Suzuki gs500 gets bad mileage

[beatr911]

Good goin'. Hope that was it.

I personally would like to see how far you can reasonably go with the GS. I'm considering replacing my aging steed for a smaller bike but need (want) one with a full fairing for weather protection and comfort. The weather protection extends the riding season and reduces the excuses not to ride in cold/rain. The GS500F seems like it might fit the bill with some custom fairing extenders and larger windscreen.

[naturalextraction]

I read through the thread and had to look up the specs on your bike as I wasn't familiar off the top of my head. We have a couple riders of those up here. I live at 6,500' which without jetting the mains minimally, the bike will suffer greatly in power and economy. So if you live above 3,500' a slight jet change or needle change (depending on what carbs you have) may help. Also these twins have decent bottom end torque but suffer at higher rpm which also contributes to more strain and inefficiencies with these underpowered bikes. Unlike "theycallmebryan's" Ninja, the power band is wider and also has four valves per cylinder as apposed to two. They breath better. Also of course, weight makes a considerable contribution. Mostly in stop and go traffic or hilly traveling distances. So if your a big guy, even 160lbs on that particular bike will give you less mileage in stop and go traffic or if you have to manage hills of any sort than if you weighed 145lbs. Also the many Hyper mileage tricks really do help. I turn my SV650S off at lights when I know I'm going to be sitting through two other lights before it's my turn. I coast a lot but we have many hills. Your actually better off keeping the revs higher and the engine within it power band than lugging it for lower rpms. Or down shift more often. lugging wastes way more fuel than when the engine is running at it's optimum power related to rpm and cam profile. Also doesn't hurt to coast to some lights and or down hills if you can. Engine breaking utilizes more fuel as well. Breaks can wear longer than we give them credit for if you use them properly. These or the usual Hyper Mileage tricks really do ad up. If your a heavy guy this will help significantly and bring you back up to their advertised MPG. Also optimum tuning, as discussed by others, always helps. I must mention of course, fairing. If your traveling over 45mph, there are many aftermarket clamp on fairings that will help bring down some frontal drag. Hope that shed a few more thought to your mpg dilemma.

[Froggypwns]

Not to bump an old thread, I used to own a 2004 GS500F, and would regularly get 65mpg (fillup every 200ish miles, took roughly 3 gallons each time). This was a few years ago, before I knew how to hypermile, just was taking it easy.

[Frank]

What year is the bike? FWIW, some of the older models had extremely low pressures marked on the sticker, probably due to the type of tire construction at the time.

[shorttimer]

A friend of mine had a GS500. His too, got poor mileage, and on top of that is the worst handling bike I have ridden since the old Kawi 500 triple.