Anybody see a measurable change in fuel mileage with larger diameter rear tire?

[Snoking1127]

What diameter tire would I need on my 2010 to hit 40 mpg? Getting 27mpg now....

I tow strap off the front to a 4 wheeler!!!

 

[racoon]

I have been thinking about this, and think I found a way to get close to 40 mpg.

I have a 2023 Honda Ridgeline truck, a Stinger CAN-AM trailer, and of course my 2024 Spyder RT S2S.
I track the fuel mileage on my Ridgeline, and usually get 21 to 22 mpg.

I know that the fuel mileage will go down some when I hook up the trailer and load up the Spyder, but the combined fuel mileage of the Truck/Stinger/Spyder combination should at least approach 40 mpg!

 

[jjc54]

Now far a serious question. What would a Stage II upgrade do for MPG on my bike as long as I don't change my riding style much? Knowing it will cost approximately $500 for the upgrade, will it ever pay for itself? To date since I have owned the bike my gas cost is $103.42/1000mi. Also I realize that once I have the upgrade I can never use less than 91 octane. I pretty much do that now anyway. My financial advisor (wife) will want to see the payback period. We ride a lot. Presently don't have a problem with performance, just wanting to squeeze out as much efficiency as I can. Already have installed the Cat delete and use the spark plug upgrade.

 

[Peter Aawen]

Now far a serious question. What would a Stage II upgrade do for MPG on my bike as long as I don't change my riding style much? Knowing it will cost approximately $500 for the upgrade, will it ever pay for itself? To date since I have owned the bike my gas cost is $103.42/1000mi. Also I realize that once I have the upgrade I can never use less than 91 octane. I pretty much do that now anyway. My financial advisor (wife) will want to see the payback period. We ride a lot. Presently don't have a problem with performance, just wanting to squeeze out as much efficiency as I can. Already have installed the Cat delete and use the spark plug upgrade.

Without knowing how conservatively you ride now, which could make a fair bit of difference; but assuming that you're still talking about fuel economy improvements and that you ride pretty much in the low to mid range of your 1330's revs (like most), ie. not exactly 'ultra-conservatively' but also not 'mad as a cut snake', then the answer to that bit is 'probably very little, but maybe you'll get a slight improvement in mpg...'

The V-Twin motors are more likely to show a noticeable improvement in mpg from just an ECU Upgrade, especially a Stage II, with no other change in riding style/rev use, etc, cos they are pretty hard to ride without using some revs anyway, and a better state of tune from their ECU will likely show the benefit of using those revs; while the 1330's are an inherently lazy motor (albeit with scads of torque from right off idle) that needs a bit of a poke in the revs to wake it up anyway!! So if you aren't already using the mid to upper rev range of your 1330 a heap anyway, you probably won't see too much change in the mpg, altho it'll probably give you a little bit more 'excitement' from the better responsiveness you might get at the same revs you used before as you ride now/after the Stage II. Maybe...

So really, it's unlikely that a Stage II ECU Upgrade (or any ECU Upgrade) on a 1330 will ever actually 'pay for itself' per se - except maybe in the enjoyment you get from your riding, and that's gonna be somewhat personal and extremely subjective, and likely somewhat greater the more you DO 'change your riding style' to take advantage of the better responsiveness and performance, higher revs, etc, etc!

But then again, we didn't really buy our Spyders because of their phenomenal fuel economy anyway, did we?!

Just Sayin'