Fuel economy

[The Mighty Gryphon]

1 U.S. gallon = 3.7853 liters = 0.83267 British gallons
1 British gallon = 1.2009 U.S. gallons = 4.546 liters
1 liter = 0.26418 U.S. gallons = 0.21998 British gallons

Doing the conversions, my K75RT gets approximately 46miles/U.S. gallon, 55.24miles/British gallon, 12.15miles/liter, and 19.55km/liter. 
     

[F14CRAZY]

If the world abolished the metric system and took up the SAE system we wouldn't have this problem would we?

[pdg]

If the world abolished the metric system and took up the SAE system we wouldn't have this problem would we?

If they did that, none of our sockets or allen keys would fit classic BMW fasteners properly... And anyway, we'd lose all the fun of finding out whether some old piece of machinery uses SAE or W/W or BSP or BA (or another standard) fastenings and how many different standards are mixed :hehehe

Plus, being decimal based metric is easier. You don't fractionalise metric measurements, i.e. you don't state something is 1/12 of a metre - instead of dividing by 3 or 5 or 7 or 12 everything is 10s or multiples/divisions of.

Even though the UK is now predominantly metric, we still use miles. Fuel efficiency is still expressed in MPG (even though it's been 'illegal' to price fuel by the gallon at the pump for years), roadsigns still have miles on (except for approach to junctions etc., that's in metres..........). To be honest though, even the 'mile' is really a bit silly - how did a contraction of the word 'mille' (meaning 1000) come to express 1760 yards?

But even taking all that into account, I don't see a 'problem' - the volumes/measurements are known as are the relationships between the various systems. For most purposes an approximate conversion can be done quickly and simply in your head only requiring more complex calculations where precision is more important than speed.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

To be honest though, even the 'mile' is really a bit silly - how did a contraction of the word 'mille' (meaning 1000) come to express 1760 yards?

I believe it comes from the Romans.  A mile is the distance a marching Roman soldier covered in 1000 paces.  The average man moves forward a bit more than 5 feet every time he takes two steps.

[jacksdad1963]

Metric is the best as stated above  :neener:
We don't have metric litres and USA litres, for example, and we no longer need to know how to divide 19/75ths by 73/9786ths to get an exact measurement, we don't need tape measures with a thousand infinetly smaller marks on them...
NO! a millimetre is a pretty small enough measure for everday use, but a half millimetre is still easy to work with, then the sizes go up in tenths, nice and simple!
Also, to write a fraction in a numeric value is another set of numbers, eg 1/32 is also .03125"   15/32 is .46875"  now at a glance, which is the biggest value?
OR.......say,   2mm  or 5mm ?    :hehehe

[F14CRAZY]

That moment when you need that uncommon 25/32 socket, or the wrench set you just bought didn't include a 16 mm

[jacksdad1963]

16mm is 5/8  :2thumbup:
I still need to use some imperial, I'm a Plumber, and all water pipe fixings are still measured in imperial, 1/2", inch n half, inch n a quarter, except copper pipe, which is usually 15mm, the old pipe was 1/2", but this equals 13mm.....old pipe was measured inside, new pipe is measured outside, then theres any lead pipe left, which is measured in pounds! 1/2 lb pipe, 3/4 pipe etc.....weight per foot, you needed to melt it to make joints as it could be any thickness/bore....thank the lord for Metric!
And we still measure doors as 78" x 30" etc, again just because we always have!

[richarddacat]

43mpg on a recent tank but I ran it pretty hard.

[F14CRAZY]

Fuelly said 42 mpg on an all highway, 80-85 mph run

[bikesnbones]

K1100RS
Worst - 48mpg
Best - 56mpg
Averaging 52mpg
(Imp)
All tanks measured after a mixture of about 60% open country lanes, 20% motorway and 20% town.
Riding style where possible is brisk, keeping an average motorway cruising speed of 80mph.
I'm very happy about that.

[Grim]

I'm a lot of short tripping. I just changed out throttle bushings fixing some significant vacuum leaks and my MPG is getting better. Seems city I'm getting about 45-50 now. Will see with the next tank.   

[frodef]

I also changed those rubber bushings recently, and the fuel usage seems to have dropped somewhat since then to about .47 l/100km or pretty much 50 mpg (US mpg, I think that is...). Problem is, my speedo isn't quite stable so sometimes the odometer isn't really running, meaning I suppose the mpg could actually be even better for all I know.

[ludwig]

I recently did a short week long tour...lots of stopping/starting mixed with hiway miles.

Highest tank was 49, lowest 41 and average 44.

The last tank (the 41) was after a bout of HEAVY rain and I may have some water in my tank.

The reserve light was coming on at around 4 gallon used.

[cosmouser]

Recently checked my mpg and it was around 47.

[hector planter]

  On my K75s I have had up to 59mpg (UK)but on a run to Perth and back 180 miles or so as low as 50mpg but I was doing 90 on the way back, as I was on the dual carriageway , went there on the A93 ( Britain's highest road.  However I have just re calibrated my speedo and expect the figures to change accordingly.  As all the above figures really depend on speedometer accuracy, which is not a given, they are difficult to compare.

[racinrich]

all this talk about pints has made me thirsty  :hehehe

[Areshuan]

After 8000 miles tracking I get an average of  42 MPG (68 kms per galón)
Riding at 75mph = 49 MPG
Riding at 60mph = 63MPG ( did just once )
K1100RS