The motorcycle mileage is a vital performance parameter to look at especially if you are a frequent rider. Better the mileage of your motorcycle better is the bike’s health. Not to mention the increasing fuel costs, which are digging a hole in our pockets day by day.
So, if you are sensing a reduction in your motorcycle mileage, what should be done to improve it. Here are 7 maintenance tips for you to follow to improve the motorcycle mileage.
- Use High Quality Oil
- Clean the Dirt from Air Filter
- Spark Plug Maintenance
- Maintain Optimum Tire Pressure
- Don’t Rev the Engine
- Change the Gear Accordingly
- Don’t Tighten the Brakes Too Much
Please note that these are maintenance tips to improve the mileage. If there has been a drastic reduction due to some issues in your motorcycle components, you must take it to the service shop and address the issue causing the fuel leakage. So check the motorcycle mileage first.
With that out of the way, here are the 7 maintenance tips to improve your motorcycle mileage.
#1 Use High Quality Oil
This is something very basic, yet I have seen many of my fellow motorcycle riders ignore it repeatedly despite knowing otherwise. One has to use a high-quality oil for their motorcycle engine and change it frequently.
You would be surprised how much a quality oil improves the engine and motorcycle performance. You will actually notice a significant enhancement in the mileage and performance of your bike if you are currently using a low-quality oil.
The negative effects of low-quality oil or low levels of oil in the engines include burnt clutch plates, damaged piston rings, piston and cylinder lien wear, and engine valves impairing.
Other noticeable effects include engine overheating, wear and tear, carbon deposits, and increased noise and vibrations in the motorcycle components. For more details, check out our detailed guide on motorcycle engine oil.
When you use a low-quality oil in your motorcycle, the oil will not lubricate the components properly. As a result, there will lot of wear and tear and increased friction between the components. Which in turn, will add stress to the engine.
And when the engine is stressed, the performance dips – resulting in reduced mileage.
That’s why, using a high-quality oil is so important for the motorcycle engine to provide better performance and thus, to improve the bike mileage.
#2 Clean the Dirt from Air Filter
Whenever the air filter has too much dirt and is clogged up, the air-fuel mixture entering the engine will be fuel rich. Not enough air has entered the engine since air filter is blocking the entry.
As a result, a rich air-fuel mixture enters the engine. But due to insufficient air, the fuel entering the engine won’t burn completely. There will be lots of unburnt fuel that goes as a waste.
Since the fuel entering the engine is not burned completely and used up to generate power, the wasted unburnt fuel reduces the fuel efficiency and hence, mileage.
That’s why, having a clean air filter fitted in the motorcycle is important. A clean air filter allows sufficient air to enter the injection system and the engine. When there is sufficient air in the air-fuel mixture, the fuel burns completely to provide better mileage to the motorcycle.
So, if the air filter in your motorcycle is clogged or dirty, or worse, blackened, it is time for you to either clean the air filter or replace with a new one. You will easily start noticing the difference in the mileage when you have a clean air filter in the motorcycle.
#3 Spark Plug Maintenance
One of the most overlooked engine components for maintenance is spark plug. Spark plugs are essential for the combustion of the fuel in the engine.
However, spark plugs can be subjected to deposit formations. If there are deposits formed on the spark plug layer, then it would be difficult for the plug to ignite the engine. The deposits block the spark plug to generate spark in the combustion chamber.
That’s why it is vital for motorcycle maintenance that spark plugs should be free from any form of deposits.
Ensuring your spark plug is in a healthy condition goes a long way in improving and maintaining the mileage for your bike a long way.
Because spark plugs are essential for ignition in motorcycle engines, keeping them in a good condition is important for fuel combustion. If spark plug is not working fine, there will be lots of unburnt fuel coming out of the engine. As a result, there will be lots of fuel wastage which eventually will result in reduced mileage.
So, clean up and maintain the spark plug every time you go for your motorcycle servicing. A good spark plug will provide a far better mileage when compared to a spark plug plagued with carbon deposits.
#4 Maintain Optimum Tire Pressure
It is always advised to maintain optimum pressure in the tires. The recommended PSI for the tires will be explicitly mentioned in the bike’s user manual.
The PSI recommendation will be separate for the front tire and the rear tire. Usually, the recommended pressure for the rear tire will be higher than that of the front tire. So, note down the required PSI for both these tires from the motorcycle user manual.
If the tire PSI is less than the required PSI, then the tire contact surface with the road will be higher. And when this contact area increases, the friction between the road and motorcycle increases as well.
The increased friction puts more stress on the engine. More power is required for the motorcycle to move when the friction is higher. Hence, more fuel will be consumed in the process, which in turn reduced the mileage of the motorcycle.
For these reasons, it is important for the motorcycle rider to maintain optimum pressure in both the front and rear tires. The mileage will be higher when these tires have required PSI in them.
#5 Don’t Rev the Engine
Revving up the engine occurs when you turn up the throttle to accelerate at high speed but don’t shift up the gear. The engine starts making loud noise from this acceleration.
While revving the engine sounds cool and all, it actually consumes more fuel than required for the distance the motorcycle travels.
All you need to do during this time is to shift the gear up. The revving would die down and you will travel at a higher speed much more easily covering larger distances.
Revving the engine consumes more fuel in the process because the fuel burnt is not used efficiently to travel the distance. Rather, the fuel consumption goes for waste since the power is not utilized completely.
As a result of this inefficient fuel usage, the mileage of the motorcycle decreases if you rev the engine too often.
That’s why, the bike rider should not rev the engine of the motorcycle too much. Reducing the revving will automatically improve the mileage of your motorcycle since the fuel is utilized more efficiently.
#6 Change the Gear Accordingly
One more important tip to increase your motorcycle mileage is to change the gear according to the speed you are riding.
If you are a beginner, its okay to not pay attention to this tip. Learning when to change the gears as you speed up and slow down takes some time. However, if you are riding that motorcycle for a long time, then you need to stop being lazy and shift the gears whenever required.
Many a times, motorcycle riders just lazy out on changing the gears of their bikes. Simply because they know they will shift back to the current gear in sometime.
The most common example is when you pull in clutch and don’t change the gears at all. You don’t have to change the gears since you are using the clutch.
This causes unnecessary usage of fuel in the engine. Which in turn, is going to reduce the mileage of your motorcycle.
So, change the gears whenever necessary and don’t lazy out on it. Also, shift down the gears whenever you know beforehand that you are going to stop or halt, rather than suddenly halting using front brakes and pulling in the clutch.
#7 Don’t Tighten the Brakes Too Much
The final tip to improve the mileage of your motorcycle is to not tighten the brakes too much.
One of the common mistakes that people make while servicing the bike is to tighten the brakes too much. While a loosened brake is not at all desirable, the riders and service shops go overboard with brake tightening.
What tightening the brakes too much does is it puts lot of stress on the brake pads, disc brakes and in the end, to the engine.
Suppose, you want to slow down. You push down your right leg on the rear brake along with shifting down gears and reducing acceleration. The brakes however are too tight. As a result, rather than just slowing down, the brakes almost halts the motorcycle.
Such over-tightened brakes will also negatively impact the brake pads and the disc or drum brakes overtime.
So, for these reasons, do not go overboard and tighten the brakes too much. Tighten it to the required amount while servicing your motorcycles.