not low on gas but acted like it?

[dlighthill]

i was just wondering if anyone might have a suggestion on what might be up here. i was out on a ride (luckily not not far from the house) when all of a sudden my bike started acting like it was out of gas. i got up to the next gas station (had to coast in) and went to fill up but only took about 2.5gal.
could the petcock be going out, or could it be something else? ('90 gs).
tia

[Paulcet]

i was just wondering if anyone might have a suggestion on what might be up here. i was out on a ride (luckily not not far from the house) when all of a sudden my bike started acting like it was out of gas. i got up to the next gas station (had to coast in) and went to fill up but only took about 2.5gal.
could the petcock be going out, or could it be something else? ('90 gs).
tia

Did you try reserve?

Yeah, I would check the petcock if I were you.

[PachmanP]

Could also have been that your tank vent wasn't venting so there was a vacuum in the gas tank.  Test for that is easy though just open the tank and if the problem goes away then that's it.

[ohgood]

i was just wondering if anyone might have a suggestion on what might be up here. i was out on a ride (luckily not not far from the house) when all of a sudden my bike started acting like it was out of gas. i got up to the next gas station (had to coast in) and went to fill up but only took about 2.5gal.
could the petcock be going out, or could it be something else? ('90 gs).
tia

use reserve next time. it will look like you have 1/2 a gallon or so sloshing, but it's not usable without tipping the bike over because the tank petcock is odd. use the trip o meter and fill up every 100 miles or so and you won't have it happen again.

[mister]

Ditto...

Fill the tank. Reset the trip meter. Ride it until is feels like it's running out of gas, switch to reserve and take note of the distance. Do this a couple of times for a rough idea how far you can go before hitting reserve. My range is around 330 - 360 km (206 - 225m)

Michael

[simon79]

^^^^^

Congrats mate, city riding never makes me get more than 260-270.
Kilometers, I mean.

[Archangel1183]

Wow. My bike is giving me at about 120-130 miles per tank. About 35 MPG.   

[NF11624]

How are you riding it?  I used to think that how you rode made only a little difference, but I've recently been taking many more short trips and my gas mileage dropped from 55 mpg to 47 mpg, and that was being fairly conservative with the throttle (shifting at 4500, easing out from stops).  If you ride harder, you'll probably get even worse.

[Archangel1183]

I don't ride hard, but I do shift at about 5.5K-6K RPM. I do shift at 7-9K about once a day, but I doubt that would affect it this much.

The carbs were cleaned and re-calibrated right before I bought it. It was also re-jetted and has a V&H exhaust and K&N drop in filter
The Spark plugs look light brown, so I don't think it's running rich.

[bassmechanicsz]

Wow 35 mpg sounds terrible.  I have a K&N lunchbox and jardine exhaust and still get around 55-60 mpg and i usually shift around 6-7k rpms.

[Kaizer]

Nope, I get about the same. Not sure why, but I am sure there is a good reason for it. In-town driving just sucks on mileage if you don't get out of 3rd gear much.

[mister]

I don't spend much riding-time above 5.5k Usually between 4k and 5.5k. A quick visit above that wile changing gears and accelerating, sure, but not while flowing with the traffic.

Also, I find I don't need to go full throttle for much of anything. Half throttle gives all the acceleration I need.

And 3/4 of my riding is in 5th/6th gear. So doing 5k in 6th will get me further than doing 5k in 4th. But weekend rides the mileage drops as I stay in lower gears for longer as backroads in the boomdocks tend to be steeper and ride overall slower than sitting on a 2lane highway. But such weekend rides still get me 53mpg.

Michael

[Dr.Sparkie]

I get almost 50MPG (21km/liter) and i ride it like i stole it, except when its cold. * gloat gloat*

I'd shift at 11k if my bike didnt dry up the float bowls @ 8.5k, kind of a bummer considering that my bike tops out at 150km/h at 8.5k. @ 11k I'd make more than 190.

[mister]

How are you riding it?  I used to think that how you rode made only a little difference, but I've recently been taking many more short trips and my gas mileage dropped from 55 mpg to 47 mpg, and that was being fairly conservative with the throttle (shifting at 4500, easing out from stops).  If you ride harder, you'll probably get even worse.

Wow. My bike is giving me at about 120-130 miles per tank. About 35 MPG.   

I don't ride hard, but I do shift at about 5.5K-6K RPM. I do shift at 7-9K about once a day, but I doubt that would affect it this much.

NF is right. Short trips mess up your mileage something fierce. (To me, under 10 miles is a short trip)

Try this...

#1 Pick a nice destination say a 100miles away. Might be a small pub or something in a little country town or whatever. Just some place that gives you a target to aim for.

#2 Use Google Maps and map out a route to this place that Avoids main roads. So you get nice scenery as well without too much stop/start stuff.

#3 Tank up, reset the trip meter and go for your ride early on a Sunday morning. Take note of the mileage you get.

This way you'll be sure to either go through two tanks if your mileage is total crap - so you'll know it's all the time and not just because you do too many short trips. Or you'll find the longer non-stop trip gives you good mileage and thus the sort trips are your mileage-undoing.

If you don't want to ride by yourself, get in touch with the nearest Honda Riding Club (speak to a Honda dealer) or go for a ride with the RATbags (Triumph riding people)

Michael