OT - Motorcycle fuel mileage

I'll need that course as a refresher, but I rode a Yamaha XS11 when they were new, so I have plenty of experience already.

I am excited that your Glide gets such impressive numbers. I thought they would not be nearly that good. Can I assume that a Fat Boy or a Heritage gives similar numbers?

differential

No, it is not and never has been that I can recall. It used to annoy me as well, until I discovered that the bikes were not actually violating the rules. Now, when I am in standing traffic and in the #1 lane, I stay to the left, and when in the #2 lane, I stay right. The bikes seem to favor the space between the 1 & 2 lanes as the place to split.

We own my Jeep, my BMW, my motorhome, and my Wife's minivan. She is not able to drive the Jeep because she can't reach the pedals. She is not comfortable driving the motorhome because it is 30 feet long and 8+ feet wide. She does not like the BMW because it has a manual trans. I am pretty sure the bike will never see her on top. She wants to move out of the minivan and get a Z3. That's gonna be a shock to her system!

Whipped! Not me, my friend. No sireee. My wife has me believing that all men are equal and women are better, but I am NOT whipped.

some misc. links to get you started. many BMW related.

Don't call 'bull' unless you know more than you are guessing about what I was driving....

Mike

Paul Calman wrote:

Now there is the issue in a sentence...

He came whipping out of a side road and I was 10' from face planting into the side of the sucker.

The bike is too small. It has 1.25" wide tires and weighs in around 75 lb. Flipping it sideways on purpose to have two 4" wide strips of rubber and a foot rest digging in is/was a better bet than the 1" width of rubber on the ground.

Mike

It was OK when I bought my two Yamahas, one in '78 and the other in '80.

You are absolutely right in where one should ride when the traffic is moving (except that one should ride on the tire tracks not the grease strip), but when the traffic stops is when bikes tend to split the lanes. It is insanity to split lanes when traffic is already doing 70+, indeed it is insane to drive between cars that are moving more than about 2. I am more than happy to keep my place in line at any speed over 10 mph.

I wasn't aware of that distinction. I thought Beemer was what people that didn't know better said, and Bimmer is what BMW drivers drive.

"Boxer"? What's that?

And, to set the record straight, my reference to my BMW was my car. I have a

3 Series that churns out about 25 mpg on average. Sorry I confused you or anybody else. I could be interested in a BMW motorcycle, so your comments are appreciated.

Because I still have control of the motorcycle I can continue to maneuver and attempt to avoid the fridge. Had I been sliding on the ground with sparks flying, I would be unable to control my rate of deceleration and direction ... thanks for proving my point.

Not much you can do there but try to anticipate every idiot doing the stupidest thing possible ... impossible.

That's a rare situation, I'd say. You call that a bike? ;-)

yes, i was taking your questions on mileage in reference to purchase a BMW motorcycle, pending the justification and approval.

the boxers are the BMW engines that are two-cylinder, horizontally opposed. aka 'boxer' from the horizontal, 180-degree, configuration.

as for a BMW motorcycle, i love mine. but it depends on your riding style.

what kind of riding would you do? what's important to you?

things i like about BMW motorad (more terminology!), in no particular order: style, heft, HEATED HANDGRIPS!!!, ERGONOMICS!!!, ADJUSTABILITY OF CONTROLS, power, aerospace-like engineering, paralever handling, QUIET! (eh?), deceptively quick, RELIABILITY, ease of maintenance (esp. boxers), easier to wash (less chrome crap), etc....

downsides: parts aren't cheap (when needed), repair shops less common (is this really a bad thing? hrmmm...), labor costs!! (i do all my own maintenance), shaft-drive service at about 100,000 miles is expensive (what other make is a 100,000 mile service even done?), doesn't look as 'cool' with a 300lb. shirtless man and a, unfortunately, scantily clad heffer cruzing down main street after trailering to the rally only 100 miles away.

Have I been seeing new BMWs that are watercooled and have a V motor as opposed to the air cooled flat motors?

Well, my heart is really looking for a touring bike, a la Goldwing. But my heart is thinking Mrs. CRWLR will enjoy riding on the back. She seems to be opposed to helmet hair for some reason, and it doesn't seem ot occur to her that she can bring her brush.

I want to take rides in the country, but I really want to ride to work and avoid increasingly heavy traffic on our freeways here in So. Calif., so my tastes are running from the cruiser class to the touring class, price being an important consideration. Of course, the bitterness of low quality lasts long after the sweetness of low price is gone.

A stock sportster gets 50 mpg at 60 hp