Rideout Fuel Consumption

Had a great rideout today in the West Country, starting in Devizes.
No rain, lots of sunshine although a bit chilly.

I stayed ovenight with a friend in Windsor; we left at about 7.45 this morning and filled up with petrol almost straight away.
It was about 80 miles to the meeting point, mostly on motorways so we rode at around 70MPH.
The ride itself was on country lanes and minor roads, again around 80 miles but gentle riding this time.
We split up at the end and Colin and I rode on the A303 to Winterbourne Stoke where we again filled up with petrol.

According to his GPS we rode 164 miles between fills.
I put in 10.78ltrs which equates to 2.3716 Imperial gallons.

Using an on-line calculator I worked out that my Silverwing did 69.15MPG during that time.
I think I've done it right.

Some pictures taken by one of the group - mine was the sole Silverwing today:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62156469@N00/sets/72157629868151527/with/6953582898/

Nice pics Mike.
Did you have a couple of the Muppets with you? Thought I recognised the two Burgmans, white and yellow.

Thanks, Doug.
The yellow & white Burger is Steve Rocketman's bike.
Poldark (Martyn) took the pictures and was on his new 125 something-or-other.
Spannerman (Dave) was riding an S-Wing. Very tasty.

x

Nice pics Mike. Looked like a lovely day. Bob and I rode about 85 miles total today checking out the StarCom unit. Worked good.

Wow! Astronomically high mileage.. I can only eke out ~55mpg at highest. What was weight of bike (est) and did you have your top trunk on?

Curious...what did your odometer record vs GPS? Same?

**After seeing pictures, I wished I was with you all. Greybeard me'self

Ride it like you stole it!!


--Drew

I was somewhat surprised!

My pal Colin recorded the mileage on his GPS (Tomtom) - mine's in kilometres on the bike as it's a European model and I tend to ignore it.

I had the Givi E52 on but it was almost empty - I use it mostly as a parking space for my helmet although I've sectioned off one end in which to put a bottle of water, disc-lock, shades, sun hat - bits and pieces that I need when parked.

We've been bemoaning the fact that almost all the new members of the forum seem only interested in diagnostic and 'where can I get' information rather than 'Riding For The Ride', the reason the club was founded intitially.
Paul, the chap who organized this one, is a newish member but the rest of us have been around for years, one or two from the very beginning in 2002.

The most we've ever had on a rideout was 25 bikes, all X9s - Saturday's had 8 and no X9s! In fact that's enough but it would be nice to have a few more.

It's our 'Anniversary Weekend' next month, an occasion when Northern and Southern 'Chapters' get together. We try to choose somewhere not too far from either group and this year it's in Lincolnshire.

If anyone's near enough to come on the Saturday Ride, do!

Got the date in my diary already Mike!

Graham

Good!

I mentioned this to W/Co Barry with regards to the start time on the Saturday so we'll make sure you know in good time.

Do you want to swap fuel bills Mike?

Amazing fuel consumption, 69+ miles per gallon, sounds more like my Burgman 400 than a Silverwing. Perhaps I twist that throttle a bit too hard.

Cheers,

I was very surprised, I must say.
However, I rode back from Windsor yesterday - M4/M25/M26/M20/E40 - at 70-80MPH most of the way.
I had soft panniers on and stuff under the seat.
I filled up at Clacket's Lane Services (M25).
Distance on-the-road from there to home is 125 miles.
As I came off the motorway, 4 minutes from home, the last but two blocks on the fuel guage went out.
I haven't filled up again but I suspect the MPG will be significantly lower.

I will post when I've done so.

Incidentally, the Silverwing doesn't seem to be running as smoothly as usual; it was fine on the Rideout but above 50 or 60 it seems to be labouring a bit and vibrating as if I am riding on Belgian concrete pavé.
I'm 2000 miles away from a new belt so wonder if that's it.
I'm sure also that it's not happy with panniers on* - not for the weight but the airflow - although my latest ones are quite narrow and expand downwards.

I have another trip over next weekend so I shall leave them behind and travel light with a small extra bag on the seat and see if that makes a difference.

*I stopped off at Getgeared in Leatherhead on Thursday. Having spent the previous half-hour cruising on the motorway thinking I didn't like panniers, I managed to drop the bike while parking outside the shop....while I was on it! It rolled gently over, coming to rest at a bit more than 45º from vertical.........on the pannier, thus not making bodywork-to-tarmac contact! Lucky or what? It didn't even stress the panel and because it wasn't right over I managed to haul it up by myself.

Thank you, God!

I nipped out to fill up and the Silverwing took 12.2ltrs which converts to 2.68399 gallons.
I forgot to add the ten miles to Bruges and back yesterday evening so I did 135 miles from fill to fill.
On both occasions I squeezed in as much petrol as I could.

That gives MPG of 50.299 - I'm happy with that for a thrash with luggage.

MikeO wrote:

I managed to drop the bike while parking outside the shop....while I was on it! It rolled gently over, coming to rest at a bit more than 45º from vertical.........on the pannier, thus not making bodywork-to-tarmac contact! Lucky or what? It didn't even stress the panel and because it wasn't right over I managed to haul it up by myself.

Thank you, God!

Ooops!!!!

You are indeed being watched over!