Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Fuel Consumption Issue

Hi folks,

I've just recently gotten myself a 'brand new' America '07.

She had just 7 miles on her when I drove here off the lot about 3 months ago (yes, you can ride in CA in November ).

Anyways, I feel like my initial break-in has been going pretty smoothly, with only a few minor cobwebs to clear out from the 2 years she's been sitting on the dealership's showroom floor.

There is one thing I've noticed, however, and that's relatively low MPG. I've been carefully watching the odometer between fillups and I'm getting a pretty consistent 80 miles after a fillup before I have to switch to reserve. This seems awfully low, especially because I've heard folks on the forums boasting closer to 180 miles on a tank.

I don't seem to have a visible gas leak (no drips on the garage floor, at least). Does anyone have any ideas? I've heard some people complain about the cheap plastic hose clamps, and I'm thinking about replacing them with metals ones. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Just for your info, the bike is just about stock. I've debaffled my stock exhaust, thats about it. And the MPG was very similar before the exhaust mod, so I don't think thats affecting things.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

-B

That is a VERY low range for one of these bikes! I'm pretty sure you running extra lean by de-baffling pipes on an otherwise bone-stock bike. I suspect you're having to use extra throttle to cruise and accelerate... but you should also be suffering with low power issues.
Maybe you're just not familiar enough with the bike to recognize that?

Are you sure you are completely filling the tank each time. I level my bike an fill to the top of the inner ring. Just a half gallon difference could be another 20 miles.

All around town traffic will result in much lower mpg. I only get 35 or so around town, but have gotten as high as 45 with 100% highway miles going 70 or below. Most of the time I hit reserve at 115 to 125 depending on conditions.

One way to check is after you hit reserve and stop - how many gallons are you putting in the tank? If you were on reserve, you should be adding 3.5-4 gallons.

I guess I don't have much of a reference frame with the America to compare to, but I'm not feeling that 'under-powered'.

As for filling the tank, I've been watching that too and have been consistently at 3.5 - 4 gallons when I fill up on reserve.

For the record, I do a lot of city driving at the moment, with frequent stop / starts, so I'm not expecting miracles here... just decent MPG.

I guess I will add it to the list of items to check on at my first schedule maintenance.

If anyone else has had a similar experience and wants to share, I'd be much obliged.

-B

The familiarity part in many times relates to what people have been used to riding. Many V-twin owners that go to the Triumph tend to not rev the bike to it's most efficient range. They were used to shifting sooner. Ideally, you want to be sure you are winding the bike out to 4k or so and keeping it above around 3K. Running the bike at too low an rpm will require more throttle twisting.

If that's not the case, you may need to get a service dealer that knows the bike to make sure it is properly set up (tuning, jets, etc.).

I can't get down to 80 miles per tank when I dog the snot out of my bike, and that's with bored cabs and 904! Something sounds crazy there.

I get lousy gas mileage but the only time it was that bad was running myfatass non-stop 90mph against a headwind between Great Falls and Helena.

Are you doing mostly short trips so the engine is not coming up to full operating temp?

I live close to work and get lousy fuel economy when I'm only commuting - the bike spends more time warming up than running on the road on those days. But when I'm on the open road I get great fuel economy.

That's really strange. If you have a fuel leak you should be able to smell the fuel, especially if you're keeping your bike in an enclosed garage. The only thing I could think of is if there is some sort of California emissions equipment installed that could cause this.

Intresting that you mention that, because it is a CA model.

So, who wants to enlighten a rookie here? I've heard alot about this procedure. Is it called the Evaporative Loss System / Vapor Canister / something else?

More importantly, how do I get rid of it?

-B

Your mileage will get better as the bike breaks in. Also watch your RPMS, on my bike I get the best mileage running between 5000 and 5500 RPMs.

I have an 07 and before I did anything to it I was getting in the high 40 MPG. I don't ride it that hard but after break-in, you should get close to 150 miles before you hit reserve. Take it back to the stealer and have him check it out!
BTW, after some gearing and pipes and some tweeking with the dyno, I consistaintly get 50+ MPG.

Just want to add that Chip may be on the high side. Even with my bike brand new and no mods I never got better than 40-45. I dropped about 5 mpg after all the initial mods (pipes, jets, needles), but it was worth it. I now consistently get 35-40 depending on city vs. hwy.

Makes me wonder how accurate the odometers are. Mine reads 2.5% less than actual miles traveled and I add that back figuring mileage. It's possible that some odometers could read more than actually traveled.

I'm not sure but I think mine's been getting better mileage idling once a week in my garage for the last two months

First off, I have to ask the obvious question. Is your choke shut off?

Also, check the colour of your plugs. If you haven't done anything to the bike other than mod the pipes, they should be very light. If they are dark or black, then you are running too rich for some reason. Get your dealer to fix.

I took 03 America out with sidecar (Texas , Ranger model)between 65 & 85 MPH I'm getting around 35 miles per gal. with 93 oct. gas. 150 miles round trip. With one stop at Triumph & Harley dealer's each. Rudyr