1.3 Gallon Gas Tank Reserve

[madmike2]

Gone are the days of the wooden stick.

Put it in and if it came out mostly dry it was time to put more in..

Yah....wellll....these new-fangled murdersickles comes wit speedy-o-meters en odey-meters soes we kin tell how menny miles we done rided. I remembers them dayz uh knockin' on thuh juice-aleen tank, er pullin' over en removin' thet gass cap, then jiggle thuh bike tuh here the sloshin' sound, tuh try en figger how fer I kud ryde afore I wuz pushin'. :dribble:

I 'member whin I camed back tuh ridin' murdersickles (after 20+ yeers) en I wuz amazed et my XS1100 had a redd warnin' lite fer win the gas gots low-down en thet tank. :blink:

We'z spoilt, I tells yuh! :clapping:

 

[Tim'sonDFJR]

FYI

Most states, including Florida, do sell ethanol-free gas (Pure 100% gasoline). In some areas it's referred to as Marine gas. The local Gate station by me (near Jacksonville, FL) has a separate pumping area for just ethanol-free gas. It has an octane rating of 89 and costs about 25-35 cents more per gallon than their midgrade. I'm not sure what other area stations charge. There is a website www.pure-gas.org that lists where you can find ethanol-free gas; first by state (click on the one you want to see) and then by city/town. The site gives quite a lot of information including: City, Brand, Octane, Name, Street Address,& GPS*. Although not always convenient Ethanol-free gas can be found. Will it give you better mileage? Yes, is it worth paying extra, I guess yes if your bike runs better and gets at least 12% better gas mileage, sounds like a N-EPRT topic to me.

Tim

 

[madmike2]

.....sounds like a N-EPRT topic to me.

Tim

It will be if everyone doesn't get off the horse about ethanol.

Why can't we keep this on the original topic so it will stay under the category it's posted in rather than forcing it to be moved?

 

[ionbeam]

Gone are the days of the wooden stick.

Put it in and if it came out mostly dry it was time to put more in..

When I first started riding, when the engine quit you switched the fuel line lever to the reserve position. Ya, the O rings got distorted and fuel leaked in many regretfully ways as well as taking away the reserve tank.

 

[Tim'sonDFJR]

.....sounds like a N-EPRT topic to me.

Tim

It will be if everyone doesn't get off the horse about ethanol.

Why can't we keep this on the original topic so it will stay under the category it's posted in rather than forcing it to be moved?

I believe whether you use gas with ethanol or not is relevant to the 3rd question (total mileage per tank/MPG). I agree whether 100% gas is available or not isn't, Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing, I agree with your point.

 

[Checkswrecks]

.....sounds like a N-EPRT topic to me.

Tim

It will be if everyone doesn't get off the horse about ethanol.

Why can't we keep this on the original topic so it will stay under the category it's posted in rather than forcing it to be moved?

Let's just blame Patriot for bringing up ethanol and make him buy everybody beer as amends...

LOTS of beer!

:yahoo:

 

[Patriot]

.....sounds like a N-EPRT topic to me.

Tim

It will be if everyone doesn't get off the horse about ethanol.

Why can't we keep this on the original topic so it will stay under the category it's posted in rather than forcing it to be moved?

Let's just blame Patriot for bringing up ethanol and make him buy everybody beer as amends...

LOTS of beer!

:yahoo:

K

truck, ah cycle on down here this coming weekend after the storm

and the Pat O's Hurricanes or Grenades are on me :yahoo:

 

[GeorgiaRoller]

Too each his own with fuel mileage fillups. But why fill up at 200 miles when you can go 250-260 miles easy? One of the positive points about a ST bike is that it's designed to chew up alot of miles and fewer trips to the gas station means more uninterupted miles in the saddle. So to me if I know I can go 40-60 miles on reserve comfortably and I'm not riding in the middle of Death Valley...then I'm gonna stretch it out some more before stopping and filling up.

Also I don't notice anymore engine heat whether the tank is full or nearly empty. It seems about the same to me. Perhaps each bike is different.

 

[Fred W]

Too each his own with fuel mileage fillups. But why fill up at 200 miles when you can go 250-260 miles easy?

Because not everyone lives in places where there are active filling stations every few miles. Figuring out how much more you can go is way more important in desolate areas where the stations are a hundred miles apart. In some parts of the wild west and rural Canada, I've heard you should never pass an open gas station.

 

[GeorgiaRoller]

Too each his own with fuel mileage fillups. But why fill up at 200 miles when you can go 250-260 miles easy?

Because not everyone lives in places where there are active filling stations every few miles. Figuring out how much more you can go is way more important in desolate areas where the stations are a hundred miles apart. In some parts of the wild west and rural Canada, I've heard you should never pass an open gas station.

Oh I understand that. Thats obvious and it's something we all have to take into consideration. I figured that goes without saying.

 

[Harald]

I've calculated that I can go 50 miles into my reserve at my normal fuel economy. Too much more results in sputtering when accelerating briskly or going up hills.

I didn't believe that it's possible to get mid to upper 40's for mpg on an FJR because mine has always gotten about 40 until I added the PC-III when it dropped to around 37mpg. On a recent weekend I went on a ride with my "new rider" wife on her Shadow 600 and some other riders on Ukranian Ditch pumps. We rode the speed limit on the freeway and even old ladies on the way to church got the hole-shot leaving traffic lights. :angry2: Checking the mileage (hand calculated) upon our return revealed that I got 46! mpg for the trip!!!! So it is possible to get that kind of mileage, but it sure wasn't any fun. :lol:

 

[Fred W]

ISo it is possible to get that kind of mileage, but it sure wasn't any fun. :lol:

:lol: Yeah Eggs acktly! That's kinda why I never understood why anyone would want to brag about how high their gas mileage was...

Which brings to mind the adages:

To each their own.

and,

It's a strange, strange world out there...

 

[Bill]

I didn't believe that it's possible to get mid to upper 40's for mpg on an FJR because mine has always gotten about 40 until I added the PC-III when it dropped to around 37mpg.

On my recent 10,350 mile jaunt around the country, I averaged about 44 mph using whatever quality of 85 or 87 RON fuel was available along the way.

I did get some lame gasoline somewhere along I-8, in the middle of BFE, California but I added a can of Seafoam in Yuma, AZ and everything smoothed out afterward.

My lowest mileage was around 39 mpg when I was riding 75 mph into very strong headwinds but mostly mid to high 40's.

Additionally, I have a Rifle windscreen that I usually leave in the lowest position.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Well, I found out this weekend that our fuel gages and reserve indicators are kind of a joke.

Pinhead and I filled up at the same fuel station and then took off for Taos. He rides an '06 and I ride an '07. We rode the same roads at about the same pace.

When we got to Taos and stopped for gas Pinhead had been on reserve for 13 miles. I had been on reserve for 21 miles. He put 5.5 gallons and I put 5.2. We each filled to the filler neck, and I prolly even overfilled a hair.

That was almost a half gallon difference and my reserve had been on 8 miles longer. Me thinks its all just a wild guess!

 

[dcarver]

Too each his own with fuel mileage fillups. But why fill up at 200 miles when you can go 250-260 miles easy?

Because not everyone lives in places where there are active filling stations every few miles. Figuring out how much more you can go is way more important in desolate areas where the stations are a hundred miles apart. In some parts of the wild west and rural Canada, I've heard you should never pass an open gas station.

Very true! But your forgot the 'rough part of time scenario too'.. When you gotta poop and everything of value to you (at the time) is on the bike...

Well, I found out this weekend that our fuel gages and reserve indicators are kind of a joke.

Pinhead and I filled up at the same fuel station and then took off for Taos. He rides an '06 and I ride an '07. We rode the same roads at about the same pace.

When we got to Taos and stopped for gas Pinhead had been on reserve for 13 miles. I had been on reserve for 21 miles. He put 5.5 gallons and I put 5.2. We each filled to the filler neck, and I prolly even overfilled a hair.

That was almost a half gallon difference and my reserve had been on 8 miles longer. Me thinks its all just a wild guess!

Plus 1,500.245 Gunnies!

 

[Fred W]

Well, I found out this weekend that our fuel gages and reserve indicators are kind of a joke.

Pinhead and I filled up at the same fuel station and then took off for Taos. He rides an '06 and I ride an '07. We rode the same roads at about the same pace.

When we got to Taos and stopped for gas Pinhead had been on reserve for 13 miles. I had been on reserve for 21 miles. He put 5.5 gallons and I put 5.2. We each filled to the filler neck, and I prolly even overfilled a hair.

That was almost a half gallon difference and my reserve had been on 8 miles longer. Me thinks its all just a wild guess!

The difference between 5.5 and 5.2 is 0.3 gallons, or less than 5% of the total tank volume.

Your reserves went on in a difference of 8 miles or a little less than 3% of total mileage per tank.

Fuel gauges are not calibrated to that kind of accuracy. Nor do they need to be.

Just to throw a monkey wrench into the works, a 15 degree C change in the temperature of gas will vary the volume by 1%.

 

[roger dodger]

https://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=FL

This website says you have lots of NON-ethanol gas options EVEN in Florida.

I try to buy 'pure gas' most days, unless I'm traveleing and know I'll burn it in a week or less. YMMV

 

[Fred W]

Yeah...

Check out my pure gasoline options for New Hampshire. So, if I happen to be in Freedom (fitting town name) and want to buy high octane (91) I'm all set. Only I'd have to burn the better part of my tank to get there and back.

I guess I could just shoot over to one of our neighboring states to fill up. The states are small up here. But wait, what's this? MA, CT and RI don't have ANY pure gas stations, and the big state of Maine has only 4.

Well at least our neighbors in VT have 19. Right on VT hippy throwbacks!! :aarock:

 

[roger dodger]

Fred et al, Many stations sell pure gas, but the website needs to be maintained by users. Ask around and see if 1 station will send you to another. I find these guys know who sells what we want.

 

[bikerkash]

When the fuel gage starts it's count up on reserve I figure there is app. 2 gallons left. To be on the safe side I figure there may be a half gallon of fuel that is not usable so the most that is left is 1 and a half gallons and I use 40 MPG as a safe average so I would have 60 miles to go. I have never went over 40 miles on reserve and have always had a good safety margin of fuel when I filled up. Pushing an FJR just doesn't sound like a good option.