I was so used to turning the petcock off after riding that when I got my Harley I found myself looking to turn gas on and off when I ride it. Myself I gas up every hundred miles out of habit from my other scoots. I always found that when I hit reserve I would suck all the trash out of the tank and a carb tear down was mandatory. Oh well thats what comes with riding old bikes.
On my Heritage I went down to 21 miles remaining once without a sputter, but I sure was nervous.

 

I'm sure I met the same two girls in Northern Spain, last time I was passing through.

 

Reset your trip odometer at every fill up and you will be good to go.

 

Motorcycle fuel gauges are worthless... always go by mileage.

One thing I won't miss about the reserve... riding though the middle of the desert, bike starts to sputter, reach down to switch it to reserve... then have the unpleasant realization that it's ALREADY on reserve. Oooooops.

 

[quote=Suntower;12157465]Motorcycle fuel gauges are worthless... always go by mileage.
One thing I won't miss about the reserve... riding though the middle of the desert, bike starts to sputter, reach down to switch it to reserve... then have the unpleasant realization that it's ALREADY on reserve. Oooooops.[/quote]

.......... I always look at my gauge when I leave , I know its not right , but it gives me a general idea .

 

That's exactly what I do.

If Im low on fuel I always fuel up before I put the bike away for the day. This way if I choose to run out on one of those spurt of the moment rides I don't have to worry about stopping at the gas station.

 

I'll have to disagree with you on this one, at least as for "all" fuel gauges are worthless.

When my speedo/tach reads "0 miles until empty" I pretty much can be assured that I've got between 18-22 miles until I'm walking.

I've run it down there quite a few times and at "0 miles until empty" I generally have about 1/2 gallon left in the tank.

Now as for my LED gauge on the tank, that's a POS and I think I can judge how much gas I have better by tapping on the side of the tank than going by what that gauge is telling me

 

I'm not sure what the difference is between manually turning to reserve or eyeballing that you need gas. You need gas.

 

Yea, it's actually pretty simple...when my trip odometer gets to 150 miles I'm ready to stop for a fill up. I don't let my tank get past 1 gallon of gas left in it so I'm not walking it to a gas station. Usually takes about 3.5 to 3.7 gals. to fill up the tank.

 

Yeah I've sweated bullets once on a ride. Fuel light came on and I pushed it another 25 miles at 80mph. When I filled up I had .6 of a gallon left. I think I was right at 200 miles on my NT. At least now I know I can do 200 miles on a tank