Lots of time to think with ear plugs in and a steady drone. I have developed an algorithim of mileage and speed. first I noticed I could make the Edmonton to Calgary run on one tank (R12 GS, 200 miles) if I kept it at 65 but not at 75 mph given steady speed, no wind, no stops, no hills, slab the whole way. Then I made up the 120 rule. 120 - my average speed = miles per gallon for my bike. example: 120 - 65 = 55 mpg. And 220 mile range 120 - 75= 45 mpg . And 180 mile range The slower speed lets me skip an exit and gas up, hence my total transit time to Calgary is shorter by going slower (queue the little light bulbs in my brain). Clearly the Iron butt guys know all about this concept
Oh Lomax, silly engineer, nobody expects this relationship to be linear at the extremes but my highway riding was pretty well constrained between 60 and 80 mph (avg read on digital log) on my recent 4,000 miler to Phoenix and back. I don't have an autobahn for 110 mph or the patience for burning 4 gallons at 10 mph so they are not relevant. Maybe I should call this a bounded algorithm at common 6th gear highway speeds. Now I am seeking a sweet spot of tradeoffs between vibration, mileage, and speed. Lee
Have you timed a gas stop to verify this part? Once upon a time, I and three college buddies drove a van and trailer to New York for a Mini Baja race. On the way there we were able to track mileages over several tanks and gas stop times. On the way back we whipped out the calculators (engineering buddies) and figured out that from 55 up to 75 mph, faster is faster. At 85 mph our overall speed went down, but so did our expected lifespans (20' poorly loaded box trailer) so we didn't worry about that. Rochester to Corvallis in 46 hours. Nearly beat the guys who flew back
Crazy Canadian... ...which means I'm bound to end with similar thoughts, being a crazy Canadian myself. Myth in my helmet: How easy EVERY project is *going* to be + my own skill level = so many unfinished ideas...LOL
I rode 4500 kms from Vancouver to Toronto in 4 days, after riding a casual 12,000 kms in 3 weeks. During the casual ride running between 100-110kph I can get 425kms until reserve light comes on. On my high speed run home, running 120-130kpm I get 390-400kms until the reserve light comes on. The first time it happened I thought I had not filled up properly, then I realized the speed differential.
why young robert plant, of course! back on topic, my moto math is this: the speedo on my r65 is off quite a bit, and i calculate the correct speed by dividing the indicated kilometers per hour by two. this value is my actual speed in miles per hour, verified by gps.