Ducati owners need some input please

[CINDERS]

As you are aware I have just brought a Ducati 848 that has a Power Commander III Termignoni system & quickshifter.
It has the same tank a 15.5L as the other models (This ones fibreglass!) I have only put about 800K's on it since last Thursday and here is what I am asking;
On Saturday we were out and I got the fuel light at 153 Klms thats a little concerning so I fueled up and we carried on thankfully my wife and I went where fuel stops were fairly close together.

I decided today to conduct a test as when I filled the bike up before I did it on the side stand however in todays test I sat on the bike keeping it vertical, did a circuit run of 146 Klm's and filled up at the same pump again astride on the bike.

The 146 Klms I did on 7.3 liters of 98 octane which equates to 20Klm/Ltr so was I missing out on fuel space by not having the bike vertical and for a Ducati is 20Klm/Ltr good mileage sat on 110 - 120 klm/Hr with a few very short high speed runs @ 600mtrs

I get 300Klm out of my Blackbird before the fuel light comes on but that has a 24Ltr tank your input would be appreciated. TIA

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[GeeRam]

Been 14 years since I owned a Ducati, but I do remember that I was forever stopping at petrol stations

I had a Monster 750 with CF SilMotor exhausts (very similar to Termi's) and I remember the fuel light came on at around 110 miles...when being ridden around town etc.

On a decent motorway run with any luck and a light right wrist, it might get to 140 miles before the light came on.

It was a small price to pay for all the other joys of Ducati ownership

[CINDERS]

Thank you for your reply GR
What your saying is pretty close to what I have gathered I do not know what size tank your Duke carried but now they are all @15.5L on the Superbikes which means this thing wont be going across the Nullabor not without a support vehicle anyway.
They are saying you get more MPG by using 98 Octane which I do for all our vehicles and after talking to the dealer who is a friend of some 38 years it seems I am getting the exact same mileage as his 1200 Multistrada don't know if that's good or bad as I am giving away nearly 400CC maybe he is doing better than me anyway it calc'ed out to 47 miles per gallon my wifes CBR500RA gets 72 MPG Ahh! well the price we pay for twistie fun.

[30Three]

It's not really the size of the engine that determines the fuel consumption; it's more the stat of tune of the engine. The Multistrada would probably be a softer tune than your 848.
Especially with the special bit's on it. If you want horsepaower, you've got to burn fuel; the higher the octane the better.
Not sure if you've found the same in Aus', but here in Europe the fuel quality seems to be not what it was. Doesn't last any time in the tank if you store your vehicle for the winter.

[GeeRam]

Thank you for your reply GR
What your saying is pretty close to what I have gathered I do not know what size tank your Duke carried but now they are all @15.5L on the Superbikes which means this thing wont be going across the Nullabor not without a support vehicle anyway.
They are saying you get more MPG by using 98 Octane which I do for all our vehicles and after talking to the dealer who is a friend of some 38 years it seems I am getting the exact same mileage as his 1200 Multistrada don't know if that's good or bad as I am giving away nearly 400CC maybe he is doing better than me anyway it calc'ed out to 47 miles per gallon my wifes CBR500RA gets 72 MPG Ahh! well the price we pay for twistie fun.

Yeah, 15 point something litres sounds familiar, seem to remember it was a gnats todger over 3 gallons in old money.....so barely able to crack 40mpg, but that was riding around London so can't really complain....... and yes, I always ran mine on 97-99 octane SUL. Mine had been dynojeted for the airbox mod and the carbon cans, although, it didn't seem to make much difference to the mpg, just ran smoother.

Fantastic things, I loved it, and was heartbroken when mine was stolen......

[CINDERS]

Yep my friend who is a Duke dealer and has the fastest 750 Ducati drag bike in Aus think he said on the dyno it was pushing 240-250RWHP I asked him what he reckons he is into $'s motor wise he quoted @$72K but other friends suggest $120K still its his passion for a sport and we all have those, anyway they have worked on the airflow system on my Ducati so she breathes better as with the system the air's going out allot faster than a standard system.
After we have done this 900K trek in Sept I will let the forum know what the Duck is like to tour on,this is why I am pushing the K's into it to get accustomed to the not so user friendly for a 6' 2" persons riding position though I have sorted the custom rear sets a bit better for myself.

I had my Z900 stolen in 1977 which I had brought new in 1976 they found the motor in a swamp in Perth 3 years afterwards all that was left were the cases, internals & pistons the insurance company was onto me in a flash was the bike salvable! I threw them out years later to think what a set of cases would be worth today! Cheers

[Gil Boyd]

.............................and Cinders its the way you ride it. SLOW DOWN you know anything Italian drinks fuel .....oh dear here comes Ovidio to tell me off!!

[Bruce_in_Oz]

30Three:

I am led to believe that the interesting chemicals added to the glorified kerosene which is then sold as "un-leaded fuel", have a nasty habit of evaporating / degrading whilst in the tank. A jerry-can of unleaded fuel will be pretty dire after a year in the garden / farm shed. The old "super" / premium, etc would store for years.

The tetra-ethyl lead did two things: prevented "pre-ignition" ("knock") AND formed an insulating film on exhaust valves and seats. This basically prevented burning of the seats and valve heads due to the much higher temperatures and pressures in high-compression motors. Interestingly, the old Briggs and Stratton stationary engines used to drive small generators, pumps, lawnmowers, etc have (or once had) tungsten-carbide exhaust-valve seats, because they had to be able to run on any old fuel of indeterminate origin and age. With the demise of leaded fuel, some folks were, so the story goes, were getting their high-compression, classic car engines upgraded to tungsten carbide exhaust valve seats so that they could run them on whatever they could get. The alternative is to carry a bottle of "lead-replacement" juice and add some to the tank before filling up. EVERYONE understood that there was a certain toxicity hazard with leaded fuel (sensible mechanics NEVER used it to clean parts), and the exhaust gas lead was cumulative in the environment and in the body.

There seems to be a certain coyness regarding the effect on the human body of the whole bunch of new and interesting organic compounds that replaced the tetra-ethyl lead.

Diesels get more attractive with each passing year. No doubt someone will come up with a "cunning plan" to nobble them, as well.

[CINDERS]

Check the prices on diesel 4 x 4's BIO as you can see here in Aus they attract a high price indeed due to the fact the engines go for so long without having to be rebuilt which makes the car manufacturers sad as they lose out with spare parts.
But if you bust a diesels engine then be prepared to pay plenty to get it back up and running.

[GeeRam]

Diesels get more attractive with each passing year. No doubt someone will come up with a "cunning plan" to nobble them, as well.

Volkswagen have achieved that in spades thanks to their dodgy dealings, and the anti-diesel backlash in Europe because of Nox is killing diesel in europe.....

---------- Post added at 09:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

After we have done this 900K trek in Sept I will let the forum know what the Duck is like to tour on,this is why I am pushing the K's into it to get accustomed to the not so user friendly for a 6' 2" persons riding position though I have sorted the custom rear sets a bit better for myself.

You're brave.......

I'm only 6ft and my test ride of a 748 lasted all of 10 mins before wrist pain and back pain saw me riding it straight back to the dealership