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Post by enrico on Oct 21, 2008 9:38:19 GMT -5
Here comes a method to calculate fuel consumption.
Well, an attempt to calculate.
My black Monday: going to work I stopped at a gas station; the aim was to fill up the tank and to start calculating the exact fuel consumption of the old banger. Tank filled, something in the bottom of my trousers were blocked into some hook in the frame while selecting first gear and the NTV smashed its left side into the tarmac. The boy at the pump and a pair of car drivers were delighted from the show. Gasoline was dropped from the cap in fairly good quantity. The gear selector was seriously bent so I had to reach my workplace in first gear. Fortunately the gas station rests on a mere ½ mile from my office. Colleagues were polite enough not to grin at my tale. Good luck the plant where I spend my days as a clerk has a good repair shop, into which I could go to fix the selector allowing me a pleasant way home in the evening. During the break for lunch I was gently pulling the bike into the plant by hand when – nuts ! – the lateral pedestal hit the sidewalk I was descending, this resulting in a smash of the right side of the NTV into the tarmac. You bikers, always remember to raise your pedestal while descending a sidewalk.
A colleague was parking its car at the moment, giving me an immediate help to raise poor Honda, as soon as giving me a poor fame into my company. Some more gasoline left the tank. This time the front brake lever was bent; down and forward.
I could partially fix the gear selector in the repair shop, and the evening at home was spent successfully refining the work on the selector, and unsuccessfully trying to give the brake lever its original shape.
After all those droppings I’m quite sad about my life: how could I ever know how much gas is left in the tank ?
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vld86
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Post by vld86 on Feb 17, 2009 7:32:06 GMT -5
hi. I have the same question. It is quite disturbing not to know how low are you on gas. So one thing popped into my mind. I'm gonna try it out this weekend. I plan on manufacturing something similar to the 'thing' that measures the oil level(sorry i don;t know what it's called in English, the Romanian word is 'Joja de ulei' 'ulei'-oil). Well anyway, the thing is like this: Fill up the tank that should be 19 liters... insert a long dipstick(found that in the manual), measure the level in the tank. Using a hoes and a 5 l bottle take out 5 l , then measure again. mark it as14l mark, get another 5l out, measure again mark as 9l mark, and another 5 out and mark the 4l mark... I'm not sure how i will manage to get a decent dipstick but tho it seems rudimentary it just might do the trick. If the weather is good I'll try doing it this weekend. If i succeed, and everything;s OK i will post some pics  . Fingers crossed. Still, how do you do it? how do you measure how much gas you have left in your tank(i guess that keeping a record of our mileage and calculating how much is gone using an average mpg is the thing but... it can't be ... precise... can it?) |
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Post by Paul Mason on Feb 17, 2009 8:52:35 GMT -5
Hi Vld, & welcome  I usually work out my fuel consumption as follows:- Fill the tank to the top & zero the "trip" meter. After travelling a reasonable distance, refill the tank to the top again & record the amount of fuel needed to refill & the distance travelled. The consumption is then easily worked out by dividing the distance travelled (miles or Km) by the fuel used (Gallons or litres) The fuel station pump will be more accurate than a dipstick & if you fill RIGHT to the top you will get good results. Paul. |
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Post by Jake on Feb 18, 2009 8:46:47 GMT -5
I usually refill my tank after 193 - 209 kilometres.... That way I usually have plenty in reserve. |
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Post by jj on Feb 18, 2009 9:59:41 GMT -5
I usually put the trip meter to zero when i fill the tank to the top. And I've done around 159 miles on full tank before hitting reserve. But I've only clocked 10 miles while on reserve didn't want to risk any more miles just in case I ran out and would be totally stuffed then  |
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vld86
New Member
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Post by vld86 on Feb 20, 2009 4:05:15 GMT -5
Thanks a lot for the advice guys!
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Post by fenlander on Apr 18, 2009 15:16:29 GMT -5
Yeah, I always zero the tripmeter when I fill up (which is a real pain, as I use the bike for work, and have to work out my mileages through Google Maps. Mind you, that means I can take a scenic route and claim a reasonable mileage rather than the actual, higher milage).
The thing with dropping bikes is that it will empty the carbs as well as spilling from the petrol cap, and it is surprising how much petrol the float bowl will hold.
So long as you are aware of how far you can go on reserve you should be OK (although my Transalp had issues at one point with a combination of water in the carb float bowls, unbalanced carbs and dirty air filter which reduced the mileage by a crucial, painful 5 miles, mostly uphill...).
Fenlander
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sam
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Post by sam on Aug 2, 2010 5:42:30 GMT -5
I always fill to the top, reset the trip and think about filling up again at around 200 miles. Got up to 210 miles and reckon I've got at least 10 more before I hit reserve.
Averaging 60 mpg minimum.
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Post by striderider on Apr 1, 2012 16:48:44 GMT -5
Over the last few fuel stop I've been measuring my mpg.
Each fill up was full to the top. 1st figure is Litres,
2nd odometer, 3rd miles riden, 4th in brackets is the mpg (uk) calculation
10.61 5332
12.47 5446 - 114 (41.56)
13.16 5559 - 113 (39.03)
7.24 5642 - 83 (52.12)
12.65 5780 - 138 (49.59)
11.43 5858 - 78 (31.02)
15.42 6003 - 145 (42.75)
11.69 6093 - 90
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Post by kirriepete on Apr 2, 2012 4:00:20 GMT -5
Over the last few fuel stop I've been measuring my mpg. Each fill up was full to the top. 1st figure is Litres, 2nd odometer, 3rd miles riden, 4th in brackets is the mpg (uk) calculation 10.61 5332 12.47 5446 - 114 (41.56) 13.16 5559 - 113 (39.03) 7.24 5642 - 83 (52.12) 12.65 5780 - 138 (49.59) 11.43 5858 - 78 (31.02) 15.42 6003 - 145 (42.75) 11.69 6093 - 90 Blimey! You thrashing it everywhere using just 1st & 2nd gears or something? Or is there a serious overfuelling problem with your bike? For comparison - my NTV, Wee Norman, has never dropped below 50mpg in the two years I've had it - my overall average is about 60mpg, that includes fast roadwork, dual carriageway 85 70 (officer!) mph droning, town commuting and sunny Sunday backroads bimbling at 50 or so. Worst consumption to date is 50mpg, best nearly 80 on a particularly fine and relaxed Sunday afternoon wander. I'd say you need to get either your carbs or your right wrist looked at! ;D |
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Post by striderider on Apr 3, 2012 2:38:55 GMT -5
To be fair, it's was a little poorly at the beginning of those figures.
As I've been changing & fixing; I kept track of the mpg.
It's currently got; no air-box with filter pods directly on the carbs, full liquids & filter change, brake overhaul, straight-through stainless exhuast (no collector box), full carb clean & rebalance.
Most of the miles is stop-start 30mph, 3 miles per journey with 3-5mins engine warmup before each trip. Plus an occasional Sunday blast where I'm keeping up with a thruxton 900, fzr1000 & R1 (well not keeping up really, but trying).
On a (cough) private road I've got 120-125-ish mph & rev limiter wouldn't let me go higher.
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Post by grasshopper on Apr 3, 2012 17:31:56 GMT -5
The method of refuel ling to the brim, recording odometer and clearing trim (as a reference) is as good as you can get for establish fuel burn.
As a retired fleet engineer I have used this method for years on everything from company cars to 44 tonne trucks, it works.
Sad thing is I have taken it a bit further and have a spreed sheet which gives me the actual on going average, mine does 62.3 MPG.
Must get a life LOL.
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Post by rattypete on May 4, 2013 8:08:25 GMT -5
My 1st post Just got my NTV Oct last year and started logging mileage and fillups full tank to full tank. mostly about town, fitted with large screen. Not serviced or tinkered with yet. mpg's 53, 44.7, 50, 52, 50, 59. The 59 was mostly motorway Pete |
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. Fingers crossed.
