I expected better, mabe i should lay off the throttle a bit?  anyone else get this low of mpg? I have been pretty heavy on the throttle i admit but i was expecting like 50+

The best I had is 60 (serious measurement). I got a GS500F I guess the fairing help. To get that I would start de bike slowly on the throttle then ride at 90kmh constanlty (no red light, no city).

I curious to see if anyone beat me.

My best is also 60. 

Slow acceleration. No revving above 5.5k. No traffic lights. 90% 85 - 90kph. No Bursts on the throttle. No wind to speak of.

38.8mpg is NOT very good. Something not right there.

Did you....

#1: Fill up bike the same way? That is.... to the bottom of the filler sleeve.

#2: Was the bike on the same Stand - either side stand or center stand for both tank ups?

#3: Check your tire pressure to make sure it was the same. Suzuki recommends 33 for the front and 36 for the back. That's the OEM BT45s

#4: Check your airfilter. Clogged airfilter = poor performance in ALL vehicles - cars, trucks, batmobiles...

#5: Did you make sure the choke was OFF? What is your idle RPM?

What do you mean by "heavy on the throttle"? What RPM do you sit at in say 4th gear, 5th gear and 6th gear? You may be riding in a gear one to low for the speed you are doing.

Michael

Yes filled it up the same way with the kickstand down.. different gas station though.   I ran out of gas again (had only about 145 miles on the tank) had to turn it to the reserve then rode to the gas station.  I think i filled it to about the same level as i did the tank before.  The choke is off within about 1-2 minute of turning the bike on.. I do leave it on for about a minute straight full choke it revvs to about 4k and holds... this is for warmup.  When choke is off i believe it idles around 1k or 1.1k

I did alot of full throttle runs i guess..  lots of redlines and basicly just joyrides.  I cruise at 4-5k rpm usually when im on a straight away and not playing around.

how do u check the airfilter?  ill look for that

If you seat on the bike you will put more fuel. Btw also it takes a lot of time to full the tank at max, at the end you have to pump very slowly.

Hmm, best I've ever done is 74mpg, this was on a very flat, fairly hot (90+) day of 70-80mph riding. Usually touring I'll do mid 60s. Commuting with lots of intersection (100% city) I get 45-48. 38mpg seems low, but not crazy/broken low. Have you tried just riding on the freeway for a while? Do 100 miles or so of freeway and report back...

you do know that you have a reserve right?  you know that little half gallon that your sposta us to get you to a gas station in the event you dont know enough to put gas in.  how do you guys run outta gas.  i have put on 8k miles in 2 riding seasons and only hit reserve 2 times.   run your bike petcock in the ON posistion when its sputters flip to the RES side and head for a gas station.  Its not rocket science.  Maybe you guys like to push more then ride.  If i wanted to push i would have bought a stroller.

I typically get 50 mpg (that's US gallon) when I 'm doing light city riding.  
Light city = intersections and stops : Cruise around 4K, don't go over 7K accelerating.

Keep in mind the UK gallon is about 1.2x the US gallon.

So your mileage may vary  

BTW It's a '98 naked with 42,000km / 26,000miles

Quote from: joshr08 on November 03, 2009, 03:59:04 AM
you do know that you have a reserve right?  you know that little half gallon that your sposta us to get you to a gas station in the event you dont know enough to put gas in.......  If i wanted to push i would have bought a stroller.

Quote from: Andy13186 on November 03, 2009, 12:26:00 AM
  I ran out of gas again (had only about 145 miles on the tank) had to turn it to the reserve then rode to the gas station. 

Maybe you should read a little better before you decide you want to be a smart ass. Hahaha 

I've got between 50 and 33 mpg. The bike with 10K miles with in traffic and fairly normal driving was in the high 40's to 50. As it got older and got less powerful, it gradually dropped ... through the 20-40K it dropped through the 40's and into the 30's. I ended up wtih ~35 around the time it got to that 48K mark I sold it at.

So your gas mileage may be a function of how many miles or how ham fisted you are. Mind you, I went to K&N and pipe @ ~25K miles.
Cool.
Buddha.

I get/got an overall of approx 60 mpg for the past 10 years and 150k miles on my 97 and then 02 GS's.  It can drop to as low as 50-55 mpg for short trip winter riding and for summer spirited riding in the mountains.  Running for hours keeping it in the 7-9k performance rpm range brings it down to the 50 mpg range in the mountain twisties.  The carbs were left stock on both of my GS's.  If your going to mess with the carbs rejetting for performance or greater flexibility then your going to pay for it at the pumps.  Back during the first 5 years I had my 97 I was riding with a friend that rode "legal", he was a big cruiser buff and loved to cruise and we rode all over western PA almost daily and I got more like 65-70  mpg following him.  I decided to go for 300 miles on a 4.5 gal tank one day and put in just a tad over 4 gal in the 4.5 gal 97 GS tank at 300 miles.  If I took the lead he would disappear behind me.  I hit reserve at 220-240 miles summers and 200-220 miles winters on my 02 GS with the 5.3 gal tank.  Both bikes have/had over a gallon on reserve.

Quote from: joshr08 on November 03, 2009, 03:59:04 AM
you do know that you have a reserve right?  you know that little half gallon that your sposta us to get you to a gas station in the event you dont know enough to put gas in.  how do you guys run outta gas.  i have put on 8k miles in 2 riding seasons and only hit reserve 2 times.   run your bike petcock in the ON posistion when its sputters flip to the RES side and head for a gas station.  Its not rocket science.  Maybe you guys like to push more then ride.  If i wanted to push i would have bought a stroller.

No body said anything about running out of gas.   hes asking about his gas milage. as in why is only going 38.8 miles on one gallon of gas.

One more thing to add...

When I bought the bike @ 35000km no valve adjustment had been done. 
The Right exhaust valve was so far out of spec that it was nearly running on one cylinder til it warmed up. 
My mileage was about 35mpg before I adjusted them.  And the exhaust always smelled of unburnt fuel til I did it.

Just thought I would add that.

i've gotten 65mpg on the highway. but if it's in town i usually get about 42mpg because i am not light on the throttle lol.

I don't pretend to know what my mpg is, but here's some math homework if anybody wants to take a crack at it. My bike is a 2005 GS500F, completely stock.

Gas here is sold in litres, not gallons. 3.79 litres are in a gallon.

Gas prices fluctuate from .85 to .95 cents Canadian, per liter.

1 CAD = .93 USD as of this morning.

I have been too chicken to ride my trip meter past 325 kilometers after a fillup on the kickstand, which is 201 miles.

When I fill the tank from 325 km (201 miles), it costs me approximately $14-15 CAD.


Have at 'er boys.

I ride on main tank till 300kms then switch to reserve and ride another 100kms - 400kms between fills.

Last time I filled up it took just over 16ltrs.

02 naked gs with 26000kms here.

i wasnt being a smart ass.  if you say you ran outta gas your tank is empty not still having reserve.  out of gas is out of gas.

I think you may have a problem there.  When my bike was running on 1 cylinder intermittently, I got exactly 37 mpg.   Soon as I got her back in spec, boom, 58 mpg.

Quote from: joshr08 on November 03, 2009, 03:24:02 PM
i wasnt being a smart ass.  if you say you ran outta gas your tank is empty not still having reserve.  out of gas is out of gas.

I can't understand this fascination with what fuel milage you get from your bike. Bikes are there to be ridden and enjoyed and the best way to enjoy a bike is to twist the right grip. Yes I do know roughly what the fuel usage is on both of my bikes, but thats because I like to be aware of when I'm going to possibly need fuel when I'm travelling on new roads.

Maybe instead of owning a bike a toyota prius is a more suitable vehicle for you, I hear they get wonderful fuel economy.