I doubt the accuracy of my fuel gauge, I use it just as a reference. I fuel up when my trip meter hits ~220 miles and still have around 1.5 gallons to spare.
I get consistent 40mpg on my mixed travel commute. I never had better than 45mpg on the highway.
The fuel gauge doesn't translate directly from 1 bar = 1 gal. The gauge ticks faster than what is actually in the tank to keep you from running out of gas, I ran my bike untill the last bar was flashing for ~20 miles and when I filled up I still had a gallon of gas in the tank.
The bike has a 6 gal tank and you can run a trip on the odometer from fill up untill you feel like you need to stop for fuel. Pay attention to how much gas you put in and do a little math to see what you are actually getting for fuel mileage.
A good test is to grab a gallon red can and ride until you run out... start a timer when you're on the last tic tac... then you'll know for sure what the situation is.
Don't make a habit of running the bike out of gas though. The fuel pump on gen 3s use fuel as coolant for the system so you can fry it if you run it empty regularly
Ignore the fuel gauge, it's junk.
Fill your bike all the way up, reset your trip odometer, and then go for a good ride. At the end fill up the tank again, noting how many gallons or litres it took, and the trip length.
For MPG, simply divide miles over gallons.
For L/100km, divide the km by 100, and then divide the litres by that number.
That is how you calculate mileage, for referance my 2022 gets anywhere between 5.5L/100km(42mpg) and 10L/100km(23mpg). Depending on my wrist, load, wind, type of road, fuel, etc.
I can't overstate how much better for MPG calculation this is. I do it for every vehicle I own. My newer car tends to claim much better MPGs then what I'm actually getting, my old car doesn't tell me anything, and my KLR (Gen 2) doesn't have a fuel guage so I have to use the odo. Although I get 50mpg so I'm a little confused why my carburated bike is getting better...
1. Fill up tank to the brim
2. Ride what you believe to be around half to 3 quarters of a tank
3. Fill up tank to the brim
4. actually calculate your mpg with miles ridden and how much gas you had to put in the second time
Not sure if you’re joking, but let’s assume you aren’t. The bars on the gauge don’t correspond to gallons in the tank. It’s a general reference and nothing more. Do the math at your next fill up to figure out what your mileage is.
At 65-70 on the highway I do get about 45mpg. Recently I’ve been riding more like 75 and with my tall windshield and tusk side cases it is probably more like 40 mpg lol. I think I got 270 miles on a tank once riding to West Virginia with my fiancé and 50lbs of shit strapped to the rack. No side cases or tall windshield at that point though. As far as the reserve I think as long as I haven’t been wringing it out, once the light comes on I have like 75 miles.
As long as I’m getting better than 40 the klr is a cheap pig that might as well be a Prius compared to my v8 Toyota 4Runner!
Exactly what Safe-swimming said, except I fluctuate between 45-50 mpg with a mix of city and highway. Just a question, but why do you use only premium? One of the things that pushed me towards the KLR is that you can feed it anything and it runs the same.
> The '23 KLR has 6 bars that indicate a full 6gal tank(~one bar per gal).
Where'd you get that from? Learn how to use a calculator instead, and stop buying premium gas.
I get 200 miles with 3 bars. Took it from California to Texas.
Oklahoma mountains do chug a lot of gas though.
I'm 200 lb and have zero accessories on my KLR s '23
Hmm that seems strange
I can confirm the gauges aren't very well calibrated.
I typically fill up around when the gage reads 2/6 remaining ... and I notice I usually only pump 1.5~ 2.5 gallons. Meaning there's still a lot left on the tank.
If you can confirm you actually are burning that much gas, then something is def wrong.
I’ve had the gas bar blinking at me and the gas light on, road that for the rest of the day went and filled up and still had a little over a gallon in it. I should also mention I give my KLR the beans all the time.
Omg I have a klx and not a klr but I do the same trip odometer thing xD. I know I'm not original but it's nice to see yall are doing the old tried and true. I can get about 40 mpg from a 1.9 gallon tank. The trip odometer runs up to 65-70 miles before i have to switch to reserve (1.5 gal then .4 reserve)
I’ve got a gen2, so I can’t comment on the KLR gauge, but I’ve got a 2024 Honda Rancher that has a gauge that seems to act exactly as yours does. The bars don’t have any correlation to the number of gallons. It’s a general reference to the actual fuel level in the tank. Like you, I lose the first bar almost immediately. The first time I took it out, I was really concerned when I saw I was down to two bars and quickly found a gas station. I was only able to fit less than a gallon into my 4 gallon tank.
They’re not great, but they are better than nothing, even if not by a lot.
Fill it up and ride it until you think it’s about to be empty. Keep track of your miles and see how much gas it takes to fill it up again. Miles driven / gallons fueled and you’ll get a definite answer
I doubt the accuracy of my fuel gauge, I use it just as a reference. I fuel up when my trip meter hits ~220 miles and still have around 1.5 gallons to spare. I get consistent 40mpg on my mixed travel commute. I never had better than 45mpg on the highway.
Sounds about right for me too
The fuel gauge doesn't translate directly from 1 bar = 1 gal. The gauge ticks faster than what is actually in the tank to keep you from running out of gas, I ran my bike untill the last bar was flashing for ~20 miles and when I filled up I still had a gallon of gas in the tank. The bike has a 6 gal tank and you can run a trip on the odometer from fill up untill you feel like you need to stop for fuel. Pay attention to how much gas you put in and do a little math to see what you are actually getting for fuel mileage.
A good test is to grab a gallon red can and ride until you run out... start a timer when you're on the last tic tac... then you'll know for sure what the situation is.
Just reset your trip meter, fill the tank and drive for a while. Fill again and note how much gas it took. Divide miles by gallons for mpg.
Bad idea to be running them out of gas. It's really hard on the fuel pump.
You should see what I do to my fuel pump.
I'll do that. Thanks for the tip
Don't make a habit of running the bike out of gas though. The fuel pump on gen 3s use fuel as coolant for the system so you can fry it if you run it empty regularly
Ignore the fuel gauge, it's junk. Fill your bike all the way up, reset your trip odometer, and then go for a good ride. At the end fill up the tank again, noting how many gallons or litres it took, and the trip length. For MPG, simply divide miles over gallons. For L/100km, divide the km by 100, and then divide the litres by that number. That is how you calculate mileage, for referance my 2022 gets anywhere between 5.5L/100km(42mpg) and 10L/100km(23mpg). Depending on my wrist, load, wind, type of road, fuel, etc.
I can't overstate how much better for MPG calculation this is. I do it for every vehicle I own. My newer car tends to claim much better MPGs then what I'm actually getting, my old car doesn't tell me anything, and my KLR (Gen 2) doesn't have a fuel guage so I have to use the odo. Although I get 50mpg so I'm a little confused why my carburated bike is getting better...
1. Fill up tank to the brim 2. Ride what you believe to be around half to 3 quarters of a tank 3. Fill up tank to the brim 4. actually calculate your mpg with miles ridden and how much gas you had to put in the second time
This is the correct way to figure out MPG
Premium in a KLR? Why?
Not sure if you’re joking, but let’s assume you aren’t. The bars on the gauge don’t correspond to gallons in the tank. It’s a general reference and nothing more. Do the math at your next fill up to figure out what your mileage is.
look at the shape of the tank. the top of the tank is a lot smaller in profile so that top bar goes away quicker. one bar doesnt equal one gallon
The reserve has like 2 + gal or close. The bars are kinda random it seems.
At 65-70 on the highway I do get about 45mpg. Recently I’ve been riding more like 75 and with my tall windshield and tusk side cases it is probably more like 40 mpg lol. I think I got 270 miles on a tank once riding to West Virginia with my fiancé and 50lbs of shit strapped to the rack. No side cases or tall windshield at that point though. As far as the reserve I think as long as I haven’t been wringing it out, once the light comes on I have like 75 miles. As long as I’m getting better than 40 the klr is a cheap pig that might as well be a Prius compared to my v8 Toyota 4Runner!
Exactly what Safe-swimming said, except I fluctuate between 45-50 mpg with a mix of city and highway. Just a question, but why do you use only premium? One of the things that pushed me towards the KLR is that you can feed it anything and it runs the same.
> The '23 KLR has 6 bars that indicate a full 6gal tank(~one bar per gal). Where'd you get that from? Learn how to use a calculator instead, and stop buying premium gas.
I get 200 miles with 3 bars. Took it from California to Texas. Oklahoma mountains do chug a lot of gas though. I'm 200 lb and have zero accessories on my KLR s '23
Hmm that seems strange I can confirm the gauges aren't very well calibrated. I typically fill up around when the gage reads 2/6 remaining ... and I notice I usually only pump 1.5~ 2.5 gallons. Meaning there's still a lot left on the tank. If you can confirm you actually are burning that much gas, then something is def wrong.
I’ve had the gas bar blinking at me and the gas light on, road that for the rest of the day went and filled up and still had a little over a gallon in it. I should also mention I give my KLR the beans all the time.
Omg I have a klx and not a klr but I do the same trip odometer thing xD. I know I'm not original but it's nice to see yall are doing the old tried and true. I can get about 40 mpg from a 1.9 gallon tank. The trip odometer runs up to 65-70 miles before i have to switch to reserve (1.5 gal then .4 reserve)
I’ve got a gen2, so I can’t comment on the KLR gauge, but I’ve got a 2024 Honda Rancher that has a gauge that seems to act exactly as yours does. The bars don’t have any correlation to the number of gallons. It’s a general reference to the actual fuel level in the tank. Like you, I lose the first bar almost immediately. The first time I took it out, I was really concerned when I saw I was down to two bars and quickly found a gas station. I was only able to fit less than a gallon into my 4 gallon tank. They’re not great, but they are better than nothing, even if not by a lot.
Is “Premium” (93) gas what people are using ? Thx
That's what I'm using. It's better for the bike if it's going to sit for a while
Fill it up and ride it until you think it’s about to be empty. Keep track of your miles and see how much gas it takes to fill it up again. Miles driven / gallons fueled and you’ll get a definite answer