Yamaha R3 Forums banner

Real world R3 Fuel mileage thread

144K views 307 replies 111 participants last post by  Torchsport 
#1 ·
Some of you will be getting your bikes soon, (lucky!) so once you get a few tankfuls ran thru it post up your mileage.
I'm sure many of us present members and future potential buyers would appreciate this info.
:nerd:
 
#6 ·
It would be better to use "non-ethanol" gasoline if you have access to it; I've been using 90 octane pure gasoline here in NW Georgia in all my vehicles for almost three years, and my mileage is better, and no problems with carbs/fuel injectors gumming up like with ethanol. I found my local stations on pure-gas.org. I also use Startron fuel treatment in my bikes, because they sit for weeks at a time. My 15-year-old lawn mower sits in the shed for 6 months, and cranks right up with one pull!
 
#8 ·
I bought the push mower at Home Depot in 2000; I think its a "Lawn Boy" or something like that--it has a Tecumseh engine, and I've only had it serviced once about 6 years ago.

As for the gas treatment, I take my 6 gallon gas can to the gas station with 2 ounces of Startron in it, so the gasoline will always be preserved. I prefer to gas up my bikes in the garage.

The AMA has loads of articles on how bad ethanol is for motorcycles (or any engine for that matter).
 
#9 ·
Finally went through a Tank.
My results are:

  • 169 Miles
  • 2.8 Gallons
  • = 60.35MPG
My MPG Gauge on the bike read 57.
So pretty accurate.
Also my Empty Indicator was going off for about 20miles before I fueled up.
Gas Gauge is alittle inaccurate!!! Should be able to go over 220miles on one tank No Problem.
 
#284 ·
My indicator was also on the last blinking notch around 140 miles. I just kept driving to 210.1 miles before stopping to fill up. It took 3.5 gallons, meaning:

210/3.5= 60mpg, roughly equivalent to the 58.8 avg calculated by the onboard estimator.

3.9 gallon tank means I had .5 left and presumably 30 miles to go before empty. Meaning 240 miles to a tank.

previously, I filled up at a similar point to above (around 150-170 miles) due to the blinking indicator. I will be ignoring this from now on and using my usual method of zeroing out the trip odometer and filling up between 220-235 mile mark.
 
#11 ·
Im getting around 52mpg to 56mpg it just al depends on rider weight outside air temp and altitude. Here where I am its about 2400ft and around 85-104 degrees in the summer and 23 degrees to 52 in the winter.
 
#12 ·
Seems like Yamaha is more conservative with their mpg numbers online than Honda or Kawasaki, but follows the standard mpg of most bikes.
considering the readouts of before, when riding conservatively, the bike seems to be aimed at the 250 mile mark per tank, and would be interesting to play with the sprockets to see if it can be upped to 300miles, or a ~20% increase in gearing and fuel efficiency, just as an eco mod project.
 
#13 ·
yeah you could reduce engine rpms for better eco around town but on the freeway you would need the extra power from the stock gearing for passing on the freeway. The best way to improve mpg is to take weight off the bike while increasing power. Light weight chain and sproket would really work wonders too!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Aufitt
#119 ·
I have to disagree. The stock gearing is a good all around setup. Since the R3 can rev into the stratosphere, it is great on highway and canyons. However, I would opt for taller gears - 1 or 2 up on front sprocket / smaller rear. This will lower rev / min. give better economy, and less wear and tear on engine. But if needed, a quick downshift puts you right back where you were for power. Since the R3 has such remarkable roll-on in 6th gear, it would be like adding an overdrive.
 
#15 ·
It really depends what you want to use it for.


If you want to maximize acceleration you might be right.


If you want to maximize mpg, and bring rpms down to a minimum, while riding 35-45mph usually you'd +1t the front, and -3t the back.


Done that mod on a lot of bikes.

I highly doubt you would lug the engine with those sprocket changes, but it all depends on how you ride your bike.
I usually baby my bikes. A lot of members on ecomodder forums have reported 20-25% upgearing successfully.
Of course they're not taking those bikes to the tracks, as their main purpose for the bike is to have a good looking commuter that's both cheap, good on gas, and still can go ~110MPH top speed in 5th or 4th gear.
 
#16 ·
You wouldn't even get into top gear, let alone pull 110mph.
Check the R3/Ninja300/cbr300 dyno graph, none of those engines are happy below 5000rpm.
Best to buy a pcx125 scooter with an automatic and get 100mpg.and save the $3 per week for a coffee.
 
#20 ·
140.6 miles, put in 2.748 (US) gal. Math says 51.16 mpg, meter said 50 - close enough. I'm sure it will improve when the engine is broken in (and I'm a better rider). :D

The "fuel remaining" meter is a bit iffy. Soon as the gauge started blinking, meter appeared with 0.1 miles. By the time I got to the gas station near my house it said 7.9 miles (that's about 10 miles @ 45mph, then about 4 miles of stop and go city traffic). I should have had almost a full gallon left in the tank...

I don't know what the dealer out in it, but I put 91 ron in it this time. It's two-bits more than regular, but it should make that little motor happy. I've also started a Fuelly account, and loaded the first set of data.
 
#25 ·
Just put in 2.5 gal at 125 miles = 50mpg. Only city miles and some of those I had the old lady on the back seat(probably not the best move as I'm still under 1000miles). I went with premium pump gas. I've always ran premium on any engine with 10:1 or higher compression ratio
 
#27 ·
Chevron and shell are 2 opposites around here.
Chevron (though open almost 24 hours here), serves the worst gasoline.
1 car died, because of water in the fuel, and stones, and a few other vehicles consistently recorded upto 10% less mpg than other fuels. Shell on the other hand hovered by about 5% better than the other brands, and was about on par with BP.
Shell V-power had almost 7% better performance, and was only bested by BP's premium fuel, which hovered around 10% better fuel economy than the others.

Ever since my incident with the car, I vowed never to take chevron anymore, and on occasion hit almost the end of my reserve, still passing chevron stations by, taking gas anywhere but there!

I don't know chevron's hi oct fuel, but it's regular fuel, is the worst!
 
#28 ·
I usually start off with reg. unleaded 87 octane and see how that performs. It did not work on my CB300F even though it was supposed to. I was getting constant detonation when I was off throttle. I filled up with Shell V-power (premium) and the detonation was gone as I left the station and never came back. I filled up with reg. unleaded in the R3 and it seems to like the stuff, so I'll probably continue with that. If the bike doesn't experience dieseling, detonation, pinging, stalling, hesitation or any other signs of fuel problems, I would just go with the 87 octane. It won't hurt anything of course to go with 89,92 or 93 octane if it gives you peace of mind. When I have used premium gas in any bike, it has never caused the bike to run worse. You can't say the same thing about running gas that is too low in octane rating. 86 Octane is supposed to work on the R3.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Mine seems fine on regular unleaded also. Of course, I live at 6,200 feet elevation, which means I could run one grade lower than specified and still not have any issues with pinging, etc. There is no grade lower than regular, so regular it will be, unless and until I see issues with that.

The owners manual specifies regular unleaded and that Gasohol/E10 is acceptable. I'm sure they tested thoroughly to come up with that recommendation.

The normal recommendation from fuel engineers/specialists is to use the lowest octane that doesn't cause pinging/detonation, otherwise you're just throwing money away on higher octane fuels that the engine doesn't need.
 
#30 ·
Mine seems fine on regular unleaded also. Of course, I live at 6,200 feet elevation, which means I could run one grade lower than specified and still not have any issues with pinging, etc. There is no grade lower than regular, so regular it will be, unless and until I see issues with that.

The owners manual specifies regular unleaded and that Gasohol/E10 is acceptable. I'm sure they tested thoroughly to come up with that recommendation.

The normal recommendation from fuel engineers/specialists is to use the lowest octane that doesn't cause pinging/detonation, otherwise you're just throwing money away on higher octane fuels that the engine doesn't need. Plus, some high octane fuels can make the engine run hotter.
Actually,
My experience tells it's the other way around.
lower octane can cause pinging on racing engines, which causes extra heat.
higher octane should have no adverse effect on regular engines.

Higher octane can stand the higher heat necessary for higher compressions and faster compression.
Truth be told, most people might not notice the difference, unless going on the tracks, and taking that engine all the way to the rev limiter!

I don't know if it has anything to do with the high rpms, but compression ratio wise, it should be able to get by with your standard 'reg' fuel, at the pump.
 
#32 ·
In my 30+ years of riding, I never cared or even bothered to ask what the MPG was. Unless that is your only means of transport.
Bikes are simply toys to ride. You're going to fill up the tank anyway once you're weekend ridding is complete, whats the most it would cost to fill up..$10-12 bucks tops ??
 
#33 ·
I've been riding on the street for 34 years. I never cared either. It is a nice benefit though.

BUT.
Some people are interested in a commuter bike that gets good fuel mileage.
So what's the point of your unhelpful post? :confused:
 
#38 ·
Today I did my 600 mile oil change.

I ran today's tank of fuel to the reserve part to see how far I could go. When you hit the reserve, the computer switches to a mode where it tells you how far you have ridden on reserve. When I added fuel, my total mileage for the tank was 197 miles and 14.2 of those miles were on reserve.

The estimated average mileage that the computer displays is pretty accurate. Here are some numbers:

Code:
Tank #1 - Computer: 64.2MPG Actual: 65.51MPG Accuracy: 2.00% Raw data: 2.412gal 158mi
Tank #2 - Computer: 67.1MPG Actual: 66.67MPG Accuracy: 0.64% Raw data: 1.575gal 105mi
Tank #3 - Computer: 64.0MPG Actual: 67.90MPG Accuracy: 5.74% Raw data: 2.003gal 136mi
Tank #4 - Computer: 65.4MPG Actual: 66.08MPG Accuracy: 1.03% Raw data: 2.981gal 197mi
I fill up from the same pump every time and I park my bike so the kick stand is on the same metal pipe cover in the concrete, so I think I have about a precise system as possible without getting silly.

In summary I am very happy with the mileage, I can trust the bike's average MPG computer and I can safely go 200 miles on a tank. (The stock tank is 3.7 gallons but I do not know how much of that is usable.)
 
#41 ·
There are no BP station where I live.

I run ethanol-free fuel. I think it is worth the extra cost. (I don't think higher-octane fuel is worth the cost.)

How much better mileage would I have to get to make premium fuel cost-effective, assuming it gets better mileage, which I doubt? Right now my fuel cost is 3.9¢ per mile

I averaged a little under 50MPG with my 1800CC Valkyrie on regular fuel. That is a 750LB motorcycle!

http://www.f6cforum.com/forum/8-honda-f6c-general-discussion/6090-how-far.html
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top