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MPG or lack there of?

D

dhomas19909939

Guest
Guest
Ouch after doing the math I'm getting about 26 mpg avg. Full disclosure I ride in the city and I tend to give her the beans ( stop light bandit). I also checked my tire pressure both at 24psi , no brake drag or anything. Is it even possible my fuel consumption could be this low from low tires pressure and a very itchy throttle hand? Or something else wrong?
 
Probably a combination of things. 24 lbs is quite low for tire pressure. IIRC it's 36 front and 41rear. Not saying you have to run max pressure, but I would think you'd want to bump up the pressure. Air filter could be due for cleaning or replacement. Plugs could be due as well. Don't know that valves being out of adjustment would affect mpg, but unless you know they have been adjusted at some point, it's a good thing to do in general. An itchy throttle hand will hurt fuel consumption to be sure. That's the simple stuff. Others should be along shortly.
 
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26 MPG is very poor mileage for a C-10. Something is not right. Can the enricher be stuck on ... linkage broken?
 
Would need to see and hear it run but get those tires up to pressure first thing before mileage is the least of your troubles .
 
Thanks for the replies ya brand new air filter 3 months ago, idle set right at about 1000 , had the carbs sent to Steve In Florida 5 months ago for the spa treatment. This issue predates anything Steve did so doubt it's the carbs. Guess I'll look into the possible stuck chock, as well as spark plugs, and then if both those don't fix it then checking the valves (kinda been putting that off). Fyi bike got 44k on her.
 
The tire pressure is working against you. The riding condition of stoplight to stoplight, coupled with some "enjoyment" on take of is really working against you. Bring the tire pressure up to 40 - 42. Ease up on the jackrabbit starts. Still, I don't think you'll do much better than 30.
Riding in town is a mpg killer on your car, bike, whatever. You need to use alot of energy to get the weight moving. Maintaining that momentum uses much less energy, and that's where the better mpg comes from. It appears you aren't getting to that level of cruising in your daily usage. That said, even with everything right...expect poor mileage assuming you ride in the same conditions. If the ambient temps are low, that's another ding against economical riding.
Steve
 
Whelp, I wouldn't of guessed it. but I ran a experiment today took a 90 mile highway trip to pick up my son for the weekend , aired up the tires to 38psi each and really tried to (grandma it) to rule out my riding habits as a possible reason. very easy on the throttle 70mph max, got home did the math at the gas station and was shocked to learn id achieved about 50.5 mpg even accounting for a discrepancy between fill ups of lets say at worst 47ish actual mpg, and that (2 up) half way . i would of never thought some low tire pressure and "stop light drag racing" could have that much of effect. also ive been riding all winter frequently in the 30degree range, as Steve mentioned that's another factor working against me I didn't anticipate. well good to know for any future guys complaining about mpg.
 
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Was it the Carter administration that ran all the air up your tires ads on TV back in the 70's?
 
Steve in sunny Fla said:
The tire pressure is working against you. The riding condition of stoplight to stoplight, coupled with some "enjoyment" on take of is really working against you. Bring the tire pressure up to 40 - 42. Ease up on the jackrabbit starts. Still, I don't think you'll do much better than 30.
Riding in town is a mpg killer on your car, bike, whatever. You need to use alot of energy to get the weight moving. Maintaining that momentum uses much less energy, and that's where the better mpg comes from. It appears you aren't getting to that level of cruising in your daily usage. That said, even with everything right...expect poor mileage assuming you ride in the same conditions. If the ambient temps are low, that's another ding against economical riding.
Steve
Click to expand...
Agree with Steve but adding another item that seriously affects city riding/mileage.

ie; If your only doing City driving, you not getting many miles each day.
So, "each day" the bike probably idles a to warm up, and/or {because the engine's cold} you're using a lot of choke/enrichiner at the start of your rides.

Ride safe, Ted
 
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