gas mileage... perplexed...

[ezcleen]

Hey guys,
I recently purchased a 1990 GS 500 (14,200 miles) in December and since then i've done the following (14,800 miles):

- oil change
- replaced air filter (K&N w/ restrictor)
- new brake pads
- replaced brake fluid
- valve adjustment
- new tires
- progressive front forks
- replaced oil in front forks
- new fork seals
- spark plug replacement

My question is i'm getting horrible gas mileage, but there is a culprit. I live in Brooklyn and primarily use the GS to commute less then 10 miles round trip to work in Manhattan. As you can imagine, my commute is dense urban traffic with a lot of stop and go. My last 3 fillups has come around the 70-80 mile range for the gas tank. Now, 70-80 miles for me is 2 - 2.5 weeks. I'm starting to think since my riding isn't necessarily the standard quota for MPG that this is normal. Anyone else have other opinions?

PS. I have yet to take the GS out on a day trip, as my Versys sees the curvy open roads, but hopefully when the weather gets warmer I can do a test ride outside of the city and see if I get better mileage.

[adidasguy]

On long rides I get 55-65 mpg.
On a daily basis, 40+ mpg. Normal day is 0.5m to office (down hill), 0.6m to gym (level) then 0.7m back home (all up hill)
Seems most of the gas is used up just starting the bike since it is 30 seconds to warm up, then 1 to 3 minutes of riding.
Having been to NYC, I understand you traffic and you're normal for all that stop and go.

[ezcleen]

Thanks Adidasguy! I figured all the traffic would be extremely detrimental to the gas mileage, but hey i'm not complaining filling up the gas tank two-three times a month.

[crzydood17]

drop a tooth in front and you will get better city mileage, you can ride in a higher gear and your engine will work better off the line, and it makes the bike funner! But, that seems very small considering my bike goes 240 miles on a tank... though i do have a 05 with the big tank...

[twinrat]

i travell 40 miles per day 25% town running and 75% expressway rarley doing over 65-70 mph and get 58mpg .Your bike may be geared down as it sounds quite hungry also air cooled moters dont realy like stop start traffic as they cant get rid of there heat  .

[ezcleen]

I'll look into changing the gears probably later in the year. I want to keep the cost investment in this bike at a minimum as the Versys has full attention of my wallet.

To put things into perspective my commute for 5 miles takes me about 30-40 minutes. The only time I can open the throttle is crossing the Manhattan bridge, but then again I can push her to 40-50 mph for a minute or two. It sounds like the stop and go is killing the mileage. oh well, i still think she is fantastic city bike (light, nimble, low to the ground but yet fun to zip through open areas when there is an opportunity!)

[twocool]

Hey guys,
I recently purchased a 1990 GS 500 (14,200 miles) in December and since then i've done the following (14,800 miles):


My question is i'm getting horrible gas mileage, but there is a culprit. I live in Brooklyn and primarily use the GS to commute less then 10 miles round trip to work in Manhattan. As you can imagine, my commute is dense urban traffic with a lot of stop and go. My last 3 fillups has come around the 70-80 mile range for the gas tank. Now, 70-80 miles for me is 2 - 2.5 weeks. I'm starting to think since my riding isn't necessarily the standard quota for MPG that this is normal. Anyone else have other opinions?

PS. I have yet to take the GS out on a day trip, as my Versys sees the curvy open roads, but hopefully when the weather gets warmer I can do a test ride outside of the city and see if I get better mileage.

Well....we measure gase mileage in MILES PER GALLON...not miles per tank, or miles per fillup, or miles per week.......

If you went from a FULL tank to an EMPTY tank in only 80 miles, you've got a serious problem, like a fuel leak.   But so far, you have not determined your miles per gallon...so do that first, then see what's what....

Fill the tank to the bottom of the filler neck..........ride the bike.........until either it runs out of gas, then switch to reserve and go directly to gas station and fill up, or ...fill tank and go say 160 miles.....then fill again....

Note the gallons required to fill.  Take the miles you traveled and divide by the gallons used to get gas mileage in miles per gallon......then get back to us.

BTW, MPG for a motorcycle will vary wildly depending on a whole host of parameters, such as driving style, traffic, stop and go, long warm ups, tire pressure, wind, air temperature, shifting rpm, etc....

I've gotten as low as about 53 and as high as 72MPG....that's like a 40% variation.

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[jmelchio]

Use something like fuelly.com to track your milage. My bike runs about 60 mpg average with city driving but traffic flows pretty good and my commute to work is about 20 miles each way so it warms up well.

[numus]

How high are you reving it in gear before shifting? What is your normal riding rpm?

[Erika]

I live in Brooklyn and am getting similar gas mileage. I'm new to the GS and actually, I thought that was great gas mileage...lol. But I have ridden older bikes around town and also outside of the city. The city does eat gas with all the stop and go and revving to get out of the way of insane drivers. I figure in gas mileage while in the city and I do a separate reading for outside of the city. I call it my city and my country mileage... ha. Country mileage is always better. Since this is the newest model bike I have ridden, I don't know if newer bikes do better.

[ezcleen]

Thanks for all the responses!

I have a long weekend and see if I can get out of the city for a few hours. I'll report back...

[Suzuki Stevo]

I once got 69.8 Mpg in an ideal situation with summer gas (+1 countershaft sprocket +1 pilots & +1 mains)<No BS 

[twocool]

I once got 69.8 Mpg in an ideal situation with summer gas (+1 countershaft sprocket +1 pilots & +1 mains)<No BS 

I've gotten 72 many itmes....on my weekend commute...160 miles....almost no stops...almost constant 50 mph.....keep rpm shift points at about 5000......no wide open throttle!

But lately my driving style has changed.....now go 70 mph sometimes, WOT many times....shift at 7000 or 8000.....this gives more like 55 MPG...sometimes only 50....

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