Mileage and running cost calculator
Kilometres per litre from a tank-to-tank fill-up, the fuel cost per kilometre at the price you paid, and what a month or a trip will cost.
Read the trip meter and the litres from your last fill-up receipt.
How to measure mileage properly
The tank-to-tank method is the only honest one. Fill the tank to the same point each time (the first click of the nozzle, at the same pump if you can), reset the trip meter, ride normally, and at the next fill-up note the trip reading and the litres the pump shows. Mileage in kilometres per litre is the distance divided by the litres:
km/l = kilometres ridden ÷ litres filled cost per km = fuel price ÷ km/l
One fill-up gives a rough figure; the average over three or four is the number to trust, because the "full" point varies by a few hundred millilitres and that alone shifts a single reading by a couple of km/l.
Worked example
The trip meter reads 520 km and the pump puts in 12.4 litres. Mileage is 520 ÷ 12.4 = 41.94 km/l. If the fuel cost Rs 105 a litre on that day, each kilometre cost 105 ÷ 41.94 = Rs 2.50, and a month of 1,000 km costs about Rs 2,500 in fuel. Type your own pump price; the page never assumes one.
Why your figure differs from the brochure
- Claimed figures come from a test cycle at steady speeds. City riding with signals, a pillion, a top box or a hard throttle hand can take a quarter off.
- Tyre pressure a few PSI low costs mileage every day. Check it cold, weekly.
- A clogged air filter, an old spark plug, a dragging brake or a dry chain each cost a little; together they cost a lot. A mileage drop with no change in riding is a service reminder.
- Highway runs at a steady 60 to 80 km/h give the best figure on most bikes; above that, wind resistance climbs fast.
- Petrol from a pump with a slow or tampered meter shows up as a sudden bad reading at one station and normal ones elsewhere. Keep the log and the pattern shows.
Keeping a fuel log
Write down date, odometer, litres and rupees at every fill-up (a note on the phone is enough). Over a few months it tells you the bike's true running cost, warns you when something is wrong, and is the first thing a buyer asks for when you sell. The calculator above is the same arithmetic applied to one line of that log.