'79 GS550 Expected Gas Mileage????

[Gumbo76]

Just kind of curious what anyone else is getting for Gas mileage on thier older GS550? Mine is a '79 and I sem to be getting mid 30's... Is that right???? I don;t know if it is partly because it has been cold (warming up now) or that I am still fairly new and have been reving it a bit high on the take starts. Not winding it, but higher so I don't stall out. I haven't been driving it too hard and tend to upshift well before the RPM's get high... Kinda like an Overdrive.

So, I'm getting Mid 30's, what about anyone else? Thanks in advance for the input!

[Dave8338]

Should be in the high 30's to low 40's. It all depends on the person twisting the grip.

[Steve]

Personally, if it were my 550 only got high 30s to low 40s, I would sell it and get a bigger bike with better mileage.

I would fully expect a 550 to get upper 40s to low 50s with relative ease, but I don't have one, so that's a pure guess. I do know that my wife's 850 gets mid- to upper 40s regularly enough and has even gotten as high as mid-50s for a few consecutive tanks last summer. No reason a 550 shouldn't be able to do the same or better.

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[Odinist]

I tend to be a bit heavy handed, mid 30's isn't uncommon. If you do a lot of highway riding, you'll see pretty craptacular mileage too. I love my 550, but they wind up kinda high, especially once you're doing about 55+ mph.

Around town, if I'm easier on the throttle, high 30's/low 40's isn't that hard to achieve.

[brand new bike zealot]

my 78 550 burns a little less than 7 liters/100km idling through the city on my commute to work, and less than 5 liters/100km highway riding. Ya, I know the metric is confusing but it's the future!... I think

[tkent02]

Mine was always around 50 no matter how hard I thrashed it.

[Steve]

my 78 550 burns a little less than 7 liters/100km idling through the city on my commute to work, and less than 5 liters/100km highway riding. Ya, I know the metric is confusing but it's the future!... I think

I just did a Google search and found this conversion site which showed me that 5 l / 100 km is about 47 mpg.

Just customize the table to show from 2 to 10 liters with an increment of 1.

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[Gumbo76]

I'm quite certain that I need to do some adjustments to things that would help give me better mileage. For all I know, my odometer may not be functioning properly. I'lll have to test that. Hard to believe it's not, but you never know.

[Odinist]

I'm quite certain that I need to do some adjustments to things that would help give me better mileage. For all I know, my odometer may not be functioning properly. I'lll have to test that. Hard to believe it's not, but you never know.

If I have time this weekend, I'll try and do some testing with my GPS to get a more exact idea of what kind of mileage I'm getting.

[donimo]

my 78 550 burns a little less than 7 liters/100km idling through the city on my commute to work, and less than 5 liters/100km highway riding. Ya, I know the metric is confusing but it's the future!... I think

how much does a tank cost and what do you get off it? just comapring

also nice 650 on usedvic today...

[DimitriT]

Mine has the CV carbs which I believe are a little less thirsty but I get about 53 mpg doing mostly 65 mph commuting.

[brand new bike zealot]

how much does a tank cost and what do you get off it? just comapring

also nice 650 on usedvic today...

There was a rad 850 with a sidecar on pender I had a peek at.. Waiting for a 78 1000 to appear... but i digress

In city, I generally hit reserve around 180-190k and that is 12 liters fuel. I haven't really done any major highway trips, but after a run down with a full tank from nanaimo, it took me to 240 with city riding before a 13 liter fill up...