Best gas milage ever on my 12RT

[johnlt]

In contrast to the other post, I just got back from a trip to Ouray Colorado and on one tank, I got 63.5 MPG!! That particular tank was on a slow ride at altitude but I was still amazed. On my return trip to Tucson with high temps and cruising at 85-95, I got 51 mpg. I think that is pretty good compared to the other posts I've been reading.

[blkvelvt]

Two weeks ago at the BMW rally I got 56.2 mpg and 49.9 mpg on the two tanks. I did a lot of twisties. Much better than the 36-38 mpg on my KRS.

[ScottT]

During my trip from McKinney TX to the RA Rally in Boise last year my RT got a high of 64mpg on one fillup... and yes it was in Colorado too. High altitude means less air to plow through... well that's why I think gas mileage soars at altitude. Less air also means the computer puts in less fuel. My RT doesn't do bad here at 600ft either. I usually get 47 to 50mpg city. Combine the great mileage with the 8.1 gallons I can get in the tank and the range is awesome. Personally I think the R1200RT is the best all-around bike BMW has ever made. The fuel economy and range is just a part of what makes the R1200RT such a terrific bike. By comparison my old 2002 R1150RT got only 40 to 42mpg in the same exact city driving my RT gets 47 to 50mpg. Not bad for a bike with more fairing, a bit more weight and a lot more go. My RT also tops out at 140 where the R1150RS only managed 136. It is an amazing bike.

[Twisties]

The mix leans out with altitude. Part of your power loss is actually less fuel being fed in. Probably wind resistance declines too, but I always thought it was the mix going lean that causes the mpg increase at altitude.

 

Our bikes are new, so not too much experience, but we are getting 51 to 59 mpg on each tank. 51 came when I sat in a traffic jam for an hour and a half. 59 came on a tank run mostly at altitude. Here in SLC we're at about 4200' I ran up as high as 11,000' on the best tank.

 

Both bikes get virtually identical mileage on the same runs. We have verified the BC's and found the mpg estimate to be spot on.

[johnlt]

Combine the great mileage with the 8.1 gallons I can get in the tank and the range is awesome.

 

Even when my range is reading zero, I can never get more than 6.8 gallons in the tank which seems consistent with the 7.something size the manual says. How do you get 8.1?

[Rocket_Cowboy]

Even when my range is reading zero, I can never get more than 6.8 gallons in the tank which seems consistent with the 7.something size the manual says. How do you get 8.1?

 

Even when my range has been reading zero for 40-50 some-odd miles, I can never get more than 6.5 gallons or so in. I'm also curious how you're squeezing 8.1 gallons into a tank that's listed at 7.1 gallons?

[TomfromMD]

By removing the rubber gas tank filler gasket (a one finger job - just pull), others have reported being able to get more than 7.1 gallons into the tank. But, like an auto, overfilling the tank may have negative consequences. For me, the main benefit to removing this rubber piece is that the pump auto shut-off isn't as easily triggered, so normal fill-ups involve much less hassle.

 

Regarding altitute, every car and bike I've owned has gotten better mileage at altitude. I recall a (normally 40 mpg) GoldWing 1200 which managed over 50 mpg traveling east from Gunnison, Colorado - of course, this also involved a descent from about 10,000 feet to around 4,000.

 

BTW, my '06RT BC averages 3% high mpg readings - better than the 8% error for my BMW cages.

Tom

[bakerzdosen]

Even when my range is reading zero, I can never get more than 6.8 gallons in the tank which seems consistent with the 7.something size the manual says. How do you get 8.1?

 

Even when my range has been reading zero for 40-50 some-odd miles, I can never get more than 6.5 gallons or so in. I'm also curious how you're squeezing 8.1 gallons into a tank that's listed at 7.1 gallons?

Also, until you actually empty a tank, you'll never know how far (exactly anyway) off your tank calibration is. If you find that you can go a long ways after your tank should be "empty", have your dealer re-calibrate it. It's a warranty fix. There are a lot of threads about it in the past year or so.