xj750rj touring Fuel mileage

i am positive this topic has been touched many times before.

I am interested to hear what everyone is getting for fuel mileage on their 750’s

Mine is low for some reason

I just filled up tonight. 2.9 gallons for 102 miles. All interstate at 5500-6000 rpm
Plugs look good to me last I looked (ngk’s)
And the carbtune seems to be fine as well

Thoughts about what I can look at and information about what yours is

Thanks

 

35 MPG for you, but under what conditions?
I get anywhere between 32 and 50 MPG depending on wind direction and speed (the wind, not the bike (but the bike's speed matters too)), altitude, hills, amount of stuff being carried, etc.

The 50 MPG is on secondary roads (65 MPH) with very little wind, and the 32 is interstate speeds (80 MPH) fighting a 20 MPH headwind.

 

Most of the wind I encounter is always a side wind. On occasion a head wind is had but not in this particular equation

Interstate for me is 75-80mph. 5500-6000 rpm. Full touring fairing with a Hepco and Becker top box

I really should travel the bi way sometime and check it at 55 mph and verify the differences

I also live in Illinois. There are no hills to be seen. Just corn and bean fields

 

If I just go by the speedo/odo (not sure how accurate it is).. I get 44-47 mpg in mixed secondary and interstate riding. Mileage has not changed in 32 years...I always hit reserve around 126-130 miles and add 2.75- 3.00 gallons by the time I get to a station.

 

That's my typical average as well. the problem here is that the wind plays havoc on being able to hit that average.

 

Green with envy! Best I have ever gotten is 44 mpg. All highway 60-65 steady. Between 35-39 around town. No aggressive riding, too old for that. Bike runs well and plugs have a nice light gray/brown color. Bone stock bike. Wish I had a 6th gear for the highway and a slightly larger tank.

 

Your 700 has higher compression, and makes around 6-8 more HP. Fair trade.

 

Hmmm... I was able to get upwards of 70 mpg. But that was on a 250cc Rebel...

 

At my age, and the fact that I have rarely hit 7,000 rpm, I wouldn’t miss that 6-8 hp. But it is still a fun ride.

 

I can add a recent check with a mix of highway / city driving and just easy riding - 38 mpg. I remember years ago checking the mileage and it seemed to be a consistent 45 mpg. Perhaps I might try dialing the mixture screws in a bit after evaluating the plugs for color to see if it will improve??

 

One comment for your consideration......

My main bike is a ZG1400. Bought new in late 2011 and now have about 70k miles on the clock. Outside of personal riding habits (everyone's definition of "easy" or "hard" riding) and weather conditions, is the aero factor. On a couple of longer trips where a buddy of mine wanted to take one of his smaller bikes, I agreed to mount his top box on my bike and carry more of his luggage. I could feel the impact of the top box almost immediately with the wind catching it. I am guessing there was a 2-3 mpg impact of having the top box mounted on the bike.

Same holds true with windscreens. That same traveling buddy has a larger windscreen on his bike and even if he does not have the top box mounted, he is usually 1-2 mpg less than my bike in similar riding situations.

All that to say....keep those variables I mind when comparing reports of mpg.

Hope that helps!

 

I absolutely agree

 

I'm a lifetime cyclist a windy day is a windy day. It's actually rare to get a direct head wind most are side winds of some angle or another. A side wind of say 20 mph and forward speed of 60 may equal a head wind of 10 or 15 mph depending on the angle of the wind. There are charts for this. For a tail wind to be of any assistance it has to come from a 30' rear angle or less. An XJ bike is basically a brick in the wind. Yep to what you said, a 6th gear and larger tank.
Cheers, 50gary

 

KAJ1 (if I remember his name correctly) had a similar issue with one of his bikes...as I recall, his issue ended up being due to worn emulsion tubes and slide needles.

 

Right now I'm getting great gas mileage ...bike is sitting in garage , weather has been bad , but I can usually go 140 miles before reserve , but I dont ride on the interstate and stick to back roads and county highways ....the wind is usually blowing as I only live 15miles from Lake Michigan

 

I managed 140 before reserve about twice.
I live in what the US Weather Service says is the windiest location (highest average wind speed) in the U.S.
I also like to goose the throttle a bit

 

K moe and I must be neighbors then. Lol. All I see is corn and bean fields as well as wind farms

 

I'm a little late to the party but thought I'd throw my two cents in here. I've got a recently acquired 1982 XJ750J Maxim. After running half a can of Seafoam through it (50:50 in the fuel and in the oil), and after an oil change to Rotella T4 15W40, I'm getting 55 US miles to a US gallon (12.9 L/300 Klms). I'm delighted with that performance. Bought it with 42K Klms on it at the start of summer, today has 51800K Klms. Haven't really gone anywhere -- just big circles all around the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. The only engine work I had to do was a new valve cover gasket and turn down the idle to spec. About two K ago I noticed a very slight oil seep at the shifter shaft /engine side cover. Have the new parts in hand, waiting for a non-riding day to get into it.

 

When faily hard pressed; 90 mph on highway (in Germany..lol) with lots of luggage my Seca runs 40mpg on 5% etoh 98 oct. fuel. 1l on 17 km.
With a touringmind in place the Seca does 45-50- mpg/1 l on 20-21.
Bike is from 82 with 50k on the odometer.

 

Neigbours in the USA. Joe I bet you would need a few tanks of fuel to go to k-moe's place . Better with open spaces, corn and bean fields as concrete and noise.