I used to have a 2001 EX500 (pre-"Ninja"), and it was a great motorcycle. The bike had plenty of power, handled well and I averaged 65-66 mpg. I rode it until a co-worker nagged me into selling it to him.That was a few years ago, and I've kind of misses that bike.Many of the comments I've read about gas mileage seem to imply that most people are getting 45-55 or so.Now I didn't flog the hell out of the 500 by any means, but I had fun times riding some nice backroads.
I'm curious what others are getting.

THanks, Jon in Puyallup, Wa. USA

 

I have a 96 Ex500 and I get 55-56 mpg on the freeways in LA. I don't go over 6k rpm on my upshifts and usually I sit on 70-75 mph which is 6500 rpm. Better than 16mpg in my Dodge Dakota V8.

 

Jon,
Mine is a 2006 (Ninja 500) and I average about 54-55 MPG during a mixed highway/city commute to/from work. I have to admit that I accelerate pretty aggressively though. During the initial break-in (AKA very conservative driving) period I was averaging about 60 MPG.
Enjoy!
Greg in Washington, DC AKA ground zero

 

I purchased a 2006 Ninja 500r in July...since then I've put 2500 miles on the bike. I am averaging between 50 to 55 MPG. My take offs are fast but I seldom drive faster than 60 MPH on city streets and 80 MPH on Freeways.

 

I ride the (explitive) out of my 500R. I shift in the 6-9k RPM range all the time. When I can, I run about 80MPH on the freeway (about 6500-7000 RPM). My economy is about 52-56MPG. It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference how you run it, everyone seems to have simliar results. I will admit, when breaking the engine in, I was running in the Low RPM range (4000 or less) and I did achieve 59MPG for the first take or two. So I guess if you REALLY baby it and never really "RIDE" a bike... you might acheive the alusive 60MPG...

Happy Riding!
Kevin

 

It would take a track day or some seriously irresponsible riding on public roads to get worse than 50-mpg.
Usually average about 55, but have gotten 64.7mpg on one tankful during a trip, when I realized I had a long way to go before the next gas station. (And that included some squidding during the early part of the morning on Highway 36, west of Red Bluff, CA.) Overall average for the trip was 56.6 mpg, and I had some serious fun.



-CCinC

 

that sound so good.....

my car is at about 22 on avg. and my other one is about 33 on avg. - so still the bike kick some seriuos *** on miles per gallon!!!

 

When I reread my post above, I realized I gave the wrong year on my EX500.It was actually a 1989, I believe, a much older model.

jon

 

I ride the **** out of my bike 75% of the time and get between 40-50 usually

 

I usually get in the low 50's. I read an article that someone wrote that got huge mileage. He shifted at 5k. I'll try that and see what happens,......NOT!