Gas usage on my trike

Are you trying to say in a politicaly correct way that she rides like a little old lady:laugh:, now I think I'll go run and hide someplace before the beating begins:D.

One thing I'm sure your dad can verify M3, As you get older you realize it's better to at least try to be politicaly correct when it comes to women..:D

Annette's a very careful laid back rider. She likes to take her time and enjoy the scenery. She can go if she feels like it. We went out for a ride yesterday about 169 miles over by Tellico Plains and over Cherohala Skyway. She was in the mood to crank it up going over Cherahala. When we stopped for gas, she saw her mileage drop to 38 MPG. That's still great for her Trike.
 
Annette's a very careful laid back rider. She likes to take her time and enjoy the scenery. She can go if she feels like it. We went out for a ride yesterday about 169 miles over by Tellico Plains and over Cherohala Skyway. She was in the mood to crank it up going over Cherahala. When we stopped for gas, she saw her mileage drop to 38 MPG. That's still great for her Trike.

38 mpg is pretty darn good also, I've clipped 37 mpg once with mine.
 
Last Sunday afternoon we had a fairly decent day so the wife and I went out for a ride. I filled up before heading out and zeroed out the trip miles on the OD and out we went. We rode over mostly flat land of central ND with a few hills but mostly flat. Speed was pretty much right around 65 to 68 mph for the first 85 miles and 73 to 75mph for the last 36 miles all on 2 lane highway. At one point I did get up to about 90 to pass a slower vehicle so I was hitting the throttle pretty good at that time. We had light winds so that would not be a factor. The front tire is at 38 psi and rear tires at 24 psi. Coming back home from the ride I pulled into the same gas station I filled at and even used the same pump. The trip miles on the OD read exactly 121.0 miles and I used 3.654 gallons according to the gas pump. That comes out to 33.11 mph using 91 octane. This is a little better than normal but it was all two lane roads and staying under 70 for most of the trip.

2011 Merlot and Black TG, Dennis's lift kit and deflectors. Stock motor except the cat has been removed by putting an SE header pipe on.
 
32 MPG driving into a 25 to 30 MPH quartering crosswind for over 200 miles. That was fun.
 
After some work with TTS, and a first time batch of syn3, we finally got it up to 33mpg, which included some hilly terrain between here and Moro Bay. All but 20 miles out of 200 were 55-60 mph. Big development for us. I just hope it keeps improving.
 
Today, we ran the Gauntlet, Northen Georgia. I filled up with mid-grade fuel. We rode 147 miles, I put 3.9 gal of fuel in the tank. I believe that is 37.7 mpg. Not bad up and down hills
 
Just wanted to chime in here. I have a 2011 Triglide, stock a/c, stock headpipe, V/H deluxe slipons without baffles. Over Memorial Day weekend we rode down to Skyline Drive pulling a trailer, we averaged 23 miles per gallon with a trailer that grossed 250lbs. After talking with the service manager at a harley dealer I began to do some research to find out why the mileage was that bad.

The trike has only averaged 33 mpg from day one, we now have 17000 miles on her, so one would think the gas mileage would improve from there, but nope. Anyway, during that trip a friend of mine told me to get a bottle of StarTron, a fuel treatment that would help with the ethanol additive. So, I tied the trailer up in the hotel parking lot and off to Skyline Drive we went. We stopped for gas and I added the StarTron, we were then on our way down Skyline Drive. We hopped onto Rt64 as we were heading back to the hotel for the evening and I had to stop for gas, lo and behold 39 miles per gallon, wait what? I have never seen that type of mileage! So, of course I start thinking what is going on here, I re-calculate the mileage and up it is right, 39 mpg. Now we were only running about 35-40 mph. On the way home the trike averaged 25 mpg with the trailer, hmmm, some improvement.

Once we get home I decide that maybe it was time to open things up a bit, let the engine breathe better, so, I installed a stage 1 a/c. Now came that dreaded question, do I get a PCV or TTS and after many conversions with different people I decided to go with the TTS. TTS in more involved, but there are no tuners here in this area that tune trikes. So, off I go netbook in tourpack and doing vtune runs, along the way I receive much needed TTS help and do alot more research on how this thing works.

So, now the trike setup is this, stage 1 a/c, stock headpipe, V/H deluxe slipons without baffles. After several vtune runs it was time to head out to see if any of this effort was worth my time. I took a ride some highway 60-75mph and some twistie mountain roads, yep it paid off 40 mpg. I was amazed at the improvement and yes I double and triple checked the mpg.

A few days later it was time to head out for Maggie Valley, you know the big trike rally of 2012. Trailer all packed, gross weight 300 lbs, StarTron additive packed and off we go! I was shocked at our first gas stop, 33mpg with the trailer, wow! I was adding StarTron every other fill up, 2 ounces of it. After arriving in Maggie Valley we unhooked the trailer and did those twisties and still was averaging 40mpg.

Now, I am gonna open it up a bit more, just ordered a headpipe without a cat, as you know the heat is a killer when the outside air is 90 or more. Don't know if I will gain any more mpg, but it is worth the try. I should have the headpipe installed the first week of July 2012 and will report back as to the heat and mpg.

Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to share my experience and endeavor to gain more miles per gallon. I hear there are some out there getting 50 mpg on 87 octane, so I guess anything is possible if you keep dreaming and trying.

Enjoy and Ride Safe!
 
On my trip to Rolling Thunder and the BRP. I only got 28 mpg going to DC doing 81 mph on the superslab. Driving locally around DC and Virginia seeing the sights, I got 42 mpg. My milage on the Skyway/BPR/ Cherohala I averaged 35 mpg.

With 87 octane gas for the whole trip.
 
I have a 2011 Tri-Glide as well and run right around 30 to 31 mpg at 75 to 80 mph (3200 rpm). The best I have gotten was last June in the Black Hills area of SD where we were running aroung 55 to 60 and I got 37 to 38 mpg. All of this is 2 up riding.

2011 Merlot and Black TG, Dennis's lift kit and deflectors.

I have a 2011 Tri-Glide, ( same color ) and it gets the same milage as DakotaTG does.
 
I hear there are some out there getting 50 mpg on 87 octane, so I guess anything is possible if you keep dreaming and trying.

Enjoy and Ride Safe!

Hey you old dog... glad the TTS work helped. The bike will be much cooler when you scrap the cat. Then it will be back to the drawing board for more VTune runs.

The 50 MPG (more like 47) was actually Steve Cole, owner of the TTS product line. His 2012 Street Glide is stock but no cat. He tuned it to regular gas. His buddies call him "The Sipper" now. :wave4:
 
On a recent trip from E Tx to Colo on my stock 1800 with a fully loaded trailer I averaged 32mpg. And that's with 2up. Ran 65-70 mph when I could.
 
I have a 2012 TriGlide. Stock cams with HD Screamin Eagle intake, Fuelmoto header, V&H Classic Slip-Ons, and a TTS that has been vtuned to the bike (with a little tweaking by Mr. Wizard :) )

I just got back from a solo trip to the Colorado Springs area and kept decent records of my gas going there and while cruising the area.

Gallons / Miles = MPG
2.92 / 100.8 = 34.52
2.72 / 105.6 = 38.82
2.58 / 098.4 = 38.14
2.78 / 118.5 = 42.68
3.97 / 151.1 = 38.06
3.60 / 138.3 = 38.42
3.99 / 159.7 = 40.02

I did experience some pinging in the higher elevations and depending on the brand of gas I used. But I have no pinging here in the flatlands of Kansas. Bike now has about 4,000 miles on it. All-in-all, I'm pretty satisfied.
 

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