VF500 fuel mileage

Covered about 400 mi this weekend and I was in the 42-45 range.

 

The only time any of my 500's get that kind of mileage is when something is wrong with them. I suggest that you guys take a good look at the overall condition of your engine. I think with some maintenance you can get back into the 50's where it should be.

 

What kind of maintenance do you recommend, other than fresh fluids, air filter, plugs, wires, etc?

 

i get about 35-40 with 35 on my rides with friends and 40 on my commutes to work.

 

When I was riding my 500 on a daily basis I was averaging 48-50 mpg in town. It would go up to around 50-55 highway depending on weather & if I was feeling "froggy" or not.
My 1983 750 is averaging around 40-45 mpg highway & on the 1997 750 i'm getting around 45 mpg and it doesn't matter if it's city, highway or back roads.:vtr2:

 

I get 40mpg at the very best.

I guess I need a fresh tune up and a Carb Synch.

What is recommended at 40,000kms service wise?
(1986 VF500)

 

Most likely the poor fuel mileage that has been stated is due to carbs that are in poor condition. A full cleaning, rebuild and adjustment makes a world of difference.

 

I get about 43-45 from my 86 750.

I do about 15 miles of 55mph driving (local roads) and 20 miles of 75-85 mph (highway) per day. About 165 miles before fill-up. Only went reserve 1 time for the one 184 mile trip. Still only took 4.4 gals to fill.

I put B12 carb cleaner and 92 octane in it 3 times and its running better by the tank. I've only had the bike for about 500 miles, it was riden about 200 miles a year for the last 3 years by P/O. It was replaced with a BMW 1200R, so I got a new toy for a great price.

 

First tank fuel economy

Two days ago, on the highway my newly acquired VF500 sputtered and died. I thought it was one of the dreaded feuling problems I've been reading about. I had 129 miles on the tank, pulled over, switched to reserve and was able to get home. I now realize I really was out of fuel in the main tank. I filled up today at 130.7 miles with 3.333 gallons which works out to 39.2mpg. My 2006 Ninja 500 gave me 55mpg before a gearing change for fuel economy that resulted in 62mpg average. The VF500 is a bit older tech and very high revving and is likely a big part of the inefficiency problem. At 60mph in top gear it revs at about 5500rpm vs 4000rpm for the Ninja 500 and my VFR800. My VFR800 averages about 50mpg. I did ride it a bit hard to "get the gunk out" as the bike had been sitting for quite a while. It only has 6500 miles on it. I also rode with some choke on several rides because it was dying before setting the idle speed to the correct point. I'll be tracking my fuel economy on CleanMPG, An authoritative source on fuel economy and hypermiling and will take it easy this next tank to see what she can do.

 

I Average about 39-41 MPG on my VF500.

That's with +1 on the rear sprocket, and a much needed Carb clean and synch.

 

I've been getting 40-45 MPG depending on how I ride. The last time I filled up I think it was ~3.4 gal and 130 miles.

-Jake

 

i have gotten 60 mpg before being very frugal but i have also gotten 30 flat doing 0-120 all the time etc. It depends on how long you stay at 12000 rpm and how many times you twist the hell outa the right hand grip.

 

Mine averaged high 30's low 40's and I've gone 190 miles on a tank! The fuel economy will get worse as it gets warmer

 

I get 42-45 mpg driving to work which consist of 10 mins surface streets and 10 mins of highway. I like to accelerate pretty hard off the green light when at the front of the line. On the highway, I'm scare to ride on the exit lane so I ride on the fast lane and therefore I ride as fast or faster than anyone else. Oh and there is a small section (2/10 of a mile?) before I get off the highway that I really like to ride fast. It's like dessert to me :biggrin:.

I'd learned to switch over to reserve at about 100 since I ran out of fuel on the fast line with cars behind me. Scared the crap out of me.

 

Wow guys, all of my VF500F's get in the 50's at at least. 225-250 miles per tank is no problem. Anything below 50mpg tells me there is a problem, most likely in the carbs or something. For reference, the 1000's get low to mid-40's all day long.

 

I'll have to calculate my mileage from this tank. I don't pay SUPER close attention to it. It's pouring outside today, maybe i'll just toss some gas in it tomorrow and calculate out my mileage.

 

Mine is in the mid 30's. I'm not sure why, other than my riding habits. I'm on it pretty hard, and it's always short rides (1.8 miles to work!)

One question I do have, what jets should be close on this thing? I have the 102/105 split on the mains in the bike right now, I also have a set of carbs that has the 90's (I think?) that the later bikes had. I'm not sure which carbs are on it, I'll have to check.

 

Float position and needle/seat condition crutial

I own both an 84 and a 85 Magna V30's. These bikes have the same engine as the 84 & 85 Interceptors. Both have less than 30K on them and they both run. I only tuned the 85 but the 84 had the full treatment of carb rebuilding. I prefer the '84. It has a smoother idle. I tried checking mileage by tank to tank refills at same station and refilling with bikes on centerstand to the edge of the filler rim. The '85 got around 33-36 mpg. That was mostly in town and stop and go driving. I, like JamieDaugherty was dissappointed in this mileage. I expected something over 40 mpg in town and something over 50 on the highway. I hoped that I would get 60 to 65 mpg on the highway. Remember that I did not rebuild the carbs on the '85.

I did rebuild the carbs on the '84 V30. I tried to build them to run lean. That meant that I built them with the floats set to run at a lower level. If you want the carb to run lean you try to adjust the needle to close off the entrance of fuel to the float bowl earlier than the stock float setting. This makes the average fuel level lower than the standard level. This makes it harder for the carb to pull the fuel from the float bowl into the throttle passage. I believe that the stock float setting on the 84-85 model carbs is 0.24 inch (6.2 mm) I set my floats to touch run at 0.32 inch. I figured this was going to allow me to get slightly better milage and still not be too lean. If it did run too lean I would change to a colder plug. If I had to I would start all over again and reset the floats rather than harm the engine by running too lean.

First good check of mileage from the '84 I got 38 mpg in mostly town driving. I was not happy with that either. The bike started and ran great. It idled great right on the factory recommended 1100-1200 rpm. It had great acceleration without any flat spots and reved easily to red line when ever I called for it. I had fun driveing the '84, meanwhile the '85 was dropping out at idle and had flat spots and did not have good response.

But I was looking for great mileage. I started to turn off the motor at stop lights and to drive more highway miles. I got the bike up to 42 mpg by trying these tricks. Then I took it on its first long drive during a cold spell back in August. I probably drove with the choke half on for part of the ride. The best mileage I ever got was 49 mpg. That was about 70% highway and the rest in town. I was driving with the choke on at times. I would forget and leave it on for part of the time I was riding with the bike warmed up.

I have to say that I like the bike and it has great acceleration for a 500cc bike, esecially if I keep it revved up. I can hit highway speeds in third and I have never taken it over 95 or 100 in fourth or fifth, but it still had room to accelerate in both gears. I am a heavy weight person and I have to believe that I tend to ride hard because I don't fear having to fix something myself when it breaks. With a light rider driving moderately I have to believe that the V30 would get 53+ mpg on the highway. I did not get to test this belief out because my son switched to a Kawasaki Ninja 250 and abandonded me to finish up my Magna V45 by myself. Thats when I ran into the rust problem and ended up driving my car to northern CA. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It would be interesting to see if the '86 model Interceptor 500 with the smaller carbs got better mileage than the 84-85 models? Anyone have a good running '86 500? When my son was interested in repairing his 500 he wanted to switch back to the larger early carbs. I would like to know if anyone has tried this change and how it affected mileage. Maybe all the 500 drivers should try to find a good set of '86 carbs to get better mileage?

 

I have a good running 86 that I will check the mileage on in a day or 2.

 

Some food for thought in your post DKC. I didn't really pay much attention to the float levels when I had my carbs apart, more that I made sure none of them was significantly different than the others (all 4 couldn't be totally off could they? Unless someone changed them all!)

I also have a Ninja 250, and that thing sips on the fuel! it get's nealr the 70 MPG mark on the road!