typical mileage for a 550

[Aaron]

Hey guys,

I've got my bike back on the road (82 gs550L) It runs pretty smooth, nothing seems too unusua as far as performance. It pulls strong, idles very good, but I only get about 34mpg which seems sorta low. I have noticed that my brake is dragging slightly, I need to clean and grease the caliper and piston. I'm wondering if there is a deeper problem, or if the brake could be dropping the mileage that much. What do you guys get on your 550's?

Thanks
Aaron

[Killer2600]

Grease the caliper and piston...no don't do that, grease the caliper slides maybe but not the piston.

But yea your mileage seems low, I'm getting 45 mpg combined city/highway avg on my 750 so you should be doing better. Aside from your brakes possibly being the culprit have you tuned up your engine so it's running at peak efficiency?

[tkent02]

Hey guys,

I've got my bike back on the road (82 gs550L) It runs pretty smooth, nothing seems too unusua as far as performance. It pulls strong, idles very good, but I only get about 34mpg which seems sorta low. I have noticed that my brake is dragging slightly, I need to clean and grease the caliper and piston. I'm wondering if there is a deeper problem, or if the brake could be dropping the mileage that much. What do you guys get on your 550's?

Thanks
Aaron

Should be 50mpg or so, there's probably a bunch of little issues contributing to poor efficiency.
Valves, timing, jetting, brakes dragging, low air pressure, carbs out of synch, etc.

[WesV]

It definitely should be higher, but your body size (weight), riding style and with our without windshield makes a difference. My 450L with my big ole fat butt (6' 240 lbs) going all over the VA mountains with usually WOT to keep speed, I would get 43-45 in town and 50 on highway, but my dad (5'7" 145lbs) could easily get 50 in town and 55 on highway because the bike didn't have to work as hard. You should be getting better, but the only way to really figure out what you should be getting, you need to compare to someone very similar to you.

[Aaron]

I'm not a terribly big guy 185, I lost 25+ lbs last year. I plan on checking the brakes soon, after that maybe a valve job. I've never done one on this bike. I hate tinkering on this bike, it seems some other problems come up when I'm doing work and it takes too long to get it put back together. So after brakes what order would be the best bang. I'm happy since 35mpg is still way better than my pickup.

Aaron

[tkent02]

Valves.
Valves.
Valves.

[Steve]

Hey, tkent, since you used plurals, there would be two valves per mention. What about the other two valves?

Should be

Valves.
Valves.
Valves.
Valves.

8-[

[tkent02]

Hey, tkent, since you used plurals, there would be two valves per mention. What about the other two valves?

Should be

Valves.
Valves.
Valves.
Valves.

8-[

I figured a couple of his valves might still be in spec. :-)

[Aaron]

Hey, tkent, since you used plurals, there would be two valves per mention. What about the other two valves?

Should be

Valves.
Valves.
Valves.
Valves.

8-[

Oh darn, Thats exactly what I was afraid of.