2013 RT limited Gas Milage

[Commander]

A friend of mine is a Harley rider and he uses an additive that reduces/eliminates the ethanol every time he fills his tank. He says that he gets better mpg by doing this. Is there anything that can be used t get better mpg in the spyder?

[Bob Denman]

Yup... A lighter grip on the loud lever! :D
Seriously; snake oil has been around since they figured out how to sell it. Without having actual data to prove anything... :dontknow:

[Chupaca]

those additives help the engine more than anything. Better gas mileage will be in your ryding style and all the other variables involved. Some brands of gasoline seem to give better mileage as well as some additives but in the end it will be tied to where and when you used it. I gave up on that search with a low 27 mpg and a high 40 mpg and now just fill her up when the light comes on and just enjoy the ryde...:ohyea::ohyea:

[jcthorne]

Every time I fill up the Spyder, I think how much cheaper it is to fill than my pickup....and how much more fun I had using that fuel.

[Bob Denman]

Amen; Brother! :D :thumbup:

[jaherbst]

Yup... A lighter grip on the loud lever! :D
Seriously; snake oil has been around since they figured out how to sell it. Without having actual data to prove anything... :dontknow:

Kind of like all the weight loss ads.

Jack

[SPYD1]

Every time I fill up the Spyder, I think how much cheaper it is to fill than my pickup....and how much more fun I had using that fuel.

Same reasoning here...

[jcthorne]

Then my wife reminds me that her Escape gets better fuel mileage than the spyder and runs on regular....still nowhere near the smiles per gallon.

[Woodsrider]

There are additives (like the one from Stabil) that will protect the fuel system from the effects of ethanol, but they don't claim to help MPG. That's likely a good guide between a snake oil company and a reputable one :). I have classic cars and two stroke boats/sea doos that can't use even e10, if I get stuck having to buy that stuff, I use the Stabil.

My spyder has a little over 1k miles from me now, all on no-eth, and it runs about 30mpgs, give or take a little, which is within the range others have reported.

It gets better mpgs than most of my toys do, and is a helluva lot more fun.

[Bob Denman]

Then my wife reminds me that her Escape gets better fuel mileage than the spyder and runs on regular....still nowhere near the smiles per gallon.
:D Your best answer for that: "That may be true; but it's only an Escape!" :roflblack:


Sonny-Boy lays that one on me about once a Month; his Fiesta gets phenomenal fuel mileage... but absolutely no smiles per gallon! :thumbup:

[DJFaninTN]

most likely his harley stays in the garage more than on the road :roflblack:

one thing that gave me better mileage was ethanol free gas. saw a nice increase when on a recent road trip.

[Bob Denman]

I had a chance to try some Ethanol-free fuel at SpyderFest last year... :agree: It definitely helped with the fuel mileage numbers! :2thumbs:

[Magdave]

Use pure gas

http://pure-gas.org/

You will get 1 or 2 mpg better maybe more. Ethanol is not as energy rich as pure gas which is why cars that use E85 get less MPG.:thumbup:

[Bob Denman]

He lives in New Jersey; I didn't see any non-ehtanol for sale at all! :gaah:
Which is surprising. It's usually available around places where marine powersports are popular

[jaherbst]

most likely his harley stays in the garage more than on the road :roflblack:

one thing that gave me better mileage was ethanol free gas. saw a nice increase when on a recent road trip.

FYI My Harley Ultra gets 46MPG, BMW's 50 and 60 MPG on my WR250R. Don't knock Harleys. They are a great machine. Once they became company owned and away from AMF they could compete with anything. Out of the 125+ motorcycles I have owned over the last 62 years of riding, the Harleys were the most comfortable on the freeway. Rice brands were the most reliable and Euro brands most cantankerous and unreliable.

Jack

[Bob Denman]

Question about your Harley: I was speaking with a dealer about some of his used bikes. He mentioned that a non-abused Big Twin usually needs to have the top-end freshened up a bit after about 35,000 miles or so. Have you found that to be true?

[Gray Ghost]

On this trip I have been computing the mpg at most fill-ups. We have used E-10 and pure gas, been in the Mojave and now the chill northwest. I have noticed that pure gas does give better mpg, but the biggest changes I have seen (2013 RT-LTD) is between the Mojave and the northwest. I got as low as 20 mpg in the desert, today I got a tank to go 31 mpg. Now in the desert at one point the temp shown on the display was 127 (threw codes twice upon trying to start back up after sitting for just a little bit) and today the highest temp shown was 60 (during the middle of a stretch).

My conclusion is that ethanol free gas would help, but until most of my gas stops going out the vent, my mpg is gonna suck. Gonna have to seriously look at eliminating the airbox when we get back.

[Woodsrider]

Question about your Harley: I was speaking with a dealer about some of his used bikes. He mentioned that a non-abused Big Twin usually needs to have the top-end freshened up a bit after about 35,000 miles or so. Have you found that to be true?

I can answer about mine...I traded my 07 ultra classic at right near 50k miles and it didn't use a drop of oil and compression was the same as when I tested at 3k miles. Started running full synth in all three holes at 3k miles and never had a lick of trouble out of that machine, i just started a path to lighter and lighter bikes till finally I'm on a spyder.

I dunno what people might do to one to need a top end rebuild at 35k. Maybe pee in the crankcase....