'83 650 gl mileage question

[robinelwood]

Hi folks;

I have a generally stock '83 gs 650l up in Northwest Washington. (except w/o the horrible original buckhorn bars...) 21,000 Odometer.

My question is mileage; I seem to hover at 22-25 MPG consistently.

Which seems low.....
especially w. the l's little tank.

A little background; most day-to-day riding is short in-town trips. Rain or shine. Fairly conservative rider, RPM between 3.5-7k.

Carbs re-needled and balanced 4 months ago. Airbox and exhuast put back to stock. Starts beautifully, idles 900-1000 warm.

Does anyone ride a similar model, and are there any obvious indicators for low mileage? Anything I should check on (valves?)... or is that just the price of puttering around town?

Thanks,Robin

[Nessism]

Your bike should get at least 40 mpg.

When you say the "Airbox and exhaust put back to stock" does than mean it wasn't stock recently? If not maybe the carbs were rejetted for a header and pods.

I suggest you pull the carbs and check the jet numbers and compare to the stock numbers in the factory service manual (free download available from basscliff).

Regarding the valves, shame on you if you haven't checked already. Do you think the bike does it's own maintenance? Sounds like you need to get busy.

[Charlie G]

I have a 650g. Same motor, different body work. I get 45-48 mpg. Something's not right. Like Nessim say's, valves are a must. I'd check those jets.

cg

[robinelwood]

Thanks for the confirmation.

Needles are right. (previous owner had put K$N pods on w/o rejetting, which worked about how you'd think. Replaced boots and airboxs/snorkel thingy and filter,sealed manifolds, and (softy that I am) had a local mechanic (and gs specialist) take down the carbs and do them better than I would have. Bike pulls nicely at all revs, doesn't bog down anywhere or smoke particularly.

Valves will be checked as soon as I get to it... not worth shaming me, by the way. I have twin toddlers and a teenager. I'm lucky I manage as much maintainance as I do, really.

Thanks for suggestions....I appreciate the existence of a community that knows what's what.
Cheers,
Robin

[Charlie G]

Have you pulled the spark plugs to see if they are running rich or lean. Black &sooty= rich ,tan =good , grey/white=lean. Are you sure it's running on all 4 cylinders?

Smell gas? When petcocks don't work right they can dump excess gas into the carbs, air box, oil. Easy check.

My bike didn't want to go over 5k when I got it. It had air leaks and dirty as can be. When I cleaned the carbs, the PO had used a rebuild kit prior, which came with new jets, which he used. I checked them with what should hve been stock and they were wrong. Luckily he saved the old ones, which I put in. Ran good after that.

Good luck.

cg