R1200S MPG ?

[Julian West]

I've mainly had GS's before and picked up a 06 R1200S sport last year.
I didn't really gel with it at first but in the last weeks after a new set of 023's and a bit of suspension clicking I'm liking it more and more.
What I am puzzled with is the MPG. I'm getting a consistent 38 to the gallon which seems quite low to me. The bike has a Power Commander fitted, de-catted exhaust, lamber sensors disconnected and an Akropovic rear end.
The engine runs and pulls well and the plugs are a good colour.
Can anyone tell me if this is normal - or should I be looking for a fuel leak ???

[gus]

Hi
That is about right with what you have fitted. I have the same setup.
Gus

[Grip Fast]

I'm getting 45 to 48 per gallon usually. But there's got to be several factors that affect this, including how you ride and the types of road, e.g. Motorway cruising in top gear, fast flowing A roads in 4th & 5th, or tight twisties in 2nd & 3rd, towns etc.

I'm straight into countryside and mainly A roads, riding the torque in 4th and 5th with little or no red-lining.

I'm also a tight-fisted Jock who prefers maintaining momentum rather than enjoying eye bleeding accelleration in every gear (ok, I exaggerate the accelleration capability a bit, but it can get a wiggle on with a heavy right wrist).

I have the sport kit and Akropovic, but I don't know the impact of the Power Commander etc.

[popsky]

Hello
F90x from this parish shares approx the same mpg as Gus with a similar setup, I'm sure Steve will be along at some point.

My 12s has std ecu & air filter decat Remus with lamba fitted, Zard road legal silencer,
My mpg is in my Fuelly sig, (56.9) which has been measured over 4600 miles so a good mixture of roads and riding conditions, so it's all to do with the setup I should think.

[Steve1200S]

Julian,

Did you come over to Sheffield last year to view my 12S that was for sale? the red/silver one at 15k?

Just remembered it was a 'Julian' that came to look at it and wondered....

[Julian West]

Julian,

Did you come over to Sheffield last year to view my 12S that was for sale? the red/silver one at 15k?

Just remembered it was a 'Julian' that came to look at it and wondered....

No that must be another 'Julian', buying yours would have been a lot easier as you are ~ 10 miles away from me. Instead I got mine from Falkirk !

[gus]

Hi
The Power commander 3 which does without the lamba sensors is the thing that's hurting your mpg. It's a bit of a blunt instrument regarding good fuel consumption. I would think a fueling device which constantly monitors exhaust gasses and can adjust fuel mapping on the fly via sensors is the better option. There is the option of reflashing(rexer) the ecu with custom maps which utilise the sensors on the bike .
Gus

[Neil178]

38? man, that's shocking.
44 to the gallon and I thought that was poor. That's the cheap stuff though.
97 ron gives me ............... 44!
Full Akra and no idea yet on what has been done to it!

[David_S_Walker]

Hello,

My R1200S - 42-44mpg on Shell V-Max 99RON always - I collect the points! .

It has full Remus (Headers as well & baffles out!), K&N Air Filter and a PC III with a custom map (which might be the key to the mpg I am getting?). My usual trip is 15 miles up the M20 and then into SE London through traffic.

Annoyingly I can't quite make 3 trips before having to fill up so a visit every other day to the fuel station is the order of the day.

Best regards,

David

[f90x]

It's been a while since I actually monitored the fuel consumption but its around the late 30's early 40's mark. I have a zard tail pipe, no lambda sensors and a PCIII. I do however have a fairly active right wrist but even when taking it easy my tank range doesn't really increase. Perhaps an extra 10 miles. I generally get 110ish before the countdown starts.

Gus, are you saying that third party ECU re flash would only be beneficial if the lambada are in place. I'm going to get mine done at BMW anyway as I doubt it's ever been done since it left the showroom.

[Julian West]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm realising this is probably 'normal' for the set up I have.
I did make a call to Hilltop at the end of last year and they suggested removing the Power Commander, selling it on ebay, reconnecting the sensors and visiting them for a morning. MPG was not discussed at this stage.
What's the general view on Power Commanders on a 1200S ? I know it depends on the skill of the tuner who mapped it but those of you who have them - are they an improvement ?

[David_S_Walker]

Hello,

Pleased with my set including the PCIII

Did take it all back to standard once and it felt very flat (Done to trace another fault which turned out to be a TPS)

Put is all back on again and felt much better.

Suite me fine and Hilltop is a long way from Kent for me although I wouldn't be averse to a visit on a sunny day......

Best regards,

David

[conkerman]

My thoughts on Cats and stuff.

The Lambda sensor will only be used to operate a closed loop strategy at low speed/load.

Once you start using reasonable amounts of throttle the ECU just uses the fuel table and ignores the Lambda sensor output. And uses a MAP or MAF and TPS for monitoring airflow/calculate injector duration.

For bikes the OEM maps tend to be the lean side of optimum for improved furl economy, richening the mixture a bit like with a PC3 will gernerally be observed as improves throttle response, and maybe a marginal improvement in power output.

Couple this to improving the engines breathing and you can see why overly lean conditions can be achieved, causing surging etc.

On a bike where the ECU can’t be tinkered with through the OBD port (e.g Triumph and some others), a power commander is the only realistic choice other than a 3rd party ECU.

The only real way to do it is by setup on a Dyno to optimise the mixture and road test to validate.

Its far too much bother, I don't bother, I'll just buy a quicker bike

[popsky]

This may be of some interest


http://www.boxertrix.com/phpBB2/viewtop ... ght=rexxer

Ryan's a mate of mine in sunny Minehead and he reports no adverse affect on his bikes mpg figures. The bike runs full Remus exhaust no baffles std filter lambas fitted.

Also a good bit cheaper than Hilltop

[exoticices]

High 40s, with full system, booster plug, lambda sensors.