When do you refuel

[ArcherDude]

I was just wandering when do you guys fuel up? I have been fueling up as soon as my needle hits the red. Does the red indicate when you will need to switch to reserves? Or can you run it down to empty and then still have the reserve.

[ZukiFred]

The fuel guage is more of a refrance, Not real accurate so it will differ from bike to bike. I useually go by my trip meter because my guage dosen't work half of the time..
At about 170 miles I switch over to reserve and start to think about refueling.

[Anonymous]

My light starts flashing about 90 miles...meaning I only have a gallon left. The furthest I've ever gone is a little over 120 miles!

...but, the tiller only has a 3.8 gallon tank...

[WildKat]

When the bike starts sputtering and coughing on reserve I'll think about stopping soon

Never trust your fuel gauge completely, as Fred mentioned its just a reference point. Usually when I get to about 150 miles or so I'll stop and fill up. If I do have to put it on reserve Im finding the nearest gas station pronto

It also depends alot on how hard you are riding on that tank of gas. If you're babying the bike, just cruising along you can get more mpg as opposed to if you're riding hard, high rpm's alot, higher speeds, etc..you'll get less mpg so fuel time can come significantly sooner than normal riding.

[Steve-O]

I hit empty on the guage at about 240km's. ('88). But then when I fill it up I only can get 14L in it, although its a 20L tank, and I never use reserve.

[suzukisportrider2004]

my gague will be about 1/2 way in the red when i need to switch to resevere ill usally take it to the top of red unless i know ill be around town and near somewere to fill up i try not to go very far on resvere i hear its not very good to because something to do about water in the tank not sure how true that is

[hellcamp]

i try not to go very far on resvere i hear its not very good to because something to do about water in the tank not sure how true that is

Water in the tank ? Hmm... I would guess water in the tank would affect you no matter what (rusting and what not). Well, since oil floats on water, the water in the tank would sink to the bottom and using the reserve pick off (which is simply located at a lower point in the tank) *could* cause that water to get into the fuel line. But if I had that much water in my tank, I wouldn't want to be running long anyway. I guess the take home message would be : Riding in heavy rain AND leaky tank cover = don't run in reserve.

Comments, CP ?

[POP944]

I'll kick it onto the reserve tank at 150 miles and refuel at the first opportunity thereafter. I have yet to ever run out.

[KATANA_J1ZR]

My gauge actually seems to be pretty accurate. As soon as the needle tops the red section, it starts to sputter. This brings me immediately to a gas station. Funny thing is, to top off, I'm only getting about 3 gallons to fill it up.

[TheKlic]

about 150 and 3.5 gallons

[iwannadie]

i wait till i hit reserve then i ride a bit no rush. never run out theres enough of reserve to get me where i want. ive gotten down Really low one time i forget now the 98+ tank size, but i filled up with exactly that much so my tank was dry lol.

[FloridaKat]

I was on my way to work on Saturday, when I found out what the fuel gauge's red zone means. Not even a gurgle, just no power and the bike coasted to a stop. Luckily I was on a back road and had plenty of room to pull over.

I switched my petcock and she fired right up. Got to work (about 2 miles) and then noticed I ran it in the prime position. I quickly switched to reserve, restarted the bike and ran a few higher RPM bands (just to give me the piece of mind that if there was extra fuel in the bowls, it would help).

[slayergsxf1]

when I hit half a tank and its convienent I'll stop and top it off ,,,dont like to let it get down to suckin fumes if you know what I mean..but sometimes it cant happen so when I'm about 130miles or so I really start lookin..I dont trust the gas gauge,,on any vehicle.

[evil-eye]

The fuel guage is more of a refrance, Not real accurate so it will differ from bike to bike. I useually go by my trip meter because my guage dosen't work half of the time..
At about 170 miles I switch over to reserve and start to think about refueling.

170 miles wwhhaaaattt ???????

[Anonymous]

I top it off when it hits the red, never had to switch to reserve. But the bike has only been filled up 4 times so far. And the first fill up was from the dealer.