Been reading in here for yrs bout most Touring bikes get better mileage than the softies.. seems they alway get 50mpg or better....

Just got done with a 5 day 1550 mile road trip with my son and a good friend..
I ride a 07 Heritage, stg1 with And.26h's cams
Son has a 10 Street Glide Stg1, V&H's 2-1-2, and S&S 551's.
Friend had a 09 Ultra with Stg1 and 255SE cams..

All three are SERT or SEST and dynoed...

About 1/2 of the time I used the same on amount of fuel on fuel ups and the other half 1-2/10th's of a gallon less fuel than the 09 Ultra used than I did on my 07 Heritage.

Every one of the stops I used exactly the same or 1/10 more fuel than my sons 10 Street Glide.

So I am now a dis-believer of the Touring bikes always getting better mileage..

We've had our bike for 4 yrs and have never took her out of state. This yr the son wanted to do a road trip...

First time I've done one in yrs.. My low was 44+ mpg in the hills of Virgina and I had 4 tank over 48 mpg....

Average for the 1550 mile trip was over 46.5 mpg's... the best I've ever done...

Most of the first 32k of miles we put on our bike was the Wife and I riding on our country road in 3-4-5s gear at 30-50 mph.... Even then we got 42-45 since I had the cams put in ....

 

IMO, the baggers getting better mileage(like mine) probably haven't had cam upgrades yet. I fully expect my mileage to drop at that time. Right now, I have a stage 1 with a fuelpak and have gotten 52 mpg in a group ride on the highway. I typically average mid 40s around here if I'm not too heavy on the throttle. I've gotten as low as 40 mpg on a tank, but I had a hell of alot of fun doing it. Then again, you know what they say about opinions....

 

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Wrong..IMO..... the son and I have had 4 new 96er's in the last 5yrs and every one of them actually have gotten better mileage after the Stg1 and cams with SERT or SEST and a good dyno tune.. At least by 2-3 more MPG...

Unless we twisted our right hand all the time....then expect low 40's

So don't fully expect to get worse mileage after a cam install... EXPECT to get Better mileage.......






.

 

A lot of people thing doing work to the engine will hurt the gas mileage....couldnt be more wrong. If the bike is properly tuned, these power adding extras will increase efficiency in the engine, thus increasing gas mileage. My 02 corvette had a lot of work done to it and still got 30mpg on the highway cause it was properly tuned. Tuning is key.

 

my buddy has a 2001 Electra Glide Standard with the 88" and a rejetted carb.. when we fill up at the beginning of the ride we top off our tanks, and we ride.. similar styles, he rides a little bit higher in the RPM's than I do consistantly, and his is a 5speed where mine is a 6.. when we fill up, i'll generally take about .2-.4 gallons more than he does.. and when doing the math I get something like 45mpg if i'm lucky, i think 47 was my best, and that's with a stage 1 intake and exhaust.. so it's roughly the same, but idk if its our different styles but he constantly does a few miles better than me

 

+1
Big engines that are run at a low rpm can get great gas mileage but yes tuning is the key here.
I have worked on everything from farm equipment to AA fuel dragsters. Gallons per hour or gallons per run were always a concern.
My 03 88 free breathing Heritage gets 45+mpg if I keep the revs down.
That of course all goes out the tail pipe when I punch it, and I love to just punch it once in awhile.

 

As I said above, when the son and I have had the stg1 and cams installed on our last 4 bike They all have gotten better mileage...

 

My mileage actually improved with my cam upgrade as well. I do lots of stop and go riding usually averaging about 37mpg after the cams I am now 41-42mpg. More power and better mpg who would have thought?

 

After my cams, my range meter would tell me that I had less than it did before the upgrade, but when I start riding it goes up and I actually get a little better as well.

 

Just finished a 6K ride to the Pacific north west and down the PCH to San Francisco then east through Death Valley across Nevada,Arizona, NM, TX, Ok, Missouri and Illinois.

The bike - 2010 Ultra. Mods SE-I AC and Cobra Fi2000r programer.

The average mpg for the trip was 45 mpg. The highest was 60.2 the lowest was 40.1. Had at least 6-8 times at 50 mpg.

My son was riding a 06 Street Bob with identical mods. Throughout the entire ride my Ultra either took the identical amount of gas or every now and then a .1 or .2 gallon less.

Never checked the mpg on my 07 FXSTC ( again with the same mods) because it is for looking cool at Rallies and I don't care what it's mpg is.

You do know that EPA rates the HD's TC96 at 54 mpg?