Fuel economy

My 1982 XJ650 Maxim is only getting 25-30 mpg, which seems low. Is this common?

If not, what could be causing it?

 

I’m a newbie to these bikes, but I can share a recent experience. I got noticeably worse fuel economy on my last tank of gas, turns out that’s because one of my carb floats was stuck down. Fuel was overflowing the carb slow enough that it took me a while to see the leakage, but it made a real dent in my mpg.

Does the exhaust smell normal when it runs?

 

That's a great thought!

I'm going to check that out.

 

@Simmy did you reply to a thread where you said fuel could be drawn out of a carburettor at speed due to airflow around the carb which would affect MPG if an overflow pipe was missing or split?

 

Not me sorry

 

Ok cheers.

 

Pull plugs , look to see if plugs are black (rich).
Turn petcock to PRI setting, look for fuel leaks
When you ride are you using trip odometer to measure miles ridden? If so, take a ride for say 10 miles and double check with say google maps or some sort of phone trip app that the odometer actually matches the app. (my odometer is off but only like 3% so not that much).
My bike has been getting 47mpg on roads that are 45-55mph. Stock jets and my plugs are nice and white/light brown.