Bad fuel economy after complete overhaul

[Guest]

Hey all,
My '79 550 had been getting about 145 miles to a tank last summer, but after going through everything -- including new boots, complete carb rebuild and re-setting the air screws -- I'm now getting about 95 to a tank. My mpg has dropped from the low '40s to about 25 -- not good at all.

Any idea what I could have changed to make the bike suck so much gas? I did a plug reading early in the season and all seemed well. Bike has been running much more smoothly this year otherwise.

[chuck hahn]

Very first post here in the STICKY at the top of the section has the factory specs for the 550s..

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?73723-Carb-OEM-specs-as-per-factory-manuals

[BigD_83]

If you didn't change the jetting, that large a drop in fuel economy should be accompanied by other symptoms- poor running, fouled plugs, wet air filter, overfull crankcase, raw gas smell.- to name a few.

One thing that I immediately think of is whether or not a jet(s) has backed off inside the carbs...it's known to happen, and in my case, I had one rattle right out due to not snugging it down.

So, what did you change in your overhaul?