Mileage?

[BBD]

I live/Ride in houston, which means tight woods and MX (street once I get my reg done). I get about 20-25 MPG in these highly un-economic conditions.

Next week, I go to Terlingua for my first desert experience and have no idea what to expect for mileage. It matters because I need to know I can go at least 60 miles on a stock tank of gas.

Any numbers from you desert guys? Terlingua will be mainly on roads/trails that a good SUV could negotiate. the altitude varies from 2000' to 5000'.

[qadsan]

It's been a few months since I've been on my bike, but as I recall, you'll be likely hitting reserve between 55 and 65 miles with the stock carb, unless you're working the throttle hard and then your MPG goes south. You should be able to get close to 80 miles if you use reserve. Now I have a Clarke 4.3 gallon tank and longer trips are not a problem.

[BIGANDY]

I was working toward some long d/s rides, does the 4.3 galon tanks hold enough to go 100 miles between gas stops?

[FooBarr]

When I first got my clarke 4.3 gal tank I checked the milage fairly regularly and averaged about 27 mpg. I ride desert here in Vegas and its pretty much at a play/race speed. Bike is uncorked with a big gun, OEM carb. I figure at 100 miles I need to find a gas station and at 120 I'll be walking.

Been debating on getting either the big acerbis tank (6 gal) or the saddle bag tank setup (3.7 gal). Get the pair and you should be able to last all day.

See it at:

http://www.dual-star.com/index2/Brand/Honda/honda%20xr650r%20rally%20tanks.htm

anybody ever tried one of these Acerbis tanks? ?

Nothing like an extra 60 pounds of gas to through around.

[qadsan]

does the 4.3 galon tanks hold enough to go 100 miles between gas stops?

Yes it does if you're cruising nicely and you should be able to get 120+ miles before you run out. If however you're doing lots of hard off-road stuff, you'll be lucky to get 90 miles from it.

I've also talked with two people that had the Clarke 4.3 tanks who told me they've exceeded 175 miles strictly cruising on a single tank of fuel, but I've never been that lucky, nor do I cruise all that much. It just depends on gearing, atmospheric conditions, jetting, and how much you're twisting the right hand ?

[BIGANDY]

wow that is a lot of gas, i don't think i want to ride that far at one time! i don't race and on fire trails like most of the d/s rides apear to be (never been on one yet) i in 4th gear half throttle ish so i think a 4.3 will be great thanks for the input!

[Slow_Poke]

You can never have to much gas. I dont know a single person who rides dual sport on a regular basis that hasnt got lost many, many times. Faster riders need to be even more careful because they can run 10 miles before they even realize they are going the wrong route. Lets say you have a 120 mile range and the gas stop is at 105. A 15 mile buffer seems cool until you miss the correct trail by 5 feet and end up going 10 miles before you realize your error. You are then forced to turn around and ride 10 miles back. That one mistake just cost you 20 miles of gas and your now looking at ditching your bike and walking 5 miles to get gas. Dont forget your walking the 5 miles in your boots and you still have to figure out how to get back to your bike. Make more then one mistake and a nightmare turns into something that can kill you. While many dual sport rides are pretty tame, there are some that are very hard core. Lots of gas, water and a riding buddy with a 160 mile range tank is always a plus. Just dont ever joke about him being the mothership....lol

[Moredesert]

I assume you guys are talking about stock gearing. I also am intersted in gas milage because I'll be pre-running the 1000. Before I go I'll be changing my gearing to a 15/47 which should add 5-10 MPG? With a 4.3 gal tank I'm hopeing to get 140-150 mile range. That would be around 35mpg. That's what I got on my XR600 with about the same gearing.

[FooBarr]

Hey Moredesert, good luck with the fuel economy. The best I've seen is about 30mpg on the trail and that's being real smooth on the throttle hand.

If I recall correctly, my old XR600 got about 35 mpg too, but with the same gearing that I'm getting 28 mpg out of the BRP. If I'm going to be pushing my range limits then I'll carry a few of those aluminum PEAK fuel-canisters full of gas in my back pack. Figure that extra quart might make up for getting lost or at least build a fire. I picked them up at the camping section at the local department store. I also got one for carrying extra oil. I think they're safer than plastic bottles should I happen to go down.

[Moredesert]

With the taller gearing I can cruz at 65-70 mph and get around 100 mph WFO. Thats a good Idea about the extra gas. I'll keep a close eye on the MGP and let you know. There are some Pemex gas stations that I can fill up at along the way. My longest section is 132 miles, I should be able to do that no problem. ?

[billyj7175]

Hey SlowPoke, that's the #1 reason I bought a GPS...out in the desert, a simple thing of running out of fuel, can be life threatening in the wrong conditions. Living over here in Turkey, getting lost and stranded can be a bad, bad thing...you folks riding Baja have it easy...you don't have to worry about some anti-american, militant group popping off AK-47 rounds at you...hahaha. That's my reasoning for a 15/47 gearing...not to outrun the competition, but to outrun the taliban...hahaha (just joking of course..). God forbid I ever run into that situation out here, but if I do, you'll see a very wide-eyed white boy, hugging my clarke, tapping the rev limiter that's for sure...haha

FooBar, that's a awesome idea about the fuel...

[FooBarr]

Hey Billy,

What you need for Tali-wack smacking is an good ASP. Nice and compact to ride with and you easily mount it to your back pack with one of the various holsters. It's also one of those inconspicious items that the gate guard won't hassle you for.

See it at Galls:

http://www.galls.com/shop/viewProductDetail.jsp?item=BA055

It would be a real bummer to find your obiturary in the AF Times.

[Slow_Poke]

Billy....you mean the military doesnt have a fully loaded BRP complete with machine guns and light armor weapons? Man....whats this world coming to when you cant even go riding and blow some stuff up. I hope you and your bike are rigged to explode if needed. I'm sure all the members of thumpertalk would be highly disapointed to see some taliban cruising around your BRP. (just kidding) ?

[BIGANDY]

Hey slow_poke, good points! I am still getting all my ducks in a row as far as setting up the brp and the right gear for my self! I did not even think about getting lost, but thats way i have not done a d/s ride yet, I like to learn as much as i can from people that have been thier done that! thanks for the tip, point taken!

[SteveJC]

Bit of a shock to find my "new" '98 XR600 is equally bad on fuel as the 650, typically around 40mpg, UK gallons.

Thats a mixture of faster trails (2nd gear and up) and road 60-70mph.

Reading this thread it seems that others have found the same - is this generally the case? I suppose at least the 600 has a litre extra in the tank, but what is it doing with all that juice!!

When I consider my 150hp car easily does 45mpg, and the price of fuel is bloody horrendous here, well i don't know what to think ?

(get a diesel bike yeah I know) ?

Steve

UK

[HeadTrauma]

When I consider my 150hp car easily does 45mpg, and the price of fuel is bloody horrendous here, well i don't know what to think ?

(get a diesel bike yeah I know) ?

Did someone say diesel ? 400 miles on a tank....

Your car has a few things going for it that the 600 does not; water cooling, EFI, and a lower coefficient of drag for the power it makes.

I have no odometer, but I do know how fast I can watch the fuel lever go down though my IMS natural tank. If I cruise along at a reserved pace, I know I could go well over 100miles on 4.3gal. If I'm heavy on the throttle, I might be lucky to get that. Rich jetting and somewhat high altitude dont help. I also dont have a dual sport, so getting stranded 100 miles from anywhere would only be an issue on a long group ride, plus I know basic(and not so basic) survival skills.

[SteveJC]

Yeah! - those diesel things are kinda interesting but I think they are pretty slow....

Anyway, take your point, but what's bugging me is that I can just about accept that the XR650 guzzles fuel as its just got so much grunt, but the 600 shouldn't, in my mind, as its quite a bit less powerful and uses smaller carb, jets etc etc .

Ah well, just ride the bloody thing and worry about more important things in life eh?!

SC

[Desertskyy]

With a 4.7 gal IMS tank I can at least get to the 150+ mile mark. I might be short shifting the bike and doing everything I can to conserve gas though. A well planned out route always helps to hit ones mileage mark.(ie gas stop)

[Docmarkw]

I'm with Desertskyy, I also have the IMS 4.6 and I calculate my bike getting about 35 mpg. If I remember correctly, riding from just outside of barstow to stateline I hit about 140 with stateline in veiw before switching over to reserve. Reserve gets me about additional 15 miles so total 155 miles.

Desertskyy and some other riding buddies with generally the same set up (stock gearing) and same bike usually get pretty close to the same milage figures I'm getting.