Suzuki GS500 Fuel Economy

[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.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by galahs

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.

[alvaro84]

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.

[MrGoSlow]

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!

[kawboyCAFE]

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.

[theycallmeebryan]

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.

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by theycallmeebryan

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.

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

[kawboyCAFE]

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.

[SoobieOut]

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

[WE3ZS]

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.