
revks Posted March 24, 2017 #4 Posted March 24, 2017 If I watch my speed I can get around 38mpg but the darn thing wants to run 70mph all the time and when I'm not lookin it jumps up to 80 or more. I may have to put a throttle block on it or a brace on my right hand to keep it from twisting the grip so far.
snyper316 Posted March 24, 2017 #5 Posted March 24, 2017 You and me both on non windy days here that is real easy to do, most the time till about mid July it is windy as heck... which from right now till then is Peak Tornado season due to all the winds getting all jumbled up and blowing up, blowing the caps of the supercells. yep it gets crazy around here..
CaseyJ955 Posted March 24, 2017 #6 Posted March 24, 2017 It makes sense to me. I think at around 4000 rpm the the bike starts to lift the needle out of the emulsion tube, the more RPM and engine load and the more needle. If I get a cruising speed that keeps out of the needle I get much better MPG and I know at 55-60 I did great where 80-ish was not so good. Now that I have reworked the carbs I'm hoping for better but even on the Vmax which is very carefuly tuned on the lean side it gets notably worse MPG at 75+ than at any other speed.
snyper316 Posted March 24, 2017 #7 Posted March 24, 2017 55 your at about 3300 rpms if I remember correctly.... I could be off. I usually see about 4000 grand before I shift to 5th...
Chaharly Posted March 24, 2017 Author #8 Posted March 24, 2017 Wait, so your telling me I need to slow down in order to get good gas mileage? I always find myself creeping up to 70+, I only put into 5th when I hit about 65. I have only seen about 34mpg on a nice calm day, I guess I will try it at 55mph next time but I bet I can't drive 55:guitarist 2: 55 should be classified as legal torture! I set it at about 63 which I think is right at 60. Agree that its sure as hell too slow for me too! I just wanted to see the numbers I could pull lol
Chaharly Posted March 24, 2017 Author #9 Posted March 24, 2017 55 your at about 3300 rpms if I remember correctly.... I could be off. I usually see about 4000 grand before I shift to 5th... 55 in 5th on it is right at 3000rpms, if you follow the speedometer. I know that mc speedos are a little off. I don't shift until at least 42 hundred, but I could see being at 55 in 5th on the speedo on a mostly flat road you could pull 42, just because there's not a lot of wind resistance. But I never ride that slow I usually do about 68
snyper316 Posted March 24, 2017 #10 Posted March 24, 2017 Don't know I don't shift to 5th at 55 maybe 60 but better be good road... Living life one curve after the other. Vroom scooting, thru the countryside.
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