Modern Vespa

I have said on hear in the past that during brake-in, I got about 55 mpg!! Well I now have 800 miles on her, and I took it out on a high speed run, 65-85 MPH for 63 strait miles!!!! Wel I will tell ya what, I got 47.? MPG!! I guess she dont like the high speeds!! What do you all get?? Also at 122 miles, and the fuel light came on!!

At high speeds, your body is acting like a wall so your bike is going to pull a lot harder to make up for the extra drag. I have experimented with ducking down so there is less resistance and the mileage is WAY better. I do believe a windshield will improve your MPG at higher speeds.

I thought it would go down a little, not that much!! So what your saying is this gets better gas-milage in the city than on the highway? Weird!!

There is a lot to take into consideration. Wind, whether you filled your tank as much as before, throttling hard to pass etc.... keep watching and measuring, your MPG will even out. It's still breaking in.

You will get your best MPG between 45-55.

Too bad you werent in the mountains, you would really get good millage.

Well Wisconsin is not very flat, but you are right, Mountains? Now way!!
45-55? the only time it has seen them numbers is when it is in my garage!!

I hear ya. My MP3 only has 2 speeds. Zero and full throttle.

I did have to do a few days back and forth on country roads though. 2 lanes and always stuck behind a car, so i rarely got above 60 and if so it was only for a minute till I caught up to the next car. My mileage was very good those few days.

I have gotten better mileage with windscreens too, my wife ( 125 lbs and
not prone to excessive throttle) got 71mpg behind her Givi screen one day when I checked it. I would call the terrain "foothills", not high mountains.
I clocked 65 mpg behind my Ermax screen, then I cut it down short and got
55 again.
Weight of the rider, and speed and style of riding, plus windscreen, all play
a part. Remember that highway speeds over 55 mph lower gas mileage,
which is why we used to have such a speed limit here in the U.S ( Carter Administration), which was proposed again just
recently, ( and by a Republican senator at that).
Driving it like you stole it is fun, just don't expect to get good mileage too!
You just can't have both.

Basic economics tells me that if I can't afford to do something, I will stop doing it. Even at its WORST, the MP3 gets twice the mileage of my truck. And my truck is a 4 cyl only 18 months old. So I'll ride WOT until I can't anymore, then I will stop.

No windscreen. Scoot is consistently at 50 mpg. Best ever was 51.8.

I got the windscreen within a week of getting the bike, and I am getting over 60 mpg consistently, and I RIDE. Most of the driving is backroads or highway, not much in town stuff. But I really am not "gentle" with the throttle.

what screen do you have, and do you have any pictures of it?

8)

I just got the best mpg ever with my 400. I went 165 miles on 2.4 gal of gas. I got a whopping 68 mpg. This was 2 up, 4 to 6 thousand feet elevation, avg speed of 30 mph to say 55 mph. I went through 2 rain storms on the way home at freeway speeds. So it is possible to get good mpg you just have to slow down. Oh my 400 has 4500 miles on it now.

R.B.

Not trying to brag but i got 2000 miles and i get 67 to 70 on my 250. I drive 70% of m my 46 mile daily trip at 65.

I averaged my MPG over 5 fill-ups and only got 39 and change with mostly freeway in the foothills. No windscreen but I do drop into a tuck for the hills.

I regularly get 60mpg on my Fuoco. I'm very impressed with that because when I had the Silver Wing I averaged about 47mpg.

i don't have a 500 yet, but my Honda Silver Wing can go from the ridiculous to the sublime in a flick of the throttle. I usually get in the high 40's to low 50's on it, but I have gotten as high as 59 MPG which was on a leisurely back road ride at about 50 MPH. On the interstate at 60 to 65 I get 53 to 55 MPG. If I run 70 and up, the MPG will drop into the mid to low 40's. These large displacement scooters get real thirsty at high power settings and CVT transmissions don't have the high gear ratios that manual transmissions can provide, so fuel economy will suffer in order to provide good power in the mid ranges. I must admit that, at least for me, the trade off is worth it. I love the neck snapping acceleration of the Silver Wing. It is a total gas to put a whoopin' (that is a Southern US colloquialism for whipping) on a guy on a "real motorcycle". I know.........I may have to grow older (turned 60 week before last), but I DO NOT have to grow UP!

With the Givi windscreen and everything else stock (well, except the grips, but those're irrelevant here) I've gotten 55-57 mpg pretty consistently since day 1, though it increased a smidge after break-in service. I've had the Givi on since delivery.

BP 93 Octane always, and I also shoot for the older stations that have the pumps where there are actually 3 separate nozzles for the different grades to try to avoid cross-contamination with lower grades. I'm sure this is not necessary *ahem, neurotic*, or maybe has a very negligible effect, but those stations happen to be handy so I figure it can't hurt...

I don't baby the throttle one whit.

I use Chevron 91 as that is the best locally available, but only 1 nozzle. I wonder how much cross-contamination with 87 effects my performance and MPG. My cars also use 91 and the effect on a 10 or 20 gallon tank is negligible I'm sure; but on a 2 gallon fill-up who knows how much effect it has.
I'm sure my WOT riding is responsible for most of my low MPG results but I was expecting high 40s minimum not high 30s.

There is a discussion going on in the general forum about using high vs low octane. the consensus is that if it doesn't knock or ping, then it doesn't matter. My gf (scientist) verified for me that there is so little chemical difference that it pretty much does't matter.

almost 3000 miles on my 500...i have the givi windshield...185 pounds

i have found

city riding i get 60 to 62 miles per gallon consistently...usually fill up at around 160 miles and put in 2.7 to 2.8 gallons...so i could probably go to 190 miles before running out of gas

smaller highways...if i drive between 50 to 60 miles per hour i also get a bit above 60 mpg...keep your revs between 4 and 5 and you sip gas

larger highways...if i drive 65 mph...drops to 55 mpg

if i drive 75....50 mpg

if i drive 85...45 mpg or worse....depends on wind

luckily i really only do the 85 mph if i'm going long distances...

so i mostly keep my mpg in the 60 range...city riding the most and small highway riding in the mountains....i LOVE the twisties

i'm also at elevation...most of my riding is between 5000 and 7000 feet above sea level

g

Wind drag is only part of the reason. As with any automobile, once you 'floor' it, fuel economy goes out the window. I've been gauging my fuel economy since I got the bike and it's always been 48-52mpg due to my frequent highway riding at 80-90mph.

Still more than twice as good as my Acura.

I filled up my 500 today. After 92 miles I put in 1.8 gal so 50.55mpg. Not bad for the first 90 miles.

I went on about a 200 mile ride today with about 50 of my closest friends, all on their "real" motorcycles. On the first fill-up, I got 64 MPG and on the second 68, for an overall average of 66 MPG. Pretty good! I have about 1200 miles on my MP3-500, so still breaking it in. I also had THE MOST FUN of anyone on the ride. I rode in the back of the group and was busting corners about 20 MPH or faster than anyone else on the ride.

Being tail-gunner for a group of sports bikes is GREAT. I tell them I let them get ahead on the straights so I'm not slowed up on the bends.

I get 55-60 mpg on my 500 with Givi windscreen and Givi Maxia 52 L topcase, mostly WOT or 65-80 mph indicated. This is at 1600 miles on the odometer. Still using premium gas and I feel really good about that! 8) 8)

I've been between 55-62 for the first 1500 miles. I have a fabbri medium screen that was installed at 400 miles. I haven't been below 58 since. I'm 5'11" and about 2 cheeseburgers shy of 300lbs on any given day. I don't do any interstate riding, mostly city and highway but I do get on the throttle pretty good.

Last weekend I rode about 220 miles from Nashville to Beersheba Springs, TN on highways and got 60 driving 65-70 mostly. Aside from the hurricane wind sounds in my ear, it was a great ride. If the Fabri could direct the wind about 4 inches higher I'd be smooth quiet sailing, but that's a topic for another place.

I have a friction reducer [active8] in the engine & gearbox, before i strugled to get 50 mpg, now i get a very happy 80mpg.

for reals or sarcasm?

I ride mine pretty hard and get 54 combined.

For real, on the 23rd August I did 160miles in one day, i filled up b4 & after, 2gallons I was amazed, on my sons life truth.
I put it down to this stuf, I get an extra 3mpg out of my Dodge with this stuf too.
You can feel the diff, & no it's nothing to do with me, im not selling it, it just works! 8)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/125ml-Activ8-Friction-Reducer-Oil-Honda-Kawasaki-Suzuki_W0QQitemZ250285742518QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250285742518&_trkparms=72%3A1301|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I could believe a tiny increase in fuel economy as a result of an oil additive, but over 60% improvement? Colour me skeptical.

Not sure where ya get %60 from, but try, but be warned, once ya have it will cost you a fortune, I run it in every motor we have, I prob wont get my costs back on fuel I don't do enough miles, but peace of mind, worth its weight in gold.
A lot of race teams are useing this stuf when they assemble motors, its used in most motor sports, only the cost keeps it out of the limelight

From your figures. 80-50=30. 30 is 60% of 50. Impossible improvement or else everyone would be using it already. You may persuade yourself, I don't buy it.

It works for me, they claim 7% on mpg, maybe rest was due to a longer run, link here for acticve8, you can follow that one to a dyno test, on a hatchback, instant extra 4 bhp. Science works for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ldl01tUaM4

http://www.simplan.co.uk/Testresults/index.htm this seems incredible...too incredible. Any other of the UK riders know this product?

I go to Staford Classic Bike Show every year, thats how I 1st found out about it, the guy allways has a stall there, think the next show is sometime in october 8)

I don't think you can trust those test results too much, given that they seem to be by the company that is selling the stuff.

Plus, they leap to some pretty amazing conclusions as a result of the tests: It produces a "molecular layer" that "modifies the surface" and "penitrates (sic) just below the surface as well"?

Hmmmmm...

Maybe it's a good product, but there seem to be some pretty outlandish claims about it.

I after my first measured tankful of fuel I calculated 53 MPG on my 500. No windscreen, flat terrain, speeds variable up to 60 MPH. That's 2 1/2 times what I get with my small SUV so I'm not complaining.

I don't have the time to do a lot of research about it, but I did see some stuff recently involving nano-diamonds added to lubricants providing a molecular coating of components such that there is no metal to metal contact, rather the contact is a nano layer of perfectly spherical diamonds.

That might be helpful for those looking at the Active8 stuff and trying to wonder what they are talking about. If I have some more time I will see what else I can dig up on that.

Speaking of outrageous claims, a friend of mine recently pointed me to a press release from Shelby Super Cars, who now has the world record for the fastest production car. They are working on an all electric version of that car and in the press release say "Other automakers have sacrificed aesthetics and performance in exchange for hybrid power plants, but the Ultimate Aero EV will deliver a pollution-free, engineering marvel with an exotic Supercar exterior. The drive train under development will feature a revolutionary power source allowing for extended time between charging intervals with the possibility of several years between charging." link here

Several years between charging!!! The only thing I have been able to locate that might do that (that didn't come from a UFO) is a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.