Vee 1000 m.p.g. -very peed off!

[hookie]

Went out for a run with the local bike club. Most were on Harleys or clones (Iknow I should know better and have resigned from the club as of today!), and on the run out (about 110 miles) to a very pretty village on the Allier river I only got into top gear once for about half a mile and may have touched 65mph! As the road got nicely twisty in places I thought at last some fun but all the Harleys and clones just slowed down even more. We stopped to refill the bikes on the way back and from topping my Vee up I worked out the fuel consumption to be 43 mpg! Wee owners- please stop giggling and crowing!! This is the first time I've ever worked out the bike's mpg. I knew it was pretty bad but not expecting it to be this bad. Goodness knows what it does when I ride it normally- 80-90mph and lots of  acceleration.  My bloody car driven at the same speed will do well over 60mpg. Anyway, suffice to say I'm pretty peed off with this and with the ever escalating fuel prices I may consider buying something else....but not a Wee... I would miss the punch of the 1000 on what is a very similar bike so would need a complete change.

[Piglumps]

43mpg? Ouch, but not, I suspect the worst fuel mileage for a Vee I fear... No gloating from this Wee rider..

Question to all: Would a Power Commander give better economy as well as sorting out the lumpy running?

[Juvecu]

You can't judge it on one fill up, write down at least 10 or so and average them. You'll be surprised how far out it can be on different fill ups. I see it all the time because I've written each fill up down since I got the bike (that's a lot of them too )

[Arto]

I rarely got above 40mpg for the Vee unlike my L2 Wee gloat gloat

[hookie]

Nice to see that all the Wee owners share my woes and are not gloating.... I suspect that fitting a Power Commander may well improve things but the cost of the unit and getting it set up properly pays for quite a lot of petrol. The bike hasn't any low end poor running issues so it would be done soley to get better m.p.g. I will monitor the fuel consumption under my normal riding conditions to see how it compares. You never know I may well be in for some surprises. Maybe the bike was just protesting at being behind a load of Harleys (and one BMW!).

[2112]

I got mid to high 40's from my Vee and down into the 30's if it got spanked like a ginger stepson... The Guzzi is actually better on juice despite being 200cc larger and a half ton heavier. Just as well as the 18 litre tank is a bit on the stingy side.

[temporaryescapee]

I get about 46mpg on mine.

Worth converting it to cost pa vs something else you like though.  Admittedly I only do about 3k pa on the bike.  At 46mpg and £1.40 per litre that's about £415.  If my bike did 55mpg that's about £347.  I'm not dismissing £68 but compared to the cost of changing your bike it's not much.

Cheers
Andy

[thebigcheese]

on a recent long run to Scotland and back I got 50mpg albeit cause of the average spped cameras evrywhere in Scotland, on a brisk run out I get 37mpg  at the end of the day the vee is an old bike and has an old engine in it compared to more modern bikes (the engine is lifted out of the tl1000 more or less). the power commander helps the runnig OK, don't know if it affected my mpg or not. mine sort of hiccups at 2500-3000rpm

[bgfs]

My L2's fuel eco meter reckons I'm doing about 63 to the gallon when I don't rag her. She definately gets ever 200+ miles but the question is would you want to? your backside is likely to give out before the tank! All the same the Vee's seat is better the my other bike the GSF 650 SAK9 and range is miles different. Guess I'll see what the range is this summer we're off to Austria on her this summer running with FJR's and GS's so if she can keep up with them 2 up I'll be really happy!

[hookie]

More about our club run. When we refilled, four of us decided to leave the rest of the group and make our own way back ( we couldn't stand it any longer!). This turned into a high speed blast looking out for speed traps and police and included about 30 miles of motorway doing upto 120mph quite a lot of the time. The rest was cross country averaging 80 to 90. It'll be interesting to work out the mpg when I refill it next time out. If it does around 40mpg ridden like this I won't be disappointed.

[wal750]

I've found with my vee is doesn't make too much difference to MPG regardless of how I ride. Admittedly I'm not a slow rider but the difference between normal riding and a spirited riding is minimal, perhaps only 2/3 mpg. The vee is really a toy, I do use it for commuting sometimes but only when I choose to. I have the cx650 for the shite weather and of course the cage if it gets horrendous  

Edit:
To quantify this my last tankful was high speed motorway for 3/4 of it. MPG worked out at approx 44 which ain't too bad

[Big Al wi the Vee]

PC won't help much for fuel economy.

I get between 40 and 55 depending how I ride it. Travelling days when touring I get 200m + to a tank , that's fully loaded 2 up, but thrashing it in the mountains I can be looking for fuel after about 140 miles.

Don't be to keen to put it in O/D. Although it will pull from a fairly low speed it will drink fuel to do so.

      Being reasonably new to the 1000 I thought the idea was to get the speed up to O/D as soon as possible to save on the higher revs  ( I'm Scottish by the way)  I never thought it would drink more juice.. Oh well every days a school day

[stevee_p]

Hookie - I hear your concerns!

I got my Vee in November, and was initially a bit disappointed with the economy.

However, I've got used to it now, and whilst it's not great by any means, I have to accept my bike is a toy, as I don't use it for commuting etc.

On Saturday I did a 130 mile round trip and the fuel gauge had only just reached halfway by the time I got home. I filled up at the end to see what mpg I got, and it worked out at 43.3mpg. The journey was pretty much a roads and b roads and no dual carriageways so I was on and off the throttle, but I rarely take the revs over 5k. I find keeping it between 3 and 5k gives perfectly acceptable throttle as well as decent economy. Any less that 3k rpm and its a bit judderey.

I must say though, I want more economy out of my next bike, and I'd happily sacrifice some of the power of the Vee. But its interesting when you quantify it as someone did in a previous reply. 40mpg vs 55mpg is £68 a year (mileage dependant of course). Suddenly makes it not so bad.

[frez]

The mileage I do (125 a day), the difference between 43mpg and the 59mpg I get on my wee would equate to over £1,100 per year, add on the extra £400 or so because of faster tyre wear and that is a considerable sum. I'd like more power, but at the end of the day, my wee is a commuter bike not a toy.

[Abercol]

I get around mid 40's with the Vee, I tend to spank it a bit (well, a lot) and most runs include a deserted dual carriageway for 30+ miles at around 100-110 usually, with blats up to "she canna take any more" 135+. The rest of the runs are on A & B roads at between 50-100 depending on road, traffic etc etc, normal cruising speed around 70.

If I go on a club run, it increases to around 50mpg and when we stop to fill after 100 miles or so we are all putting in much the same in fuel, usually less than a litre's difference. that's for the sports 1000's, 600's, 750's and the Pans/RT's/GS's/K1300's/GTR1400's etc. The Wee's in the group do a bit better, as does the Bonneville owner and the weirdo on the Versys....The two MV's (one Augusta & one Brutale) do a bit worse.

The worst ever consumption I saw on a club run was an RSV4. One of the blokes won a free weekend with it...less than 30mpg. I was right behind him all the way and got around 50mpg. He couldn't believe the crap mileage, it was on fumes after just over 100 miles. Sounded marvelous though.

I don't care much about mileage, I ride my bike for the fun of it, not the economics. Hell, my old '79 CB900 used to do around low 30's ridden the same way (20ltr tank, 120-140 per tank, worst tank ever was 90). I feel 40+ from a 1000 is bloody good going and a hoot to boot.

[Fatbelly]

on a recent long run to Scotland and back I got 50mpg albeit cause of the average spped cameras evrywhere in Scotland, on a brisk run out I get 37mpg  at the end of the day the vee is an old bike and has an old engine in it compared to more modern bikes (the engine is lifted out of the tl1000 more or less). the power commander helps the runnig OK, don't know if it affected my mpg or not. mine sort of hiccups at 2500-3000rpm

Oh! Cheesy! We don't have many average speed cameras in Scotland - in fact almost all of them are on the road from Stranraer to Stirling. BUT they are not for YOU my friend, oh no no no! They are Front Facing cameras for those nasty vehicles with front number plates. Just give them a cheery wave!

[Steve33]

Worth converting it to cost pa vs something else you like though.  Admittedly I only do about 3k pa on the bike.  At 46mpg and £1.40 per litre that's about £415.  If my bike did 55mpg that's about £347.  I'm not dismissing £68 but compared to the cost of changing your bike it's not much.

Excellent way of looking at things. It's always sensible to look at total cost of ownership.

My K2 Vee usually sits around 40mpg. Have seen 50mpg once - 70+ miles on very rainy M6, sat at 70mph, no fun  :handgestures-thumbdown:

It stings a little at the petrol station (esp. compared to my wife's Gladius, which is always around 60mpg), but it makes up for it by the smile it puts on my face.

If you want good fuel economy:

[Steve33]

BTW, I read the thread title as "Vee, 1000 MPG" and assumed it was an April Fool

[thebigcheese]

Oh! Cheesy! We don't have many average speed cameras in Scotland - in fact almost all of them are on the road from Stranraer to Stirling. BUT they are not for YOU my friend, oh no no no! They are Front Facing cameras for those nasty vehicles with front number plates. Just give them a cheery wave!

yeh as soon as you get of the boat in cairnryan all the way up to ayr and beyond are those pesky speed cameras. heard that before they are forward facing only. never liked the idea of trying it out though. cus on that one trip alone I could easily get a dozen tickets or more.