Suzuki GS500 Fuel Economy

[kawboyCAFE]

my mileage could be better, but i am not a hypermiler. i dont ride it hard, but i dont ride it easy either. plus, having to use the choke more for the cold, and alot of my use being in town, that really kills it. if i really wanted to, i could get it into the 70s. i had one tank that i took it kinda easy on, and got like 67 MPG. i know i could do better, i am just not really trying right now. maybe in the spring i will try as hard as i can to get the highest MPG out of it just to see what it will get.

[WE3ZS]

Thats cool, Why so long on the choke? In my experience I only choke for less than a 1/4 mile or so on the 1300 and the 600 was just a touch longer if I pulled away from a cold start, most times that bike warmed up sitting still. These are with temps down to the freezing mark in the mornings, I don't ride (motorcycles) below 32 degrees. My Yamaha Kodiak 450 ATV doesn't like even a partial choke any longer than a minute or so, same with the wifes 250 ATV.
I really like your bike, sharp! Love that color combination. I am looking to pick up a 250 (or so) for the bride this year, she needs a low seat height so I've been checking out the Honda Rebels. The more I see of those 250 Ninja's though the more I like........

[kawboyCAFE]

Originally Posted by WE3ZS

Why so long on the choke?

the newer ninja 250 is a very cold blooded machine, mainly because of the stock carb settings. i dont know about the older ones. this bike takes a little bit to warm up when its in the 30s & 40s. its not that bad though. let it warm up 3-5 minutes, and then take off with it on half choke, and then after a mile or 2 you can turn it off. every bike i have owned has had different cold weather characteristics. some were good, and some were bad. this bike is pretty good about warming up. i had a 750 katana that took 15 minutes to warm up, and you were not going anywhere until that thing warmed up. i had a 650 vstar that hardly ever needed any choke no matter what temp it was. they are all different.

[WE3ZS]

Ya know I was just thinking........You have made a good point on choke time in similar temps. My commute has me on a 45MPH state highway within 2 blocks of my house, thats when I kill the choke. Of course I also have the throttle open somewhat to get to and maintain speed, so..........I don't need the choke any more. DUH on me! With your in town riding, starting and stopping, it would be needed longer to keep from falling flat at idle or starting from a stop. Thanks!

[alvaro84]

Of our bikes Ciliegia has a manual choke and when it's cold I usually use it until I get out of the village, which is ~2km if we head south.
Teresa is part computer inside, so her ways are a bit more mystic She controls the choke by herself, and I don't know for how long. One idiosyncracy I know about her is when it's around zero and she sleeps outside (at my workplace) for the first time in a longer period, she likes to stall when coasting and the idle likes to surge. After the next cold start everything is fine

[kawboyCAFE]

i never have had good luck with those auto-chokes. glad you are though. i bet you got some good riding in hungary dont you? i'd love to visit and ride there some time, but i dont think thats gonna happen.

[alvaro84]

Hm, it's hard to get a new bike with manual choke here, over those 50cc things they're virtually all fuel injected.
And yes, there are very nice places for riding. There are crowded and really bad quality roads too, then anyone should avoid if (s)he wants to enjoy the ride.
My favourites in the nearby are the roads between Csákvár, Gánt and Környe, and the one from Bodajk to Zirc. They run in a very nice, hilly area.
But we also visit Slovenia and Austria for lovely roads and villages, it's worth it.

[nemesis]

lol, mine is getting 35mpg so far all stock, no mods, 998cc. Lots of ideas, so little time and even less money, lol. I want to get a programmer, dual stage exhaust, longer intake runners, and go from there for now.

[kawboyCAFE]

Originally Posted by nemesis

mine is getting 35mpg so far all stock

not to upset you or anything, but you are not going to get much better than that out of a CBR929 no matter what you do. just facts. you might squeeze 45-47 out of it with gear changes, but thats about it. of course, those bikes were not built with MPG in mind.

[redyaris]

Originally Posted by galahs

The GS500 and GS500F are great alround bikes with decent power and great fuel economy.

The air cooled, twin will easily cover 370km from 17 litres sitting on 110km/h. I have got the best fuel economy at about 80km/h where I can get about 3.5L per 100kms.

When conserving fuel, I find as long as I up shift at 5,000rpm and at lower speeds keep her at about 4,000rpm I get really good economy without labouring the engine.

I increased my front gearing from 16 teeth to a 17 tooth sprocket, and this has resulted in about a 300rpm decrease which has made doing highway speeds more economical.

If you clik on "Gray" you can see what I have done with my 2007 GS500. To date I have got 65mpg average and am working on getting too 87mpg next year. I have plans to run in the Lacey FE run in May 2011 and maybe the Vetter Challange in Carmell California a week after Lacey. The Vetter challange is the real test of what can be achieved. I will be using 17/33 final drive gearing which will have the GS500 at 4400rpm at 110 km/hr [70mph] which is 20% below stock at 5500rpm [16/39].