Range

[Auburn]

Buy a gas can and strap it on. Not the ideal situation, but it takes the worry out of it.

 

[Spud]

Buy a gas can and strap it on. Not the ideal situation, but it takes the worry out of it.

I think I'll do that--just snag the smallest one they have in ELY and bungee it up--I don't have a top-case so that will be easy. What I'm doing is a big loop out of Ely and back, with the goal of feeling alone for a while. After 7 months since my last ride and being cooped up all Winter I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Total is 222 miles.

...and have found myself getting as little as 24 mpg on it.

222 miles divided by 6.6 gallons equals 33MPG.

If you're only getting 24MPG -- your range will only be a little over 150 miles.

If you're able to suffer 40MPG?, you'll be able to ride about 260 miles.

I guess?, "You pays your money and you takes your choices"...?

 

[midlifeuturn]

Get on of these larger MSR bottles and put it inside your side or top box.

https://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3664373

This will give you an easy extra 12 miles if you run out, just don't over fill so it has room for the gas to expand.

If you don't need, it will just offer peace of mind. Better then a gas can hanging off the bike.

 

[Big-B]

I think I'll pick one or two of the MSR bottles up. Only got about 35 MPG, usually get closer to 40, on a recent trip down to Mobile. Almost ran out on the Blue Ridge in VA before I saw how low it was.

My '06 doesn't do nearly as well on gas as the '04 did. And not nearly as consistent.

Brian

 

[johnny80s]

I am quite heavy handed on the throttle when on the freeway and usually move faster than traffic. I consistently get 50 miles when the low fuel indicator starts flashing.

 

[Greb]

Spud,

I've personally gone 276 miles on a tank. I was damn nervous about it too. I was headed home from Moab and I can't remember where I filled up with the super fuel, but I finally reached a gas station in Heber after going over the mountains on highway 40. Around Strawberry Reservoir I started to sweat it and I think my fuel light had been on for 40 some miles by the time I entered Heber.

When I calculated my mileage it was like 52 MPG. love this machine. I would be very comfortable going 222 miles between fill ups

Use your instantaneous mpg readout, mine is very accurate. If your speed is making it dip low, slow down for some range.

 

[SacramentoMike]

Why even take a chance? A little cost/benefit analysis: $20 bottle gives you a safety margin of at least ten miles. Weigh that against the cost to you of TWO ten-mile hikes in your riding boots. If not that leg of this trip, then some other trip. I'll be picking up one of those 30-oz. LD fuel cells myself.

 

[Spud]

Get on of these larger MSR bottles and put it inside your side or top box.https://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3664373

This will give you an easy extra 12 miles if you run out, just don't over fill so it has room for the gas to expand.

If you don't need, it will just offer peace of mind. Better then a gas can hanging off the bike.

Great idea! I never thought of that. Walked down to a store just down the street from my office (Idaho Mountain Trading) and they have that very bottle ($19.99). Plus, it's really bright red so strapped on the back could be a little extra visibility...

 

[Happy Rider]

My dad and I did that ride 2 years ago. There was no gas between Tonopah and Caliente. My dad's Vulcan went dry about 100 yards from the top of the pass before you drop into Caliente. Lucky for him it's about 10 miles of down hill from that pass into Caliente when you approach from the west. He coasted the 10 miles and I pushed it about 200 yards to the gas station at the bottom of the hill in Caliente. He got an extra 1 gallon gas can for the return trip. I love the desert and that is a fun ride. I did see some sort of desert rat. I think it was an antelope or something. The long straight valleys are about 20-30 miles across and straigh as an arrow. It was very hard to keep the speed down.

On your way back you should take 50 back and check out Great Basin National Park. There is a really cool cave tour (Lehman Caves). I don't think you will be able to see the ancient Bristlecone Pines due to snow.

Have fun!

 

[Ed_Grant]

Last time I was out that way (Oct 09) I saw a state trooper running radar 50 miles north of Alpine. Don't know how much leeway they give but keep the radar detector on just in case.

 

[HotRodZilla]

You're stressing out for no reason. My brother and I just returned to Albuquerque from that trip to Phoenix to pick up his GS. On the way home we fueled up in Show Low, and then rode 250 miles to my garage at speeds that were very high. Most of that is open road, so other than going through small towns at the limit, we were on it pretty hard. Once home, I put 5.5 gallons of fuel in the bike. At the 43.8MPG average I had, I think we figured I could have gone to 292 before running out.

I ran the bike to 270 once and it did just fine. 222 is no sweat, but I bet with all the 24hour gas stops you will see, that won't be necessary.

 

[worldbound4now]

Oh yeah one other thing, 75 mph on the ET hwy, yeah sure (snicker) right 75 mph all the way

Being a former Las Vegas resident, I rode the ET hwy many, many times. Seems like I never did better than around 35mpg. Damn alien and government conspiracy. Oh, and the cows... it must've been sucked out of my tank by the open range cows.

OTOH, my usual traverses across the desert southwest had me booking fuel stops between 220 and 240 miles (with the occasional 180 mile refill need).

 

[El Toro]

Another issue is the quality of the gasoline / gasohol. Some of the gas I've seen out that way has had a calorific value only slightly better than straight up ethanol (exaggerating for effect). The calorific value of the gas effects your mileage. I can get 45 mpg out of my FJR on level roads at steady interstate speeds IF I'M RUNNING ON REAL GAS. If I'm using gasohol (both gas and gasohol are available here), then I am lucky to get 42 mpg under the same conditions. I've seen gas mileage figures with my FJR as low as 38 mpg, but these figures generally involved a lot of stop and go driving (traffic).

If I were on this trip, I would take a gas can. One of the group I ride with in Atlantic Canada in Summer has often ridden a bike with a range of 120 miles, while the rest of us were on bikes with ranges of 200 to 275 miles. He always brings a can strapped to his other strapped on gear. Its pretty funny. He looks like a homeless person who has traded his shopping cart for a mid-sized motorcycle.

 

[Sagebrush]

Out west I got good mpgs even in the hot desert. I wouldn't fuss about 222 miles. I ran all over th SW and never had a fuel issue and my average speed was 74 per the GPS.

 

[Wee Willy]

You should ask ....

But thats HIS profi...Oh wait. I get it now.

Iggy's right. Only you know how far you normally go on a tank.

Personally, I think you'll be fine unless you are one of those guys that thinks every stoplight is an excuse to drag race, and '5th for cruisin', 3rd is for passin'.

If you aren't sure, you might wanna pay close attention to the next few tanks.

You should be fine. But if you're really worried about it you can buy a 1/2 gallon metal container and fill that up at the gas station. Then about half way to your destination, pull over and pour it in the tank. You're better off doing it half way through than waiting till you run out.

That would get you an extra 15 - 20 miles.

But realistically, the worse mileage you should get out of the tank would be 230 miles or so and that's really bad gas mileage.

+1. My experience equals this and I'm a pretty big guy and travel with the bags holding tools, etc. I also carry 1/2 gal of fuel in bottles. Just in case...

W2

 

[dcarver]

I tend to return around 35 mpg avg. Personally, I wouldn't risk that range. My 'throttle management system' often goes AWOL on back roads, and like Iggy, 20 - 25 mph happens often enough to drastically reduce range.

 

[RadioHowie]

I tend to return around 35 mpg avg. Personally, I wouldn't risk that range. My 'throttle management system' often goes AWOL on back roads, and like Iggy, 20 - 25 mph happens often enough to drastically reduce range.

Your CBA Leadership position is in serious question when statements like the above are thrown about so casually.

 

[Ignacio]

Your CBA Leadership position is in serious question when statements like the above are thrown about so casually.

Yeah, riding for 48 minutes straight...then having to stop over 23 hours before one can resume riding is far more limiting than the range. You'd think dcarver's response would be something like, "I don't have any problems. A tank lasts me at least 3 days of solid riding."

 

[exskibum]

Your CBA Leadership position is in serious question when statements like the above are thrown about so casually.

Yeah, riding for 48 minutes straight...then having to stop over 23 hours before one can resume riding is far more limiting than the range. You'd think dcarver's response would be something like, "I don't have any problems. A tank lasts me at least 3 days of solid riding."

Huh?!? Just sounds to me like somebody's getting laid, and SOMEBODY'S not.