Kymco AK 550 best mpg so far

[rjs987]

Went camping last weekend. 5 days and 580 miles. 4 tanks of gas was used. The last fill up was only 1.97 gal with 127.2 miles on that tank. I must have had a really nice tail wind. Actually I didn't notice much wind at all so maybe not. I did get the impression that central and NE Iowa gas is better than SE MN or north central Iowa gas. The first tank was filled at home in central Iowa and rendered 57.1 mpg. The second and third tank were from north central Iowa and MN that gave me 55.7 and 55.1 mpg respectively. That last half tank (about) gave 64.5 mpg! So far that is the best I've seen yet on my AK 550. The first hour of the trip was running at 65+ mph and most of the last tank was running at 65+ mph. Otherwise all other roads were 55+ mph with short spurts of 60+ mph.
Overall average was about 57.8 mpg for the entire trip.
This was the shorter of the 5 camping trips I go to each season.
As on all my trips this season the AK performed flawlessly.

Since I am not about to post two dozen posts with one or two small resolution photos each in this thread here is the link to the photo album of the trip. 29 pics here.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PsUVroxtuGoY4aAR7

[randyo]

my first tank 182 miles took 2.77 gal /65.7 forgot to write down my second fill-up info,  the majority of my riding, is town roads, 45mph ±  not much highway

[rjs987]

my first tank 182 miles took 2.77 gal /65.7 forgot to write down my second fill-up info,  the majority of my riding, is town roads, 45mph ±  not much highway

Is that calculated or what the meter showed. When I first picked up my AK the first few fillups in the first 200+ miles showed over 65 mpg on the meter.

The meter on mine is WAY optimistic and most often showed more like 71-74 mpg at every fill up on this trip. So I never really use the meter indication other than to compare with other tanks of gas but I definitely don't consider it for anything close to actual mpg. The meter indicated mpg is simply wrong. But it's at least consistently wrong in the same direction.

But I will say that when I burn almost the entire tank at only 45 mph with few or no stops along the way the mpg is a lot higher... usually over 62 mpg.

I always use regular 87 octane gas per the recommendation on the sticker in the storage box for USA models. Most, if not all, the gas is e10 Top Tier fuel. I've used non-ethanol when traveling and didn't get any difference in mpg.

[randyo]

I observe anywhere from 15-99 on the AKs readout,  182 is the miles I went between my initial fill-up and my next fill-up. I put in 2.77 gallons

[rjs987]

I observe anywhere from 15-99 on the AKs readout,  182 is the miles I went between my initial fill-up and my next fill-up. I put in 2.77 gallons

That is good.

If the trip meter is set to Trip A then you should be able to see both an instant mpg and an average mpg from when that meter was last reset. I only use the Ave MPG reading as a guide to see how I'm doing compared with other times and not for actual mpg which I calculate, as it appears you did. 

[Neil955i]

Hey guys, if the AK frees up the way my X-Town has, the mpg improves appreciably with mileage. After 5,000 miles up I noticed a step improvement. 

[rjs987]

Hey guys, if the AK frees up the way my X-Town has, the mpg improves appreciably with mileage. After 5,000 miles up I noticed a step improvement.

That has been my experience with every bike I've owned as a first owner. My CTX1300 was the last new bike that improved every 1000 miles up to 8000 miles before it leveled off at where it stayed consistent after that. I currently have just over 5700 miles on my AK.

[leomagnus]

I am averaging about 60 mpg based off of 1500 miles of travel.

Dean

[randyo]

I am averaging about 60 mpg based off of 1500 miles of travel.

Dean

it's always best to average over several tanks, when the economy is higher and smaller size tank, the difference if an ounce or 2 on the fill-up fill level can make that tank full artificially high or low. I've really seen that on my K-Pipe, anywhere from 40 to 140 mpg for an individual tank,  yes 40mpg with my k-pipe, extreme circumstance tho, my trip to mt washington, 4tanks total, but one, was 15 miles of keeping it pinned to the auto road, then 7 steep winding miles to the summit, then back down, popping and backfiring under engine brake, 15 miles of being pinned again to the same gas station where I put 1.1 gal in my 1.2 gal tank  on the other hand, just puttering around 30-35 mph, I get 100 routinely

[randyo]

it's always best to average over several tanks, when the economy is higher and smaller size tank, the difference if an ounce or 2 on the fill-up fill level can make that tank full artificially high or low. I've really seen that on my K-Pipe, anywhere from 40 to 140 mpg for an individual tank,  yes 40mpg with my k-pipe, extreme circumstance tho, my trip to mt washington, 4tanks total, but one, was 15 miles of keeping it pinned to the auto road, then 7 steep winding miles to the summit, then back down, popping and backfiring under engine brake, 15 miles of being pinned again to the same gas station where I put 1.1 gal in my 1.2 gal tank  on the other hand, just puttering around 30-35 mph, I get 100 routinely

I take that back, been tracking my k-pipe mileage a little better, compared to the original 125cc motor that could get well above 100, or even my new 550cc AK, with the ZS190cc motor, my K-Pipe, is officially a gas pig, I'm now getting 60mpg at best, with a 1.2 gallon tank, that sucks big time, I can't ride it without gassing up