About fuel consumption MT 07 - 2016.

[JaKendza]

I think it is 4.2 l / km very good consumption. In Serbia 1l costs about 1 euro. In my opinion, should be quickly and on a small number of rev / min to exchange gears up 5th or 6th
Some owners have told me that the minimum for the 6th about 85 km / h, I for now I keep 90km / h that I abused the engine. and here's the first 800 km my AVG is 4.2 (as far as to believe the computer)

 

[Noggie]

but it's good to know how to save fuel, for when it hits £1.80/litre . . .!

can't be that bad?
Some days of the week the prices in Norway are under £1. I filled up my diesel car on Sunday at £0,82 and petrol was 10-15p more.
Though normally it sits around £1.15 -1,20 the rest of the week.
(note: this is as per todays exchange rate where the NOK is weak against most currencies by at least 15% compared to normal.)

 

[Scim77]

Since buying my bike from GAZ2212 in July 2015, I have now covered another 4000 miles, making 6900 in total. I drive cars and ride bikes with the same ethos. I like to go as fast as safely possible for my personal skill sets but preserve momentum and take the minimum strain from the machine. I carry speed into corners, I stroke the throttle open smoothly so that combustion has time to complete its cycle, I anticipate and time my overtakes without loss of momentum, I preserve my gaps, I keep in high gears provided the engine is smooth, lightly loaded and not objecting but I immediately drop a gear or two to accelerate past traffic. I spend most time above 3500rpm (light throttles) and regularly go up to 7k (or more if necessary) during overtakes. I guess I cruise most between 4k and 7k. I am lucky - all my riding is on nice open rural roads.

I have kept careful records of my fuel consumption during the last 4000 miles and it has averaged 68.7mpg (4.1l/100km). I repeat - I do not poodle around aimlessly, I press on but using the ethos mentioned but I am not in an urban environment. My engine is standard apart from Akro exhaust and DNA air filter.

Now, here is the interesting bit. A couple of weeks ago, after discussions with a friend who also has an MT-07, I removed the DNA filter and refitted the original filter, still retaining the same air top box snorkel arrangement. I immediately noticed that the bike had better throttle response from idle to fast cruise. Everywhere between idle and 6k feels stronger. I need less throttle to do the same work. In other words, the air/fuel ratio is probably better using the original Yamaha air filter than the DNA filter. The less restrictive DNA filter must have over-weakened the air/fuel ratio. I have now done about 450 miles with this arrangement and my fuel consumption on the identical terrain and same journeys as usual has improved to over 72 mpg (3.9l/100km) !

This suggests to me that the less restrictive DNA filter had weakened the mixture to the extent that I was losing optimal efficiency. Hence I actually had less power available, so needed more throttle, used more fuel etc etc. I have no doubt that had the ECU been re-mapped to suit the DNA filter, I would have got better performance than using the standard filter. I also concede that at 8k and above I have probably lost a bit of power now. But the bulk of my riding where I want useful torque is between 4k and 7k and the standard air filter our-performs the DNA in standard trim in that rev range.

Some time in the future I intend to refit the DNA, probably with a revised top box lid and get the ECU re-flashed on a dyno. My lesson from all this is that bolt-on goodies can give better performance but to correctly and fully exploit them it is essential to dyno and re-flash /or Power Commander.

 

[JaKendza]

I preserve my gaps, I keep in high gears provided the engine is smooth, lightly loaded and not objecting but I immediately drop a gear or two to accelerate past traffic.

I think this is more important thing about fuel consumption. Also switch to a higher gear, should be done as soon as the minimum speed for a given gear. If this is wrong, `would be grateful for any suggestions

 

[sdrio]

I preserve my gaps, I keep in high gears provided the engine is smooth, lightly loaded and not objecting but I immediately drop a gear or two to accelerate past traffic.

I think this is more important thing about fuel consumption. Also switch to a higher gear, should be done as soon as the minimum speed for a given gear. If this is wrong, `would be grateful for any suggestions

It's not wrong, provided you get it right - if you're in too low a gear when you're accelerating you have to open the throttle wider so you won't be achieving much.

Here's something to experiment with - it sounds a bit weird, but stay with me, it will eventually make sense . . .

Quite often I will challenge myself to complete a ride without ever touching the brakes. Obviously I'm not stupid about it, if I need to brake I do, but once you get good at it, there are some useful benefits.

What you have to do is anticipate what is going on in front of you, and you have to very carefully match your speed to other vehicles. What then happens is that you get much better at engine braking, and smoothly rolling on and off the throttle. Rather than accelerating straight up to warp speed (using fuel) then braking to get rid of that speed, you gently accelerate, because you can see very shortly you will need to slow down again. You obviously need to make sure you're not going to cause the vehicle behind to slam into you, but with prectice this is a good way to improve your riding.

It has a few benefits - learning to anticipate and prepare for changing traffic conditions makes you a more observant rider. It certainly saves fuel, and it is less stressful on the bike.

This might actually sound like a lot of bollocks, but it was something my Dad (sort of ) taught me, and he was a Police triple class 1 driver. I say sort of, because he died before I had a driving licence, so while he used to talk to me about driving a lot (I have been a car/bike nut since I was a toddler), he never actually got to see me driving anything.

This works for cars too.

 

[JaKendza]

It's not wrong, provided you get it right - if you're in too low a gear when you're accelerating you have to open the throttle wider so you won't be achieving much.

Here's something to experiment with - it sounds a bit weird, but stay with me, it will eventually make sense . . .

Quite often I will challenge myself to complete a ride without ever touching the brakes. Obviously I'm not stupid about it, if I need to brake I do, but once you get good at it, there are some useful benefits.

What you have to do is anticipate what is going on in front of you, and you have to very carefully match your speed to other vehicles. What then happens is that you get much better at engine braking, and smoothly rolling on and off the throttle. Rather than accelerating straight up to warp speed (using fuel) then braking to get rid of that speed, you gently accelerate, because you can see very shortly you will need to slow down again. You obviously need to make sure you're not going to cause the vehicle behind to slam into you, but with prectice this is a good way to improve your riding.

It has a few benefits - learning to anticipate and prepare for changing traffic conditions makes you a more observant rider. It certainly saves fuel, and it is less stressful on the bike.

This might actually sound like a lot of bollocks, but it was something my Dad (sort of ) taught me, and he was a Police triple class 1 driver. I say sort of, because he died before I had a driving licence, so while he used to talk to me about driving a lot (I have been a car/bike nut since I was a toddler), he never actually got to see me driving anything.

This works for cars too.

I agree with the two, and I would give the following:
Changing gear down at times we are without and sometimes adding a gas, it depends on the speed of both gear close.
I use a gas between the gears when driving aggressively, and when I drive relaxed, allow the engine to limit the revs and change without throttle when changing gear down

P.S. Last 20 years I drive my car without using 4. gear.
swing by the engine a little more 3 and immediately transfer the 5th gear.
The engine runs quietly, almost not to hear and gently accelerates. This course is for relaxed driving

 

[Scim77]

Sdrio. I agree with what you say. Observation and anticipation are everything. Amusingly, I also manage to do most of my ride-outs without touching the brakes. Sometimes I might just breathe on the brake lever purely to trigger the brake lights, thus warning following traffic that I am slowing.
The Police Rider's Handbook, "Roadcraft", is a superbly written and wise document. Following its guidelines will make us all safer and better riders who enjoy the task ever more. I got my first copy in the 70's but have recently bought the latest 2015 edition. It is written with supreme intelligence and I highly recommend it.
Another good but lighter read is "How to be an Advanced Motorcyclist" by the Institute of Advanced motorists. We never stop learning and should strive to optimise our skills.

 

[JaKendza]

Sdrio. I agree with what you say. Observation and anticipation are everything. Amusingly, I also manage to do most of my ride-outs without touching the brakes. Sometimes I might just breathe on the brake lever purely to trigger the brake lights, thus warning following traffic that I am slowing.
The Police Rider's Handbook, "Roadcraft", is a superbly written and wise document. Following its guidelines will make us all safer and better riders who enjoy the task ever more. I got my first copy in the 70's but have recently bought the latest 2015 edition. It is written with supreme intelligence and I highly recommend it.
Another good but lighter read is "How to be an Advanced Motorcyclist" by the Institute of Advanced motorists. We never stop learning and should strive to optimise our skills.

" Observation and anticipation are everything"
Of course, these two things are considered, so do not potentiate, but the brake lights is necessary

 

[Simoncrp]

Still sounds a bit heavy. After 2 - 3,000 miles your engine should have relaxed a bit, and you'd see an improvement in consumption.

I'm doing the same as you, and get a pretty consistent 55mpg - that's based on miles/fuel added, not that daft trip computer. I assume you're not using that for your numbers?

If you're really getting such bad figures, I'd think about the following;

- Brakes sticking? Unlikely, but if they were they'd have an effect.
- Tight chain? As above, but check it anyway.
- Tyre pressures - are your tyres properly inflated, if not, get it done! 33 front, 36 rear.
- Is it just the way you ride? I don't know whether you're an experienced rider or not, but maybe try a little experimentation. Try riding with economy in mind, this doesn't mean never going over 2,000 rpm (and should never be a priority over safety), but give yourself an extra 10 minutes each morning for a week, and try slowing down, thinking carefully about what's in front, and anticipating changes in speed, stuff like that. You can make a noticeable difference, especially if you're normally heavy handed.

I've done this on most of the bikes I have owned, sometimes to the point of irritating myself, but it's good to know how to save fuel, for when it hits £1.80/litre . . .!

I've done about 1500 miles so far. I really don't thrash the engine at all. I drive sensibly, try to stay between 2,500 - 4,500 revs and overall drive quite sedately. Obviously, I calculate my consumption on actual miles and fuel used.
Maybe one problem is I hardly ever go above 40 mph, or travel on any A roads.
Although, I park my bike in my garage. To do that, I stop on the pavement, turn off the engine and then let the bike roll backwards in to my garage. Whilst rolling backwards, I can hear a rubbing noise from my front wheel. It sounds like it could be the brake pads rubbing. When I mentioned it to my mechanic, he said it was normal as the pads can be slightly misaligned and are not always parallel to the wheel. Not sure if I should check out the rubbing noise further. Any advice?
Otherwise, I can't think of any reason why my MPG is so low, apart from not really doing any mid to high speed roads.

 

[Noggie]

With the phenomenal engine braking of the MT07 you hardly need to use brakes on the open road, mostly just use brakes at intersections and traffic circles.

Most engines have a spot where it operates the cheapest, for most cars this is around 2000rpm, so using the gears to keep it there will typically get you the most mpg.
I can imagine that for bikes it's a bit higher, would not be surprised if that was around 4000rpm for the MT07.

 

[sdrio]

[reply to Simoncrp]

I suspect it's just the engine still not loosened up. Mine did about 50mpg at first, now it's normally 55. Your journey might just be busier than mine, which would explain the other couple of MPG.

I'd say don't worry about it too much. You're getting near enough the right mileage, it will improve still and you're probably only talking about a couple of quid a week extra cost, which isn't worth spoiling your enjoyment for.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the bike. You can hear my pads rubbing when I'm moving it about, that's absolutely normal. So long as you can move it easily, it isn't the brakes. If they were binding enough to hit fuel performance, you wouldn't be able to roll it around.

If it makes you feel better, my R1 on the same journey I get 55 from on the MT07, gives me somewhere between 20 - 25mpg. Eeek . . .!

 

[Ralph]

[
If it makes you feel better, my R1 on the same journey I get 55 from on the MT07, gives me somewhere between 20 - 25mpg. Eeek . . .!

Hell I sold a 4X4 auto camper that was getting better than that as I could not afford to run it.

 

[Noggie]

[reply to Simoncrp]

I suspect it's just the engine still not loosened up. Mine did about 50mpg at first, now it's normally 55. Your journey might just be busier than mine, which would explain the other couple of MPG.

I'd say don't worry about it too much. You're getting near enough the right mileage, it will improve still and you're probably only talking about a couple of quid a week extra cost, which isn't worth spoiling your enjoyment for.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with the bike. You can hear my pads rubbing when I'm moving it about, that's absolutely normal. So long as you can move it easily, it isn't the brakes. If they were binding enough to hit fuel performance, you wouldn't be able to roll it around.

If it makes you feel better, my R1 on the same journey I get 55 from on the MT07, gives me somewhere between 20 - 25mpg. Eeek . . .!

My old BMW gets around 12mpg on average, but if I'm lucky I can get it up around 18-20mpg on the highway.
But there are twelve cylinders to feed so it kind of makes sense.

 

[sdrio]

My old BMW gets around 12mpg on average, but if I'm lucky I can get it up around 18-20mpg on the highway.
But there are twelve cylinders to feed so it kind of makes sense.

Sorry to have to do this, but at work we run a fleet of Panamax bulk carrier ships, and they use 30 tons of diesel a day. I worked it out to be around 22gpm.

Yes, that's gallons per mile.

Unless anyone works for NASA, I think we're done here!

 

[Noggie]

Sorry to have to do this, but at work we run a fleet of Panamax bulk carrier ships, and they use 30 tons of diesel a day. I worked it out to be around 22gpm.

Yes, that's gallons per mile.

Unless anyone works for NASA, I think we're done here!

I did not realize it was a competition

In my line of work, oil drilling rigs, also uses tons of diesel a day, however since they use it to maintain a certain position and run the drilling equipment the mpg is infinite.

 

[Donut]

I did not realize it was a competition

In my line of work, oil drilling rigs, also uses tons of diesel a day, however since they use it to maintain a certain position and run the drilling equipment the mpg is infinite.

Noggie, isn't it the exact opposite. Lots of fuel used but no distance travelled = very poor/small mpg (or large gallons/mile)?

 

[Noggie]

Noggie, isn't it the exact opposite. Lots of fuel used but no distance travelled = very poor/small mpg (or large gallons/mile)?

Well I started it by accident saying how much my old V12 used per mile.
Then sdrio brought in large ships and a huge consumption to cover a mile.
In my case the ship uses a lot of fuel, but it never actually covers a mile so the gpm is infinite.

And there I actually realized what you meant, I wrote mpg, not gpm in my last post

That said I'm not sure if a drill ship or sdrio a bulk transporters uses the most amount of fuel per hour, which is a better measure with systems like these.
After all the drill ship does not have a combustion engine for propulsion, it typically have 6-8 24 cylinder generator engines that generates 11.000v power, and electrical thrusters for propulsion.
While a normal ship has a massive engine, several stores high. I have a picture of one somewhere.