Ran out of Gas

7] a short story of you most interesting ride.

a few weeks ago went on a ride and hit a LOT of wind 1/2 way into the ride on the way to work... took long way to work a 3 hour ride, and normally takes 12 mins to get to work as most Swings have a fuel Gage that has its own mind, trip meter said 140 miles i missed a turn and time was getting short and got 30 mins off my route. so started pushing the swing 70-80 mpg into all that wind and cross wind with head down, millage at 170 and 20 miles to get to work and 30 mins to do it.... 170+20 miles = 190 miles = still have 20-40 miles of gas left..... right!! ran out of gas with 10 miles to go to work millage at 193 ... i did not figure in less millage because of the turbulence, was getting about 45 mph our swings i think have a 4.3 gal tank = an avg of 230 miles per tank. so coasted to a church parking lot got a ride to town for a jug of gas, the lady happened to own a hog farm, got her number and later went and purchased 50 pounds of bacon for $20.00

I know what you mean razorback. I had a 78 Jeep Cherokee way back when and the gas gauge read 1/4 of a tank. My wife suggested I pull into that gas station and fill up. I told her we have 1/4 of a tank left and I'll get gas before we get to our destination. Needless to say the Jeep started sputtering and I ran out of gas about 1 mile before the next station. The walk did me good... Her mocking me didn't...

SilverWing ideal time to gas----125-150 miles on odometer. Trip in strange places I gas at 100 miles.

Walking sucks. I do not trust fuel gauge.

Most places in N America, there is at least gas every100 miles or so. Only ride I knew I had to carry gas---road to James Bay in Quebec.

razorback ... best part of your story is the deal you got on the bacon !!!

a similar true story: A friend and his wife rented a scooter each in Bermuda when on a vacation. A distance into their ride around the island her bike ran out of gas. He said he would go back to a gas station they just passed for a can of gas. Remember they rented the bikes at the same time ..... So a couple of hundred feet on the way back for gas, his bike ran out too. Happens to the best of us....

Mike

A one gallon plastic rated gas container is a good thing out of town in Arizona - New Mexico and west Texas. There may well be a cross road corner station present but that doesn't mean it will be open. Night time, out of town, on a tour, have a little xtra gas.

One other consideration is reducing speed when the gas gauge is low. It makes a surprisingly large difference in the distance you can go at 45mph compared to 70+. It seems every bike I've owned really begins to suck up fuel once you exceed 70mph. Not surprising, that speed is fast enough to lift every airplane I've owned off the ground. My last, a Mooney Exec. rotated and lifted off around 65mph.
So if the gauge is low you should slow.

Once upon a time, manufacturers' fuel consumption statistics were based on the Urban Cycle, 56 MPH being the speed mentioned.

I've found that travelling at around that figure, up to 60, give me the most frugal fuel consumption.

5000 rpm is the magic number for Silverwings. Exceed that rpm and your fuel efficiency diminishes directly proportional to your rpm increase. Exceeding 5K rpm you can think of the tachometer as an inefficiency meter: 6000rpm is 60% inefficient; 7000 rpm is 70% inefficient... etc.

So as Paul W said, "When the gauge is low you should go slow.

I once stretched a flashing reserve for 95+ miles in rural Maine keeping the tach at 4000 rpm. Turned out that I could have gone a lot further when I filled up that 'next' gas station. I probably still had ~1/2 gallon still left in that tank IIRC.

Tim

Rural Maine is a very exciting place, especially at midnight. Frankly it doesn't matter a hoot if at midnight, you have a flashing fuel warning light on in rural Maine or west Texas .

i usually re-fuel every 4 days at 160 miles, the last 2 weeks my commute has increased by a mile or so each way ( rail bridge replacement, 6 months !), 4 days is now between 170 and 180, yesterday with 175 miles on it took 14 litres, 16 litre tank so had 2 left, 55mpg - 1/2 gallon = 25 miles, think i'll stick to fill at 160 or thereabouts, after 160 it always feels like its running on fumes and even empty who has ever managed to get in the tank what a manufacturer says it will hold ?

I'm at an age now where mileage is dictated by my bladder!

Maybe a MSR bottle would be a good investment.

I have two; they are very handy.

dalehazelton wrote:

Maybe a MSR bottle would be a good investment.

For the bladder or the gas

The neck's not wide enough for the former.

MSR ?

MSR bottles are specifically designed to carry liquid fuel for camping stoves but are used by many motorcyclist to carry extra gasoline, especially off road riders. The largest holds a little less than a liter (0.85 liters) and they area very leak-proof and don't suggest they are some other liquid due to color of bottle.



Amazon Link

Primus bottles are identical except for the name on the side.

Greysilver wrote:

MSR ?

MSR=Mountain Safety Research, MSR bottles primary use is as a fuel bottle connected to a MSR stove.

Another similar looking alloy fuel bottle is the Swiss made Sigg bottle. I've got a pair of battered Sigg bottles that I've used since the Seventies mainly for Coleman Fuel for my Peak 1 stove, or methylated spirits/denatured alcohol when I used to use a Trangia stove.

I bought a 1.5 litre Fuel Friend canister in Germany a few years ago which I originally intended to use as an emergency reserve if I was going out in the back end of beyond. As I've had no pressing urge to go anywhere out in the back of beyond, or even off the beaten track in the near future it remains unused.

The easiest way to improve your mpg is to use Imperial (UK) gallons, instead of US gallons: They're 20% bigger!  

Thank you everyone for the answers and the alternatives. Ill get one soon at a hiking shop.

Seadog wrote:

The easiest way to improve your mpg is to use Imperial (UK) gallons, instead of US gallons: They're 20% bigger!  

... and 20% more expensive to buy.

I was riding my 750 along one of New Brunswick's isolated highways that cuts across the central part. It was my first time on that road and my buddy had not been on it for a few years. No fuel gauge but I could hear the fuel sloshing, and figured it was not a good sign. I just barely made it out on fumes, and, luckily at the first sign of civilization, at Juniper, there was a gas station. Lesson learned: now I try to figure out the distance and remoteness, and fill up accordingly. If my buddy stops at a gas station, I top up. Worrying about fuel is a damper on any ride.
Jay.

On our little trip to Broken Hill Western NSW I took 2 5litre jerry cans in our little camper trailer. I was using them every second day as the distances between towns in outback NSW is sometimes 250 to 300 kms which when ur pulling a trailer on a Swing they come in very handy.

I always have a pt. of fuel under the seat. Why not?

I have a 3 litre Touratech fuel container which has a neck wide enough to fill from the pumps.  I have carried it with me for several years but so far have not needed to use it.  Happiness on tour is a full  tank !