Twice a day fillups? For 100 mile round trips? Surely you are counting the fillup at home which I guess counts. So you leave with a full tank and fill up before returning. I expect at least 50 mpg so in theory you could fill up only once per day.

The big question then.... at freeway speeds, on DOT legal knobbies, how many mpg does this little thumper get?

 

Even with my 14/47 gearing, going between a true 60-65 mph...GPS set Vapor speedo/odo...I consistently have gotten 60-65 mpg with a 300 cylinder and all the other mods on straight pavement...not city/urban traffic. Heck, I find it hard to get less than 45 mpg in totally off road, rough singletrack. These bikes sip fuel unless you have a hole in your tank or terribly rich jetting.

 

Get the something with more cc's and more weight. That commute will get old after a couple of weeks - let alone how the weather will affect the "comfort" of the ride.

The ONLY advantage I could see with the KLX is it's smaller size and the ability to "lane share" in California. I lived in So Cal for 21 years.

My KLX250SF is my work commuter. I do not need to ride on any freeways and probably wouldn't. My HD Street Glide is for my longer rides on the weekend.

Either way, good luck on the decision.



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My commute is about 8 miles each way, all surface streets. The KLX is perfect for that sort of run. I'd go for a bigger bike for a run like your's. Good luck.

I'm also in for a bigger tank if it happens.

 

OK, OK. For me it's really closer to one tank full per day, plus an additional quart or so needed to finish the trip. So I'm adding gas either once or twice a day, or at least three times over two days.

I know my bike has seemed to turn in lower MPG than most report. For reference, I'm riding at 600' to maybe 700' above sea level. I can't recall the exact numbers off the top of my head, but when bone stock the best highway fuel economy I saw was around 55 mpg, but usually closer to 50 mpg, and this was pretty consistent. That's based on true distance travelled, not on the bike odometer reading. Using the bike odometer it calcs out to more like 60+ mpg (close to what Kawi's advetising says). Removing the snorkle and rejetting (122 main, N1TC needle in 2nd clip from top) didn't seem to affect mpg either way. I haven't commuted on it since changing to a stock KLX300 exhaust late last fall, so I don't know yet what it will turn in now for mpg - but I do know it needs more jetting work.

In truth, I haven't yet run my tank bone dry to check absolute max distance, but based on the 1.9 gallon spec for the stock tank and as-measured economy I've just decided to fill up at the station along the route rather than carry extra gas and fill up on the shoulder. I hit reserve with around 30 miles left to go, and figure I'd run dry just shy of the home town gas pump. I may get lucky and roll into town on fumes...just haven't tried yet.

 

Thanks to everyone for your input, I really appreciate it.

Based on your input, I'll try it on the KLX a time or two (just to do it at least once), but will stick with the plan of picking up a higher displacement bike (probably a cruiser) to put my tired old *** on for the long haul Cruisers seem to be reasonably priced and abundant on craigslist around here.