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Offline TMKIWI

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Fuel Mileage
« on: February 08, 2011, 11:26:35 AM »
I didn't want to hijack Toby's thread on his new bike so seeing a few guy's talking about fuel range while trail riding I'll start this one.
I know the terran has a bearing on fuel consumption but what sort of range can you get on a tank, and what sort of riding.

I can get about 90km on a tank. Tank is 9.5L.
The riding we do has either a fuel stop set up half way round or we go back to car park each lap so can full up then.
The single loop rides are about 100km & the multi loop rides you can normally cover 120-150km. Depends on how excited you are. ;D
Most of our riding is bush and farm land with very little fire road's.
I found this vid which is the bush riding we do. Turn sound down. :-X
Not me.

Trail Riding plus 2 river crossings, Desert Storm NZ

And this is the farm riding.

Te Mata Trail Ride-Raglan NZ


P.S You can drive round like a human torch all you want Jetz. Not for me. ;D
« Last Edit: February 08, 2011, 12:00:02 PM by TMKIWI »
If you don't fall off you are not going hard enough

Offline opfermanmotors

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Re: Fuel Mileage
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2011, 12:01:33 PM »
My bikes don't get great range, with the extended gas tank I can get up to 40 miles comfortably without hitting reserve.  Not sure what the full range is, have not pushed it without refueling.

Because of my fuel consumption I have been looking into all the options.

Option 1: Oversized gas tank.  Not an option for some of my bikes as they don't make them.  Others they do or I can get a universal one.  

Air Cooled Universal 3.7g ( http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_71&products_id=772 )

Option 2: Number plate gas tank.  This is fine, get an extra 1.3 Gallons, I have it on 2 of my bikes.

http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_71&products_id=350


Option 3: Rear Gas Tank.  I guess if you plan on being eazy rider, it's fine.  However, I don't want to keep thinking that if I might go off the back if I try a hill climb I don't want to be caught up on a tank on the back.  There are several options here though.

http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_71&products_id=351



Option 4: Side numberplate gas tank.  There are several of these, my problem is they are on the wrong side of the bike!


http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_71&products_id=575

Option 5: Carrying gas on you.  Well, if you crash or it leaks you have gasoline all over you.  Plus it's heavier.  There are "safer" options than just putting it into any old thing which isn't made to carry gasoline.


Utility bladders:

http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=360_362&products_id=1154

http://www.justgastanks.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95&products_id=1155

There are also 1 quart metal MSR bottles and things, which may also be safer and less prone to explode on you.  If I was to carry some on me, which I may end up doing, I would invest in something as self contained and durable as possible.  But only after I have exhausted all safe options of putting gasoline on the bike itself.
Modest beginings start with a single blow of a horn, man.

Offline opfermanmotors

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Re: Fuel Mileage
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2011, 12:07:03 PM »
I would say that it appears that typical for a 500 2 stroke is about ~12 miles per gallon.  Give or take and depends on the bike.  That is what I have seen though is usually a good estimate on several bikes I have seen run out of fuel or hit reserve.  You give or take that based on terrian and riding and also some bikes will be slightly better than others or some worse.
Modest beginings start with a single blow of a horn, man.

Offline TMKIWI

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Re: Fuel Mileage
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2011, 03:37:15 PM »
What distance do you travel in a day Toby, away from base.
Luckily most of the riding I do as explained above is well within a full tank.
If it is a 30km loop i'll fill up after 2 lap's. I don't want to push it.
On Saturday I filled up at lunch and it took 5L and we did 50km/30 miles.
My old RM250 would only do 50km safely on a tank allthough that was only 8L.
I was going to put an oversize tank on it but I sold it.
If you don't fall off you are not going hard enough

Offline JETZcorp

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Re: Fuel Mileage
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2011, 04:11:35 PM »
The 120 has proven to be fairly spectacular on range.  I'm not sure how big the tank is but I'm sure it's quite a bit less than 2 gallons, and we've been able to get somewhere between 60-75 miles out of it.  Of course that's a GIANT range of uncertainty, and that's because none of our bikes have a speedometer or odometer or anything, so I'm not really sure how big the distance is.  But I picked out two points that I consider to be the bare edge of the 120's capability, and Google Maps says that by pavement and gravel it would be 39 miles one-way (the 120 can do the run two-ways).  I don't know how much shorter or longer our dirt-roads-that-no-one-has-taken-since-WWII route is, but on the map I'd say it looks substantially shorter.  I can't remember whether we used the Gatorade bottle trick on that run, but it seems likely.  However, it should also be noted that dad's 100 Yamaha ran out of gas, and the 120 had to donate two beer cans worth of gas to keep the Yamaha going, so that would almost kind of cancel out a tiny bit of it.

So yeah, 60-75 miles, with a top speed dictated by short gears to be 45mph or so at ~10K revs.  The 250 Husky will most assuredly not get that much range from its 2.1G tank.

And with regards to the Gatorade bottle trick, it should be stressed that the bottles are emptied into the tank as soon as the tank has room for it, to minimize the "gas = scary" factor.  On the riding we do, the "good riding" is an unfortunately long distance from camp, so oftentimes you've got the gas in-tank before anything heavy happens.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2011, 04:19:01 PM by JETZcorp »


Is this Maico a 440 or only a 400?  Well in all the confusion, I forgot myself.
But considering this is a 1978 Magnum, the best-handling bike in the world, you have to ask yourself one question.
Do you feel lucky, punk?

Offline opfermanmotors

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Re: Fuel Mileage
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2011, 04:27:10 PM »
Typical loop is probably 25 miles, but I have done 40 mile loops (did one sunday) where halfway point is furthest from base, so about 20 miles or so from base is how far I have traveled.  There are some races here which are 80 mile loops, however that race in particular is kind of a circle around base, so the furthest point from base may only be about 10 miles max since you run a lot of the course parrelell in a circle around base.

Modest beginings start with a single blow of a horn, man.

Offline ford832

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Re: Fuel Mileage
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2011, 04:47:56 PM »
I really don't know mine but I do know the 250 is far easier on fuel than any 125 I've had-less wringing on it I suppose.Fortunately,the YZ holds 8.5l.The SX and RM held 7.5 and the EXC 9.5.
Over the years,I've found it doesn't really matter what your range is,as long as you're not the first one to run out :D
I'd rather a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy.