Fuel efficiency

[R-Rated]

Check local listings but for some unknown reason fuel prices have risen at least 30% in the USA ( sarcasm). So I compared my bikes' mpg today. Weather and routes were the same.

My 2019 Harley-Davidson Road Glide Ultra scored 51.3 mpg on the hilly highway ride through the countryside. He bike is stock on the power train and has less than 9k miles on it

My 2014 Harley-Davidson ElectraGlide Ultra Limited scored 46.7 miles. It has a stage 1 kit and has 118,900 miles on it.

Either bike is getting better mpg than most cars except...

A few months my wife found out she has to report to the office three days a week going to 5 days a week soon. So before the gas prices had a reason to climb we bought a used 2015 Toyota Prius. It scores about 60 mpg.

Now I need to find a new excuse to buy my next bike.

 

[Theodor]

I have never owned a car, that has taken as much fuel, as my big bike does. I think I have only driven one car that took as much, and that was a big American V8. Normally I get somewhere around 29-33 in that American way of measuring fuel, on my bike. Average car does ~47
Then again, no car ever makes me feel as good as my bike does, so the difference does not yet seem bad enough to stop riding my bike.

 

[Drakhen99]

That's awesome mileage! @R-Rated , is that hand-calculated, or what the bike's MPG screen says? I haven't checked what my 2024 Road Glide screen says, but my 2019 Street Glide Special was always 5+mpg higher than hand-calculated.

That said, my 2019 SGS got 37-45 MPG, and my 2024 RG has been getting 35-39 MPG, both hand-calculated.

My 2025 GMC Canyon gets about 17.2 hand-calculated MPGs... but the services are cheaper, so it evens out.

Your Prius was a prescient purchase of personal conveyance.

-John

 

[R-Rated]

That's awesome mileage! @R-Rated , is that hand-calculated, or what the bike's MPG screen says? I haven't checked what my 2024 Road Glide screen says, but my 2019 Street Glide Special was always 5+mpg higher than hand-calculated.

That said, my 2019 SGS got 37-45 MPG, and my 2024 RG has been getting 35-39 MPG, both hand-calculated.

My 2025 GMC Canyon gets about 17.2 hand-calculated MPGs... but the services are cheaper, so it evens out.

Your Prius was a prescient purchase of personal conveyance.

-John

I let the machines tell me what they are doing. I knew a rider that had a notebook that he kept a log for his bike for every drop of gas and oil. Refueling with them was a bit of trip in itself.

The thing with hand calculation is Gasoline expands and contracts with temp and there is always some left in the hose between the nozzle and pump. That amount can vary and the octane can vary.

Then there is pesky variable of "up to" percentage of ethanol.

So too many variables to do a hand calculation and just let the machine tell each trip what it got.

 

[Drakhen99]

I let the machines tell me what they are doing. I knew a rider that had a notebook that he kept a log for his bike for every drop of gas and oil. Refueling with them was a bit of trip in itself.

The thing with hand calculation is Gasoline expands and contracts with temp and there is always some left in the hose between the nozzle and pump. That amount can vary and the octane can vary.

Then there is pesky variable of "up to" percentage of ethanol.

So too many variables to do a hand calculation and just let the machine tell each trip what it got.

Fair enough. I always find the MPG-o-meter in vehicles to be optimistic. The pump usually shows 1-5% difference when hand-calculated. I understand the variables, but like your friend, I also log each fill-up of every vehicle. I just do it on my phone and then type it into a spreadsheet when I get home

-John

 

[Theodor]

We do liters per 100km here, and that calculation sort of happens naturally to me. When I pull up to the gas station, I glance at the odometer and already assess how much fuel I will be able to fit in to the tank. I am usually no more than half a liter off. I don't write it down or anything, but I always sort of think about it, when fueling, because sudden change can indicate an issue with the bike.

 

[Drakhen99]

We do liters per 100km here, and that calculation sort of happens naturally to me. When I pull up to the gas station, I glance at the odometer and already assess how much fuel I will be able to fit in to the tank. I am usually no more than half a liter off. I don't write it down or anything, but I always sort of think about it, when fueling, because sudden change can indicate an issue with the bike.

Yep! That's one thing my dad taught me about vehicles.

-John

 

[R-Rated]

Yep! That's one thing my dad taught me about vehicles.

-John

Dads are cool loke that.

Unless the sudden change involves parts falling off, handling/power issues, noises, or an explosion then my dad just listened to the vehicles. He did really good doing that because our vehicles usually had a couple hundred thousand miles on them with little fuss beyond replacing a starter occasionally.

The record holder was a 1965 Buick Electra 225 with over 400k miles. The most it had was a starter replaced and three set of motor mounts with two driveshafts.

That beast had a police interceptor engine from GM in it.

Sadly it was "stolen" before I turned 16 years old.

 

[Theodor]

I still have ways to go there. My bike has less than 85k in miles now. But I know these engines can last that, so starting next week I will begin to creep closer to that record

 

[LoneWolfer]

I can't seem to crack the 45 mpg mark anytime I test the Sportster or the Dyna. The problem is probably my wide butt.

As for the cars, neither of our vehicles can beat the bikes. The Taurus averages 23 mpg and the CRV does its best to hit 25 MPG these days. We might need to consider a hybrid soon as well given the fact that a creamsicle turd forced the world into an energy crisis.

 

[R-Rated]

I can't seem to crack the 45 mpg mark anytime I test the Sportster or the Dyna. The problem is probably my wide butt.

As for the cars, neither of our vehicles can beat the bikes. The Taurus averages 23 mpg and the CRV does its best to hit 25 MPG these days. We might need to consider a hybrid soon as well given the fact that a creamsicle turd forced the world into an energy crisis.

If you go hybrid go Toyota but do your research about how to replace the battery pack. I did and there were a couple iffy Prii we came across. I got the Dr. Prius app and Bluetooth OBD II scanner for testing the battery. It scored just over 62% and is the original battery.

I say Toyota because their hybrid system is really simple on the mechanics side of things. Car Care Nut channel has some good videos on that.

Also, the new Tundra is Hybrid but not like the Prius. I got to use one while having the Prius inspected by a Toyota dealer before sealing the deal. The Tundra got 19 mpg (same as my 1988 GMC S15 back innthe day). So some of the other Toyota Hybrids might be not as efficient either.

As far as mpg on the Taurus, that is the 3.5 naturally aspirated engine right? My wife's Explorer gets about that and it is AWD. It can also burn E85. The mpg drops but so does the price to fill it up. My Excursion get 13 mpg. The Cadillac is just for fun so who knows what it gets.

 

[Theodor]

When the first Prius came out, we had a technical training about it, at work. Then the representative of Toyota said: "The fuel economy was never the goal, we added the electric motor to get more power at lower speeds. Some gained fuel economy is just a happy accident."