ohhh, and she'll probably never ride with me, so wouldn't really ever have a 2up situation..  

2nd tank on my C50T got me 52.17 MPG  

Has anyone noticed a difference in their gas mileage between city and highway?  I bought a new C90T Suzuki.  The first tank I got was 49mpg on highway and traveling at 50-65mph.  In town, I have a short ride to work and notice I get 36mpg starting and stopping alot.  

That's not much different from what cars get.

City is stop, rapidly accelerate to 30 mph.Stop... start over.
Not a good economy model.

Yet, most cities have stoplights (not  traffic lights.. get there). They are designed to stop people often.
An actual traffic light is one that has either sensors, or timers to maximise traffic flow.

Years ago, I lived in Albany (west side). On the few occasions that I went to downtown in the morning, I got nothing but greens. Same thing going home at 5pm.

Yes, the traffic lights had been optimized to give the locals an easy commute (going the other way, you hit at least 20 red lights). At $4 per gallon, they should (but aren't) rethinking the priorities.  

2nd tank on my C50T was 52.17, 3rd tank 53.9  

When my girlfriend and I lived together I showed her a bike I was looking at. She told me it was eather the bike or her.   At that time I took her. We have split up but we are still friends. I went out and bought a Kawasaki Vulcan 500. She told me the reason that she did not want me to have a bike is that she was afraid that I would die riding my bike, you know bad wreck or something, oh well. Good luck getting past that one. At any rate my bike gets an avg 53 mpg city and highway.  

Yep.  But do yourself a favor and check out a boulevard c50t if you can find one.  That bike has done everything I asked of it.

To give you an idea...

6-14-08 started at 27 feet elevation and rode 184.5 miles on 3.407 gallons of gas to a height of 9600 feet.  Two-up with speeds up to 85 miles an hour. (54 MPG)

6-16-08 started at 27 feet and rode into yosemite valley 126.9 miles  with 2.475 gallons burned. (50 MPG)

I didn't add up my "downhill" gas mileage because I was into the high 60's for MPG and didn't think it counted.  FYI, I am using 87 octane usually from Chevron.

I also regularly commute with speeds around 65 mph but sometimes get up to 95 mph when passing or when late.  

I am getting a kick out of some of you saying Motorcycles are not cost effective! After I make my payment, pay my insurance and put gas in my Shadow VLX Deluxe I STILL save right at 300.00 a month over driving my truck. Now once spring comes and I get my taxes back I will pay off the bike and it will get even better. I bought the bike for fun, my wife for the savings we see per month. 300.00 in tires? Ok fine. Still I will save 3300.00 this year from not taking the truck-which I cannot trade or sell because I pull a camper or do side work on weekends. Someone mentioned buying a helmet. Well that and gloves, jacket and ect. are one time purchases. On the other hand you change your oil on your bike at 8k intervals-at least that is when I am supposed to do mine. That is almost 1 to every 3 on my truck. Changing oil on a bike is so simple btw that I could train a 1 arm spastic monkey how.
Now I have ranted about my Shadow. It really and truly is cost-effective. If you ride a big 1800 getting 35 mpg then I understand why you are here saying it really isn't cost effective. All I can say is that today I had to switch to my reserve after 2 gallons of gas and 130.4 miles. I went about 2 more miles and filled up. I went from $102.00 a week to about $10.00. I ride off from the pump with a stupid grin on my face and plenty of money left in my wallet.  

If you're really looking at gas milage vs raw power, and aren't really planning on hitting the highway, a lot of people like the Yamaha Virago 250 and even conservative estimates are putting it at around 55-60mpg, with most putting it between 70 and 80, and some saying after tweaking they're getting closer to 90. at 70mpg I'd be getting over 6X the gas milage my work van gets, and at least 3.5X my jeep. I'd LOVE to relegate my jeep to either a weekend car, or a trip to the store car. the van...well it's for work, not much I can do about that.
the virago is what I'm looking at for putting around after I move to the bay area in about a year. gas up here around chicago isn't really any less, but I don't feel like getting a bike here, and having to find a way to tow/ship it 2000+ miles to cali, that and I've heard you can't register a used car with less than 15k miles on it due to some weird emissions thing. so getting myself a bike will have to wait till after the move.  

Just another thought for those whose wife needs a little convincing, IF she will ride along either as a passenger or rider. You can go cruizin' TOGETHER. Pick a weekend, pick a B&B, nice ride there, spend the night, nice ride home. My wife loves those little weekend getaways, and now we are shopping for a bike    

I road on the back of my husbands Goldwing once.  It was a real 'come to Jesus' moment.  I prayed the whole time.  Riding on the back is not all that fun.  I told my husband if he wants to ride motocycles together I'm getting my own.  I ride a Honda Aero 750.  I get over 50 miles a gallon and get to feel the wind in my face.  We have a great time riding all over Nebraska together.  

Whether being on the back is fun, or sheer terror depends on 2 things.
1) The trust of the passenger that the rider isn't doing stupid stuff
2) The rider making sure that they aren't "riding to impress", which blows away #1. Perception of "riding to impress is just as bad as actually doing it.

My wife rides her own bike, and she has no problems hopping on the back of mine. I've loaded up a number of people on the bike, and nobody has had negatives to say about the experience. I give them a couple minute lecture on how to act on the bike, where to look during the turns, how to get on and off. That little bit goes a long way to meet #2.They feel I'm being professional, and skilled.  

The issue with riding on the back for me is not so much trust but height.  I'm much shorter than my husband.  Looking at the back of his jacket for hours on end isn't very exciting and not being able to see where we're going makes it difficult to completely trust, even when you've been married to the guy for 30 years.  My husband's a good rider and I think I'm a good passenger but I'd choose riding my own bike hands down.  Back to mileage, my Kawasaki Vulcan 500 got 53 mpg.  

Could not help but make a comment to this particular discussion.

I did not necessarily get my bike because of better mileage and savings (at this point, the gas savings does almost equal the bike payment), but they are benefits of owning the bike. Mileage on my 07 Kaw 900 Vulcan is roughly 47mpg.

I did not get it as a way to have more "close time" with my wife (in fact, she does not care for riding on the back of the bike all that often)...but we do get to have our special moments with it.

I bought the bike in response to an emotional need -- I MISSED riding...and I have fun when I do ride.  Pure and simple.

In making any "sale to the wife", just do a few key things: 1) Bring her to understand how important this activity is to you (remember, in general, women are emotional beings, so they are apt to better understand an emotional plea),  2) Be a man of your word and make good on living up to all the promises about being safe (skills classes, protective gear, etc.) 3) ALWAYS do item 2 (its just that important!).

So, what's the bottom line of my experience?  If you were to ask my wife about the biggest benefit of owning the motorcycle, she'd tell you "a happier man walks through the door after a long stressful day at work".  I do have to agree -- I can pack up my worries from the day with me on the bike, but by the time I get home, they've all been blown away (now, that's liberating!).  

This gas crisis is bringing out the bikes. I live about 200 feet from an Arco gas station. I was sitting outside with my friend and I kid you not, between 10PM and 11PM, we saw about 100 or more bikes stop for a fill up. It wasn't like a group ride or anything. Well, we did see the occasional biker "crew". I just want to live to see majority of 4 wheels go to 2 wheels. It'll be like a citywide heaven. hahaha. I don't know but every time I see someone buying a bike, I'll just look and wave. Make them feel welcome. Can't wait til I buy my new bike. Still thinking of what to get. Hmmmm. I'm not looking for a gas saver, because obviously, 2wheelers are guaranteed gas savers.