GS Miles Per Gallon Chart ( Link )

[GQROD]

After recently correcting a poor fuel mileage issue prompted by an ignition problem i thought i would post this in the event others want a general idea especially newbies concerning how many miles to the gallon their GS should be getting.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Motorcycle-MPG-Guide-Suzuki-Sports--Fours

Hope this helps

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. GQROD,

Hmmmm. 49 - 58 mpg for my GS850G? The best I have ever gotten is 43. My normal, every day commuting on the So. Cal. freeways gets me 37-38 mpg.

I know Mr. Steve reports that his wife's 850 gets better than 50 mpg sometimes. Perhaps I should ride a little more conservatively.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

I ride mine to have fun, it shows in my milage Hi of 38 and a low of < 25 mpg, the newer CV type carb models seem to get slightly better milage than the VM's

 

[Matchless]

The USA gallons are a bit smaller than the imperial ones?

 

[Sandy]

If you multiply the Imperial by .8 that will get you pretty close, it's actually .83. My 1000 on a good day can get 50MPG/Imp which would work out to 40 or 41.5 MPG/US depending on which calc you use.

EDIT. I just checked the calc based on the Kms/L and those mpg figures ARE actually for the US gallon. I think they are kind of high but I guess under ideal conditions at maybe 55mph on they might be accurate. While there wasn't a MPG figure for my GS1000/VM carbs it would be hard to get anywhere close to those figures. Not that I'd really have the patience to try.LOL Or maybe I'll just pretend my mileage is in US galllons and not Imperial.

 

[rustybronco]

'82 gs850g, 43-45 heavy wristed. 47-49+ light wristed. my personal best of 49.9 was really trying to eek out the most milege.
for me it also depended on what oil I used.

 

[GQROD]

Hi Mr. GQROD,

Hmmmm. 49 - 58 mpg for my GS850G? The best I have ever gotten is 43. My normal, every day commuting on the So. Cal. freeways gets me 37-38 mpg.

I know Mr. Steve reports that his wife's 850 gets better than 50 mpg sometimes. Perhaps I should ride a little more conservatively.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

I thought it would give a decent baseline for comparison between what's expected and what real world riders are getting. And it's rare to find all GS models listed in any internet search.

Being the owner of the red headed step child of the GS line it's hard to contribute something that other model owners can benefit from, thought this was worthwhile for others who have helped keep my bike alive.

A big reason i wanted a smaller displacement GS was because of the decent gas mileage, but when i was only getting 20-25 miles per gallon i knew something was wrong, and i didn't have a baseline to compare it to.

Hopefully it can benefit others with the same question new to GS ownership or just curious about their ride.

 

[LarryA_Texas]

Rebel-80mpg

Rebel-80mpg

It's in the carbs, the set-up and your wrist has a lot to do with it.

I have a buddy that rides a Honda Rebel for the mileage. When he's trying hard, and by hard I mean that he uses the kill switch to shut if off while coasting down hill and approaching red lights, he gets up to about 80, (Eighty! ) miles to a gallon.

I wouldn't recommend that to anyone but he's kinda nuts that way.:!:

 

[BassCliff]

I thought it would give a decent baseline for comparison between what's expected and what real world riders are getting. And it's rare to find all GS models listed in any internet search.

Being the owner of the red headed step child of the GS line it's hard to contribute something that other model owners can benefit from, thought this was worthwhile for others who have helped keep my bike alive.

A big reason i wanted a smaller displacement GS was because of the decent gas mileage, but when i was only getting 20-25 miles per gallon i knew something was wrong, and i didn't have a baseline to compare it to.

Hopefully it can benefit others with the same question new to GS ownership or just curious about their ride.

Hi Mr. GQROD,

I wasn't questioning your motives, and I do appreciate the informational link. I'm just envious of those gas mileage numbers. We'll see what I can do with my Colortune and Carbtune once they arrive. When I filled up last night my calculations showed 37.8mpg.

I finally got around to installing the coil realy mod on my bike last night. I'll put in new plugs and clean the air filter next. Then we'll see what numbers I get. Maybe I just need to lose some weight.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Guest]

After recently correcting a poor fuel mileage issue prompted by an ignition problem i thought i would post this in the event others want a general idea especially newbies concerning how many miles to the gallon their GS should be getting.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Motorcycle-MPG-Guide-Suzuki-Sports--Fours

Hope this helps

Hi gqrod,

A perfect example on how even a new member can contribute to this site.
You took the extra time to search for it, and posted it for everybody to benefit. :clap:

Obviously, mileage will be affected by many factors and will vary from riders, but at least it gives a figure to work with.

 

[GQROD]

Hi Mr. GQROD,

I wasn't questioning your motives, and I do appreciate the informational link. I'm just envious of those gas mileage numbers. We'll see what I can do with my Colortune and Carbtune once they arrive. When I filled up last night my calculations showed 37.8mpg.

I finally got around to installing the coil realy mod on my bike last night. I'll put in new plugs and clean the air filter next. Then we'll see what numbers I get. Maybe I just need to lose some weight.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

No offense taken, and i know that real world numbers will definetly have an impact on actual mileage.

For me i ran my bike for six months with lousy mpg simply because i did not have a reliable or relaistic baseline, at least with the chart provided anyone finding weird mpg numbers can check their ride since mpg is always noticed right away and can alert you to ignition problems like mine did.

At least now i know i'm not going nuts ( although it would not hurt me to lose a few pounds too -lol )

 

[GQROD]

Hi gqrod,

A perfect example on how even a new member can contribute to this site.
You took the extra time to search for it, and posted it for everybody to benefit. :clap:

Obviously, mileage will be affected by many factors and will vary from riders, but at least it gives a figure to work with.

Thank you !, i feel grateful to this site and it's members for helping me keep my ride alive.

However it's not always easy to be able to contribute anything worthy for all members to benefit from especially being new to riding, GS's, and my particular model is scarce so a lot of the mods or advice usually only benefits this model.

Good luck and good riding everyone!

 

[tkent02]

I'm guessing those numbers were taken when these bikes were new, and gasoline was a lot better.
There's not as much energy available in the stuff they sell today.

 

[dpep]

Hi Mr. GQROD,

Hmmmm. 49 - 58 mpg for my GS850G? The best I have ever gotten is 43. My normal, every day commuting on the So. Cal. freeways gets me 37-38 mpg.

I know Mr. Steve reports that his wife's 850 gets better than 50 mpg sometimes. Perhaps I should ride a little more conservatively.

I'm with you, Cliff. One of my 850s I bought new Dec '79. It has delivered about the same mileage through the years--high 30's; low 40's on a good day. To get any higher than that I have to be following a cop for most of the tank. Headwinds and hills can put it into the low 30's. Of the three running 850's I've had over the last few years they all got different mileage figures. The Burgundy 850 I got from Redman is the best, consistently in the low 40's. The Black '82 was usually mid or even low 30's. That is a 15-20% difference and I assure you my riding style doesn't change depending upon which 850 I am on. So how you ride is part of it, but it isn't all of it.

I can only shake my head when I hear about the consistently high 40s and into the 50's for an 850. I would love to go on a ride with some of those high mpg machines for direct comparison.

One thing to ask is if the bike's odometer error has been calculated and the mileage corrected for it. It is different for each bike also, especially for older bikes that you can assume have had at least one and probably many speedo gear replacements. Ride a known distance (highway mile markers help here) after setting your odometer to zero. See what it reads at the end of the distance. Try to go for at least ten miles if you can. The greater the distance the easier to see the differences. If your odometer shows more than the known distance then the mileage you are computing from your odo readings is overstated. If it shows less than the known distance then you are actually getting better mileage than your calculations are telling you.

 

[82Shafty]

ummm... No joke I see an average of 46-53mpg on my 1100GL.

Somewhere else on here we had a miles per gallon thread rolling and I posted my best on there.


My buddies honda 750 always beats me with 50-58 mpg.

 

[Steve]

I know Mr. Steve reports that his wife's 850 gets better than 50 mpg sometimes. Perhaps I should ride a little more conservatively.

BassCliff:
That trip where we got 50+ for several tanks was at the end of a trip with a rather eye-opening beginning. The trip was a long weekend with our GoldWing chapter, going to West Virginia. The group was wanting to take the freeway to get to a particular restaurant by a certain time so we could then take our time on the twisties on the rest of the way to our destination. We were running between 70 and 75 mph on the freeway, and into about a 10-15 mph headwind. Normally, she will go about 130-140 miles before putting it on reserve. First tank: 90 miles. Second tank: 95 miles. This works out to 30-32 mpg. I actualy got better mileage with my Wing on that portion of the trip (32-35 mpg) and I was carrying a passenger and pulling a trailer. I then bought a one-gallon gas can to carry in the saddlebag for the rest of the trip because where we were going, there were not gas stations on every corner.

When we slowed down for the curves on the second half of the trip, her mileage came back up into the mid-40s. Two days later, on the second day in West Virginia, mileage was into the low 50s. On the way home, there were two consecutive tanks in the 55-59 mpg range, then the last tank on the way home was about 53. No adjustments were made to the bike on this trip, I attribute the low MPG solely to the relatively high speed on the freeway and going into the wind.

I can only shake my head when I hear about the consistently high 40s and into the 50's for an 850. I would love to go on a ride with some of those high mpg machines for direct comparison.

One thing to ask is if the bike's odometer error has been calculated and the mileage corrected for it. It is different for each bike also, especially for older bikes that you can assume have had at least one and probably many speedo gear replacements. Ride a known distance (highway mile markers help here) after setting your odometer to zero. See what it reads at the end of the distance. Try to go for at least ten miles if you can. The greater the distance the easier to see the differences. If your odometer shows more than the known distance then the mileage you are computing from your odo readings is overstated. If it shows less than the known distance then you are actually getting better mileage than your calculations are telling you.

Don:
I know for a fact that the speedo drive has been replaced on her bike, I did it.
Yes, actual mileage will differ a bit, but how about a direct comparison?
On that trip, her 850 and my Wing went everywhere together.
Her odometer for the trip registered 1174.6 miles.
My Wing registered 1178 miles (no tenths on the main odometer).
The GPS registered 1184.4 miles.
That's 0.83% error on hers and 0.54% on mine. Close enough?

 

[duaneage]

Hals mileage specs for the Hondamatic CM400A list it as 46-52 mpg. I never got more than 42 out of mine, even on a 55 mph trip on flat roads.

I do see 48-55 on the GS650G though.

 

[80GS750]

my 78 gs1000 gets around 45 on a good tank.. right where it should be.

it also has pods and exhaust... so im not easy on it...

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

I rode down to the Julian rally yesterday. On the way down I got 32 mpg. On the way back I got 45 mpg. Headwinds make a big difference on something as aerodynamic as a 30 year old motorcycle.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[C.V.]

Hi,

I rode down to the Julian rally yesterday. On the way down I got 32 mpg. On the way back I got 45 mpg. Headwinds make a big difference on something as aerodynamic as a 30 year old motorcycle.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

I got my best yet out of my '79 on fridays palomar ride (and a subsequent 50 miler on sat) - 39.5. Most of my previous readings were based on work commute, which was 75+ fwy speeds, and lots of city riding. usually get around 34-36 under those conditions.