So, here's the question.

For some reason, I have this idea that most people have said they average about 200 miles on a full tank before needing to go into reserve.

Today I ran our of fuel at 140 miles on the tank.  I don't think theres a leak, i dont smell any gas...

Any idea what would cause me to get so few miles out of a tank, if its not a leak?  Being a new rider, I guess i could see that I burn more fuel than an experienced on (all those gunning it starts and stuff) but, that much less?  :dunno:

Thanks!

if you do a lot of full throttle burns then 140 is not uncommon.  or if you do a lot of in town driving.  Motorcycle engines burn gas just like any car or truck.  When they are worked hard they get very poor gas mileage.  Especially higher performance engines.  If it has the power it will use it, and the gas along with it.  So basically you shouldnt be worried to much, but if this doesnt satisfy, you could check the air filter to see if it is dirty,  That would be a great contributer to poor gas mileage

:dunno:
are you sure you're filling it up all the way?

p.s. - you got like.. uh... like.. ehh... a bird.. on your head, you know?

I ride my bike hard.  Even at very high speeds there is no way that I go on reserve before 180 miles.  Most of the time it's 200 miles.  Even commuting to Manhattan is not a problem.  I have a 2002 non-California model.  I would make sure that you are filling it up all the way.  Otherwise you are running way too rich or  something else is off.

'91 has a smaller tank though, sooo.....

I used to get 140km on track days in NZ, kilometres that is, less than 100 miles on my '89.

I normally fill up about 180 and I do lots of town riding and short hops, mine is an '03 tank is 19/20litre depending on whether you believe mr Suzuki's ad or the owners manual. I think your 91 will have a slightly smaller tank, it depends whereabouts it started it's life as well, some markets had different sizes I understand.

IS THAT A CONYER ON YOUR HEAD? I have a couple of parrots and it looks a lot like my Black-Headed Conyer (Basil, a noisy sod!)

According to my Haynes manual, the 1989-2000 California-spec models came with a 15-liter (4.0-gallon) tank.  All other bikes for those model years came with a 17-liter (4.5-gallon) tank.

When the styling changed in 2001, the tank grew to hold ~5.3 gallons.

esokitty, unless your '91 is a CA model you should be doing better than 140 miles before hitting REServe.  (My '99 goes about 180.)  But before jumping to any conclusions, calculate your average MPG figure.  This will require that you fill the tank the same way every time, and that you keep track of the odometer reading (or zero out the trip meter when you fill up).

I'm sure everyone knows how to figure their MPG, but let me show you my method anyway....



As soon as I take my receipt from the gas pump I jot down the info you see at the top of the receipt.  The larger odometer reading is just for kicks, in case I ever decide to create a worthless database or something.  The smaller trip meter reading is the one I use later to figure my MPG.  On this particular tankful, I went 179.3 miles on ~3.4 gallons, so got  about 53 MPG.  (I did appreciably better when my bike was young, but this isn't too shabby.)

If you're getting similar MPG figures then maybe you can improve your tank-filling technique.  I stay seated on my bike when I fill it, so that

A) The bike is vertical and I can get more gas into the tank, and
B) When the tank is almost full I can gently rock the bike from side-to-side to let air bubbles escape ... so I can get more gas into the tank.[/list:u]IF you're already filling every CC in your tank, THEN let's start looking at possible problems with the petcock, carburetion, etc.

In threads concerning mileage and tank size / range I have often found myself scratching my head in doubt but I think that I have just sussed it, wer'e talking different sized "gallon" on each side of the Atlantic are we.

"My" gallon is 4.54l, hence Kerry's 17l tank is 3.74G not 4.5. So I figure the logic is this, I know from time spent productivly in pubs that your pint is 16 fl oz whereas mine is 20 fl oz (which accounts for why I fall over after less pints?) hence at eight pints to the gallon, mine is 160 fl oz and the U.S. one would be 128 fl oz. I knew the pint was different but assumed the gallon was the same thinking the U.S. gallon was ten of the (smaller) pint.  Is this it? or have I confused you as much as I confused myself? If so, some of the quoted MPG figures in past threads make more sense.

Quote from: Cal Price"My" gallon is 4.54l, hence Kerry's 17l tank is 3.74G not 4.5. So I figure the logic is this, I know from time spent productivly in pubs that your pint is 16 fl oz whereas mine is 20 fl oz (which accounts for why I fall over after less pints?) hence at eight pints to the gallon, mine is 160 fl oz and the U.S. one would be 128 fl oz. I knew the pint was different but assumed the gallon was the same thinking the U.S. gallon was ten of the (smaller) pint.  Is this it? or have I confused you as much as I confused myself? If so, some of the quoted MPG figures in past threads make more sense.

My brain hurts, can I go home now?

My brain hurts too, but it's my own fault. I don't know if it adds anything to the thread or not but I have just calculated my consumption-mileage for the past year so it should pan out fairly accurate and it is, 59.74 miles per (UK) gallon or 13.15 miles per litre, no idea what that is in kliks per litre.

I have a 2000 model GS500EY. This weekend I drove 122 miles and used about a half tank or so.     Wilson

p.s. speed was approx. 55-65 mph. This was all backroads straight out riding. No "in town" stuff.

Thanks for all the input, fellas.

I've currently got it on it's second fulltank fill, and am planning on running it down again.  We shall see how that figure changes, given a "very sure i filled the tank.'

Kerry - I didn't rock the bike, and I wasn't on it (dad said I'd be more likely to spill or scratch the tank that way).  I'll keep that in mind next time I fill it.  And I must say, I can't imagine actually saving the receipt let alone having a pen to document the milage!  You sure earned my vote for most helpful all around dude on this board.

Cal-Price - Yup!  That's a green cheeked conure... closely related to the black capped conures.  And although I've never said 'noisy little sod' about Rocky, that explitive certainly fits.  Especially when I leave the room.  She has serious seperation anxiety.  I have two green cheeks and a harlequin Macaw.  She won't fit on my head.  :mrgreen:
I must say however, the only i could think of after your is my gallon your gallon diatribe was of pints of beer.  I always thought a gallon was a gallon, kinda by definition, but i could certainly be wrong.  It happened once before.  

And,
Do most people fill the tanks on the bike or off them?
Am I having a special kind of blond moment?  I can't find a quote for tank capacity in my clymer manual.  And usually i'm pretty Schmart...

Quote from: esokittyDo most people fill the tanks on the bike or off them?
Am I having a special kind of blond moment?  I can't find a quote for tank capacity in my clymer manual.  And usually i'm pretty Schmart...

I usually sit on my bike holding it upright while filling. Gets as much gas in as possible.
From the Suzuki Service Manual: 17liters/4.5gallon unless you have a Califonia model which is 15liter/4.0gallons. Reserve is 3.5liters/0.9gallons

It must be the purple bike.  My purple '92 (manufacture date '91) also did about 140 or so until reserve (my record for lowest miles was 120).

You mention how many miles until reserve, but not how many miles until fillup.  This raises the questien "how much fuel is there until reserve" on the older GS's.  Yesterday, I burned about 3.18 gallons of fuel until I went into reserve (then used another 0.083 gallons of the reserve to get to the gas station).  If you hit reserve at the same point I did (after using 3.18 gallons of fuel), then you'd have gotten about 44mpg.  I think most riders here get 45-55mpg (?), so you're at the low end.


Unfortunately, "Reserve" may not be a reliable indicator of how much fuel you have left.  You may notice that you need to switch to reserve earlier if the bike is idling.   Last week, I was near reserve and rode through a series of stoplights, and the bike killed at each one.  It would start just fine, and would run fine between lights if I gave it a little throttle, but would kill every time at idle, until I switched to RES.  Yesterday I was getting down towards REServe, riding on the highway, and came to a stoplight.  The engine killed as I stopped, with no bucking or stuttering beforehand. If you are just cruising down the road, you may be able to burn more fuel before the bike starts to shudder.

Much to my relief I discover that UK gallon and US Gallon are, indeed different.

I fill mine standing next to it, I tend to nudge it with my hip to rock her a bit whilst filling, yes It would probably take a bit more dead upright but I figure that as long as I fill to the same point each time I will get a reasonable mileage calculation. I would not put to much faith into the mileage until you have filled it at least four or five times, if you keep an on-going record as I do and Kerry obviously does you do find the odd abberation. Over the last year my best was 66.7 per (160 fl oz) Gallon and worse was 53.7 but the annualised average was 59.74, call it 60.

Thanks for info about Rocky, I have Basil the black-headed con who turned out to be Female, eggs were a good clue! and Stompy an Australian Parakeet, at one point I had five others, all "rescue" jobs but I placed them a breeding programme. The Aussie is a lot less noisy and generally better mannered but now does a brilliant impersonation of the Conyer throwing a temper.

Cal,

Ours is indeed a 128-oz gallon.  I would post a picture of a 1 gallon milk container with "128 oz" printed on it, only A) My wife and I only buy milk by the half-gallon, so it won't expire before we drink it all, and B) I'm not sure if they print the ounces on gallon containers anymore -- our current milk container says "1/2 GAL (1.89L)".

You know that recent message thread about songs sticking in your head?  Well, you've got me reciting the gradeschool chant, "Two cups in a pint, two pints in a quart, four quarts in a gallon."

Thanks a lot.   :lol:

Kerry

Quote from: KerryCal,

Ours is indeed a 128-oz gallon.  I would post a picture of a 1 gallon milk container with "128 oz" printed on it, only A) My wife and I only buy milk by the half-gallon, so it won't expire before we drink it all, and B) I'm not sure if they print the ounces on gallon containers anymore -- our current milk container says "1/2 GAL (1.89L)".

You know that recent message thread about songs sticking in your head?  Well, you've got me reciting the gradeschool chant, "Two cups in a pint, two pints in a quart, four quarts in a gallon."

Thanks a lot.   :lol:

Kerry

Just curious...Do you have to do anything special to fill the "reserve"?  I mean, when you fill the tank normally, does the gas then "fill" the reserve?  Or do you have to switch the petcock to reserve...fill..switch...fill?  Also, I have a California model, thus a smaller tank, and now I know why I only got about 150 miles on a tank, but is there anything else on the CA model that would limit mpg?  I mean besides the smaller tank?

The reserve is a activated by the frame mounted fuel valve. The valve attached to the tank has 2 different lenght tubes inside the tank. The shorter supplies the reserve fuel.

In case that wasn't clear enough, nothing special you need to do, the reserve and main are in fact the same tank, the reserve just takes the fuel from lower down.  (A good reason why it's always a good idea to switch back to Main when you fuel, elso you suck the tank dry before you realise your mistake.  Don't ask...)

Kerry, cheers for the info confirming my suspicions about our Gallons, technically imperial and U.S. gallon I believe is the correct terminology.

That aspect put me in mind of a recent job I had to do. My company has a recorded info line for weather and sea conditions etc, and in poor visibility the mariners and old hands like myself tend to refer to distance in "cables", along with shackles and fathoms and all sorts of mysterious jargon. I had to put out a guide for the uninitiated. cable, simple enough, one tenth of a nautical mile, 608 feet. but then check out "Nautical Mile" there are three different lengths one four titles, International N mile, American N mile, British (RN) N mile and U.S. N mile (aero) which is the same length as the Brit one 6080 feet. Aaaaaagh it just gets worse and worse, roll on global metrication.