Bikes with Good MPG?

[Ted]

Hi all, my two CX's are staying off the road for a bit longer, and I'm thinking of getting another cheap run-a-round bike.

I thought of a 125cc as they are cracking on fuel, but the initial cost of the bike is steep for obvious reasons!

So, I was thinking about something between 125cc and 250cc, preferably a commuter or cruiser, not interested in sports or dirt bikes.

I'm only after spending a couple of hundred max buying it, but was wondering what bikes anyone recommends, and what the MPG is going to be like?

[P.]

Few hundred will get you a CB250, looks around 70+ mpg

[garth]

C90, 120MPG.

I can get half that out of my zx9r at a constant 70mph. Shortly followed by boredom induced death.

[Polarbear]

[.Chris.]

Suzuki GN250/400, Yamaha SR250, Honda CD200. You might get a tatty RXS/GP/H100 for that sort of money, or a CB100N.

TBH if your budget is only £200 or so, you can't afford to be too picky!
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Chris
1985 Kawasaki Z550F

[Teflon-Mike]

Well the CX500 isn't exactly renowned for being thirsty... and I can get better mpg from my CB750, if I ride it like a CG....
And that is the real key to ecconomy.

POWER=Rate of Energy Transfer.

Ie MPG is actually an expression of 'power', only how much you use, rather than how much the engine might make at a certain rpm & throttle setting.....

Power also = Force x speed

Force in question is 'drag', speed, how fast you are going.

Drag increases with speed, so faster you go, more fuel you are going to use.

Drag, on a motorbike, is much of a much. People talk about aerodynamics, but TBH aerodynamic efficiency on a motorbike makes bog all odds.

Yes faired bikes are more erodynamically efficient, but up to about 120mph, real advantage of faired bikes tends to be the smaller frontal area rather than streamlining.

SO, pretty much any bike, ridden for ecconomy; as smoothly as possible, avoiding hard acceleration or braking, riding predictively to hold a high average speed.... up to 'about' 50-60mph, power, hence fuel used will be pretty similar.

So, since you HAVE a CX500 and armed with such knowledge, I would ask WHY you want to chuck a sum of money that will struggle to get you a 'fixer-upper' at something that probably wont do the job you want ANY better than what you got?

Would it not be a better idea to chuck that dosh at getting one of the CX's to road?

Otherwise; probably THE most miserly, economy-commuter currently known to man, is teh Honda CD200 Benley....

15bhp its just about as powerful as a half decent 125, but with 60% more displacement, has a bit more 'beef; where you can use it, and its optimum efficiency is stacked a bit higher up so you can hold better ecconomy on 50-60mph roads where you'd be ragging a 125 to hold road speed.

Also in a hole in the Insurance groupings; where it wont gain Learner-Loading, and where there aren't any sports bikes hiking premiums from cracked fairings, of high speed lunacy.

And you CAN find examples, Taxed and MOT's for £200 ish if you hunt hard, but they will sure be FAR from 'pretty'.... and to my sense of sensibilities and experience of the breed, since top book, a minter will struggle to fetch much over £500, youi might as well buy high, and have a bike that stands better chance of being mechanically sound and reliable, rather than one likely to be a money pit... no-one spends big money on a 'cheap' bike, so better ones can be a real bargain.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Derivative]

Fuel really is cheap compared to the cost of the bike and associated bits unless we're talking years of long mileage journeys.

A 20 mile commute 5 days a week for a year is roughly 10k miles.
At £1.40 a litre, an imperial gallon is £6.35.

At 50mpg, (10000/50)*6.35 = £1270 annually for fuel
At 75mpg, (10000/75)*6.35 = £846
At 100mpg, (10000/100)*6.35 = £635

Look at the difference between 50 and 75.

You are likely going to be looking at about £4-500 cost savings per year on 10,000 miles, is that worth the added insurance, maintenance, space in your garage/garden and the rest of it?

May be useful in winter, but otherwise I think two bikes is false economy to be honest. I hear even Pan Euros get about 40mpg.

Either go for a 125 that'll do 100mpg, or go for broke IMO. Inbetween, you'll get hardly any fuel economy improvement, and be riding something you don't actually enjoy.

[Mikey3]

you won't want a Hornet pre 2004

Mike
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'04 Yamaha WR450F
'99 SV650 Streetfighter Project - mid build
'Motorcycling is about what you do; not about what you own, or how much you spend on it'

[Ted]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Just to clarify, I'm expecting a really tatty and run down bike, so I'm not likely to get any shocks there!

I understand economical riding is the key, but I was getting about 90mpg out of my old 125cc, compared to about 45mpg out of a CX500... Considering my car does 50+mpg it's actually cheaper using that instead of a bike.

Both the CX's are currently off the road, and one would need a hell of a lot of work/money to get on the road again, the other isn't as bad, but I can't warrant pouring money in for an mpg that's worse than the car!

The only reason I'm put off of bikes that are 125cc and under is because they often carry a higher price tag, you can get more for the money with something just over learner size.
I'm working on the assumption that a 250cc will better a 500cc on mpg (with similar riding), but I know this isn't entirely the case as under-powered bikes can use more fuel, but I also have to factor in insurance costs, as I've not got any NCB to use and I've not been riding a 500cc+ bike regularly for the last year or so!

[Derivative]

I know that the Ninja 250 gets about 70mpg if you ride reasonably, and my CG125 got about 100-110. Not too sure about touring/street 250's.

If a 125 will be enough I'd say definitely get one.

A 250 is unlikely to save enough fuel to be worth bothering with unless you get one really, really cheap. A £1k bike would take about 25-30,000 miles to break even against the car (at 50mpg vs 70mpg)

If you get a CG for under a grand it'd make up for itself in a year or two.

I suppose it depends how much monetary value you put on riding compared to taking the car.

[Teflon-Mike]

[Ted]

I'm not planning on parting with the maggots, with two bikes, one spare engine, and a couple of boxes of parts (including spare carbs), I think it would cost a lot to get back to the same situation as far as spares go with another bike.

My plan was to get something cheaper to run than the car, just to commute back and forth.

Can I ask if that 70mpg for the CX is a personal estimate, or a book value?

I am watching loads of bikes on eBay, but I'll admit I'm currently swayed back towards the CX due to the number of parts I have, or just stay bike-less until I'm in a better situation...

[Derivative]

[neil.]

CBF125 - check the Fuelly link in my sig.
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CBT February 2008 | A2 June 2008 | Yamaha YBR125 (written off) | Honda CBF125 (current)

[.Chris.]

Not many of those about for £200 though!
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Chris
1985 Kawasaki Z550F

[Teflon-Mike]

[iooi]

[Derivative]

[kawakid]

Both my bikes do about 62mpg on a ride out.

Not so good when commuting, but my commute is only 4 or 5 miles.
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I've a twin and a 4.

[Acemastr]

Get anything, I get 40mpg whether I thrash the crap out of it and 45-50 if i pootle, it's about how you ride it.

Although if it's crap and slow you won't ride it like you stole it
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2017 KTM 350 XC-F - 2014 Yamaha R6 - 2005 Yamaha YZ125
2016 Toyota Tacoma Limited

[colin1]

mpg depends on traffic and speed.

At 60mph or above, a 900cc bike may note be more thirsty than a 600, but at 20mph, it will be.

In theory a car may have similar mpg to a bike, but will the car be stuck in traffic burning petrol going nowhere ?

I think 250 is a good economy sized engine with enough power for most situations, however it's often nice to have a bit more power than just what is needed.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[SouthWestSinn...]

The best bikes for MPG is a moped
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yh buddy!

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[temeluchus]

The k75 manages 50mpg urban commute, 60-70mpg on a speed limit pootle down the motorway.
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[pendulum]

My CG 125 is excellent on fuel, I bought it for £470, it only cost £109 to insure (for a newbie 26y/o on a provisional) and everything works; I'd sell the bikes you have and use the money on a half decent CG125 and that should do you as an economical commuter until you build a bit more savings?