Hate to ask this question. Fuel related

[Drake44135]

I hate to ask this fuel related question. 2007 Honda VTX 1300 trike. What would be the fuel mpg for this on average.

The book says approx 30-33 mpg for two wheels. But I am interested in three wheel mpg. This bike only got 60 miles on a tank.

With the 60. I did have issues with bad spark plugs. I replaced. The carb was out of adjustment. Just adjusted the carb.

Any real experience I should expect based on your rides?? I do know each rider is different.

 

[pwhoever]

The specs show a 4.8 gallon tank including 1 gallon of reserve. On 2 wheels, you really should be getting easily over 100 miles before you would even have to switch to reserve. If you are only getting 60 miles out of a tank, I would say there is something wrong. That works out to maybe only about 15mpg! Although the 30-33mpg also assumes average driving and can be affected by other variables. I know on Goldwings especially the GL1500 and the GL1800, the sweet spot is under 3000rpms. If you stay below that, you get the best mileage. Above that, it drastically reduces the fuel mileage. Also a lot of stop and go such as heavy traffic will cause the mileage to go down.

Although it's apples to oranges, I only lost a few mpg after converting my GL1800 to a trike. One other thing is the gearing in the rear end can also have an impact on fuel mileage but a reduction in half just doesn't seem right. Is it possible that the speedometer and odometer are off? Have you checked the speeds and mileage with a standalone gps?

 

[Sidecarbill]

My Kawasaki will only do about 80 miles. But three wheelers don't lean, so it can't use all the fuel that's in the tank. The only way to see how much fuel you use is to check the miles and gallons used. The bottoms of some fuel tanks have high tunnels.

 

[Drake44135]

The specs show a 4.8 gallon tank including 1 gallon of reserve. On 2 wheels, you really should be getting easily over 100 miles before you would even have to switch to reserve. If you are only getting 60 miles out of a tank, I would say there is something wrong. That works out to maybe only about 15mpg! Although the 30-33mpg also assumes average driving and can be affected by other variables. I know on Goldwings especially the GL1500 and the GL1800, the sweet spot is under 3000rpms. If you stay below that, you get the best mileage. Above that, it drastically reduces the fuel mileage. Also a lot of stop and go such as heavy traffic will cause the mileage to go down.

Although it's apples to oranges, I only lost a few mpg after converting my GL1800 to a trike. One other thing is the gearing in the rear end can also have an impact on fuel mileage but a reduction in half just doesn't seem right. Is it possible that the speedometer and odometer are off? Have you checked the speeds and mileage with a standalone gps?

With my bike next to hers and gps Farmington navigation. She is doing 40 when I’m doing 35.
I’m not sure I understand how that works for fuel mileage.

 

[pwhoever]

Speedometer usually correlates to the odometer. If yours says 35mph then it would mean you have only traveled 35 miles in an hours time. Hers says 40mph so in an hour she would have traveled 40 miles. As you probably know if she is next to you, there is no way she could have covered more miles than you. So your odometer would obviously show you traveled less miles than her. That would mean your mpg when calculated by odometer will show lower than hers. So when it comes time to fuel up, let's say you both put in the same amount of fuel after driving for an hour, hypothetically 1 gallon. By your odometer, you are only getting 35mpg but she is getting 40mpg.

 

[Papa Zook]

With my bike next to hers and gps Farmington navigation. She is doing 40 when I’m doing 35.
I’m not sure I understand how that works for fuel mileage.

If your odometer is off that much, along with the bad spark plugs and carb problems you had, that would certainly explain the mpg discrepancy.

 

[Burnerboy]

Speedometer usually correlates to the odometer. If yours says 35mph then it would mean you have only traveled 35 miles in an hours time. Hers says 40mph so in an hour she would have traveled 40 miles. As you probably know if she is next to you, there is no way she could have covered more miles than you. So your odometer would obviously show you traveled less miles than her. That would mean your mpg when calculated by odometer will show lower than hers. So when it comes time to fuel up, let's say you both put in the same amount of fuel after driving for an hour, hypothetically 1 gallon. By your odometer, you are only getting 35mpg but she is getting 40mpg.

NOW! this totally makes sense, GOOD explanation PW..... thank you!!

 

[Burnerboy]

I usually ask any ride'n buddy that I'm ride'nn with , to push the mile button to zero miles and then after we stop to rest or get gas, we check the miles, and see how close we are, since we "both" driven the exact same distance...
It's amazing, the difference, (sometimes) our bike are apart in miles shown..

Ronnie
12/25/24