Trike MPG - What to expect?

[Strohkr]

Hey all!
Just got back from a 3000+ mile trip out to Red Lodge, MT (over Beartooth) and then down to Golden, CO (Pikes Peak and RMNP). Man, what a trip - Pikes Peak sent shivers up my spine - it was so awesome! Flash Flood watch out when we got to RMNP so never did get into the Park - good excuse to go back next year I guess.

Sorry, got off track a bit. I'm riding a 2013 Tri-Glide with what I would call a Stage 1 kit (Fuel Moto Headers, Jackpot Mufflers, S/E hi-flow air cleaner, TW555 cams, and a SERT). It was not dyno'd prior to the trip. On the Interstate at 75-80 mph I was getting 20mpg. When we reduced the speed to 70 or so I could get (maybe) 25mpg but that was about the best I could do. My 2-wheel buds were getting a bit tired of having to stop every hundred miles just for my trike to fill-up - and I'm not so sure they will welcome me along next time if that continues.

I did talk to a few other Trikers that I met on the road and most were saying the worst they were getting was 30 and most were in the mid 30's and some even close to 40! Most also said that my cams are killing my mileage (and, yes, I know I need to get it dyno'd but most didn't think that would greatly increase my mileage). I was also told that the new trikes (after 2013) have much better performance and much better gas mileage.

So - now I'm thinking of trading up to a 2016 and just leaving the darn thing alone (no mods) or, at the very least few mods (air-cleaner, slips ons and nothing more). Wouldn't mind trading up to get all of the new goodies but if my gas mileage remains really bad it might not make a lot of sense since I'll still piss off my 2-wheel riding buds. And, yes, I realize that my trike is never going to get the mileage of a 2-wheeler!
Kinda in a quandary here - don't really know what direction go any thoughts you have will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks much!
Greg

[Fearless]

I installed a Power Vision last winter old shiney runs smoother, cooler, stronger, and mileage is running around 32 MPG. I can't stop cranking the right grip I love the curves and hills in PA. For the price of a tuner I certainly would not trade before I put one in. After all you have done you're just a tune away from an awesome running trike. just sayin!!! ride safely fearless

p.s. doesn't matter to me but get it tuned your ECM does not know what is expected of it now.

[14TriGlider]

Running my 2014 just like it was born ... Bone stock with no engine mods. Feels great to me and averaging a little over 35 MPG riding two up nearly all the time. Mostly twisty mountain roads with just a little bit of I-40 thrown in.

[cdculbertson]

I am only on my second tank of gas on our week old 2015 Tri Glide that is completely stock. We seem to be averaging around 31-33 mpg. Mostly two up on two lane country roads, with a little bit of I-10. Of course, here in Florida all roads are flat.

[Moe55]

We have a 2014 tow a trailer 2 up 90% of the time we get 35-36 mpg most of the time. Highway 70-75 mph it will drop down to around 34. We have got in the high 30's and low 40's a few times. Trike has slip-ons HD Street Cannons and that is it.

[Lizard]

So many variables. Everyone posts these high numbers that seem so out of reach, especially pulling a trailer and getting over 30, I couldn't do that with a 2 wheeler. Every bike and now Trike I have had has historically averaged lower MPG's than people around me. Having said that, Running to Sturgis a few years ago, a buddy of mine riding 2 up with a CVO Roadglide and me with 2 up on an Ultra Limited. Every time we filled I added maybe 1/10 a gallon more than him. He claimed 40+ MPG, I never went over 35. Here's some things I discovered.... 1st, your speedo may or may not be off. If it's 5% off (very common to be that and even more), than your MPG's will read 5% high (speedo's are always low, not high). 2nd, Higher altitudes are typically better MPG's, twisties at 40-50 are better MPG's than the same mileage at 70+. 3rd, how you fill the tank is important. The newer FLH's are hard to fill all the way up, and if you fill 1/2 gallon shy one time and full the next, it will artificially change your mileage for those tanks. MPG's must be taken with a large sampling of tanks, 10+ at least, or it's pissing up a rope. Now Trike specific.....70 on highway in 5th will net you better MPG's than in 6th. I no longer use 6th unless I am cruising well above 75. Riding style has a lot to do with it...twist the wick a lot, lower MPG. Lug the engine, lower MPG. Now for my personal Trike....I have a Stage II in mine, a mild cam, Stage I airbox, CVO mufflers with Fullsac 1.5" cores, and a good tune with a Mastertune. I can get very low 30's if I am easy on it, run 5th on the slab. I can get mid-upper 30's in twisties or backroads.

[Spinner]

I just bought a Freewheelerand was shocked that I was only getting 26mph on the road doing 75-80 miles an hour. My bikr is completly stock on intake and exhaust. I know that I am not going to get 39 42 mpg like I was getting with my Ultra limited but comon. I met a Triglider pulling a big trailer and he was getting 38 whe pulling that thing All he did was a stage 1 with slipons and air cleaner and tune.

[rhino 2]

On my 11 T/G i get 33/34 around town... Highway anywhere from 37/39..
I do have the stage one 6200+ red line, Rush true duals/cat-less, Rush slip-ons [175 with added Thunder torques to the slip-ons] and ride solo. No other work done, like fuel or cams... Sometimes more is less.
Unless done one at a time... So as to know whats is working or not working.. Learned that from drag racing in the early 60's..

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Ahhh ... the old trike mpg thread. Here's the factors that affect trike mileage, at least on my 2015 Harley Tri Glide.

1) Speed, as in speed kills mileage.

2) Wind, as in head winds and some cross winds kill mileage, tail winds increase mileage.

3) Break in, my first highway run (75-80 mph) on my Tri Glide I got 22 mpg. I'm now up to 34-35 mpg on the highway. Good tune with PV. If I put the stock HD Stage 1 tune in I might get 29 mpg with no wind. So ... about 6-7 mpg increase after break in.

4) Tire Pressure, as in more pressure better mpg. If you lower the pressure to make it more comfy, you'll pay in the mpg's (I leave the front at 40#) with the rears at 26# I'll get 1-2 mpg more than if I drop them to 22#.

5) Wind shield height, the higher the wind shield, the less mpg, kinda like more head wind, the trike drags the wind shield through the air. With the 12" Recurve, I get 1-2 mpg less than the 10" Recurve. And the stock shield will add 1/2-1 mpg to that.

6) Having fun with the throttle, as in the more fun you have the less mpg you're gonna get.

7) Unnecessary revving, as in sitting at a light revving the engine to attract a crowd or a girl, kills mileage. (Same principle as having fun with the throttle, but, lots of Harley guys do it without knowing they do).

8) Tune, as in good tune, decent mpg's, bad tune horrible mpg's (notice I never said good mpg's)

9) Oil, synthetic will give a slightly higher mpg, but I have no qualitative data on that as I had added the PV around the time I did the synthetic oil in all holes. Also, I'm guessing the bike started breaking in around them too. I lump the affects of the oil with the tune change.

So having said all that, mpg is subjective. If I run around town, and don't get on it, I can get 43-45 mpg for the tank.

If I get on the highway and get on it, I can get as low as 27-28 mpg (less with headwind).

I find that at 70-75 mph, cruise set, little to no wind and with the hills we got here, I can comfortably get 34-35 mpg.

My goal was to get a minimum of 150 miles per tank, goal met. We have places here that gas is 110 miles apart, I'm not talking the stations are closed, I'm talking there is no stations, or towns, or people, just lots of wide open spaces ... LOL ... so my comfort range is 150 miles per tank and I'm good. At 25 mpg I'm at goal, just barely. As a precaution, I carry a 2 gallon Roto Pak X tank in the trunk on a trip, and fill up when I can. I've got as little as 164 miles on the tank (5.3 gals) and as much as 228 miles on the tank (5.6 gals)

Hope that clears up how some guy can claim 39 mpg and another guy never sees 32 mpg. Always make sure you're talking apples and apples and not apples and oranges. When I talk mpg, I'm always talking highway @ 70-75 mph, no wind, cruise set with our hills. Around town I could careless what I get, although I track everything. It's in the boonies I start to get excited about mpg.

I have a friend that just bought a 2015 Tri Glide for over 40k with accessories. He refuses to put Hi Test in his trike. He saves about $0.30 a gallon or max of $1.80 per tank. I don't understand his logic, but I quit arguing with him.

[msocko3]

Sorry, got off track a bit. I'm riding a 2013 Tri-Glide with what I would call a Stage 1 kit (Fuel Moto Headers, Jackpot Mufflers, S/E hi-flow air cleaner, TW555 cams, and a SERT). It was not dyno'd prior to the trip. On the Interstate at 75-80 mph I was getting 20mpg. When we reduced the speed to 70 or so I could get (maybe) 25mpg but that was about the best I could do. My 2-wheel buds were getting a bit tired of having to stop every hundred miles just for my trike to fill-up - and I'm not so sure they will welcome me along next time if that continues.

I did talk to a few other Trikers that I met on the road and most were saying the worst they were getting was 30 and most were in the mid 30's and some even close to 40! Most also said that my cams are killing my mileage (and, yes, I know I need to get it dyno'd but most didn't think that would greatly increase my mileage). I was also told that the new trikes (after 2013) have much better performance and much better gas mileage.

I had a 2010 Triglide with almost the same combination of parts as you. I switched the transmission sprocket to the 30 tooth. I had TW555 cams, Jackpot head pipe, SE ventilator air cleaner, SE 50 state legal mufflers and tuned with the TTS. Cruising along in 5th gear at 60 mph I'd get anything from 35 - 38 mpg. Running the freeway I would get anything from 33 mph to 25 mpg, all depending on how fast I was going, how many hills and how bad the head wind. A trike is a rolling brick wall, like others said, the faster you go the less the mileage. I see some of these folks posting up numbers I scratch my head over. Its tough to gauge the mileage when you have a tough time consistently filling the tank to the same level, it can cause a fluctuation.

Your tune can be causing you issues, depending who tuned it. Some folks believe in more fuel is better, they make them pig rich and the mileage suffers from it.

[Larry Sobczak]

I think FuzzyWazHe is right on with all of the stats that he listed in his reply. I ride a 2011 Tri Glide and have recorded the MPG, weather and riding conditions for the last 2 years with the same results.

[geezerglide11441]

I had a 2010 Triglide with almost the same combination of parts as you. I switched the transmission sprocket to the 30 tooth. I had TW555 cams, Jackpot head pipe, SE ventilator air cleaner, SE 50 state legal mufflers and tuned with the TTS. Cruising along in 5th gear at 60 mph I'd get anything from 35 - 38 mpg. Running the freeway I would get anything from 33 mph to 25 mpg, all depending on how fast I was going, how many hills and how bad the head wind. A trike is a rolling brick wall, like others said, the faster you go the less the mileage. I see some of these folks posting up numbers I scratch my head over. Its tough to gauge the mileage when you have a tough time consistently filling the tank to the same level, it can cause a fluctuation.

Your tune can be causing you issues, depending who tuned it. Some folks believe in more fuel is better, they make them pig rich and the mileage suffers from it.

As you can see from my signature, I am pretty far from stock - i.e. 120r that I rebuilt to make it more street friendly, and riding with the wife two up, I get between 34 - 37 mpg. However, this is at the speed limit as I ride pretty conservative with her on board. Both of us weigh 295 - 300 lbs total, and when I have checked our weight via roadside truck scales, we are rolling down the road at about 1,500 lbs.

Regarding fill-ups, I stand beside the Trike and "rock-it" with my knee to get every bit of fuel I can at fill-up, this kinda "burps" it and lets you get the max amount in the tank. So I am quite sure I get pretty close to the same level at each fill up. And, I have set my speedo via the PV and my GPS so I know I am right on in that category.

I also think the fact that the larger higher performance engine does not have to work as hard to carry this heavy Trike as the 103's do - my opinion anyway!!!

Roger

[riden2low]

Running a Fuelpak FP3 and getting average 35.5 to 36.7.

[BinIdaho]

I think FuzzyWazHe is right on with all of the stats that he listed in his reply. I ride a 2011 Tri Glide and have recorded the MPG, weather and riding conditions for the last 2 years with the same results.

I also think Fuzzy is spot-on......I have a 2013 with V&H slash exhaust, K&N air cleaner, SE tuner. To be truthful, I didn't buy my Tri-Glide for fuel mileage....bought it to RIDE!! I get around 200-260 miles to a tank of gas....sometimes I run premium and sometimes mid-premium when on a long trip. I don't let the gauge get below 1/4 of tank, sometimes 1/2 if I know there's not going to be a gas station in range.

[lah2420]

Here is what I have so far. All stock. Average overall so far is 33.252. Less than I had hoped, but I didn't buy for mileage anyway. I messed up and put 87 octane in at that last tank. I've run mostly non ethanol 91 octane. It's hard to find 93 around here. And don't let that 7+ gallon one throw you. That was a trip I filled twice and just added together.

Trip meter	Gallons	MPG	Date	Average
114.3	3.743	30.537	1/31/15
109.5	3.385	32.349	2/7/15
146.3	4.453	32.854
138.6	4.255	32.573	3/17/15
144.7	4.475	32.335	3/25/15
138.7	4.586	30.244	4/3/15
54.5	1.651	33.010	4/11/15
168.1	5.070	33.156	4/11/15
170.4	4.945	34.459	4/11/15
158.0	4.894	32.284	4/19/15
134.3	4.284	31.349	4/29/15
155.5	4.463	34.842	5/10/15
164.5	4.650	35.376	5/22/15
171.9	4.924	34.911	5/31/15	33.252
258.3	7.208	35.835	6/6/15
150.1	4.457	33.677	6/21/15
148.9	4.117	36.167	6/26/15
158.6	4.869	32.573	7/7/15

[FuzzyWuzHe]

How much of that is on the highway.

[lah2420]

How much of that is on the highway.

I would say most is an average of city and highway. The ones on the same dates were all highway and the one with 7.2 gallons was highway. Most of the others have some amount of city driving. Most of the highway is non interstate two lane. My highway mileage does ok until I hit 70. Then it seems to drop.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

My highway mileage does ok until I hit 70. Then it seems to drop.

That seems to be the magic number.

How did you get 7.2 gallons? Aux Tank?

[rhino 2]

That seems to be the magic number.

How did you get 7.2 gallons? Aux Tank?

He explains it in post 15^^^^^^^^

[FuzzyWuzHe]

He explains it in post 15^^^^^^^^

My bad ... missed that