No.
My 99 would consistantly get between 40 and 55mpg.
40 if Im romping on it hard for the whole tank (like at the Dragon), and 55 if Im gingerly.

 

How long since last carby sync? How old are the carbs? Condition of air filter?

 

let it run for a bit.

the the end of the can is wet.

then it is runing to rich.
it could also be that you just need to clean out the jets and fuel filter.

 

Have you changed out the filter lately? I just changed out the air filter on my '03. I haven't been able to figure out the MPG yet since my speedo was broken but I fixed it last weekend, so I'll find out by the end of the week.

IMO the earlier models of both gen1 and 2 run rich and the later ones run lean.

I'd love to get 45-50mpg again..

 

I am glad to see this thread. I am having similar problems. I got 86.5 miles out of my last 3.217 gallon, which is 26.88 m/g. I am unhappy. All commuting on city streets at 15-35 mph. So i need to check the air filter (which I was told is a K&N), and the fuel filter. I have never seen moisture at my can (full system yosh) and had the valves looked at when I bought it used with 35,059 miles.

 

Just remembered the air filter is a K&N. Don't know when it was last cleaned. I'll go ahead and take care of that since it's easy enough.

Don't know when the carbs were synched either. When I bought the bike last June it had a little over 15k miles on it and the guy said he had just gotten the valves checked, bike tuned, radiator flushed, etc. He seemed like an honest guy and we actually talked about cars and stuff for a couple hours when I bought the bike, but I didn't see a receipt for the work so I can't be 100% certain it was done.

 

Any of the maintenance items can kill mileage...

Bad speark plugs
Clogged air filter
Dirty carbs

-And expecially-
Valves out of adjustment

 

make sure to re-oil the filter after you clean it.

 

Nice, you mean the fuel filter, right? I'm getting low 30s in the city too, though I do spend some time in the upper reaches of the tachometer.

 

^^No, he means the air filter. K&N's use oil to help them filter.

 

+1... the oil should come in the filter cleaning kit (or you can buy the oil separately at any auto parts store).. you can clean the filter with gas, IIRC, then reoil. The oil is red so that you can tell which parts of the filter you've hit, and which you've missed.

 

Don't feel bad....the only thing bad I can say about the SV is that the gas mileage sucks. I've sync'd carbs, new plugs, filters, etc.....and don't have a heavy right hand around town. My bike is completely stock too, no jetting, etc. I've never really gotten above 39mpg, but it beats 12mpg in the truck. I won't believe people are getting 50,60mpg+ until I see it with my own eyes, right now the fuel light starts blinking on my 1st gen anywhere from 116 to 130 miles. Running 87 octane

 

Thats still a lot better than the 85 miles a tank I am getting with 93 octane.

 

****.......guess I better quit complaining then! Seriously though, you've got to have a problem somewhere for it to be getting that bad of mileage. Good luck, let us know

 

Well, I have to say, I've never used a tank of gas around town. I rarely ride in town, stoplight to stoplight.
I suppose that could really hurt the mileage.

 

I looked at the service manual (is everyone's in Greek, or just me?) and the operation of taking out the carbs and fuel filter seem very far beyond me. Does anyone know how long it takes to have the carbs taken out and looked at?

 

I get 150-170 miles on a tank with my '01 svs

Even flogging the hell out of it I'll still get 150+

 

That sounds just like my bike. When I rev the throttle slowly (in neutral) I also get faint popping. Sometimes some stumbles at idle. I have a set of used carbs on the way to try and fix the problem. I will get the valves checked when I do the carb swap.

Where is the fuel filter? I'll be annoyed if that was why it's having problems.

I looked at the service manual (is everyone's in Greek, or just me?) and the operation of taking out the carbs and fuel filter seem very far beyond me. Does anyone know how long it takes to have the carbs taken out and looked at?

When I asked a shop they said 3.5 hours to remove, clean, reinstall, and adjust the carbs. If I brought the carbs in seperate they still wanted 2.5 hours for cleaning. Based on that it's an hour or less to remove carbs. For my limited skills, it would probably going to take all day

 

Took me about 9-10 hours to clean all four cabs in my fiance's 1983 CB650SC Nighthawk. That was cleaning one at a time, and includes taking them out, putting them back in, and checking compression and spark. I had never done this before.

My SV has two carbs, and they seem to be much more easily accessible/removable. It can't be that hard, can it? I need to do this as well, my gas mileage is 35 city. Maximum.

 

My SV has two carbs, and they seem to be much more easily accessible/removable. It can't be that hard, can it? I need to do this as well, my gas mileage is 35 city. Maximum.

When I adjusted my idle mixture screws I had to take the carbs partially off to get to the screws. It was pretty quick and simple. I think the only thing I didn't take off was the throttle cable. I have no idea how difficult it is once you get the carbs off the bike.

 

I bought an 00 650 for my son. Ive been riding it to work everyday for the past 2 months. I'm 250lbs and have a heavy throttle hand. Five tanks of gas and I've averaged 40 MPG. My bike is an 02 ZX12 with 55K on it, so I'm no fair weather rider. This little bike is great! Wish I got 40 on my 12. I only get 25 on it.

 

well I filled up today and got 39 mpg on this tank. I wonder if I had crappy gas last time. Or maybe I just didn't fill it up all the way.

 

Yeah the mileage kind of sucks. I bought this bike thinking it would have similar mileage to my Ninja since they have a similar engine, WRONG! I've gotten 80 MPG before on the Ninja and my first tank on the SV was like 40...

 

My"99" gets 52mpg. No matter how i ride it.