New XJ owner wondering about typical mpg!

Hello I just recently bought myself an 86' XJ700n Maxim. And since I am not only a new XJ owner but also a first time bike owner I was wondering what kind of mileage that these bikes get. I have read that they get an average of 50 mpg. Didn't know if this was actually close to what they get or not. Currently driving mine in town I am getting closer to 25 mpg which seems low to me. If so and you have any suggestions on how to increase this let me know. I may be new to motorcycles but I have never been one to shy away from a little mechanical adventure. Thanks in advance.

Sirch

 

Welcome to the forum

Varies widely on the condition of your bike - rider weight, weight carried, traffic, riding habits.....

I get 35 on mine - folks claim high 40's and one 60 mpg.

25 does seem low - tuning and tire pressure are probably the first things to check

Search out MPG and you will find several discussions on the subject.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Bill. It is in pretty good condition tire pressure is correct. It only has 3700 miles on it so it has done a lot of sitting in its 22 years so I am thinkinking about either ripping its carbs off myself and trying to clean them up or taking it to someone so they can resynch it. When I first got it I ran seafoam through just about every hole it would go through because that stuff is excelent. Replaced the battery and spark plugs, oil & filter. Air Filter, and headlight not that the headlight would make any difference but I think for as low a mileage as it has and as good as it runs. Haven't had any problems with it since the initial clean up. And I only weigh around 200 so I'm not putting any real strain on it. Most of my trips are around 5 miles back and forth to work averageing about 45 miles per hour. About 5 Stop lights between here and there so not really any time wasted at lights.

Well I have officially written a novel now. Sorry bout that to those easily bored.

Sirch

 

Sounds like a great bike - edit your signature line to have your bike type year etc so when you have questions you can get better answers.

I would think 25 mpg is a bit low, resolving it may be a multi step process.

Do the carbs yourself including the sync - lots of good instructions on the site here. Not hard.

If you have not met Chacal yet he has just about every part known to man for thee bike Just PM him with your needs.

 

Well, you're very analytical, so you must have decided that short commute with stoplights is to blame. You would have to get a 250cc or smaller for realy low MPG for your commute. If you like the looks of the Maxxim, you may consider the Yamaha 250cc Virago, or look at other makes. But if you buy a scooter, you may hate riding it in public .

 

My 750 Maxim gets quite low doing this kind of riding too. Riding in this kind of situation I would probably get about 115 miles max until I hit my reserve. I think it works out about 37mpg for me. However, if I'm touring, doing a lot of miles at once or on fast roads I can get 150 miles out of my tank without even hitting the reserve! I daren't push my luck any further though :lol:.

I've found the bigger the bike, the worse it is on fuel in town. My first bike was a Vespa 50 and the tank could barely hold a gallon of fuel and I always managed 100 miles out of a tankful :lol:.

 

I own 2 bikes - an 82 XJ650 and an 84 V45 Magna (700cc). Both shaft drive, both in excellent tune, both run perfect. I shft around 5K and the tach doesn't get much over 5K in normal use. Around town they get about 40-42 mpg, on the road at 65-70 they get around 44-45 mpg. The 10% ethanol blended fuel we have here in MN reduces your mpg mileage a bit from what you can get using straight gasoline.

Paul

 

1982 maxim 400 , got it running this past april after 12years of not running. new plugs, did not tune up or sync carbs , and all summer i have been getting about 50 mpg.

 

My 750 Seca gets about 45mpg highway, about 40mpg city. This is with ethanol blend.. Of course, if I decide to twist the throttle grip off the bars, the mileage goes down to about 32mpg :mrgreen:

 

Still need to clean and sync carbs, but seem to consistently get 40 - 45 EMPTY on '81 Seca 750. I guess I never really have ridden just highway miles on one tank of gas.

 

I get 47 mpg on a 52 mile one way comute with what seems like 100 red lights. Shift at 5 grand and run at about 5 grand but I weigh about 275.

 

I get 38-45 mpg. You might need to pull those carbs
Clean them out,
button them back up,
sync and get the mixtures right,
and fire her up for some fine-tuning

PS hows the air filter look, that will mess your mileage up even with clean carbs

 

you actually have one that Runs ??????? LOL

 

If your reffering that question to me Yankee then yes I have one that runs like a dream It just sucks gas like nobodys business.

 

My 84 750 gets about 45 mpg, ballpark

 

I don't feel so extreme any more with 63 miles one way, into and out of downtown Detroit. My 550 gets around 43mpg but that's ballpark. I've not really bothered to do exact mpg calculations.

 

Still average 5.5l/100km can get over 400km out of a tank, 14km trip each way, pillion on the way home. Don't ride hard but don't p**** around either. Haven't converted it to MPG yet.

 

I have a 1985 XJ700 with 2500 miles on it and am getting just 55 mpg. Don't ride it hard but do stomp on it on an occasion

I weigh 150 lbs, I am sure that helps some

 

What color are your plugs? ( you can post a picture of them in this thread)
Double check your choke cable, that it leaves a bit of slack when it's not being used.
Time to tweak- - make a note of the EXACT position of your idle enrichment screws. Write it down so you can always go back. Yours may still have caps over them. turn them all clockwise 1/8 turn with a good fitting screwdriver. Do a mileage check.

My 900 has hit 49 MPG on 3 tanks of rather fast riding.
My 750 has done a disappointing 32.
My scooter does 85 MPG.

 

I did the calculations the other day. With hard riding I get around 47MPG.

You can find the calculation in the Haynes manual there is a section "conversion factor"