According to this Chart @ http://www.chuckhawks.com/standard_motorcycle_chart.htm ; … and from what I’ve seen, the typical 700cc, 1000 pound cycle get maybe 45 mpg.
A 3500-pound car/cage which is much more comfortable gets 30 mpg. Heck, the VW Jetta can get 40.
Why aren’t cycles more efficient? Maybe because that’s not a big concern of the bike rider?
My Hubby’s bikes get WAY better mileage than our crossover. (Bike approx 50mpg, "car" 18-20 mpg)
His 4 gallon tank still needs filling twice a week when he rides it to work, just like our "car". But I’d rather be putting $10-$15 of gas in twice a week than $40-$50 twice a week.
It depends on the bikes too. Also how the carbs or fuel mix is tuned. Heavy fuel will use more gas thereby compromising your fuel economy. To get the high speeds and rpm’s takes more fuel.
As for a car being more comfortable……Maybe. But it’s more fun to ride a bike. Especially if your a woman (which I happen to be:)
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Big revs = big fuel consumption.
I had a Kawasaki 500 triple which only did 18 mpg.
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You answered your own question. Bikes are not designed with the ultimate fuel economy in mind. Plus they don’t have as good an aerodynamic profile.
I have seen bikes designed with full-body fairings that get over 200 mpg. But people would rather have a really fast bike.
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my 1986 yammaha gets over 70mpg! but its only a 350
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I ride because I enjoy it. If you want fuel economy, the best bet would be a 50cc scooter.
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"700cc, 1000 pound"??
The average 700cc bike doesn’t even come close to 1000lbs. Hell my old 1100 goldwing interstate only weighed 800-something. As for cages being more comfortable, I’ll take a bike over a car anyday.
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most motorcycle engines are engineered for enhanced for top performance, meaning a 600cc motorcycle engine can produce as much or more horsepower than a 2.4 L car engine 4 times its size. But many motorcycles will run at much higher RPM’s.
A motorcycle engine is a high performance engine and it takes more fuel
Car makers can engineer a 2.4L car engine that could get up to 300 horsepower, but it would get much lower gas mileage
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MAYBE ITS BECAUSE MOST CARS CANT REACH 18,000 RPM, MOST BIKES ARE PRIMARILY FOCUSED ON PERFORMANCE NOT BEING ECONOMICAL
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My Hubby’s bikes get WAY better mileage than our crossover. (Bike approx 50mpg, "car" 18-20 mpg)
His 4 gallon tank still needs filling twice a week when he rides it to work, just like our "car". But I’d rather be putting $10-$15 of gas in twice a week than $40-$50 twice a week.
It depends on the bikes too. Also how the carbs or fuel mix is tuned. Heavy fuel will use more gas thereby compromising your fuel economy. To get the high speeds and rpm’s takes more fuel.
As for a car being more comfortable……Maybe. But it’s more fun to ride a bike. Especially if your a woman (which I happen to be:)
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First of all, that 18 mpg Kawasaki triple was a two stroke engine tuned for horsepower, not economy. Much of tht gas was going straight out the exhaust without ever having been burned.
Of course engine displacement has a lot to do with it, but it’s not so much the engine displacement as it is the horsepower being generated. Harleys have large displacement engines that are mildly tuned and generally get very good gas mileage. Take that very same engine, change the cam, carb, exhaust, etc and you get a lot more hp but less mpg.
However, the biggest reason is aerodynamics. Pushing a flat piece of plywood through the air results in a drag coefficient of 1. Bikes have all sorts of different shaped surfaces which create turbulence. As a result, most unfaired bikes have drag cf of .6-.7. Many of todays cars have cfs of .4, meaning they slip through the air much easier than do bikes and therefore require less power to do so.
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Good question
In the 60s most cars got about 10mpg bikes (650cc +) got about 45.
Now cars get about 22 but bikes still average in the 40s.
It is because bikes (like the old Muscle Cars) are built with more emphasis on performance than economy.
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I have a 600cc bike that gets 50-70 mpg and it doesn’t need parts weighing 2000 lbs to do it.
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