Getting about 25 MPG on my GS650...

[MisterOh]

Someone did ask how it runs.....? smoke . idle ok? does your fuel gauge still work ? gas in oil gives off obvious smell when you remove oil fill cap. As for clutch stuff, try to adjust it,but your cable (30 years old?) might be failing and stretching. Correct asap, cuz transmission repairs are no fun!

Added; I missed the "oil change recently". What kind/type/weight did you use? did shifting problem occur at this time?

How does it run? It runs... OK. It stalls if I ride it for longer than half an hour. It doesn't smoke. It idles fine but maybe a little high. I need to replace the tach cable to make sure. I just changed the oil. I will play with the clutch cable sometime this week.

Thanks for all the advice! I'll take a look at the floats too, 1_v8_merc. Are there any good guides on how to do that?

[tom203]

How does it run? It runs... OK. It stalls if I ride it for longer than half an hour. It doesn't smoke. It idles fine but maybe a little high. I need to replace the tach cable to make sure. I just changed the oil. I will play with the clutch cable sometime this week.

Thanks for all the advice! I'll take a look at the floats too, 1_v8_merc. Are there any good guides on how to do that?

Sounds like carb work is calling! Follow the link to Basscliff's site, but have food on hand.
At next cold start,and after about 20 seconds, gingerly touch each exhaust header pipes (reach over while you're on bike) to see if they all feel about the same heat. You might have one cylinder on vacation. OK, you changed oil, but what did you use?

[MisterOh]

Oh boy... Working on the carbs sounds really intimidating and I'm scared I'll just screw my bike up even more!

I changed the oil and it was completely black... It was the first time I changed it since I bought it from its previous owner.

[tom203]

Oh boy... Working on the carbs sounds really intimidating and I'm scared I'll just screw my bike up even more!

I changed the oil and it was completely black... It was the first time I changed it since I bought it from its previous owner.

Yes, it was black, but what color/brand/ type/weight did you replace it with? This MIGHT be part of clutch problem.

[tom203]

Oh boy... Working on the carbs sounds really intimidating and I'm scared I'll just screw my bike up even more!

Head to Maine CL and in motorcycle listing search for "Suzuki gs650L"- poor soul , who bought bike last spring, got frustrated, and just gave up and bought another bike that ran. The choice is yours- catch up on maintenance and have a great running bike, or hope that your bike doesn't get any worse. Yes, carb removal is intimidating the first time, but it's even less fun to have bike that stalls out in traffic!

[Larry D]

Oh boy... Working on the carbs sounds really intimidating and I'm scared I'll just screw my bike up even more!

I changed the oil and it was completely black... It was the first time I changed it since I bought it from its previous owner.

Good job changing the oil....hope you changed the filter too.....

Anyway, if you haven't dipped and rebuilt the carbs with new o-rings, it's something that 99 times out of 100, absolutely, positively needs to be done. It's looks quite intimidating when you first look at it, but, in actuality, it's not bad at all. Just stay organized and follow the tutorial to the letter. Be very careful when removing that float pins as not to snap the posts. Get your orings from cycleorings.com and follow the tutorial below. After your done, do a bench sync and slap them back in.

http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm