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[DESERTBEAR54]

Just remember when you wiggle the bike left and right not to go over center!!! 

[LRebel]

My gauge kinda bugs me.  I can ride approx. 180 miles and the gauge is on empty.  When I stop for fuel, I can only get 4 - 4.5 gallons in the tank.  I have never had the low fuel light come on with the new bike.  I'm usually ready to stop and walk around after 180 miles anyway.

I checked my mpg this weekend on a 700+ mile trip.  I got just under 37 mpg riding two-up and loaded with about 30 lbs of stuff.

[jwygo]

I didn't realize there would be such a response to this question.  It seems we all have similar experiences.  You would think that if there was a 1 gallon reserve at r=0 the owners manual would state that.  But what the heck.

J-Carr, I'm going to experiment with your 'shake, rattle and roll' suggestion.  But it goes against my understanding of physics.  Gravity and fluid behavior:  objects on earth will fall and fluids will flow ito the lowest volumed location.    

[WFP]

I hope to keep it under 5K before Maggie Valley...but it will probably be at 10K by Sept.

Hope your trip home went well!

/Bill

Bill,

How many miles you have on the new bike now? How is it running?
My mpg seemed to get a little better after I got to about 5K.

[J-Carr]

I didn't realize there would be such a response to this question.  It seems we all have similar experiences.  You would think that if there was a 1 gallon reserve at r=0 the owners manual would state that.  But what the heck.

J-Carr, I'm going to experiment with your 'shake, rattle and roll' suggestion.  But it goes against my understanding of physics.  Gravity and fluid behavior:  objects on earth will fall and fluids will flow ito the lowest volumed location.    

Hey Jwygo,

Yep... It goes against physics.  Until you understand the construction of the tank.  The bottom of the metal cover with the nozzel size hole for the gas nozzle to go through is actually a bit lower then the top of fuel compartment area of the tank.  It forms a tunnel down into the tank.  As the fuel reaches the top it has to go down through this tunnel and then the air has to escape at the top, outside of this tunnel into the fuel tank vent.  As this vent is a small hole it take longer for the air to evacuate then it does for the liquid fuel to go in.  When it reaches almost capacity, the weight of the fuel in this tunnel is not enough to overcome the air pressure resistance in the vent line.  A bit of a wiggle will force it to equilize.  If your patient and wait 30 seconds it will do it on it's own, following the laws of physics.  If, like me, you don't feel like taking as long to fill up a 6 gallon motorcycle as it takes to fill my 30 gallon truck, you can give a little wiggle at the gas tank gets almost full.

Have I sufficiently bored everyone?  Good.  Thus endeth the lesson.   

P.S.  Desertbear, If you're wiggling enough to be concerned about going over center, your doing it to hard.  Wiggle not rock and roll.  Turn the radio off or at least put it on easy listening so you don't keep rocking so hard.   

Ride Safe,
J-Carr

[scream08]

Has anyone put Rinehart true duals on and have the heat shield around them to start showing hot coloration......

[CTcvorider]

My one week old FLHTCUSE3 exhibits the same behavior that jwygo describes:  When 'r' is down to single digits, I can only take 4.7 to 4.9 gallons.  The low fuel light (when I can see it because it's so large and bright) seems to come on somewhere around 'r'-20 or so.  I'm just assuming the gauges are pessimistic and since I always record my mileage and I reset the trip meter at every fill, so I just watch for it to get into the 170 range and figure I need gas withing the next 20 miles or so.

[RedDevil]

I was watching my guage on my Street Glide and when it got to the point of saying "r LO" I found a gas station and filled up.  I put in 5.54 gals and the gas came up to the bottom of the filler.  So during this observation, my LCD switched to r LO at approximately .5 gal left.  The gas pump light came on when I was at r 20, which I guess would have been right at about 1 gal left, which makes sense beings I'm presently getting 40 mpg with the Glide. 

   

[Gone Fishin']

In my experience, when "low" comes on, you have some 40 miles worth of fuel in the tank. That should explain the difference ... ?

Ride safely,
Louis

[jwygo]

So when the gauge actually reads r = 40 it really means r=70 or 80 or 20 or some damn number we would hate to be committed to in the middle of the nowhere in Wyoming (e.g. HWY 26 Casper to Shoshonii - and if you've been there, you know what I mean)! 

[J-Carr]

Just to update here with a personal experience...

Last week I had to get my wife to endorse a check and then get to the bank.  This caused me to go right down to LO (Which it is supposed to read at 9 or less).  When it LO I road 7 miles with one stop where I shut off and restarted the bike (At the bank).  At the 7 mile mark from when it hit LO I pulled into the gas station, still running.  I filled it to the tippy top.  Meaning right up until the gas was at the nozzel size opening where the fuel dispenser slides through.  The pumps are accurate at this station.  I know the owner and he is very honest.  Plus PA inspects for accurate measurement frequently.

I got 6.02 gallons in the tank. 

Ride Safe,
J-Carr

[LRebel]

Dang, I'd say you were pushing your luck

Curious, was your bike on the kick stand or did you have it up-right on a center stand when you put over 6 gallons in it??

[J-Carr]

I always sit on the bike and hold it straight upright when filling it.  I can't see what I'm doing if it's on the kick stand and end up having it spit back at me.  Plus you get more in when it's upright, but you have to be careful if you're going to park it right away afer filling it.  I've had the heat from the engine warm the cool gas in the tank when it sits and then it overflows onto my garage floor.  So I leave about 1/2" from the top if I'm going right home from the gas station.

Ride Safe,
J-Carr

[skiindean]

I agree with Red Devil...the r Lo function comes on at almost exactly when I have 20 miles left...and fill up at that time is 5.5 gallons. I only get about 35 MPG (damn Reinharts, love em) which means I have about 18 miles to go. Of course, I do not depend on any of the gauges and always use my tripmeter and do the math on fill up. Also when I fill up, I can always add close to 3/4 of a gallon AFTER the pump clicks off..then I continue to drizzle it in until its above the neck. Only problem I currently have is fuel range function only reads up to 151 miles on fill up, it used to read about 200 miles before I had the fuel filter recall done. I'll have HD look at it when I take it in for something else.

Dean