[ADE THE BLADE]

evening all........as a rule, everyone is trying to eek out every last mpg on each outing, stating average figures for the vara being around 45. so after giving me bike a real caning today and getting 100 miles instead of the usual 170 /180, i was curious as to what everyones lowest mpg for their bike has been down to ? best bit of riding i`ve done in a long time today. real adrenaline stuff and the bike seemed to relish it. didnt miss a beat. love that bike. true raw beast !!!

 

[jasonbc]

evening all........as a rule, everyone is trying to eek out every last mpg on each outing, stating average figures for the vara being around 45. so after giving me bike a real caning today and getting 100 miles instead of the usual 170 /180, i was curious as to what everyones lowest mpg for their bike has been down to ? best bit of riding i`ve done in a long time today. real adrenaline stuff and the bike seemed to relish it. didnt miss a beat. love that bike. true raw beast !!!

The worst i've ever had on my Varadero was 135miles for a tankful. 2up fully loaded, tankbag and really high head winds like i've never experienced before. I was coming out of Paris heading to Le Man if any knows that road

 

[tonyk]

Have only had the vara since before Christmas and was getting 130/135 miles every time I refiled to the light coming on City driving

went on a scoot to Belfast yesterday for the bike show from Dublin bout 110 miles each way and the light came on at 190 miles refilled her at 217miles and she took 23.8 litres of juice half the miles were with 2 up and we weren't going easy,actually pushed her to the edge with two up a lot of the way (motorway)and gave it wellie on the way back to see what she could doimpressed

are the really that thirsty around town??????????

Tony K

 

[j]

Stan on his KTM990 normal fuel range 150/165 miles
Myself on a BMW GS 1150 normal range 200 miles
on a nice little road in Scotland the KTM went empty at 111 miles and the GS 130 MILES all bikes like a drink when their thirsty, but surprised on your figures in a VARA was the tank brimmed?

 

[davsato]

mine too, 130/140 with all town commuting, but 250+ if you sit at 80 on the motorway or autoroute for a good run. load weight and panniers has no effect in my experience, but ive been told (and it makes sense i guess) the worse thing you can have is a topbox and ive got mine on all the time which is probably why i feel no difference between panniers on or off.

 

[StumpyFingers]

My Transalp has had the best at about 235 per tank and the worst about 170 per tank.

 

[Alba]

mine too, 130/140 with all town commuting, but 250+ if you sit at 80 on the motorway or autoroute for a good run. load weight and panniers has no effect in my experience, but ive been told (and it makes sense i guess) the worse thing you can have is a topbox and ive got mine on all the time which is probably why i feel no difference between panniers on or off.

I would have thought panniers = more drag as a top box is behind biker thus biker has created the majority of the drag and the top box is sitting in the turbulent air !!

Shows what I know ....

 

[Steve T]

Best = 53 mpg - in France last year, one up & fully loaded but cruising

Worst = 38 mpg - "Playing" with a R1 on the A38 / M5 from Plymouth ferry to Bristol services - he needed fuel for his machine by the services - I got to Pontypool and still had plenty left

Averaging 46 mpg on the latest machine, which is the same as the previous one, which isn't to shabby for big boned V-Twin :thumbup:

Steve T

 

[davsato]

I would have thought panniers = more drag as a top box is behind biker thus biker has created the majority of the drag and the top box is sitting in the turbulent air !!

Shows what I know ....

no apparently it breaks up the airflow around the rider and acts like an airbrake. the panniers on the vara are tucked in quite a bit. they must be a bit of extra drag of course, but not like a topbox

 

[africajim]

Well, there you go then, I've learnt something new as well! All these yrs and I thought I only took off the topbox for asthetics but all along it was my subconsious saying "aerodynamics, aerodynamics!"

Well, just gives me another reason to take off the box! Cool!

Of course won't make any difference two up, as no gap for air to trap due to pillion.

 

[davsato]

Well, there you go then, I've learnt something new as well! All these yrs and I thought I only took off the topbox for asthetics but all along it was my subconsious saying "aerodynamics, aerodynamics!"

Well, just gives me another reason to take off the box! Cool!

Of course won't make any difference two up, as no gap for air to trap due to pillion.

aerodynamics is always backwards to what you think, putting the air back smoothly once youve been through it is more important than how you pushed it out of the way in the first place. bullets would actually fly better with the pointy bit at the back, for instance.
2up its the same thing, its a continuous shape instead of a screen, a rider and a topbox with big gaps in between. look at a hayabusa from the side, it all swoops to a point at the back