Does adding a aftermarket exhaust, intake kit, and fuel injection controller really kill your fuel mileage? I thought opening up these systems boosted efficiency also. I want louder pipes but does that mean we must suffer mileage woes? I wonder how much of the fuel mileage losses are from enjoying that added performance wacking that throttle. Does anyone have positive experience with this?
There is only so much energy in the gas to go around.
The simplistic answer is: to get more power, you need to burn more fuel (and air). When that happens, your gas mileage goes down.
Doing what you propose above ends up giving some riders less performance AND less mileage too.
It depends on your specific bike and your access to some test equipment.
Tuning by ear is tough.
So back to your original objective.
If you get a set of pipes that are just a little louder than stock, then none of the rest of those changes are probably necessary and might just be money wasted.
If you get a set of straight pipes that are REALLY LOUD........that is illegal and obnoxious and I encourage you to re-think your plans.
Do you really want to piss off people around you as you ride ??
I have Vance and Hines Straight Shots and I get between 51 and 54 mpg. Since I bought my bike with the pipes I don't know if a fuel management system was added. Maybe a few others could post their efficiencies with their upgrades here.
Easy is correct all the way,a good tuner can perform the mods and you may not have a huge drop in mileage but just some louder pipes may not require all the mods so why go there.
You are right about whacking the throttle after the mods though,more power leads to that temptation and your mileage will suffer if you yield to it lol.
Thanks man, I can remember my hot rod car days. You put headers on, a intake manifold, big air filter, and mileage actually went up if you drove the same. Most of us just did not drive the same. My real wonder is at the same speed, wouldn't it take less throttle opening to make the same power? When I just lope along the Nebraska back roads at 60 to 65 mph, I get around 50 mpg if it's not real windy. So you mileage numbers make sense to me. I just thought with the mods, riding the same way would produce similar if not better mileage. Do you know if anyone has done the battery disconnect to reset the ecu on this bike after a pipe change?
adding a fuel processor and intake didnt make my mileage worse.. it was my wrist that did it.
if i baby my m50 i get the same or better milage with the fuel processor ( cobra powerpro) than i did stock. if i race stoplight to stoplight then i get crap mileage.
a large chunk of the bikes out there are lean to meet carb and other emissions standards. yes the fuel processor adds more fuel at any given throttle position. however if you dont have to give it as much throttle your using the same amount of gas.
this is based purely on personal experience. someone will come along shortly and tell you i'm full of it.