Reserve Fuel Question

[kg1709]

Howdy all,

Riding home during rush-hour today, bike started to cough and miss at 70mph, and I suspected fuel had run out. Pulled over to the hard shoulder and switched to RES. Bike didn't want to start at first but after a few goes, fired into life and I got to a service station about 2 miles away after exiting the motorway.

I've filled up and switched back to normal setting. My question, is, how far could I expect to run on RES before fuel tank is totally empty?

[mister]

Learn to change to res on the fly - no need to pull over to do it. Put bike on centre stand, get on, then practive changing from on to res and back. Easy 

If your bike is the newer kind with the 20 liter tank you should be able to ride at least 20 miles on res, and that should be plenty of find gas. I've ridden 30 miles on res and still had plenty of gas left. But the idea is NOT to ride until it is very close to being empty.

Michael

[kininja]

Correct me if I'm wrong but there should be a gallon left (less than 4 liters) once you need to switch to reserve. With my bike and riding style I average 54 miles per gallon so I shouldn't expect to be able to go any further than that. However, I've heard you won't be able to use the last bit of gas in the tank since it has a flat bottom. I personally wouldn't push it too close to 50 miles.

Hope that helps.

[Shaddow]

Based on refilling there is about 4.5 litres from my experience and can squeeze 70 miles out of it. I run it further than that on reserve. But I was cruising at 90km per an hour and was using less than 3L/100km. That beautiful day I was averaging 2.6L/100km. God it was a slow day. Red P plates and a easter long weekend double demerit points.

[ben2go]

This is the way I did it so I know how much I can expect on reserve.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=56758.0

[kininja]

This is the way I did it so I know how much I can expect on reserve.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=56758.0

Yes, great post, Ben! Incredible detail. Perhaps a little overkill for me, but I'm coming to expect a level of detail from you that's on par with published technical literature.

[ben2go]

This is the way I did it so I know how much I can expect on reserve.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=56758.0

Yes, great post, Ben! Incredible detail. Perhaps a little overkill for me, but I'm coming to expect a level of detail from you that's on par with published technical literature.

Thanks.Most people get about a gallon of fuel on reserve.If you know your mpg then your reserve riding distance should be that riding conservatively.

[kg1709]

This is the way I did it so I know how much I can expect on reserve.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=56758.0

Yes, great post, Ben! Incredible detail. Perhaps a little overkill for me, but I'm coming to expect a level of detail from you that's on par with published technical literature.

Agreed and thanks everybody, really useful information. 

[xunedeinx]

Or, just refill at 190/200 miles (im on a 2005). It never reaches reserve, and if I go over that and it does (did it once at 230 miles) you can still make it.

Youll never run out of go-go juice again!

[paalak]

For some reason my 2008 goes to reserve with about 2 gallons left in the tank. I usually have to switch to reserve after riding it about 150 miles, and if I fill up at that point it takes about 3 gallons. Any ideas why my tank is going to reserve early, and how to fix it? Not a major issue, but it's been annoying me for awhile. No other problems with the bike, so I'm wondering if this is something with the petcock.

[adidasguy]

You probably do not have 2 gallons left. My guess is you are never filling your tank all the way - so maybe your tank only has 4 gallons in it.
You must fill to the fill tube. Sticking a gas hose in will shut off  with still a gallon of empty space. Those has hoses are designed for cars: i.e. LONG tube going down into a tank. A splash on end of hose and it shuts off so retards don't overfill their car.

You have to hold the hose up and manually finish filling the tank a little squirt at a time. Let the bubbles go away. Then squirt a little more.

The more level the bike, the more gas you can get in.

[paalak]

I have been filling it by spurts till it hits the bottom of the tube part, using my hand to pull the rubber part back. But I've been doing this with the bike on its side stand, so maybe the level drops when I straighten out after shutting the gas cap. I'll try filling it on the center stand and see if that makes a difference. But would it really make a difference of a whole gallon, or maybe .75 gallon? The last time I filled up I straightened the bike with the gas cap still open so I could see how high it went, and it stayed right around the bottom of the tube. Maybe I should have waited for air to escape though.

[kininja]

For some reason my 2008 goes to reserve with about 2 gallons left in the tank. I usually have to switch to reserve after riding it about 150 miles, and if I fill up at that point it takes about 3 gallons. Any ideas why my tank is going to reserve early, and how to fix it? Not a major issue, but it's been annoying me for awhile. No other problems with the bike, so I'm wondering if this is something with the petcock.

Are you certain there are two gallons left? Is it possible that when you fill up, you're letting the pump stop early before you've filled all the way up to the filler neck?

Edit: Sorry, didn't see last two posts on my phone (I'm still learning Tapatalk).

[mister]

Don't sweat it. If you are getting 150 miles out of it and then only putting in 3 gallons (roughly) than you have one gallon of fuel left and a gallon of air space. No biggie. Carry on riding.

Michael

[ben2go]

Filling on the side stand with the newer bikes (or older bikes with the newer bigger tank) will create about a 3 quart airspace.I actually tried it just to see.So if anyone is filling on the side stand your tank isn't filling up.I can get a little over 5.6 gallons in my 04 tank, when I fill it up after it's dried out.

[paalak]

Thanks for shedding some light on this issue. After going about 100 miles since my last fill-up, I filled up today, this time on the center stand, and got about 2.5 gallons in there. So I had definitely not filled it up all the way last time, with it on the side stand. So now I should start getting 200 miles between fill-up and switch-to-reserve time. It'll be good to have the extra range for some longer trips I have planned