Go farther on a gallon, have fun doing it

Editor's note: AMADirectlink.com first ran this story a year ago when average gas prices were in the low $2/gallon range. Now, they're around $3 a gallon and even more people are typing the words "gas mileage" into internet search engines. Time to revisit the economics of motorcycling.

By Lance Oliver

People call me cheap.

I don't argue.

But these days, I've got more company than ever. Looking at the statistics on the terms people are searching for on the internet, when they come to AMADirectlink.com, the words "gas mileage" are showing up a lot more than they used to. Gasoline on the north side of $2 a gallon will do that.

Almost universally, we ride motorcycles because they're fun. But if it turns out that we can contribute to reducing the national trade deficit and saving ourselves a few dollars by riding instead of driving, and burning less gas in the process, well, that's just a bonus.

There's no mystery to getting more miles per gallon from your bike. It comes down to two issues: How you maintain your bike, and how you ride it.

Maintenance
A little time and money spent on upkeep will stretch your gas mileage. Nothing can cause your mileage to drop faster than a dirty air filter, so change it as scheduled. The same goes for spark plugs that are dirty or not properly gapped.

Keeping your tires properly inflated decreases rolling resistance, makes them last longer, and gives you better grip. The first two factors will save you money, and the third could save your hide. That should be enough incentive to get you to carry a tire pressure gauge and use it regularly.

Is your drive chain adjusted to the right tension? Wheel bearings spinning smoothly? Disc brake calipers clean and operating smoothly, so the brakes don't drag?

The double payoff from these few maintenance chores is that your bike will also perform better and be safer if you keep it in good running condition.

Riding
Virtually nobody chooses a bike based on gas mileage. But whatever you ride, you can maximize the mileage you get.

Do you let the bike idle a long time to warm up? Riding it gently until it's up to temperature is just as effective and you use less gas while sitting still.

Sure, we all love the performance advantages of a motorcycle. But gentle acceleration on most motorcycles will still push you easily ahead of the rest of the traffic leaving the stoplight. Saving the redline shifts for when you really need all the power burns less fuel and puts less stress on your engine.

Think of your bike as a horsepower-dispensing machine. The more dollar bills you feed in (by twisting the throttle), the more product it puts out (in horsepower). You control the burn rate. As is often the case, racing provides a great example.

In the AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport series, lightly modified 600cc streetbikes barely achieve mid-20s miles per gallon. That's because those bikes spend most of their lives near 15,000 rpm redlines. The same bikes ridden sedately on the street can nearly double that mileage. Some cruisers with slow-revving engines with double the displacement of a Supersport bike can approach 50 miles per gallon.

Those examples prove two things: First, while we often assume that smaller engines produce higher mileage, the link between horsepower and mileage is more reliable than the link between displacement and mileage. And second, since your right wrist plays the primary role in determining how much horsepower your bike is about to produce, you have considerable control over your gas mileage.

The bottom line
Every article about gas mileage always receives at least one response from a frugal rider who counters with the tire argument: Yes, bikes get better mileage than cars, but motorcycle tires are more expensive and wear out much faster, so they easily wipe out the savings at the gas pumps.

In most cases, that's true. I can find a great example in my own garage, where I replace the rear tire on one of my bikes every 4,000 to 5,000 miles. At more than $100 a pop for a sport tire, I figure I'd have to get about 100 miles per gallon to spend the same amount on gas and tires as I would by driving a car that gets 20 miles per gallon. Needless to say, I don't get 100 miles per gallon.

But I can also find an example from the other end of the spectrum in my garage. I have a small dual-sport machine that I bought third-hand and use for commuting all winter, for rainy days in the summer, and for rides in the country when I feel like exploring some unpaved roads. Not only will it return 70 miles per gallon, but I can also get 8,000 miles out of a rear tire, and maybe twice that from a front. And those tires are cheap. Add in the negligible cost of insurance and it honestly is less expensive than commuting in your average car.

And it's definitely more fun.

That's the real payoff, as it always is with motorcycling. Getting better gas mileage may sound like a kill-joy, but for me, at least, any kind of riding beats any kind of driving. Sometimes, the satisfaction just comes in unusual forms.

Some mornings, when I leave for work, I pass one of my neighbors commuting to work in his Hummer. I'm sure he feels smug sitting up there in his behemoth.

I feel just as smug knowing that one month's payment on his new monstrosity would probably buy a year's supply of gas for my dual-sport or a few sets of tires for my sporty bike. I wouldn't trade places with him.