GS gets amazing gas mileage...My wife's cruiser isn't even close.

[Toad Rider]

I have a '96 GS.  My wife has a '94 Yamaha Virago 535.  We went riding this weekend.  We rode 120 miles and stopped to fill up because her tiny 3.2 gallon tank was low.  She puts 2.7 gallons in.  I put 1.85 gallons in.    Hard to believe since the bikes are about the same weight and displacement.

[Lucian]

I have a '96 GS.  My wife has a '94 Yamaha Virago 535.  We went riding this weekend.  We rode 120 miles and stopped to fill up because her tiny 3.2 gallon tank was low.  She puts 2.7 gallons in.  I put 1.85 gallons in.    Hard to believe since the bikes are about the same weight and displacement.

My best mate had (i think) the same year virago and he got so tired of said problems he bought a VN800 which, surprisingly, gave much better MPG depite being such a difference in CC.
Just sounds like poor engineering on Yamaha's part to me....

[The Buddha]

The GS is notorious for uneven filling of the tank. The top part ha so large in surface area and if you even fill lower than previous level by ~1 inch ... its like under filling it 1/2 gallon.
The Virago OTOH has the tank under the seat, and it can vapor lock badly and underfill. The top tank is very very small, like 1/2 gallon or less. If she had that happen on previous fill and you did that 1 inch short on your current fill up, you can more than account for the difference.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Unnamed]

I've actually been having some mileage issues with my '96, today I only got about 130 to reserve although I took a longish trip at low rpms. When I'm just going around town I kinda whip my baby so I expect less mileage, but I would have expected better this time. May be that I've had to run choke a lot recently because of the colder temps, but that doesn't seem very significant. I know I filled the tank up right since I put in 3 gallons last time, but I'm not sure why my mileage is low. May just be that the bike is kinda old and wasn't especially well maintained by previous owners.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

That's not SO bad.. I run about 160 to reserve

[spc]

I run about 140 to reserve but we've already determined I ride like a jackass

[gsJack]

I run about 220 miles to reserve in the summer getting about 60 mpg, drops to around 50 mpg winters.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

I run about 220 miles to reserve in the summer getting about 60 mpg, drops to around 50 mpg winters.

holy chit...  I must really ride like a tard!

[Unnamed]

Yeah no kidding... I do redline it once or twice a day on a short stretch where its safe to do so, maybe thats my problem. What kind of rpms do you average?

[makenzie71]

that virago may be about the same weight and have more displacement but, believe it or not, that underpowered lump  in it's frame is working a whole hell of a lot harder to do the same work.  You'll see the same thing with like the Ninja 250 vs the 500.

[MikeNW]

Please stop bragging about GS gas mileage until after I buy mine, I don't want the price to go UP!

[gsJack]

Yeah no kidding... I do redline it once or twice a day on a short stretch where its safe to do so, maybe thats my problem. What kind of rpms do you average?

I redline my stock 02 GS maybe once or twice a year.     Why would anyone want to redline a stock GS?

Stock GS reaches power curve peak at about 8500 rpm and going more than 10% over peak gains nothing, power takes a dive after that.  Upshifting around 9k drops the revs to around 7k right on top of the torque curve.  I've found I can get the best performance running the back roads at 7-9k rpm.  Downshift when slowing at 7k rpm to pick revs back up.  Here's a friend's GS500 Dyno run:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/MikesGS500dynoRuns.jpg

If you do a good job of adding a pipe, intake mods, and jetting you can pick it up a couple grand and expand your power range.  You can do a better job by learning how to really ride the GS and leave it stock.   

When the milage on the bike gets to 40k or so miles, it will start pushing oil at higher rpms and gas milage drops off too at higher rpms.  For max performance and gas milage and min oil consumption on a worn engine try that 7-9k range when running hard on a stock GS.  Annie's dyno run showing how power is extended upwards on the modified GS:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/AnniesGS500dynoRun.jpg

[gsJack]

that virago may be about the same weight and have more displacement but, believe it or not, that underpowered lump  in it's frame is working a whole hell of a lot harder to do the same work.  You'll see the same thing with like the Ninja 250 vs the 500.

Hard to beat the combination of power and economy delivered by the mighty little EX250.  Here's the results of a comparo from last years Cycle World Annual Buyer's Guide:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/PetrolPinchers.jpg

And a Busa riders opinion of it's performance:

http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1145&highlight=ninja+250

[genEricStL]

That link on the Ninja 250 was actually quite entertaining dude ... thanx  My wife's been mulling over getting a bike and the 250 is something she's talked about quite a bit ... we see those things for sale all the time , just never gave them much thought - except when I first started riding ... when i saw how cheap they were (and couldn't understand why bikes didn't depreciate as much as cars do) , I went to one of the Kawi dealerships . The saleslady told me "Even if you don't know how to ride , you'll be bored with a ex250 in a week" . Now granted , she may have been right for me personally ( I run the @#$% out of my GS too lol) , it was an awfully bad tactic to sell bikes lol

[Drakis]

I have a 2001 GS500. Stock. BP Unleaded fuel (95 octanes) and NGK DPR8EVX-9 spark plug.
This week, i did 455km (282 miles) upon hitting reserve, and got to 540km (335 miles) before filling the gas tank.
I filled it with 18.5 liters (4.8 US gallons?).

Is this great or what?!

[whitewolf]

On my 04, I get between 61 to 63 miles per gallon. I run 91 % octane and put 48 miles a day round trip on it.

[ohgood]

I need to ride more slowly. I average about 55MPG.

I like the way it sounds at 5,000 rpm though, and don't mind WOT 5-8k rpm romps for the heck of it.

Usually I cruise home at night @ 5K rpm.

On the way to work it's 3-5K, just bring it up when a car is next to me.

[RVertigo]

4.5 miles each direction to work...  I got about 209 miles...  Then I realized that I'd connected the fuel lines backwards and "On" was actually pulling from "Res" and that I had about a 1/4" of gas in the bottom of the tank.   

When I'm only commuting to work I get dreadful gas mileage...  36-40 MPG...  But, with lots of freeway/back road riding I get about 52 MPG.

[Jay_wolf]

Think yourselfs Lucky , The Prices Here Are Like 2 Dollars a litre . and i think theres 7/8 to the gallon , so we pay outta our nose here, i mean , u can afford 2 run the big v8s over there. we cant

[simon79]

40-45 MPG, I hope I'll be able to do better...
But I like too much how the engine sounds at 7k-9k rpm in 2nd-3rd gear...D'UH!!!

Think yourselfs Lucky , The Prices Here Are Like 2 Dollars a litre . and i think theres 7/8 to the gallon , so we pay outta our nose here, i mean , u can afford 2 run the big v8s over there. we cant

ditto...

PS:even though I still prefer smaller EU cars to huge US cars/engines...