Learned The Hard Way I Only Have 1/2 Gal Reserve
#1
10-09-2009, 10:02 AM
Learned The Hard Way I Only Have 1/2 Gal Reserve
Well we had 2 days of predicted rain on Wed & Thurs, but not a drop came to Tyler. Both days I sat in my office looking out the window thinking, "I could have ridden my bike today!" Well on Thursday they predicted 20% chance, and I thought what the heck, let's give it a shot.
So I hop on, set the choke, and bust her off. Head out the driveway and get to the stop sign and phrumph, phrumph, (she's running out of gas). Switch her to reserve real quick and keep heading to work. On the way I thought, I have to get gas...I'll pick some up on the way home. I've got plenty of reserve...on my Sporty I could go 30 miles on reserve in the city. The office is only 12 miles from the house, I'll be fine.
So I head to work and have a great day. Head out after work and take a picture of my ride, cause she's just that good looking
. So I bust her off again and head on out. No choke this time, b/c the day is pretty warm, just a little extra throttle to keep the rpms up until she's nice and warm. Now I'm not usually inclined to "keep up with traffic", as I've stated here before a few times, I'm the guy that drives 5-10 mph under the speed limit rockin to some older rock. But for some reason, I decided to "keep up with traffic". I'm moving along at a fast, but legal pace, when phrumph, "OH NO, YOU CAN'T BE OUT OF GAS!" Look in the mirror and one of my fellow Tahoe drivers is fixin' to make a Harley Pancake! Put the flashers on and make a quick coast to the shoulder, all the while flagging her around me. As I roll into the storage building driveway and then subsequently onto the sidewalk, I think of how silly it looked to her as I had JUST passed her.
Oh well, onto the problem at hand. Is the bike running poorly? Cut fuel line? You can't be out of gas. I open up the tank, and there is barely a drop in there. So I call the wife, my loving patient supporting partner in life. "Hey baby. I have a problem, I apparently ran out of gas about 4 miles from the house. Can you get my gas can and bring it to me?"
Of course I knew she would say sure honey, I'm on the way. "What? You ran out of gas? How is that possible? How do you run out of gas on a bike with a gas gauge?" Yada yada yada. To which I had to reply, "look I have a problem. Can you fix my problem? That's what I need right now, help. Not questions". "Okay, I'm on the way", she says.
Now my wife is a fast driver, she can make a trip across town so quick, you'd be certain she's breaking the laws of physics, at least a few traffic laws for sure. But that 4 miles ended up being about 20 minutes. Either she was filling up the 1 gallon gas can for me, or she was calling all of her friends to spread the news. Which reminds me of a joke, what's the 3 fastest forms of communication? Telegraph, telephone, tele-woman. Anyhow, I digress. I watch all the other people flashing by, those lucky jerks and their gasoline! Then a friendly guy in a Chevy Cobalt with a horse in the front seat pulls up. Well he said it was a dog, but I'm quite certain it was a horse. He offered to take me to the gas station, but I politely refused and told him I'm waiting for my wife. So as I sit there sweating but feeling good that someone offered to help, I started to laugh....thinking about Karma.
Now I don't believe in Karma (sp?) so to speak, but it was quite fitting that I run out of gas. Just 2 months ago while on my way to work, I saw a very well dressed man walking on the sidewalk with a gas can. "Wow, what in the world is he doing? I could see a lawn guy carrying a gas can on the road, but what could he possibly be doing?" Maybe his wife ran out of gas. Yeah, that kinda makes sense. Then as I watched him walking into a parking lot, he approached a very sharp all black & chrome Hummer H2, lifted with the big pimpin wheels and low profile tires. "Ha ha ha, serves you right you rich sucker", I thought. Which as a side note, I absolutely am crazy about the H2, just not "urbanized" like that particular one. But again, I digress. So as I sit there, I couldn't help but think about how fitting it was that I ran out of gas, as I had made that silly comment/thought a few months earlier. Then I began to wonder if this "accident", me running out of gas was somehow, somehow Obama's fault. Yeah, I'm sure there's a connection....oops, wait I think I see my wife. Nope, false alarm. So as I wait in this perpetual eternity (as it seems), I break out my phone calculator and figure I rode right at about 20-25 miles on reserve. What? There is no way I was getting 20 mpg on that 1 gal reserve. But wait, what if I only have a 1/2 gallon reserve. No HD wouldn't do that to me...would they? Oops, here she is. Yeah here she comes, awe dang, and she's flashing all those pearly whites. Oh yeah, she's loving this for sure. So I take a deep breath and get ready for the second Inquisition.
Surprisingly she has almost nothing to say, but her smiles says it all. I'm surprised she didn't take a picture. So I head home after getting gas at the gas station and fire up the computer to find out how much reserve I in fact do have. Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! All I have is a 1/2 gallon reserve. So I call my dad to share this "experience" with him. All he can say is, "hmmm, 1/2 gallon isn't much of a reserve". You're telling me dad, you're telling me.
Morale of the story: I'm not sure I have one, other than I'll go straight to the gas station next time I'm on reserve or at 1/4 tank.
Thank you for reading.
So I hop on, set the choke, and bust her off. Head out the driveway and get to the stop sign and phrumph, phrumph, (she's running out of gas). Switch her to reserve real quick and keep heading to work. On the way I thought, I have to get gas...I'll pick some up on the way home. I've got plenty of reserve...on my Sporty I could go 30 miles on reserve in the city. The office is only 12 miles from the house, I'll be fine.
So I head to work and have a great day. Head out after work and take a picture of my ride, cause she's just that good looking
. So I bust her off again and head on out. No choke this time, b/c the day is pretty warm, just a little extra throttle to keep the rpms up until she's nice and warm. Now I'm not usually inclined to "keep up with traffic", as I've stated here before a few times, I'm the guy that drives 5-10 mph under the speed limit rockin to some older rock. But for some reason, I decided to "keep up with traffic". I'm moving along at a fast, but legal pace, when phrumph, "OH NO, YOU CAN'T BE OUT OF GAS!" Look in the mirror and one of my fellow Tahoe drivers is fixin' to make a Harley Pancake! Put the flashers on and make a quick coast to the shoulder, all the while flagging her around me. As I roll into the storage building driveway and then subsequently onto the sidewalk, I think of how silly it looked to her as I had JUST passed her. Oh well, onto the problem at hand. Is the bike running poorly? Cut fuel line? You can't be out of gas. I open up the tank, and there is barely a drop in there. So I call the wife, my loving patient supporting partner in life. "Hey baby. I have a problem, I apparently ran out of gas about 4 miles from the house. Can you get my gas can and bring it to me?"
Of course I knew she would say sure honey, I'm on the way. "What? You ran out of gas? How is that possible? How do you run out of gas on a bike with a gas gauge?" Yada yada yada. To which I had to reply, "look I have a problem. Can you fix my problem? That's what I need right now, help. Not questions". "Okay, I'm on the way", she says.
Now my wife is a fast driver, she can make a trip across town so quick, you'd be certain she's breaking the laws of physics, at least a few traffic laws for sure. But that 4 miles ended up being about 20 minutes. Either she was filling up the 1 gallon gas can for me, or she was calling all of her friends to spread the news. Which reminds me of a joke, what's the 3 fastest forms of communication? Telegraph, telephone, tele-woman. Anyhow, I digress. I watch all the other people flashing by, those lucky jerks and their gasoline! Then a friendly guy in a Chevy Cobalt with a horse in the front seat pulls up. Well he said it was a dog, but I'm quite certain it was a horse. He offered to take me to the gas station, but I politely refused and told him I'm waiting for my wife. So as I sit there sweating but feeling good that someone offered to help, I started to laugh....thinking about Karma.
Now I don't believe in Karma (sp?) so to speak, but it was quite fitting that I run out of gas. Just 2 months ago while on my way to work, I saw a very well dressed man walking on the sidewalk with a gas can. "Wow, what in the world is he doing? I could see a lawn guy carrying a gas can on the road, but what could he possibly be doing?" Maybe his wife ran out of gas. Yeah, that kinda makes sense. Then as I watched him walking into a parking lot, he approached a very sharp all black & chrome Hummer H2, lifted with the big pimpin wheels and low profile tires. "Ha ha ha, serves you right you rich sucker", I thought. Which as a side note, I absolutely am crazy about the H2, just not "urbanized" like that particular one. But again, I digress. So as I sit there, I couldn't help but think about how fitting it was that I ran out of gas, as I had made that silly comment/thought a few months earlier. Then I began to wonder if this "accident", me running out of gas was somehow, somehow Obama's fault. Yeah, I'm sure there's a connection....oops, wait I think I see my wife. Nope, false alarm. So as I wait in this perpetual eternity (as it seems), I break out my phone calculator and figure I rode right at about 20-25 miles on reserve. What? There is no way I was getting 20 mpg on that 1 gal reserve. But wait, what if I only have a 1/2 gallon reserve. No HD wouldn't do that to me...would they? Oops, here she is. Yeah here she comes, awe dang, and she's flashing all those pearly whites. Oh yeah, she's loving this for sure. So I take a deep breath and get ready for the second Inquisition.
Surprisingly she has almost nothing to say, but her smiles says it all. I'm surprised she didn't take a picture. So I head home after getting gas at the gas station and fire up the computer to find out how much reserve I in fact do have. Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! All I have is a 1/2 gallon reserve. So I call my dad to share this "experience" with him. All he can say is, "hmmm, 1/2 gallon isn't much of a reserve". You're telling me dad, you're telling me.
Morale of the story: I'm not sure I have one, other than I'll go straight to the gas station next time I'm on reserve or at 1/4 tank.
Thank you for reading.
#2
10-09-2009, 10:48 AM
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#4
10-09-2009, 11:22 AM
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#5
10-09-2009, 12:02 PM
I think each bike has a mind of it's own when it comes to how much fuel remains when either the fuel light comes on or when it is switched to reserve. My 2005 Roadking I ride at work has less than 10 miles of fuel after the light comes on. My 2004 Springer has over 30 left. My '07 Street Glide is still chuggin around 40 miles so it's different for not only each model, but each individual bike as well.
#7
10-09-2009, 12:22 PM
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#8
10-09-2009, 02:16 PM
Outstanding HDF Member
The amount of reserve in a carburated HD is directly related to the length of the tube in the in-tank fuel filter. I have replaced the fuel filter on several bikes and have noticed the length is different based on the length of the filter. Check this out the next time you change your filter.
