Your MPG please

[rcturner]

Here is a link that shows some documented MPGs. Look at the data however, to see if the information was entered properly.


http://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/can-am/rt limited

 

[Michael211_2000]

When the low fuel light comes on, I usually go about another 30 miles or so then fill up somewhere... takes a little over 4 gallons to fill it up to the top at that point. I'd guess this is why someone thought the tank was only 4 gallons?

I usually go about ~155 miles between fill-ups and haven't had any problems. Everytime I've done the math after a fill-up, it's gotten between 33 and 34 mpg. Good enough for me! My daily driver truck only gets 12 mpg under ideal conditions.

- Michael

 

[Dat Guy]

I don't understand how people are getting such good mileage. I have a 2013 RT with 1500 miles on it and I'm tracking my mileage with a fuel app on my phone at every fill up. I get 20-22 miles per gallon, if I'm lucky. I'm almost 6 ft tall and weigh 210 lbs, and I usually ride alone on flat desert roads, to and from work. I also ride rather normally. I can only go about 85 miles before the fuel warning light comes on and I have 1-2 bars left on my fuel gauge. I decided to put this to the test one day see if it was truly accurate... well I ran out of gas at 128 on the odometer. That's actually just a little less than 20 mpg. I had a gas can with me (thankfully) so I stood on the side of the road and added it so I could get to the gas station and fill back up. My plans on making this Spyder a long distance vacation touring bike for myself and the wife are pretty much gone.


...yep.

 

[ARtraveler]

I don't understand how people are getting such good mileage. I have a 2013 RT with 1500 miles on it and I'm tracking my mileage with a fuel app on my phone at every fill up. I get 20-22 miles per gallon, if I'm lucky. I'm almost 6 ft tall and weigh 210 lbs, and I usually ride alone on flat desert roads, to and from work. I also ride rather normally. I can only go about 85 miles before the fuel warning light comes on and I have 1-2 bars left on my fuel gauge. I decided to put this to the test one day see if it was truly accurate... well I ran out of gas at 128 on the odometer. That's actually just a little less than 20 mpg. I had a gas can with me (thankfully) so I stood on the side of the road and added it so I could get to the gas station and fill back up. My plans on making this Spyder a long distance vacation touring bike for myself and the wife are pretty much gone.


...yep.

Your gas mileage is the lowest I can ever recall seeing. I don't have a good answer, but it just does not sound right.

 

[Jimsta]

2010 RS Gets 32-38 I drive almost all highway have never been able to get it to 40mpg no matter how hard I have tried.

 

[Dat Guy]

Your gas mileage is the lowest I can ever recall seeing. I don't have a good answer, but it just does not sound right.

I don't understand it either. According to my Gas Cubby app, after my fill up yesterday my average was 22.3 mpg. That's pretty underwhelming. I also switched to the digital fuel and temp gauges in hopes of better accuracy. I lose 1 of the 9 fuel bars after every 15 miles or so. I can't figure it out at all and it bothers me a lot. When people ask me about the Spyder I always tell them the best things I can think of, but in the back of my head I feel like a bit of a liar.

 

[happyspyder2039]

I average 11mph if that counts in the winter & 16 in summer. :yikes:

 

[ARtraveler]

I don't understand it either. According to my Gas Cubby app, after my fill up yesterday my average was 22.3 mpg. That's pretty underwhelming. I also switched to the digital fuel and temp gauges in hopes of better accuracy. I lose 1 of the 9 fuel bars after every 15 miles or so. I can't figure it out at all and it bothers me a lot. When people ask me about the Spyder I always tell them the best things I can think of, but in the back of my head I feel like a bit of a liar.

Perhaps some of the mechanical experts will chime in with some ideas. opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:

 

[lwrydr]

Gas

I filled up my RT Ltd yesterday and was getting 33 mpg. I have been riding at a little higher rpm as recomended in the forum. I have 2900 miles on it
and we will see what happens when I get 5K miles on it this summer.

 

[oe3spyderguy]

I have a 2012 RTS SE5 and it depends if its a sunday ride with the wife its 33 if I'm commuting it's 25 to 27 but thats at 70 75 all the way:lecturef_smilie:

 

[MouthPiece]

2013 RT-S (semi auto)

In Town: 26 mpg
Country Side 27 mpg
Super Slab 29 mpg

Chris

 

[fispyder]

MPG

I have a 2010 RTS with 38,000 miles on it. Got it in Aug 2010. I checked the mileage so many times that I quite checking. The best I got was 36mpg why I don,t know. The worst in 26 mpg but that was running 80-85 on the super slab for about 50 miles. On avg. it is 33 mpg +\- 1 mpg. Looking at all the post on mileage I would say the avg is around 30 +\- 1 mpg. If I was getting the mileage that you say your getting I would take it back to,the dealer stating they need to do something to improve the mileage. If they couldn't find anything wrong with the :f_spider: I would be looking at selling / trading it. The mileage you are getting most new cages/ trucks can get that.

 

[Dat Guy]

Well the wife and I rode for most of the day and we had to fill up twice. What I don't understand is that on the digital gauge I was on my last fuel bar when the low fuel light came on, but the tank only took 4.4 gallons at the pump. So if I still had 2+ gallons in the tank, why is it showing I'm almost out? Regardless, after highway driving the average was exactly 24 mpg according to my Gas Cubby app. Another thing that I find odd is that if my digital fuel gauge is correct, I lose 1 bar every 17 miles. So by the time I'm down to 2 bars left and the low fuel light comes on, I've traveled less than 120 and I'm stressing to find another gas station.

Not cool.

 

[Blue Star]

Well the wife and I rode for most of the day and we had to fill up twice. What I don't understand is that on the digital gauge I was on my last fuel bar when the low fuel light came on, but the tank only took 4.4 gallons at the pump. So if I still had 2+ gallons in the tank, why is it showing I'm almost out? Regardless, after highway driving the average was exactly 24 mpg according to my Gas Cubby app. Another thing that I find odd is that if my digital fuel gauge is correct, I lose 1 bar every 17 miles. So by the time I'm down to 2 bars left and the low fuel light comes on, I've traveled less than 120 and I'm stressing to find another gas station.

Not cool.

When the fuel light on my 2012 came on I normally would put in about 4.4 gallons too.

I think a lot has to do with how you take off. I know I like to take off fast to get to the speed I want to be, but do not drive too fast (normally 5 over posted). One thing I learned with this 2014 is you have to take off slow to get the most gas savings.

 

[retread]

Some questions; at what rpm do you shift? Do you get into higher gears before 40 mph? The reason I'm asking is, with my GS, the best mileage I got was at 40 to 45 mph, rarely getting above 3rd gear. With my RT, mostly because of the SE transmission, I'm never in 5th gear below 55 mph, and don't shift up if the rpm would drop under 4k.

john

 

[NancysToy]

Well the wife and I rode for most of the day and we had to fill up twice. What I don't understand is that on the digital gauge I was on my last fuel bar when the low fuel light came on, but the tank only took 4.4 gallons at the pump. So if I still had 2+ gallons in the tank, why is it showing I'm almost out? Regardless, after highway driving the average was exactly 24 mpg according to my Gas Cubby app. Another thing that I find odd is that if my digital fuel gauge is correct, I lose 1 bar every 17 miles. So by the time I'm down to 2 bars left and the low fuel light comes on, I've traveled less than 120 and I'm stressing to find another gas station.

Not cool.

You did not have 2+ gallons left, the 6.6 gallon tank only holds 6.0 actual gallons. The rest is head space for venting and expansion. Some is just the odd, unusable shape above the fill hole. The low fuel light is supposed to come on when you have approximately 40-50 miles left (at average mileage). Yours is working just as it is supposed to. The gauges do vary as to where they read when the light comes on...usually on the side of safety. Fueling up at about 120 miles is pretty normal. It is best to set the trip meter at each fill to watch your miles instead of the gauge, and figure on heading to a station at about that point (or sooner). I personally don't like to run to the point the light comes on...especially where stations are spaced quite far apart. Learn to stop often, stretch, hydrate, and hit the road again.

 

[Dat Guy]

I shift at 5500 RPMs. I'm a bit OCD about it too.

I never ride in a gear that puts the RPMs below 4500. I only get to 5th gear on the highway at speeds above 60. I also drive in trailer mode, so it won't even let me upshift until I've passed 4500 RPMs and it downshifts at 3500 RPMs. My riding style was developed after reading a lot of input here, specifically this post:
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...-for-new-Spyder-owners&highlight=cruise+shift

 

[spacetiger]

I don't understand how people are getting such good mileage. I have a 2013 RT with 1500 miles on it and I'm tracking my mileage with a fuel app on my phone at every fill up. I get 20-22 miles per gallon, if I'm lucky. I'm almost 6 ft tall and weigh 210 lbs, and I usually ride alone on flat desert roads, to and from work. I also ride rather normally. I can only go about 85 miles before the fuel warning light comes on and I have 1-2 bars left on my fuel gauge. I decided to put this to the test one day see if it was truly accurate... well I ran out of gas at 128 on the odometer. That's actually just a little less than 20 mpg. I had a gas can with me (thankfully) so I stood on the side of the road and added it so I could get to the gas station and fill back up. My plans on making this Spyder a long distance vacation touring bike for myself and the wife are pretty much gone.


...yep.

a challenge. My first guess is some of your fuel maybe coming out of tank but not going out via the engine. As bad as 30 mpg sounds, you are 50% below that - when you are lucky!

I would pull your bodywork around the engine, just so you can do a visual (leaks and or bad hoses).

Then I'd pull a spark plug and see what it it looks like. The stock bike doesn't come with a good plug, but it gets the job done. At 20 mpg, I would wonder what it looks like. If you are really dumping that much fuel in the engine, I would imagine the plugs would show you are rich. Another way to check if you are running rich since the mpg is so bad, is wiping your finger in the exhaust tips (when it is cool; NOT when its running). If you are really dumping fuel inefficiently in the engine, everything downstream will have a lot of soot.

There is the theory that the excessive heat in the 2013 bikes, boil off the gas in the tank to some degree. Do you always have a heavy gas smell? If you have the side body panel, perhaps you could wrap just the exhaust pipe that runs parallel to the gas tank to help lower the temp of the gas tank.

are you mechanically handy?

Jerry

 

[Dat Guy]

a challenge. My first guess is some of your fuel maybe coming out of tank but not going out via the engine. As bad as 30 mpg sounds, you are 50% below that - when you are lucky!

I would pull your bodywork around the engine, just so you can do a visual (leaks and or bad hoses).

Then I'd pull a spark plug and see what it it looks like. The stock bike doesn't come with a good plug, but it gets the job done. At 20 mpg, I would wonder what it looks like. If you are really dumping that much fuel in the engine, I would imagine the plugs would show you are rich. Another way to check if you are running rich since the mpg is so bad, is wiping your finger in the exhaust tips (when it is cool; NOT when its running). If you are really dumping fuel inefficiently in the engine, everything downstream will have a lot of soot.

There is the theory that the excessive heat in the 2013 bikes, boil off the gas in the tank to some degree. Do you always have a heavy gas smell? If you have the side body panel, perhaps you could wrap just the exhaust pipe that runs parallel to the gas tank to help lower the temp of the gas tank.

are you mechanically handy?

Jerry

Thanks for the reply. Here's some more info:

The pipes are wrapped, I had Lou at Pirate Powersports do it so it would get done right. He put heat shielding all inside it too, and also did my first full service so I know he checked for leaks and bad hoses. I use 91 octane fuel, but I'm in California and I know everything has ethanol in it. I do often get a strong gas smell from the bike, at odd times and without any pattern to pinpoint why. Also, I just walked out to the garage and wiped the insides of the exhausts with a clean paper towel, and there is almost no soot (much to my surprise).

:banghead:

 

[Magdave]

I don't understand it either. According to my Gas Cubby app, after my fill up yesterday my average was 22.3 mpg. That's pretty underwhelming. I also switched to the digital fuel and temp gauges in hopes of better accuracy. I lose 1 of the 9 fuel bars after every 15 miles or so. I can't figure it out at all and it bothers me a lot. When people ask me about the Spyder I always tell them the best things I can think of, but in the back of my head I feel like a bit of a liar.

I do not think the gauge is totally linear so counting bars may not be the best measurement. Get the 2013-9 ECM update done and see what happens.:thumbup: