I just updated my spreadsheet this morning, so I can tell you what my miles per gallon fuel experience has been after riding an 09 touring bike for 12 months. I ride in the Southern Plains so we can year around. I do most of my riding at 70 miles per hour with limited stops in town. I am not what you would call an aggresive rider. This is born out by the fact that I have nearly 17,000 miles on the original D407 tires. I check my tires weekly and keep them at 36f/40r.
I ran the bike for 5000 miles before I changed anything. Average miles per gallon showed 42.59 for the first 5000 miles of riding. I use a full synthetic oil in the crankcase as well as synthetic gear oil 75/140 in the gearbox. Primary is 40 wt. dino oil.
At 5000 miles I started adding stuff. The first day I bolted on the new slip on mufflers ($375.00). No change was noted in performance although the exhaust note was more to my liking. The second day I changed out to the Harley Screaming Eagle Stage 1 air cleaner $129.00). After changing out the air cleaner in the morning I drove to the dealership in the afternoon to have them download the Stage 1 flash update to the bikes computer brain. While driving the 50 miles to the dealership I was aware of a big jump in the seat of the pants performance of the new air cleaner. I didn't need a dyno to tell me this. I could not tell any difference after downloading the Stage 1 update ($150.00), although it did raise the rev limiter to 6100 rpm and I think it may have changed the timing slightly, although I would be hard pressed to prove this. On the third day I installed the Dobeck TFI fuel management device ($158.00). I liked this brand because it only adds fuel. It purposly does not have the capability of subtracting fuel. I liked it even more when Mrs. Dobeck told me that they would ship one out with a huge discount if I was a veteran of the U.S. military. Three days later I got it for $150 delivered. With the TFI fuel device, you can really feel it when in second gear and your rpms hit about 3500 with the throttle wide open. It pulls strong all the way through the rpm range. A side benefit of any fuel device is that it provides a small bit of cooling when at low rpm.
Since I very seldom take my full dresser out to the track on Saturday night for a couple hours of racing thrills, I didn't need a complicated fuel device nor the need for dyno tuning. After installing the TFI fuel management device I spent all of 5 minutes setting it up according to the factory recommended settings for the four potentiometer screws. Their recommended setting work great. What else is there to say?
All of the devices I added ended up changing the environment of the engine. They each, in their own way either provide a less restrictive exhaust environment or add more fuel. Since the bikes come from the factory with pretty lean setting due to EPA requirements, anything which you do to change the factory settings will reduce the mpg numbers.
So, after riding the bike for a year now, I find the mileage per gallon numbers to now have dropped slightly and the ability of the bike to accelerate more quickly to have increased noticably. I typically use the SWAG method in determining horsepower and have in in my head that I probably increased my horsepower output by about 10 hp under full acceleration after adding the slip on exhaust, Stage 1 aircleaner/download and the TFI fuel management device. So, I probably kick out about 75 horsepower now under wide open throttle, which I rarely find the need to do. I am old, it does not take as much to thrill me anymore.
So, after riding for a year, my new (average) miles per gallon number for my 2009touring bike is 39.87. It is what it is.
I ran the bike for 5000 miles before I changed anything. Average miles per gallon showed 42.59 for the first 5000 miles of riding. I use a full synthetic oil in the crankcase as well as synthetic gear oil 75/140 in the gearbox. Primary is 40 wt. dino oil.
At 5000 miles I started adding stuff. The first day I bolted on the new slip on mufflers ($375.00). No change was noted in performance although the exhaust note was more to my liking. The second day I changed out to the Harley Screaming Eagle Stage 1 air cleaner $129.00). After changing out the air cleaner in the morning I drove to the dealership in the afternoon to have them download the Stage 1 flash update to the bikes computer brain. While driving the 50 miles to the dealership I was aware of a big jump in the seat of the pants performance of the new air cleaner. I didn't need a dyno to tell me this. I could not tell any difference after downloading the Stage 1 update ($150.00), although it did raise the rev limiter to 6100 rpm and I think it may have changed the timing slightly, although I would be hard pressed to prove this. On the third day I installed the Dobeck TFI fuel management device ($158.00). I liked this brand because it only adds fuel. It purposly does not have the capability of subtracting fuel. I liked it even more when Mrs. Dobeck told me that they would ship one out with a huge discount if I was a veteran of the U.S. military. Three days later I got it for $150 delivered. With the TFI fuel device, you can really feel it when in second gear and your rpms hit about 3500 with the throttle wide open. It pulls strong all the way through the rpm range. A side benefit of any fuel device is that it provides a small bit of cooling when at low rpm.
Since I very seldom take my full dresser out to the track on Saturday night for a couple hours of racing thrills, I didn't need a complicated fuel device nor the need for dyno tuning. After installing the TFI fuel management device I spent all of 5 minutes setting it up according to the factory recommended settings for the four potentiometer screws. Their recommended setting work great. What else is there to say?
All of the devices I added ended up changing the environment of the engine. They each, in their own way either provide a less restrictive exhaust environment or add more fuel. Since the bikes come from the factory with pretty lean setting due to EPA requirements, anything which you do to change the factory settings will reduce the mpg numbers.
So, after riding the bike for a year now, I find the mileage per gallon numbers to now have dropped slightly and the ability of the bike to accelerate more quickly to have increased noticably. I typically use the SWAG method in determining horsepower and have in in my head that I probably increased my horsepower output by about 10 hp under full acceleration after adding the slip on exhaust, Stage 1 aircleaner/download and the TFI fuel management device. So, I probably kick out about 75 horsepower now under wide open throttle, which I rarely find the need to do. I am old, it does not take as much to thrill me anymore.
So, after riding for a year, my new (average) miles per gallon number for my 2009touring bike is 39.87. It is what it is.