Fuel Consumption GS 1200 2004
Hey All...I am a little concerned about the fuel consumption on my GS 1200, 2004.
Went for a ride today, left with a full tank ie> 20 litres. Was a tar ride, and I was at times doing 180 K's per hour, but here are the statistics :
Rode 219 K's and the yellow warning triangle came on, as well as the flashing petrol pump icon. Was told then that I had 58 residual K's to go before empty.
This means i was getting 13.85 K;s per litre of fuel.
Can the high speeds be the reason for such high cosumption...is this normal, or could there be another reason for it, the bike goes well, and sounds well tuned..?
Pls help..?
There is a reason why fuel consumption statistics are quoted for speeds of 100km/hr, and it is usually measured by riding very steadily at exactly 100km/hr and no faster. It is because consumption goes up dramatically with an increase in speed.
7.2 litres per 100km - to be expected. I get about 6 litres per hundred on my 1150GS on my usual commute. Yes, it is about the same as a small car, but it is a lot more fun.
A safe range on my GS1200 (19 litre tank) was 250 Km. If perfect conditions and convervative riding this could inclease to 320 Km. So speed, load, altitude, wind and gradient play a roll. I found riding hard onto a strong headwind depleted the fuel quickly.
On today's ride to Riebeek Kasteel and back home I achieved a registered consumption of 5,1lt/100,0 km. @ 110,0 to 120km/h, I'm happy with that.
Hier is my stats op die vorige trip.
dit was meestal grondpad teen so 80 tot 100 kph.
Offroad stats
Op die uidige trip ry ek net teer teen so 130- 140 en het die volgende gekry
258km 17l 15.17km/l
235km 16.2l 14.5
254km 17.38l 14.61km/l
Die fiets was beide trips basies dieselde gelaai.
Lig op brandstof NEE, groot genot JA
Adie
Hothed, at 180, you drian your tnak fast.
When I stick to speeds of less than 13kph, I get 550kms out my tank.
At 110 I get 600kms.
At 180, I get the same as you.
Hothed, i also ride an older model 1200 and find the petrol gauge is not always accurate. this is worse when you go fast. sometimes it shows empty and i can only put in 16 or so lts. i have purposely run out and find i could do nearly 40kms more after it shows 0 ? test it.
Went for a ride today, left with a full tank ie> 20 litres. Was a tar ride, and I was at times doing 180 K's per hour, but here are the statistics :
Rode 219 K's and the yellow warning triangle came on, as well as the flashing petrol pump icon. Was told then that I had 58 residual K's to go before empty.
This means i was getting 13.85 K;s per litre of fuel.
Can the high speeds be the reason for such high cosumption...is this normal, or could there be another reason for it, the bike goes well, and sounds well tuned..?
Pls help..?
Yup this is about what you can expect, when I had my full Remus pipe on my previous two models (2004 and 2007) and I had road tyres fitted and felt the need for speed I would get about 150kms and go into reserve. Normal riding you will get about 250kms before reserve.
Whew Everybody...thank you so much for the wealth of info on this issue. Feel a lot better now, knowing that this is not a tuning problem, or some such other problem thats drainig the fuel. It is amazing how the increase in speed over 120/130 notches up the consumtion. All this info makes it much easier to plan trips...especially the long ones....thanks once again to everyone..!!! 
Nicley put Hothed,
I too discovered what a huge difference riding style and speed effects consumption and tyre wear.
And yes, just as you say.
I plan my trips on this knowledge as well.
In fact I cna leave my office for home.... and after 3 mins of riding, INFO reads I have 100 km enduranc eon the tnak.
If I slack off from 135 to 110kph, then in 45 kilos, by the time i reach home, INFO reads 103 kilos endurance.
Jus tthe reduction in speed and smoother riding style buys me back range.
On the other hand,
When I go for a Ride-it-like-it-was-stolen trip I can see the fuek drian fast and the tyre waer increase dramatically.
In my morning commute each day, I can see the fuel price is not yet too high for those people in their amaglug-glu SRV's.
Either that or they drive with a company petro-card.
They come past at speeds that obviously ratchet up their fuel consumption remarkably and if petrol was free!!!
Whew Everybody...thank you so much for the wealth of info on this issue. Feel a lot better now, knowing that this is not a tuning problem, or some such other problem thats drainig the fuel. It is amazing how the increase in speed over 120/130 notches up the consumtion. All this info makes it much easier to plan trips...especially the long ones....thanks once again to everyone..!!!
Hothed,
On the last BMW Annual roadies tour I got 400km easily out of my tank on my 2004 GS. That is 5litres/100km. But it was steady speeds at 130km, with very little stops inbetween. (it was lead by Geoff Russell after all...)
But on normal outings with lots of stops and waits and breaks I seldom get more than 300km out of a tank at approx 120/130/140km/h. But at 180km/h you will be lucky to get 250km.
The earlier models are also prone to screw around with the fuel level guage...when I bought my bike in 2010 the reserve constantly came on at 180km without high speeds. At 250km I would stop and fill up, but only managed to get 16 litres in the tank. So I started working on a ave of 300km per tank even though the reserved showed different.
Just my 2c.
When you measure fuel consumption, you do it from full tank to full tank. You cannot use the "estimated kilometres remaining in the tank" as given by the computer.
- The computer estimates based on how you are/have been riding, and what it thinks is left in the tank. The bike fuel gauge is not as well-calibrated as the fuel pumps at the garage, so already the computer is at a disadvantage.
- Because we tend to overfill our tanks, the trip computer also has the wrong idea about how much fuel you have used.
So, the way to do it is like this (I hope I am teaching you to suck eggs here, otherwise your bike computer has made you dumb):
- Fill the tank (to the level you always do - ie if you overfill, do it the same every time).
- Reset your odo.
- Next time you fill up, take note of the kms you have traveled and the amount of fuel you have had to use to fill up.
- Voila! Almost perfectly accurate consumption per kilometer...
Personally, I do not record these values. I just take note if it is higher than usual for no reason and watch out for it the next time. Some of you may be recording it for tax purposes, others for interest. I don't.
You also neet to take into account that the kilometer reading is not accurate, there are several reasons for this and one of them is tyre wear. So you need to take this into account as well.
If you have ridden with a GPS you have a fair idea of how much it is out by. Typically it will read higher than you have actually ridden by anything between 0 and 10% (ignoring tyre differences).
So, your consumption may be up to 10% out - but the absolute value is not a big deal (unless it is out of the ballpark, like 10l per 100km). What matters is the change.
I have found Fuelly to be a useful website to track your own fuel usage and compare it to similar vehicles.
Example: all the R1200GS bikes can be compared.
The reason fuel usage increases so drastically with an increase in speed becomes clear when considering the equation dealing with drag forces: Drag = 1/2.p.v^2.C.A.
p = fluid/air density. C = a drag coefficient. A = Area (of your bike). v = speed of object (bike) relative to fluid/air.
The important bit to note is the power factor for v (this value is squared). This means that drag doesn't increase in a linear way when you increase speed. If all else stays the same, when you double your speed, you quadruple the drag. That's why fuel usage starts skyrocketing when you drive very fast.
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