Again a fair point, but France was not my destination on either occasion. First time was the Nürburgring, second time was the Sachsenring. It was not really practical to meander the back roads through different countries all the way there. That we did in the destination country. Even more so on the way back to the ferry.
Having ridden my own 1200 DVT, then V4, then mates 1260, all within 2 hours and as much as I love the V4 as a package, 40ish mpg out of their TOTR tourer is pretty shabby. Yes, I know, didn't buy it for economy etc, etc. I fully understand that. However, when a spirited Sunday morning ride is now looking like north of £60 (fuel, coffee stop, sarnie etc) possibly more, then it's beginning to get expensive (£200-300 a month for ride outs with mates!) As I said, don't get me wrong, I loved the V4 but the range is only good-ish because of the enlarged capacity. Even then compared to a 1260/1200, It's not good. And with fuel approaching £2 a litre, it's going to be an expensive pastime.
Still, could be worse. My mates Tuono Factory thinks petrol is free.! Guzzles it like there’s no tomorrow.!! His fuel bill over our Easter break(France, Belgium, Germany)was nearly £150 more than mine over the same distance..
When touring Norway I did exactly this, but then the planned station was closed. I threw the litre of petrol for my camping stove in the tank and just about coasted into the next petrol station on the route. It's just not enjoyable riding round hairpins while trying to conserve fuel. But more importantly when I'm planning I can get much more quality riding time in if everyone stops on roughly the same schedule and fuel stops can be combined with other comfort stops like mid-morning coffee or lunch. When a bike is comfortable for long periods then frequent fuel stops just eat into fun time.
We normally take a syphon system to get additional fuel if needed and also carry 2 1.5 Ltr cans as back up , never needed either mind as been lucky or just stopped more often , as you say its a holiday not an endurance and agree with the continuity of fuel stops . W normally travel with the fuel bowser (GSA) which catches up eventually ..
It seems to be a v4 type issue. Smaller capacity v4’s (Vfr 750/800) are still so so. Honda made the 1200. Designed for touring but sporty enough. However, the fuel economy and tank size left quite a lot to be desired. There’s a long running forum and site dedicated to the Honda and a very good section dedicated to fuel consumption, which has been added to for many years, which averages out about 39/40 mpg. Sadly, the V4 Mut is showing similar levels of fuel inadequacy.
Then why go V4 for a touring bike? I totally get why the superbikes went V4, but the Multi is detuned. You would have thought they could have revised the 1299 platform for it and reached 170bhp fairly easily while meeting emissions. (KTM have theirs up to 180 meeting Euro 5) It can't be better for the world to have a V4 drinking more juice per gallon than a V2 drinking less.
I’m currently touring Norway via Dover Calais, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and into Norway. Nordkapp then working my way south. Now the speed limits and potential fines don’t lend themselves to going crazy and the sights are too good to look at but my bike now has 8k miles on it and I’m averaging about 50mph.
Another oddity with the V4, and something I have noticed before, is that filling up today when the fuel light came on after 145m with 32m showing as left. Filled up on centre stand and getting it as full as possible at the pump it took 16.4 ltrs. 8 miles to home and my garage floor is on a slight up slope (that may make a difference). I was then able to top the tank up from a fuel can with another almost 2 ltrs. Seems that if you can fill up when the bike is on an up slope you get more fuel in. I am sure the 1260 wasn't like that.
I’ve just been on an 1,800 mile Euro jaunt with a mate who was riding his KTM 1290 SA, me on my V4S Multistrada. Every fuel stop he put 2-3 litres less in than I did. I still don’t know how many MPG I’m achieving but there were some twitchy moments on the French Peage yesterday and today.
Done about 5k miles on my Rally, and dashboard shows average of 5.7l/100km (sorry not a big fan of MPG). I'm refuelling 99 octan petrol only, since this is a joy ride, not a daily car. And I would also take a guess that the computer is being optimistic, and in reality, it's a bit closer to 6L/100km. Not great, not terrible either.
Aside from making for a boring to death trip, refueling on motorways is the least cost effective game plan. At least in France it is… Like 20 cents per liter more expensive than the numerous gas stations you can find everywhere around. Why pay more for a more boring experience? Isn’t the point of touring taking your time to discover new areas as you travel, rather than flashing through an entire country? Better take train/plane for that, don’t you think ?
I couldn’t agree more. I did an hour and a half on the autoroute in the car earlier today, I missed so much. I guess if you need to get to the good stuff it’s worth it.
The 1290 SA has a slightly bigger tank than the Multistrada. I struggle to fill my Pikes Peak because the shape of the top of the tank makes the fuel bubble up, so a couple of litres less might not mean, he is getting better consumption. I'm 4 days in on a trip from Spain back to the UK up the west coast of France and the bike claimed 46mpg average through the Pyrenees and now we are into fast, sweeping countryside French roads, it's claiming over 50mpg. Andy
