How big is the reserve supposed to be on a pre 2001 bike?

[mass-hole]

I hit my reserve the other day while riding on the highway, switched to reserve and rode around 10 more miles before i filled up. It only took about 3.1 Gallons(and that was TOPPED off) of gas so that means my reserve is 1.5 gallons. Is that about right? Seems kind of early

[T1z3R]

3.5L on reserver. sorry i dont do gallons

haynes states 15L capacity for cali. models and 17L for all others.

[gsJack]

My old 97 Owner's Manual lists reserve at 3.5L/0.9 US gal/0.8 Imp gal for it's 17L/4.5 gal tank.  I put 80k miles on it long ago and do recall the reserve was quite a bit bigger than the spec indicated. With my current 02 GS if I stop for gas as soon as it hits reserve it will only take about 3.5 gal in it's 5.3 gal tank having even more reserve than the 97 had.  All years used the same pick-up/shut-off unit in the tank so that sounds about right to me, the 02 having 1.8 gal and the 97 having about the same 1.5 gal you report in reserve.  I usually go another 20-40 miles after hitting reserve to fill up with about 4 gal with the 02 GS.  Better early than late I guess?

[mister]

Sounds about right.

But reserve is not fixed either - the petcock is, but the amount you put into the tank following, isn't. What I mean is... sometimes, it seems to be able to take more gas than other times - which might be attributed to the angle of the ground at the pump, the level I stop pumping at, how much a difference from previous fuel up, etc. Sometimes I'll hit reserve at two different times with a 20 mile difference on the clock and putting in almost a quart difference in gogo juice.

Michael