[pauljo]

My 650 has 4,300 miles on it. The mpgs go between 44 low to 50 high. Avg is about 46 mpg. Today i went for a 250 mile ride which was composed of good seconary roads and a few highways. When I filled up it took 3.2 gallons to go 180 miles. That is 56.25 mpg. What happened.

My AN650 mileage has varied between a low of 38 mpg and a high of 51.6 mpg. Typical mileage is about 47 mpg. I get my worst mileage loaded for touring and cruising at 80 - 85 mph. I've gotten 51 mpg riding tight curvy hilly roads in the South Dakota Black Hills & through the rural Arkansas highways in the Ozarks. Basically, my 650 likes moderate cruising speeds. Start cruising at 70 mph or higher and the mileage dives. I like brisk acceleration, so I doubt that I'll ever see anything much over 51 mpg. I wish it did better on the trips. Out here in mid-America you kind of have to run at 80 mph when traveling through the plains - and the CVT seems to lack any overdrive capability at those speeds.

 

[pauljo]

I ride mostly around town. I have about 720 miles on my 650.
I have a LG Clearview and no other add-on. I ride solo.

My last fill-up gave me 40.5 mpg. Will this improve as the
odometer increases or is this typical for stop and go driving?

It may improve slightly with further break-in, but generally the break-in improvement is seen after the first 300 - 400 miles.

Here is an excerpt from some testing I did back in June of this year. My 650 had about 5000 miles on it at the time.

"As for mileage, since I reverted to the stock windscreen (with Givi trunk installed also) I have run through quite a few tanks of gas. Mileage has stayed consistently in the 48 - 50 mpg range. Prior to that, running with the XXL Clearview windscreen, I was consistently getting 43 mpg. There is no doubt at all at this point that the Clearview XXL was costing me at least 5 mpg - sometimes more."

The XXL does give a huge amount of wind protection, but it will cost you mpg and also impacts top speed and high speed acceleration. With the stock screen I could hit 115 mph without the Givi trunk and 108 mph with the Givi trunk. With the XXL I was hard pressed to hit 100 mph - sometimes it would top out at 97 or 98 mph. This all may be a reasonable tradeoff to you if wind protection is your primary objective.

I am 6'6" tall, and I currently have a older style Clearview LG screen (no handwings) and supplement it with SAENG micro-swirl edging. I get more air on my body (which I like, especially in the hot weather) and the wind hits my helmet just above the top of the visor. Depending on the direction and velocity of the wind, I sometimes get some very mild helmet buffeting. The mileage penalty for this setup seems to be about 1 mpg compared to the stock screen. High speed acceleration is excellent - top speed is compromised by about 1 mph.

In general, the larger the windscreen, the more the penalties in mpg and high speed performance. There is always a trade-off between operating efficiency and comfort. The windscreen is, among other things, an air brake.

 

[pauljo]

The LG screen really
took the wind off my face. It hits the top of my
helmet now. I have noticed more turbulence
but maybe that is because I'm not distracted by
all the wind in my face anymore. I look over the
screen, not through it.

You have a perfect setup in a couple of ways. From a safety standpoint, it is generally considered better to be looking over the windscreen than through it. It is also beneficial to have the wind hit the top of your helmet because then the cooling vents on the helmet can work properly.

But after experimenting with various windscreens and add ons, I've found that when the wind is slapping the top of your helmet, there will be some degree of buffeting (which is what I think you are referring to as turbulence). Some folks do prefer to look through the windscreen to totally eliminate the buffeting. It is, quite simply, a matter of preference. My current setup is quite similar to yours, in that the wind is hitting my helmet about 1" above the visor. I don't get a lot of buffeting, but there is occasionally some, especially when riding into a headwind.

 

[pauljo]

How much mpg difference is there between open road
and the stop and go stuff I mostly do?

There are a lot of variables, including cruising speed, wind conditions, how many times you crank it up to pass another vehicle, etc.. You could see several mpg difference, depending on those factors.

 

[pauljo]

Well, I had to know so I took the LG Clearview off, put the stock screen back on and burned around 3 gals of gas to see how much of a difference the larger screen made on mpg. Turns out, not much at all. I got almost
41 mpg with the stock screen compared to 38-39 with the CV. That nails it for me. Back on went the CV! The comfort of the larger screen was really missed this week. Driving around town is the mpg culprit, not so much the screen.

A 2-3 mpg hit is about right for a LG Clearview or Givi. I found that my mileage penalty from the XXL I tried was in the 5 to 8 mpg range. Wind drag gets worse as screen size goes up. Also, the effect of a large screen on mileage around town isn't very much, but it increases significantly at higher speeds as wind drag becomes more pronounced.

 

[pauljo]

Bob,

You could probably install a fuel cell in the trunk - similar to what the Iron Butt riders do. But I'd really try to figure out WHY you are only getting 32 mpg first. That is not typical, in fact it is the lowest mileage I've heard quoted for a Burgman 650. You should be getting in the high 40's.