[RaceAir]

Howdy,

I've searched the forums for posts on fuel economy of the Z650. Ain't much out there. I could only find 7 different figures from people posting numbers (not guesstimates). Low to high they were 45mpg, 54, 58, 59, 60, and 68mpg. Many of these figures were from 2017, so I suspect some of the readings were still (partially) during break-in of new bikes.

I would like to get more feedback. If you feel like it, could you post:

-Your recent miles per gallon average

-Number of miles on the bike.

-At what trip odometer reading does your low fuel warning come on (and how much fuel to fill up as soon as it does come on if you know. For example "Warning starts at 165 miles, needs 3.1 gallons to refill at that point.")

-Is your Z650 stock, or do you have exhaust/fuel/airbox mods? Or any GEARING mods?

-Is the bike's fuel mileage display accurate? (For example, when you use a trip meter (or GPS) when you fill up, does the display come up with the same mileage? Does it read higher or lower than actual?)

-For U.S. riders, what octane do you burn? (The assumption will be E10 or 10% ethanol)

If I get enough responses, I will summarize the data in a later post to this thread. ( I looked for a good place to park this in a tech forum, but a mpg report seems pretty un-technical. Moderators, feel free to relocate if I'm wrong.)

 

[nedfromPA]

Here's every tankful's mileage (in mpg) since my stock 2017 Z650 was new (about 4000 miles total): 46.5, 46.6, 47.0, 58.0, 50.9, 48.2, 49.7, 49.5, 51.2, 53.9, 54.9, 57.8, 64.5, 58.9, 50.4, 51.5, 50.0, 50.9, 47.8, 49.0, 49.1, 45.3, 52.4, 46.6, 50.6, 47.1. I use 87-octane E10 gas. The first set of numbers in the mid-40s probably represents break-in friction within the engine. The high 50s-plus were during long road trips. The second dip into the 40s coincided with my riding style becoming more aggressive, and I also switched to synthetic oil. If the last three data points represent a well-broken-in engine and rider, I'm looking at an average of 48.1 mpg. When the polar vortex and road salt go away, I'll resume taking data.

As for the average mpg indicator, I read in the owner's manual that, unlike in my car, it does not reset with the trip odometer. You have to reset it specially (hold right button while it is displayed), which I have never done. My gut impression is that it reads high.

 

[RaceAir]

Great results, Ned! You went above and beyond in posting all those mpg totals. Your final 3 measurements / average was all I was really hoping for, so I appreciate the extra data. In averaging all data (including break-in period) I came up with just over 51mpg. Not too shabby for a nekid hooligan machine. This real-world data is definitely better than a magazine guesstimate.


Can another Z650 brother/sister(/non-binary?) chime in with their mpg figure? Anybody note the miles that the low-fuel warning light kicks in?

 

[Ambar]

Howdy!
My bike is brand new. Going through its second fill up so it's still breaking in. I've got some 300 or so kilometres on the odometer (some 200 miles for the imperially inclined).
Very first tank gave me a 18.76km/l (44.13mpg).
Seems a bit obsessive of me, but I actually write down the trip odometer distance and calculate the gas used from the fill up volume to a full tank. Don't really trust the precision of the estimator in the dash. It read 19.5km/l.. not quite right.

Can another Z650 brother/sister(/non-binary?) chime in with their mpg figure? Anybody note the miles that the low-fuel warning light kicks in?

The low fuel warning light starts blinking REALLY early. I went to the manual and it says that the indicator starts flashing when there's 3.8l left in the tank. A full gallons worth of fuel!! Thats a quarter of the 15l in the fuel tank. Even during breaking that means 71km left to find a gas station.. This was corroborated by the fact that I filled the tank back up with only 10.5l.
I felt like that's a little stupid. If it started blinking at half a gallon left, it would have been plenty.

Ps: I'm in Brazil. All of our gasoline over here is E27 (its the law of the land). So I'd expect my mpg numbers to look a little worse than with other gasolines with lower ethanol contents.

 

[RaceAir]

No one else wants to testify?!? I looked out at Fuelly but it doesn't have a place for users to list mods.

 

[Ricky Peterson]

My mpg stats

I bought Z from a friend last year after a couple months of him riding about 800 miles on it. He decided it was too small for him, and since I'm only 5'6" he sold to me. My mpg according to the aCar app is 48.4, 52.2, 49.6, 55.2, 52.8, 44.9, 51.1, 52.9, 46.1, 49.6, 53.8, 37.2, and 45.8 with one missed fill up.

 

[RaceAir]

This is the OP with his figures:

On a 2019 bone stock Z650 I got the following figures for the first 1,000 mile of ownership burning exclusively 87 Octane 10% Ethanol gas:

60 mpg
59
59
58
59
58

This is actual rounded computations based on odometer traveled divided by gallons of fuel used. I have noticed that the Average calculator of the dash meter runs about .5-.6 miles higher than actual calculated mileage so there is no big discrepancy.

Other notes: about 80% of this mileage was all very limited-stop highway mileage between 55-65mph. There are very few hills in my part of the state. I strictly adhered to the low rev, modulating speed break-in period of the owner's manual and had very few hard throttle usage. I drove like an old fart who upshifted as soon as possible.

I was surprised that the low fuel warning does not come on when the fuel gauge gets to the last of the six LED fuel segments. It seems to let an additional 15-20 miles before it starts to flash. Even then I have around an entire gallon left. Whether that entire gallon is accessible, that is, whether it is in a low part of the fuel cell that will not drain down to the injector is still indeterminate. My old Suzuki was notorious for "hiding" fuel in its fuel cell's lobes.

Immediately after a fill-up, my Z650 shows a possible range of around 220-230 miles. However, the low fuel warning typically occurs between 150-165 miles ridden. Kawasaki seems scared sh!tless that this bike will run out of fuel prematurely.

Now that I'm done with break-in I will be accelerating more aggressively, and my mileage should go down.

 

[John2018]

I just got my brand new Z650 ABS 2021 a few days ago and I put about 300 miles already.
Fuel consumption so far is 50 MPG steady @ 4,000 RPM and occasionally @ 6,000 RPM since I'm in the break-in in period.
I don't feel much difference between my Honda CB500F and the Z650 in performance and the CB500F makes about 70 MPG going @ 65 ~ 70 MPH and 65 MPG going occasionally @ 90 ~ 100 MPH.

Definitely the Z650 spends more fuel than my CB500F, almost the same as my Suzuki GSXS1000 that makes 45 MPG going @ 90 ~ 110 MPH and occasionally going @ 120 ~ 130 MPH makes about 40 MPG about 8,000 RPM.

Once I start reving the Z650 @ 8,000 ~ 8,500 RPM, it will spend gas like my Suzuki.

 

[Dr_Greenthumb]

Here's every tankful's mileage (in mpg) since my stock 2017 Z650 was new (about 4000 miles total): 46.5, 46.6, 47.0, 58.0, 50.9, 48.2, 49.7, 49.5, 51.2, 53.9, 54.9, 57.8, 64.5, 58.9, 50.4, 51.5, 50.0, 50.9, 47.8, 49.0, 49.1, 45.3, 52.4, 46.6, 50.6, 47.1. I use 87-octane E10 gas. The first set of numbers in the mid-40s probably represents break-in friction within the engine. The high 50s-plus were during long road trips. The second dip into the 40s coincided with my riding style becoming more aggressive, and I also switched to synthetic oil. If the last three data points represent a well-broken-in engine and rider, I'm looking at an average of 48.1 mpg. When the polar vortex and road salt go away, I'll resume taking data.

As for the average mpg indicator, I read in the owner's manual that, unlike in my car, it does not reset with the trip odometer. You have to reset it specially (hold right button while it is displayed), which I have never done. My gut impression is that it reads high.

I was under the impression that we wanted to use the highest octane gas available (I use 93) for the Z. I see multiple people say that they use 87. Can someone clarify this for me? Does using lower quality fuel negatively affect the bike over time?

 

[oldenslow]

I was under the impression that we wanted to use the highest octane gas available (I use 93) for the Z. I see multiple people say that they use 87. Can someone clarify this for me? Does using lower quality fuel negatively affect the bike over time?

87 or equivalent is what the bike is designed to burn. Higher octane probably won't hurt anything, but your mileage will likely not be as good and your wallet will empty faster.

 

[Dr_Greenthumb]

87 or equivalent is what the bike is designed to burn. Higher octane probably won't hurt anything, but your mileage will likely not be as good and your wallet will empty faster.

Good to know. Time to start saving some money on gas!

 

[cryco]

This is from the 2018 manual . Good thing for this thread, made me go check, cause I would have stuck to 91 or 94 when I had it available .

 

[oldenslow]

The common misconception that higher-octane gasoline is of "higher quality" is simply not true. High-octane fuel is simply designed to work best in high-compression engines, while lower-octane fuels work just fine in lower-compression engines, with zero difference in "qualty". Energy content is the same, it's just that the high-octane fuel detonates later in the cycle, as is appropriate for the high-compression engines.