I am a newbie and have never owned a bike before, but after reading the owners manual and looking at the bike (don't take possesion till Wednesday or Thursday) I don't see a gas gauge so how do I know when I need to put gas in it. FYI it is a 2006 XLH 883 Sportster.

 

unscrew the cap... and look down.

 

oh now I feel like a complete idiot, WAIT come to think of it when it comes to riding and knowing about bikes I AM AN IDIOT thanks for having the patience to deal with my stupidity lol

 

You keep riding until it starts bucking and sputtering like it is going to die on you. That means it IS going to die on you until you flip the **** to "reserve" on the fuel tank. (Make SURE you practice and know where that **** is for when you need it.) Then you get yourself to a gas station, as you don't have a lot of gas left in "reserve". Make sure to flip it back to "on" and not leave it on "reserve" when you fill up, or you WILL be out of gas the next time. You figure getting somewhere around 50 MPG (maybe go low at 45), so just multiply that by how many ever gallons on 883's tank is to give yourself an average range of your tank. On the 1200 you have 2 electronic trips meters, so you can use one of them to track your gas mileage. I don't know if that is true on the 883.

 

Set your trip meter and look at filling up at around 150. That'll keep you safe until you learn your style of riding (highway v. city) and how long you can go before you need to fill up.

 

What outdoorgirl said.

Learn to use the reserve switch or your screwed. It's one of the most important things you need to know.

 

fill it up go 100 miles and gas it up again!
I am joking like some one said unscrew the gas cap and look down.
Congrats on your new bike. Please post pics of the new one!

 

I will be happy to post pics of it as soon as I get it home and take some and email them to myself lol

 

I'll add a little extra to this. I always use my trip meter not the gas gauge. When I first got my bike, I would spend time figuring out my mileage everytime that I filled up. I realize that mpg will vary depending on riding style, but I soon figured out how many miles that I could go on a tank of gas. When I figured that out, then I would look at my trip meter and then I would know about when it was time to refill with gas. Hope that this helps.

 

Ok laugh away but ....

Hahahahahahahahahahhahahaha.

















sorry....couldn't help myself.