So poeple are tracking fuel economy on a motorbike
. I never even think about it, i use more fuel in 1 day with my 1 ton pulling a 35 ft toyhauler ,than i do in 2 months driving my FZ8. I laughed pretty hard when i saw the thread.
Well, all I can say is that here in the UK the price of fuel is much higher than in the US where most of you guys live (apologies Canada). To give you an idea, a liter here costs £1.40 which is $2.10 PER LITRE!!! This is $7.96 per US gallon!! I've just looked up a random US location, namely Fort Montgomery, Orange County, New York and see the price is $4.10. So you guys are paying HALF of what we are in the UK!!! I myself switched from car to bike, initially on a 125cc runabout, purely to save some cash.
Don't get me wrong I ride a bike mainly for the buzz like most other people but in this day and age of austerity I also have to watch my wallet.
My thanks to
HighOctane and
mikeFZ8 for taking the post seriously!
By the way, on
Gallon sizes, can I clarify that (and this will be controversial) the Imperial Gallon as we have in the UK is 4.546 litres, whereas the US Liquid Gallon is 3.79 litres (this is not an official measurement, purely stipulated by the US - you guys always have to be different and make things up like you invented them in the first place!!)
So, on that note, much of your reported US MPG figures are not as bad as you make out. For example, 35 MPG in the US is 42 MPG in the UK.
Next point on Octane level. You guys can buy fuel in the US at an incredibly unrefined level like 86 RON. I wouldn't put this grade of fuel near any form of machinery let alone a lovely piece of engineering like the Yamaha. In the UK the minimum Octane generally is 95 and you can buy 99 at a local supermarket petrol station. All I can say, having done the "math" (s), is the higher the fuel grade the higher the return on MPG. If I fill a tank with 95 RON I spend less to fill up than 99 RON. However, it works out more economical with 99 RON when I convert the extra miles gained back into cash. Also, I get superior performance. A cheap grade fuel (like 86) is crap for your engine, gets you fewer MPG, and in my opinion is ultimately not worth it.
Anyway, I get average of 50 MPG from my Fazer8 (faired FZ8) and if you get on average 42 MPG in the US (based on US Gallon) then you're getting the same as me