Fuel mileage better on bikes with FI or Carbs?

[lacofdfireman]

I know that a KTM is not ridden for good fuel mileage but was curious because I am looking at buying a 9X0. One of the things I was thinking about was is the fuel mileage better or worse with the FI bikes. Seems like I read a ride report of a 950 owner that ended up totalling out his 950 on a ride and had to buy a new bike. He ended up buying a 990 with FI and said he went from like 40mpg down to like mid 20's or something with the FI bike. Are they really like that? I figured with fuel mapping etc the FI bikes would get better mileage. Not so? Also been looking at a 2007 990 "S" but heard that since this was the first year of FI they had some issues. Would it be better to look at newer years that have had the bugs worked out or was there fixes for the issues on the 07..

[Johnf3]

Originally Posted by lacofdfireman

I know that a KTM is not ridden for good fuel mileage but was curious because I am looking at buying a 9X0. One of the things I was thinking about was is the fuel mileage better or worse with the FI bikes. Seems like I read a ride report of a 950 owner that ended up totalling out his 950 on a ride and had to buy a new bike. He ended up buying a 990 with FI and said he went from like 40mpg down to like mid 20's or something with the FI bike. Are they really like that? I figured with fuel mapping etc the FI bikes would get better mileage. Not so? Also been looking at a 2007 990 "S" but heard that since this was the first year of FI they had some issues. Would it be better to look at newer years that have had the bugs worked out or was there fixes for the issues on the 07..

What I have found from riding with a group of LC8's, both carbed and FI is that fuel mileage is very similar between the two on road. The slight edge still goes to the FI bikes.

Off Road the FI bikes get noticeably better fuel mileage. The carbed bikes do hold .6 of a gallon more total fuel because they don't have the in tank fuel pump components taking up room.

You will hear extremes one way and the other, but my observations are over several thousand miles of mixed riding with both bikes.

[ciedema]

The milage on 950 and 990 is very similar (fuel light on at 250ks/160miles).

[Head2Wind]

Originally Posted by lacofdfireman

I know that a KTM is not ridden for good fuel mileage but was curious because I am looking at buying a 9X0. One of the things I was thinking about was is the fuel mileage better or worse with the FI bikes. Seems like I read a ride report of a 950 owner that ended up totalling out his 950 on a ride and had to buy a new bike. He ended up buying a 990 with FI and said he went from like 40mpg down to like mid 20's or something with the FI bike. Are they really like that? I figured with fuel mapping etc the FI bikes would get better mileage. Not so? Also been looking at a 2007 990 "S" but heard that since this was the first year of FI they had some issues. Would it be better to look at newer years that have had the bugs worked out or was there fixes for the issues on the 07..

with the correct tune for either, the 990 will exceed the 950 in fuel mileage. Generally, a properly tuned 950 will average on street about 35+, personally seen 44mpg pure street, rapid pace all back roads 50+ mph. I know Cyborg sees 40mpg+ commuting on a regular basis in the Pacific Northwest with his 990. But this is a highly tweaked and tuned to this bike map with other mods to improve the performance of this bike, like Bosch lambda sensors etc....