What a difference a little wind makes. Yesterday the weather down here was simply awesome. 68F, clear blue, low humidity but a little windy. The new reported a steady 15 - 17mph southbound wind. I had to run to see a client and figured I'd take the KLX to test the new K761's I had finished installing on Saturday.

I took off, filled the tank, and heading to my 50 mile destination for a few hours. On the way there (northbound) the wind was really slamming me. I had the bike at WOT for more the half the ride just to maintain 70mph. The ride back was much better as the wind was on my back side so hitting 80 was no problem.

I usually ride the speed limit but for whatever reason yesterday every car on the road was speeding. Riding 55 would have been suicide so I had to maintain good clip. Anyhow my style of riding normally gets me 66 - 70Miles per gallon.

When I filled up close to home at the end of the day I calculated 57MPG. Big difference the wind makes. I thought I would see a few miles per gallon difference but not this much.

 

I think the WOT may have played a bigger part of that. I mean, if the wind was pushing you hard enough to require more throttle, then yeah the wind hurled your MPG. But I think holding it WOT caused an equal or bigger drop. I know after my rejet, especially since I'm probably a tad rich with a 128, WOT absolutely kills me. I fall from ~70 to low 50s.

 

Wind, speed, and driver are the biggest factor for MPG. Anything past 55mph, and drag becomes more of an issue. Wind, either helping or hindering you can give or take mpg. And the driver's way of riding can be a factor.

I'm surprised that the KLX did 70mph into the wind. Usually any time I have to head into the wind, my speed becomes limited to around 60~65mph (unless I downshift for more speed).

 

I think he probably mean 70mph 'indicated,' and we all know how accurate the stock speedo is.

I agree with the earlier post about WOT. Holding the bike at WOT to maintain speed for any length of time will cause a huge decrease in gas mileage. Even a stock KLX prior to free mods shows a huge swing. I remember routinely getting a range of 170km+ to reserve with the stock setup, but going until reserve at WOT or near WOT caused my range to plummet to around 120KM.

 

Yes 'indicated'. I'm getting a GPS in the next few days to really see how big a difference there is. Anyhow, I jut gassed up this morning when I got to work. Since that last fillup I've been riding the speed limit, no WOT, kept it below 'indicated' 70mph on the highway, and set the tires (K761's) to 25psi front / 28psi rear.

87.8 miles, 1.136 gallons to fillup (to the rim). 77.28MPG. Wow what a difference.

 

There is a diffenece between the speedo and GPS. The stock speedo is about 5mph faster under 50mph. Over 50mph, the difference increases. 70mph on the speedo for mine is like 63~64mph GPS. And thats with the speedo needle mod trick. 50mph and under its accurate to a 1mph.

 

I always ride the direction of the wind. Oh sure you end up far from home in a direction that wasn't what you planned on, but hey its a KLX, I usually find a trail that leads back.

 

I guess a set of sails would be kinda tricky to use.......just one of my not so bright ideas. Would be different tho you have to admit!

 

i average around 87 miles before hitting resurve. Im @ 125 lbs without gear and always hard on the throtle.