Suzuki GS500 Fuel Economy
 

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 that isn't lugging the engine, you could go down a few teeth on the rear sprocket when you need a new one.

Fairing the bike - or its rider - will also increase your mileage.

I've just read something interesting @ the f650.com forums: some guy would like to change his BMW F650GS' 5th gear to CS' one, because this way he could make a more economical highway cruising gear for his GS without compromising the usability of the lower ones (especially when offroad).
Someone just advised him just to change chain sprockets to make all the gears taller.
Someone else did some research and wrote that all the other gears are the same for the two models - so I can say that I can understand the asker. F650s' first gear is tall enough without any change.
We have a Hyosung GV250 too, and I think that bike could do very fine with a taller overall ratio (it's not just it could use a taller 5th but has very short lower gears too).

So I'm curious how do GS500's ratios feel. It may or may not be a good idea to change sprockets.

Conversion to MPG
 

For Stateside readers, the bike is recording 67.2MPG. The conversion is easily made using the handy tool in the ecomodder Garage & Tools section.

Thanks for the report!

i still dont see how you are getting that kind of MPG out of a 500cc bike, unless you are pushing it part of the way, or never getting above 3000 RPM.

67mpg out of a 500cc is not unheard of, especially with gearing mods.
Galahs has a 17/45 gear setup, for a 2.67 final drive.

I'm running a 15/39 setup on my ninja 250, for a 2.6 final drive, with a 101.5mpg best tank.

I suspect Galahs can lower his final drive down to around 2.5 and still ride just fine. He would have to change the rear gear to a 42 or 43 tooth.

Yup, it sounds perfectly credible to me. Maybe because I'm used to hypermilers, or I'm used to my own 650: lifetime average is 76.76mpgUS, which includes pretty much 2-up riding last year, I have several 90+mpg tanks with her and one 98.9 - I could never exceed 100, but it's not impossible - just not easy :D

i am not saying its impossible, i just dont think i could ever get that kinda MPG out of a 500cc bike. or maybe i could, but i'd probably get run over in the process.:D

I have a friend who was getting 65 MPG from a 955cc Triumph motorcycle. The motorcycle was stock with fuel injection.

Big CC's, increasing MPG's.......
 

kawboyCAFE, Your average 56 MPG is a surprize to me as I would think a 250 would deliver a little better for you. My previous ride, a 1990 Suzuki Katana 600 would give me 45 MPG with no hyper-mileing, actually somewhat "spirited" riding. The same bike when ridden 2up would get 50-52MPG, a little less "spirited" with the bride on back! My current bike an '04 Honda VTX1300 was doing 42-44 MPG tanks for my first 2+ years on it, then I found this website.....Before I put it away for the winter my last two tanks were 53 & 55.7 MPG, and it was already getting fairly cold by then. I'm looking forward to spring and warm temps again for many reasons, but better MPG's is on the list. I was thrilled to get my 1300's mileage above what I had gotten on the 600 what with it being more than twice the displacement, now I just have to work it up a little more to top your 5 times smaller engine average. HA, HA, just messin with ya. I'm sure your commute/use is much different than mine.

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.

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........:D

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.

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!

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 :D 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 :D

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.

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.

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.

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.:D

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].

Even at 45 mpg that I got with my 2001 FZ1, I spend more money per mile on rear tires even mounting & balanceing myself. My net cost per mile was equal to around 20 mpg just gas & tires.

You may have a heavy wrist :D
I spend far less on tires (front+rear) than on gas @ 77mpgUS.
OK, our gas is 6+ USD per gallon...

I mostly rode pretty conservativly, I've learned from talking with other FZ1 owners, who used theirs for commutting just like me, but with 1/4 the distance commutes but got double the tire life. I think short trips don't heat up the tire and they last a lot longer, my commute got them up to heat, soft and sticky (using sport tourning tires) and wearing faster per mile.

Later got a Concours ZG1000, still only commuting still got 45 mpg and 10,000 rear tire life. ZX600e 45 mpg, 250 Ninga 60 mpg, KLR650 45 mpg (50+ if I'd kept it near 55 mph). All but the Concours I took the 1/2 back road 1/2 freeway route to work. Concours all backroads.

Should have stopped buying trading with the first one I bought, the KLR650 and kept it on the back roads, and it had cheap tires, only 4 valves to check, one carb to clean.

This is an interesting question, how much tire temperature affects longevity.
If it's a real factor, and cold tires really don't wear too much, it's pretty much conserved on my late commutes, when temps were around zero Celsius, and when I touched rear tire after arrival, it was colder than my hand.

On more thing I suspect: riding 2-up wears tires faster too, and I did it for several thousand kms this year, a few hundred kms at once (nothing like a short commute). On the other hand, I'm quite lightweight (by American standards, in Japan I wouldn't be small :D), which is a relief for them when I ride alone.

And different tires are well, different. I use Metzeler Z6, at least so far. Next time I may try another type (a Heidenau my mechanic recommended for all-weather riding, probably more sticky and faster wearing, and I don't know about its effect on fuel efficiency.) What tires are on your bike?

Getting 60+MPG out of a carbed 883 Harley seems pretty darn good compared to what I am reading. I never knew that those bikes were so bad on gas comparatively speaking. I had a 2002 Buell Blast as well 500cc and it managed 65-70mpg spirited riding

The Blast is a good one, I've seen a log with an average of 90mpg!
It's a shame that they got discontinued in such a disgrace :-/
Ok, F650CS' are not produced anymore either, but at least the G650GS does still exist.

The FZ1 had the standard 180x55/17 rear, 120 front, the Z6 was the last tire I installed before I sold it so I didn't wear it out. 1 Dunlup 220's 6k, 2 Bridgstone Bt020 6-7,000 miles, 1 Cont Contiforce (3k, installed & replaced in July same year), ending with the Z6, 28,000 in just over 2 years. Only 2 fronts OEM front last till 7,000, 1st Continental Contiforce lasted till about 20k, then another still on when I sold it.

Like those BMW650, but more likely will get a Versys, Ninja or KLR 650 or similar bike in a few years. The Honda CBR250 at $4000 would be interesting. Should go back to a Dualsport so I can sale my KDX200 as I don't use it enough.

I agree, it would be if it did not cost twice here :( Just like gasoline.
Finally a 250 with ABS, I find it very exciting!

The Concours has some good potential when set up correctly. I'm averaging just about 54 mpg for my 30 mile each way commute that is 66% freeway. Here are some key points of my set-up. Pretty darn sweet in the winter with all that weather protection too.

1) The Concours can use 160/80 Gold Wing touring tires that drastically increase the tire life ( I have over 40,000 miles on a Dunlop k177 rear now).

2) The jetting is rich from the factory. Drop the fuel level in the carbs to 10mm below the parting line between the bowl and the carb body. I gained exactly 5 mpg from this change alone. Alternatively, and probably better, buy a jet kit from Steve in Sunny Florida on the concours.org listserver. I think the economy kit is like $35.

3) The big windshields move more air and decrease mileage. Cutting down the stocker to just below the lip gained about 2 mpg and virtually eliminated the helmet buffeting.

4) Speed has a negative affect just like any other bike. Poke along with traffic in the right lane (60 vs 70+) and I add another 3 or 4 mpg.

4) The valves don't need to be checked that often after they seat in at about 25K. At this point adjustment is usually needed at about 25K intervals, sometimes longer.

5) These bikes just don't wear out. Mine has 212,000 miles on it now and it just keeps going along. You can ride this bike a long time after others have worn out or needed costly repairs, saving alot of cash.

I too like simplicity in bikes, so I bought a 2006 Zongshen Sierra ZS200GY-2. 200cc Yamaha technology single cylinder, air cooled, two valves, carb. It is a real hoot to ride such a light, fun bike. The Concours however just keeps going and going and going and is stone reliable, despite it's complexity.

man, thats alot of miles. i bet you got some stories to tell.:thumbup:

Concours don't wear out, they more often die a sudden death from hydrolocking.

I went thru most of the thing on your list, didn't lower floats quite that far or cut the windscreen, not concerned with MPG just trying to make it run right. It's a good bike, but not for the average person. And those COG people are just plain cheap.

I am presently working on a pair of aluminium Cargo boxes that will fit close behind the riders legs above which I will mount a long tapered cargo bag right behind the riders back, in the hope that I can get to 87mpg. I have also bought a new rear tire [Dunlop D404, 130/90 - 17] that is 7% larger than the stock tire and will bring the rpm at 110 km/hr [70mph] down to 4100rpm. If this all works as planed then it will be worth going to Carmel California [2500km from here] and the Vetter challange!:thumbup:

Do you have any info about those D404s' rolling resistance?
Or about any motorcycle tyres?

No I have no info on RR. What info I do have is that they are what where used on the original 4 cylinder Gold Wings and they have a load rating of 315kg and can be inflated to 280 kpa. One of the problems I am attempting to address is the short life of the original Bridgeston BT45, which is only about 8000 - 10000 km. The bonus is that they are 7% larger and thus they reduce the engine rpm at any given road speed. The problem that may arise is the clearance to the fender. I have done the basic mesurements and it looks ok but you can only be 100% sure by doing an instalation and test ride. ;)
You can get motorcycle tire info on the web at bridgestontire.com or dunloptire.com or do a web search for motorcycle tire. They don't seem to have wear ratings or RR for motorcycle tires on the web that I could find.

Huh, that's not too much.
I got Teresa with a pair of used Metzeler Z6s, and those lasted ~21000km. I was satisfied with them so I replaced them to a new pair of Z6s. Those are quite weary too now, I'll get them replaced this spring. It'll be ~27500km for them with pretty much 2-up usage. The workshop has some Heidenau which are optimized for rain, they say - I may give them a try, last year was very rainy. I worry a bit that their RR could be higher, though.

alvaro84 you need to add your bikes to the ecomodder team FE contest. We 2 wheelers need to show the training wheel set what real FE is.;)

I don't really ride Cliegia (the GV250) much anymore, we bought her to my girlfriend and she got her license last year (and the FE gets better since the training finished :)). But I can add Teresa, indeed. I don't know about this FE contest too much, where can I read more? I suppose it has an own topic (or more).

the way I get to the page is contrived what I recomend is do the ecomodder search and type in ecomodder team competition and and then click on ecomodder team competition, then select motorcycle, then enter your bike.
this could be entertaining. :D

Joined :)
Now I have to go, but I'll read the topic later...

edit. oh, and I forgot:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...cepted_300.jpg

redyaris, I see you had planned a warm air mod. Suggest you weld in an O2 bung and plug in a universal O2 sensor to an AFR gauge. You are probably wanting to be close to a stochiometric mixture anyway so a wideband sensor/gauge isn't necessary. The resolution of the inexpensive narrow band sensor/gauge will help you manage the temperature of the air to optimize the mixture. I have one on my Zongshen 200 and it easily detects the mixture difference of the three different exhausts I've tried. You may also see benefit from changing the stock jetting or settings as is.

By cutting the stock windscreen down on the Concours about 4 inches, I recorded a consistent increase of about 2mpg. Seems that in my case the large size of the barn door was good for winter protection but increased drag. Did you see an increase of FE with the larger screen?

To maximize the engine to run at lower speeds due to the taller gearing, investigate advancing the cam timing. This will take some studying of your stock cam lift and timing and comparing it to other slow speed engines, say a Harley or other cruiser. Modification may be as simple as redrilling holes in the cam gear(s) in precise locations by a machinist. The Concours picked up a healthy low and mid range boost by advancing only the exhaust cam by 7 degrees. Mileage was unaffected, but it's overpowered to begin with and turns 4000rpm at 70mph so no advantage was expected.

Recent activity on the Concours forum describes a modification to the airbox inlet where the inlet is restricted to almost half of its original design. I don't claim to understand the resonance benefits but those who try it rave. Search for "2 minute mod" on concours.org. Combined with jetting changes, you may also benefit. Also boosts low and mid range.

This thread is an interesting one on an overlooked bike. Looking forward to more and seeing you compete in Lacey and with Vetter.