Believable Motorcycle MPG figures
Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:39 am
Believable Motorcycle MPG figures
Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - By Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer - Los Angeles Times - http://www.latimes.com/classified/autom ... s-highway1
Question: Does the Environmental Protection Agency have a list of miles per gallon ratings for motorcycles? If not, where can I find MPG ratings for different motorcycles?
— Reza Muhammad, Los Angeles
Answer: There isn't any one source for motorcycle MPG figures as there is for cars. The EPA doesn't track them, and that's because the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 only gave EPA the authority to test passenger vehicles. The law wasn't interpreted to include motorcycles.
That leaves us with two main options: MPG reported from the manufacturers and MPG from the media, both of which have their problems. Manufacturers are not required by law to release mileage figures, so many of them do not. And if they do, they may not release them for every model or they may not be entirely accurate because there isn't standardized testing.
Cycle World magazine often reports MPG as part of its spec panel when reviewing a bike, but, again, the MPG isn't for every model — just the bike that gets a major road test or side-by-side comparison.
One of the best resources I've been able to find is the consumer website www.totalmotorcycle.com ,(Total Motorcycle) which launched a fuel economy guide earlier this year. The guide isn't comprehensive, but it includes new and newish models from 17 manufacturers, with different models' MPG ratings posted at the rate of about two bikes per week.
BMW, Buell, Harley-Davidson and Victory all provide the site with their corporate-sanctioned MPG figures. The rest of the figures are reported from riders worldwide, who provide the exact model and year of the bike, along with its fuel capacity, city/highway MPG and the source of the riders' mileage information — whether it's their own riding experience or a figure cited in the media.
Corporation doubters take heart: According to site founder Michael LePard, manufacturer- and rider-reported mileage figures for the same models are roughly equal, within 2% to 3% of each other.
Wednesday, December 6, 2006 - By Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer - Los Angeles Times - http://www.latimes.com/classified/autom ... s-highway1
Question: Does the Environmental Protection Agency have a list of miles per gallon ratings for motorcycles? If not, where can I find MPG ratings for different motorcycles?
— Reza Muhammad, Los Angeles
Answer: There isn't any one source for motorcycle MPG figures as there is for cars. The EPA doesn't track them, and that's because the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 only gave EPA the authority to test passenger vehicles. The law wasn't interpreted to include motorcycles.
That leaves us with two main options: MPG reported from the manufacturers and MPG from the media, both of which have their problems. Manufacturers are not required by law to release mileage figures, so many of them do not. And if they do, they may not release them for every model or they may not be entirely accurate because there isn't standardized testing.
Cycle World magazine often reports MPG as part of its spec panel when reviewing a bike, but, again, the MPG isn't for every model — just the bike that gets a major road test or side-by-side comparison.
One of the best resources I've been able to find is the consumer website www.totalmotorcycle.com ,(Total Motorcycle) which launched a fuel economy guide earlier this year. The guide isn't comprehensive, but it includes new and newish models from 17 manufacturers, with different models' MPG ratings posted at the rate of about two bikes per week.
BMW, Buell, Harley-Davidson and Victory all provide the site with their corporate-sanctioned MPG figures. The rest of the figures are reported from riders worldwide, who provide the exact model and year of the bike, along with its fuel capacity, city/highway MPG and the source of the riders' mileage information — whether it's their own riding experience or a figure cited in the media.
Corporation doubters take heart: According to site founder Michael LePard, manufacturer- and rider-reported mileage figures for the same models are roughly equal, within 2% to 3% of each other.
