Had to switch to reserve fuel at 100 miles on the trip meter?!

[dinkydonuts]

Now upfront I will admit that I have a minor fuel leak from one of the carb bowls that will be remedied soon, but even then I figured I would be at least at 150-180 before running out of primary tank.

At first I thought something wasn't working right after I had to sudden stop due to an ignorant driver. I made it about a quarter mile while the engine was surging and then it wouldn't hold idle while I slowed to a stop. I managed to inch myself into a parking lot to check things out and everything seemed OK so I switched it to RES and headed home.

So let's assume I had roughly 4.5 gallons of fuel in the tank, maybe a gallon of that goes into reserve(?), which leaves 3.5. I've been pretty RPM happy lately so I could see 2.5 going toward the 100 on the trip.

Is it even possible for a gallon of gasoline to evaporate from a carb leak over about 2 weeks time?

[tialloydragon]

Mine usually hits reserve around 100 miles when I am a little extra punchy on the throttle.  Usually it hits around 140-150, and I can ride to at least 200 before I start getting nervous.  Usually when I fill up after I hit reserve it never takes more than 3.5-3.8 gallons.  Of course my bike is jetted for a Yosh slipon and a K&N lunchbox.  I'm sure if I had a stock setup my mileage would be better, but the increase in power was definitely noticeable when you get the carbs tuned properly.

As for your leak, it depends on how fast it is dripping.  My bathtub at my house is leaky (let's say one drip per second.). if I closed the valve and let the drips accumulate, i would be willing to bet there would be at least a gallon of water in there after two weeks.

1 drip/second X 3600= 3600 drips per hour.

3600 drips per hour X 24 hours per day X 7 days in a week X 2 weeks= 1,209,600 drips per two week period

A drop of water is ~.05ml, so that comes out to 60480ml, or 15.98 gallons of water drips needlessly down my drain over a two week period.

Damn, I need to get that fixed.

[adidasguy]

89-00 model about 4.1 gallons of which 1 gallon is reserve.
2001+ tanks about 5.1 gallons of which 1 gallon is reserve.

So it depends on which model you have.

You can lose lots of gas with a small leak over a couple weeks.
Your driving style and how long you warm up the bike makes a difference. Long warm ups wastes gas.

[dinkydonuts]

Thanks for the replies. I have been giving the bike extra time to warm up on choke when I gear up, so there's that, too.

Guess I just need to be more aware of when I'm about to run out of fuel. 

[adidasguy]

Properly tuned and maintained bike needs less than a minute to warm up. Mine often 30 seconds is more than adequate. If freezing weather, then maybe 2 minutes tops.
Choke goes off as soon as it will maintain idle of 1000 rpm pr more.
I've heard of people warming up a bike for 5 minutes to do a 3 minute ride to the store. That cuts your MPG in half.

[GS500F2004]

Properly tuned and maintained bike needs less than a minute to warm up. Mine often 30 seconds is more than adequate. If freezing weather, then maybe 2 minutes tops.
Choke goes off as soon as it will maintain idle of 1000 rpm pr more.
I've heard of people warming up a bike for 5 minutes to do a 3 minute ride to the store. That cuts your MPG in half.

Hmm, this sounds a bit like me. Although I don't do 5 minute warm-ups for 3 minute rides  -- but I do keep the choke on even whilst riding for a bit longer if the weather has been cold (below 15 degrees Celsius, 59F)

So it's actually OK to ride off after a minute warm-up and 1000rpm+ idling? If so, what rpm range should I keep the bike in until it's fully warmed up?

[TheOzTurkish]

Properly tuned and maintained bike needs less than a minute to warm up. Mine often 30 seconds is more than adequate. If freezing weather, then maybe 2 minutes tops.
Choke goes off as soon as it will maintain idle of 1000 rpm pr more.
I've heard of people warming up a bike for 5 minutes to do a 3 minute ride to the store. That cuts your MPG in half.

Hmm, this sounds a bit like me. Although I don't do 5 minute warm-ups for 3 minute rides  -- but I do keep the choke on even whilst riding for a bit longer if the weather has been cold (below 15 degrees Celsius, 59F)

So it's actually OK to ride off after a minute warm-up and 1000rpm+ idling? If so, what rpm range should I keep the bike in until it's fully warmed up?

I always thought as long as its able to keep its self going at a steady point (1krpm) then you can ride it, just don't ring the neck off it, I short shift at about 3-4k until its warm and idling normally usually about 5 min down the road, optimum running temp is something like 20-30 min of riding I think I read on here when trying to sort out my idle.

[Badot]

89-00 model about 4.1 gallons of which 1 gallon is reserve.
2001+ tanks about 5.1 gallons of which 1 gallon is reserve.

So it depends on which model you have.

And of course, the California models (not sure what years, but my '91 is one) with about 2.5 gallons before reserve. I usually get a little past 135 miles before reserve.

[gsJack]

The early ones had 4.5 gal and the newer ones since 01 have 5.3 gal tanks.  Getting about 60 mpg overall I average about 240 miles until reserve on my 01 and got about 180 on my 97 with the 4.5 gal tank.  I've found reserve to be closer to 1.5 gal than stated 1.0 gal.  100 miles to reserve isn't good.

[mister]

MY warm up routine goes a little something like this...

1 - Flick choke to full
2 - Start bike and let it rev to whatever it wants to rev to
3 - After about 30 seconds, reduce choke to 2k
4 - Do the jacket & helmet thing
5 - Sedately ride off
6 - After a couple of clicks, turn off the choke

This is the routine I've used for the 60,000+ kms I've put on the bike over the last 4 / 5 years.

As for the Op... besides the heavy-handedness of the throttle, there can also be an inconsistency with filling the bike. Loads of things can mess with your mileage.