[Drumnagorrach]

I hope this subject hasn't been done to death already but being the new owner ,I thought I'd ask . . The owners handbook tells me fuel consumption at constant speeds 3.8 ltr/100km @80 kph and 5.3 @120 kph ,roughly 70 mpg @ 54 mph and 50 mpg @72 mph ,that would give a range 250 miles total @ a steady 54 mph and 188 @72mph ,all fine on a test bed .
Fine in theory but no use whatsoever in the real world . I can of course just wait until I go onto reserve and hope that the two litres in reserve ( well that's how I read the handbook )gets me to a filling station .
So , what's the average range of the carbed F650 ,one up, riding normally ?


Here's what I've found out . I got 190 miles to reserve then 20 to the filling station where it took 15.48 ltr (3.4 gal) = 61.6 mpg
Looks to me like there is 30 miles in reserve . All this is fairly steady riding mostly in top gear at around 60 mph . Happy with that !

 

[Beemerboff]

Depends on your bike, state of tune, cleanliness of the tank and filters, and how you ride.
And if you like draining the dregs out of the bottom of your tank via the carbs, or out through the filler with the tank removed!
I try and fill up before 300 km,/ 180 miles and I also carry a 1 liter Primus bottle of gas just in case-----------
If you have removed and drained the tank, cleaned the gauze filter in the T piece on the fuel line and drained the float bowls and the bike is in good tune you might want to go a little further, but not much.

 

[SteveT]

When getting to know a "new to me" machine that doesn't have a fuel gauge, I tend to fill it up and carry a full 5ltr fuel can, then run the bike till the reserve (if it's got one) is needed, note the mileage and then run the bike till it stutters from fuel starvation.

I will add that before doing this I will have emptied out the fuel tank and attempted to remove any crud that had built up in it, so as to prevent any crud being dragged into the fuel system.

My last Funduro, a '98 model, returned an average of 54mpg and looking back at the stats on the bike, I would go past 200 miles and only add about 17.5lt of fuel to fill the tank.

Give it a good run and test it's endurance - its part of the fun and "new to me" bike experience.

SteveT

 

[Drumnagorrach]

Yes , fully understand where your both at , did just that , (took a can of fuel and saw when it ran out ) with last couple of bikes, although an Africa twin caused problems with an intermittent fuel pump ( now there's a collection of design faults )and yes ,don't want the last dregs or water in the carbs . My 70 year old Lister saw engine gave trouble last week due to water in the fuel ( condensation in a 1/4 full jerry can ).
Thanks for the input ,I hope I can get better than 54 mpg , my 1100 Guzzi can do more and that's one of the reasons I bought the Beemer . I might add that now that I've ridden 60 odd miles ,I do like the feel of the bike now that I've dropped the forks through the top yoke by 25 mm .

 

[Beemerboff]

Mine came with the forks dropped 28mm, I tried then at level and the bike was almost unrideable.
If mud and sand are not in your riding plans Michelin Anekee 3 tires suit the bike well, with a surprising amount of grip on gravel / hardpack, more than you will need on blacktop and theyy last twice as long as most so end up low cost too.

 

[Drumnagorrach]

Mine came with the forks dropped 28mm, I tried then at level and the bike was almost unrideable.
If mud and sand are not in your riding plans Michelin Anekee 3 tires suit the bike well, with a surprising amount of grip on gravel / hardpack, more than you will need on blacktop and theyy last twice as long as most so end up low cost too.

Not a lot of sand in Scotland and to be honest very little opportunity to ride off road so I guess the Anekee tyres will be fine .
Why do you suppose the bikes have such a lot of fork rake ?Mine was really hard work getting it to turn in on corners ,can't be an off road thing , my old Africa twin and a Suzuki P.E. 250 I had were very sharp on steering . Wondering how lowering the rear suspension is going to effect my handling ,will I have to lower the forks even more !!!

 

[stevedixey]

Shove harder on the 'bars. It will then get it's head down. As you say, steep rake = stability on loose stuff. Mine were lowered by the previous owner who was a shortie and I couldn't get on with the the bloody thing until I put the forks back where they should be.

 

[Drumnagorrach]

Shove harder on the 'bars. It will then get it's head down. As you say, steep rake = stability on loose stuff. Mine were lowered by the previous owner who was a shortie and I couldn't get on with the the bloody thing until I put the forks back where they should be.

.
What I wrote was " can't be an offroad thing ,my old Africa twin and a Suzuki PE 250 I had were very sharp on steering ". mine was better with the forks through the yokes by 25 mm .Yesterdays excursion up a rough forest track tells me the bike is an off road styled bike and not really that great off road .

 

[Drumnagorrach]

Well , I have got to 170 on the trip meter and I'm not on reserve. Timed myself at 50 mph and the trip meter recorded 1 something or other in 50 seconds ,got to conclude that my trip meter is reading in km which has got me wondering if the ODO is reading km also ,in which case my bike has only covered 8000 km .
Anyone else come across a genuine UK bike ( supplied new by Scotbike in Glasgow )with a mph speedo but the trip is reading km ?

 

[Feasty]

I've had my bike about 9 months now. When I first got it I brimmed the tank and got just over 150 miles before needing reserve (countryside riding). Then I started commuting on it and got a bit of a shock when it conked out at 125 miles, before realising I'd hit reserve again.
Since then I've always left the fuel switch on the reserve selection and fill up every time I hit around 120-130 miles, I never forget and would rather do that than suddenly cut out on a dual carriageway or something.

Problem is I'll soon be increasing my commute to 40 miles a day, and it's going to be a bit of a pain filling up every 3 days. Guess I'll get used to it though...

 

[Sammy]

New here, I'd like to both chip and and pose a question!
On my 96 Funduro I got 290 until reserve, with spirited on road riding, with a very healthy bit of gravel and a little bit of 4wd tracks.
I have been averaging 5L per 100km for spirited road riding mixed with gravel roads.

I am also wondering what I'd expect fuel range/usage to be for a trip such as Old Telegraph track, which is about 150km between fuel stops of mostly hard 4wd track with sand, creek crossings etc etc. Maybe the bike's fuel mileage would be about half that of normal?
Cheers ,Sam

 

[Feasty]

Hi

So further to my last post I've been some calculations. I've just filled my tank and since the last tank fill I've done 128 miles. I used 12.9 litres filling the tank and so based on that my bike is doing an average of 45mpg - not so good against some of your rates!

Now, from online specs my tank has a max of 17.3 litres, based on this I'd get a max of 165 miles before the tank is empty. How are some of you getting a lot more miles before even the reserve is hit!?

 

[Sammy]

Oh, worth mentioning if you want any sort of precision, I'd check out how far your odometer is - checking mine against gps, mine is +5% out.

 

[kuyajonathan]

Note;
some of figures posted here have been in kms & some in miles,
5miles approximately =8miles.
165 miles between fill ups, equates to 264kms

 

[Feasty]

Oh, worth mentioning if you want any sort of precision, I'd check out how far your odometer is - checking mine against gps, mine is +5% out.

Good point actually, I've known for a little while now the speedometer on mine is reading higher by at least 10-15mph but that should have done the opposite and made my mileage read more than actual?

 

[Sammy]

Good point actually, I've known for a little while now the speedometer on mine is reading higher by at least 10-15mph but that should have done the opposite and made my mileage read more than actual?

Correct! Sorry made it sound even worse for you ha!

 

[kuyajonathan]

Good point actually, I've known for a little while now the speedometer on mine is reading higher by at least 10-15mph but that should have done the opposite and made my mileage read more than actual?

speedo reading not necessarily connected to trip recorder, separate functions

 

[Sammy]

speedo reading not necessarily connected to trip recorder, separate functions

Well, they both read off same sensor (from front wheel) but if speedo needle isn't accurate, sure.
Either way, the most accurate check, and the way I did it, was record a gps along a ride, and compare it to trip meter reading.

 

[BrickMan]

Good point actually, I've known for a little while now the speedometer on mine is reading higher by at least 10-15mph but that should have done the opposite and made my mileage read more than actual?

Ah you've probably got the wrong speedo drive unit. St and funduro have different size front wheels, so have different parts to sort it out.
Mine was an st, now a funduro, except speedo drive is still the st, the speed given on clocks is actually now spot on compared to GPS +/- 1mph. Means my "mpg" is always going to show around 5 to 10% less than others, but the actual speed being accurate is more useful to me.