Sounds like a clogged fuel filter/fuel line to me. Or a defective gas gauge.

Weirdly, I appear to have the only Harley-Davidson ever made with an accurate gas gauge...

 

Nope, mine is right on too!

 

Well, my dad met me on his/my lunch break with 2 gallons of premium.

I had looked into my tank for gas, unsuccessfully, but I had not tried shaking my tank and listening for sloshing. Before I put the gas in that my dad brought me, I put my ear to the tank and shook for a while, and it sounded BONE DRY. So, I was hopeful that maybe I had indeed just run out of gas.

I poured all 2 gallons of gas into my tank, and it drank all of it without an end in sight. Then I flipped my bike to "run" four times to let the fuel pump suck up the gas. The first two times I did it, the pump sounded weak, like it was running low, the last two times I did it, it sounded strong like usual.

Then I fired her up, and she exploded with power, no sputtering to be found.

I usually do reset my A trip meter at each fill-up. I have never used this to judge when I was running low, but I do it to check my MPG. Sometimes I forget to reset it, but I pretty much do it every time. Anyway, I checked my trip meter, and it read 169.4 miles. That is pretty much all I needed to know.

Oh, and the kicker. My 4.8 gallon tank currently only has 2 gallons of gas in it, and after riding up and down the road, my gas gauge says I am at a full tank. Something is whacky with that gauge.

I am mainly happy that I didn't burn up my fuel pump by running it dry.

Running out of gas is a mistake I won't be making again.

I've only been a Harley owner for about a month and half, so I was unaware of any gas gauge issues. But now I know.

Walking my bike down the road was a humbling experience. Especially since I have co-workers who believe the "Harley's break down all the time" stereotype. I would have never heard the end of it if one of them would have seen me.

 

my gas gauge lied to me 1 time and I have used my trip gauge since it doesn't lie

 

Did your low fuel light come on? Mine does when I have about 2 gallons left in the tank.

 

I figure out my lowest MPG I can get with the bike (happens to be 40 miles). I then round down the tank capacity, so in my case 4 gallons (4.9 gallon tank). Multiply.

So for me, around 160 miles on the trip gauge, I try to fill up. I've *gotten* 220 out of a full tank, pure highway driving, but that was a stretch. I won't even go until I kick over to reserve usually. . .I just check the mileage and go off that.

And with that said, keep "Trip A" up. I made the mistake of flipping over to normal mileage and I almost ended up pushing my bike down an interstate.

 

I have a brand new wide glide (4/27/13, a day i will forever remember). My low fuel light and fuel gage make me panick regularly, saying I am out or low on fuel. However, I have never been able to squeeze more than 3.9 gallons into my 4.7 gallon tank. It chaps my hide at least once a week, but I am afraid to go too much further calling its' bluff because I dont want to fry the injection or worse, do the hmbling walk like BGlaze just did. I guess if I could remember, I could do the calculation and determine how many miles i should be able to get to a tank...
I remember my old 75 kawasaki had the reserve as mentioned before, and I like that idea best!

 

Ah, the ol' H-D (Hardley Dependable) fuel gauge. Mine sucks too, only trust the odometer.

 

Hey bglaze; That reminds me of the old Indian motorcycle ditty that went something like this; "Harley Harley made of tin, ride em out and push em in." It's bad enough when the guys see you pushing your bike, but when the girls see it you will never live it down. LOL

 

Nevil,

I honestly don't know. From now on I will be watching my trip meter instead of the fuel gauge, and since I will know when I am low, I will keep an eye on my low fuel light to see if it works or not.