Hypermiling Results

I finally burned through that tank of gas. From the time I filled up Monday morning until I dropped back by the gas station this afternoon, I made some small changes to my driving habits while riding my 600 cc 2006 Honda Shadow. In addition to a couple of short errands, I made two trips to my office in Arlington — about a 15 mile round-trip in city driving conditions — and two trips to my office in Loudoun county — 60 miles round trip on highways and rural roads.
I drove more slowly, accelerated more slowly, increased my follow distance, gained momentum going down hills and slowed down while going back up. When I saw I would need to stop ahead, instead of gassing it until the last minute and then braking, I’d let off the gas completely and slow down over the entire distance. I turned my engine off while waiting at stop lights and while slowing down to come to stop lights.
My original goal was to stick to the speed limit wherever I was driving. That turned out to be nearly impossible, so instead I stuck to the speed limit where the road was open or traffic was moving near the speed limit and otherwise moved a little slower than traffic. Sometimes this meant comfortably riding along I-395 with traffic moving 10 miles below the speed limit. On the George Washington Parkway, cars blew past me in the left lane while I puttered along at only 10-12 miles over the 40 mph speed limit.
And the results are:
2.289 gallons of regular unleaded and 166 miles or 72 miles/gallon. That’s a 20% increase over the 60 mpg I typically get riding at peak efficiency during the summer without “hypermiling” techniques.
Well, now that I’ve figured that out, I’m going back to driving like a normal person.