2022 AK550 Mileage

[rjs987]

Looking at the fuel tank in the service manual there is really no neck to the fill tube. Looks like the cap is right at the top of where you would fill it with maybe a little space right at the cap.
The fill cap and port is at the right top corner of the tank in this screen clip. Looks like the tank slopes up toward the rear so there would be some air at the top of the fuel with a full tank filled to just at the cap with enough air at the cap to close it without spilling any.

[jermwars]

I will also add in here that my CTX1300, the last bike I bought new, didn't reach peak mpg until close to 8000 miles along. I was initially wondering about it the first few hundred miles on the odometer and was concerned that I wasn't seeing as good mpg as I was expecting. But it just kept getting better and better leveling off by 8000 miles.

Coming into 2000 miles now and it looks like i am getting juuust a little better mileage each time i refill

Fascinating

[NomadCF]

Full on the AK550 is when the gas is level with the metal plate just inside the filler neck. Anymore than that and you'll have a problem on a hot day as there is very little "extra" or expansion in these tanks. Also the gas cap on these take up a lot of the the room between that metal plate and the top of the neck.

Side note, don't put the hose into the hole in that metal plate to fill it. You won't be able to see anything and the pump I was on at the time didn't auto shut-off when the gas reached the hose nozzle.

[Clampett]

Thanks to all replies. I had read the manual...no details.
Filled up at the station and couldn't see nothing or get feedback from the pump while filing.
Thought I must be missing something.
Sometimes I (or others) ask a question that is just plain obvious but for some reason at a particular time just eludes me.
Glad this wasn't one of those Doh' moments.....

[jermwars]

I found the gas gauge on my Burgman 650 is almost the very same... at least for that last bar. 5 bars in the gauge. When the last bar is left it stay solid (not flashing yet) but the tank symbol above the gauge starts to flash. That indicates about a gallon is left. Then the last bar starts flashing along with the tank symbol to indicate about a half gallon. The 4 previous bars all differ a little with how much is burned before they drop off but they are all relatively close. First might be after 4/5 gal, then the second goes after another 2/3 gal, then the third is gone with another 4/5 gal leaving about a gallon remaining for that last bar. Verified by my own tracking miles and gallons put into the tank at each fillup.

So it sounds like the AK gas gauge may not be so different than on many other bikes, other than the first 4 bars. At least not as bad as some have implied.

So i discovered the last red blinking bar isnt actually the last bar

That one goes away and then the red "E" sits there and blinks on its own!

I thought it was weird that the low fuel warning was triggered at just under 1/3 of a tank...

This was probably all covered in the manual.

[rjs987]

So i discovered the last red blinking bar isnt actually the last bar

That one goes away and then the red "E" sits there and blinks on its own!

I thought it was weird that the low fuel warning was triggered at just under 1/3 of a tank...

This was probably all covered in the manual.

Thanks for taking one for the group and risking being stranded on the side of the road.

My Burgman 650 would flash the tank symbol with the last bar staying on solid when there was about .95 gallons left. 3.9 gallons so that would be close to 1/4 tank left. Then when down to 1/2 gallon remaining the last bar would also start to flash.

I was hoping there was something like that on the AK but wasn't going to hold my breath looking for it. Good to know there IS a 2 step warning that fuel is getting low. That actually does make sense to me.

[Clampett]

So i discovered the last red blinking bar isnt actually the last bar

That one goes away and then the red "E" sits there and blinks on its own!

I thought it was weird that the low fuel warning was triggered at just under 1/3 of a tank...

This was probably all covered in the manual.

But, but, but.......how soon after the blinking E did you fill up and how much?

[jermwars]

But, but, but.......how soon after the blinking E did you fill up and how much?

Not long after at all...so it still accepted just over 3 gallons. (US gallons that is...now that i know there are OTHER gallons i guess i need to make that distinction)

 

[rjs987]

Not long after at all...so it still accepted just over 3 gallons. (US gallons that is...now that i know there are OTHER gallons i guess i need to make that distinction)

 

Not to get nit picky...
Ok I'm getting nit picky...
"just over" means what? .1? .2? .3? gallons or .6 gallons? (USA gallons of course).


It's very possible I was very close to discovering that on my last fill up as well when I filled the tank with 3.004 USGallons with "just over" 142 miles on that last tank. 

[Stig / Major Tom]

I read that Pfizer's coming out with some pills for these AK 50 guys to deal with their massive OCD.
Fingers crossed.....
 we can only hope

Stig

[rjs987]

I read that Pfizer's coming out with some pills for these AK 50 guys to deal with their massive OCD.
Fingers crossed.....
 we can only hope

Stig

I already just got my booster yesterday. BEFORE I posted that last. 

[jermwars]

I read that Pfizer's coming out with some pills for these AK 50 guys to deal with their massive OCD.
Fingers crossed.....
 we can only hope

Stig

Niiiice lol

[jermwars]

Im showing 67 for the average mpg...convert to US almost right at 57

Knock out 5% for the spedo/odo differential and we land right at 54 MPG (US)

Next fill ill see if that matches reality

[rjs987]

Now that the temps are dropping below the freezing mark I am expecting the mpg to drop dramatically as I continue to ride for the next several months.
I was out delivering a package to the local USPS terminal in our local grocery store and figured I'd ride there since it was close to time to fill the tank with gas anyway. The temp on this ride was right at 23 F but the ride was only 6+ miles round trip to the store and gas station and home again. My last 3-4 rides on this tank of gas were in temps that ranged between 40-55 F other than this last short one. While I was just getting to the store, about 2 miles away, the last red bar started flashing. This was around 128 miles on this tank of gas. I filled up at 131 miles with 2.577 gallons and that calculates to about 50.8 mpg. I was thinking this was a little higher than expected, but close. I am expecting the mpg to improve over the next 6 months so by the time temps warm up to over 60 F again sometime in April (maybe) I hope to be seeing closer to 60 mpg by then. But in the next 3, maybe 4, months I don't expect more than 50 mpg. In fact, if temps drop to what they normally do during this time of year I expect around 45 mpg most of the time.


Most motorcycle engines do very poorly in cold temps and really well in warm to hot temps. And I've not been wrong about this for my last 6 bikes.


BTW- I've been filling the tank while the AK is on the side stand. This keeps both wheels on the ground and the bike more level rather than elevating the rear wheel tilting the bike forward a little. The side stand is as good as the center stand as far as where the gas ends up when full (other than the tilt thing with the center stand) since the gas port is in the center line of the scooter. I did this with my CTX1300 also since the gas port was also in the center line of that bike. It's just a little quicker to not put it up on the center stand. The tilt is really not significant enough to bother being concerned about but there is no problem with filling the tank while it is on the side stand. My Burgman was different in that the gas port was on the left SIDE (like on a car) and there was a slight, but measurable difference when filling up with that scooter on the center stand vs the side stand.

[rjs987]

Now that temps are again going higher than freezing my mpg is also going back up. Filled the tank a few days ago after burning through it in temps ranging from mid 30sF to near 50F and speeds ranging from 35 mph to over 70 mph, mostly 45-55 mph. That tank of gas calculated to just over 55 mpg. Better than before when temps were above freezing. I can tell that some improvement is due to simply putting some miles on the AK. It always happens with a new bike. MPG is lowest when the first few hundred miles are put on the odometer but gradually get better after a few thousand miles are added. I've found improvement continues to happen until around 6000-8000 miles when mpg starts to level out.

However, since the tank on my AK is smaller than I'm accustomed to (pending actual measuring of volume) I will be buying a MSR Fuel bottle from Amazon. Same price at REI and other places so I could just go shopping... on my AK of course. The bottle is their 30 oz version (.89L). I'm thinking this will be enough emergency supply of gas to get me to a station as long as I don't need to go more than 12 miles to get there (55 mpg * 30 oz or .234 gal = 12.65 miles). I was thinking of maybe a 1.5 Liter bottle. Will have to make a trip to REI to see what they have. I looked at some cheaper bottles but shy away due to many reviews about leaking or special procedure to prevent leaking. There were one or two reviews for those cheaper bottles about the bottle bursting but all of those were when the bottle was left in full sun for a time. That, to me, would be stupid obvious. The MSR bottles do not have that problem, maybe because those who buy them are smarter than a rock.

Anyway. I've been thinking of getting a spare fuel bottle for many years and just haven't done it yet. This would be a good idea for any rider on any bike or scooter.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015I0GE6/?coliid=I2I1RM2KJJTO2C&colid=18TV0X8O5SQLR&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it