Ever run your bike outa gas?

Mailman

Mailman

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Today I took my bike out for a test ride after doing some repairs on my starter. I rode out to one of my favorite local roads that heads out into the desert, at about the farthest point away from home my bike started sputtering , OH CRAP! I flipped the petcocks to reserve and turned around. I have never let my tanks get low enough to ride on reserve, so I was unsure what kind of range I had left. I guessed it was maybe 15 miles to the nearest gas station. I also immediately started riding very conservatively, just hoping I wouldn’t get stranded.
I pulled into the gas station with 153 miles showing on my odometer, and I put 3.3 gallons in my 3.9 gallon tank. So I probably had a few miles left in it. But it had me goin there for a while. I have never run a motorcycle out of gas, and I didn’t much feel like doin it today! :laugh2:

So, anyone ever run their bike outa gas?
Anyone know what the limit is for distance before you’re sitting on the side of the road? :whistle:
 
Me and my partner ran out in North Dakota. I had my KingPin and she was on her 900 Vulcan and had just switched bikes. She was on mine and talking in the headsets when she mentioned the bike was running funny. Well I guess she got better gas milage than my Vic. She did make it to the next town about 30 miles down the road and brought back some gas. You need to fill up often when going through North Dakota, Montana, and parts of Oregon.
 
I don't recall ever running out, but I have a funny story on running out. Back when I was a kid I pulled up behind a guy pushing a brand new Guzzi up Clondike Hill. He was about halfway up this pretty steep, mile long hill. This was in Alabama in summertime... was about a gazillion degrees out and this guy was redfaced... soaked in sweat and breathin' like he just ran a marathon. So I pulled in behind him to see if I could help.... you know, biker to biker. After all I was ridin' a Benelli 125. ;) Guy sez it's a brand new bike, just bought it a week ago... "musta ran it out of gas he sez." So I shook my head and said... "yeah, ya really gotta be careful not to push it too far once you go on reserve. " He blew out a big breath... kinda slumped a little... eyes crossed into this confused look and he sez.... "reserve??" I though I was gonna die laughing. Showed him reserve on the petcock, bike fired right up and off he went up the hill. I said there's a gas station at the top of the hill. He was so embarrassed he just kept on goin' so he didn't have to look at me again. To this day I still chuckle when I think about it.
 
I ran out once in downtown Milwaukee. Was riding to work on my CB360 and the float got stuck. Didn't realize I was hemorrhaging gas until i came to a stop. Had to park the bike on the sidewalk (in an ever increasing puddling of HAZMAT) and trudge a few blocks for gas. Ended up on reserve a handful of times since then...
 
cra-z1 said:
Me and my partner ran out in North Dakota. I had my KingPin and she was on her 900 Vulcan and had just switched bikes. She was on mine and talking in the headsets when she mentioned the bike was running funny. Well I guess she got better gas milage than my Vic. She did make it to the next town about 30 miles down the road and brought back some gas. You need to fill up often when going through North Dakota, Montana, and parts of Oregon.
Click to expand...

Ha! Yeah man there’s some mighty lonely roads up there! Lucky you were with another rider.

Jim said:
I don't recall ever running out, but I have a funny story on running out. Back when I was a kid I pulled up behind a guy pushing a brand new Guzzi up Clondike Hill. He was about halfway up this pretty steep, mile long hill. This was in Alabama in summertime... was about a gazillion degrees out and this guy was redfaced... soaked in sweat and breathin' like he just ran a marathon. So I pulled in behind him to see if I could help.... you know, biker to biker. After all I was ridin' a Benelli 125. ;) Guy sez it's a brand new bike, just bought it a week ago... "musta ran it out of gas he sez." So I shook my head and said... "yeah, ya really gotta be careful not to push it too far once you go on reserve. " He blew out a big breath... kinda slumped a little... eyes crossed into this confused look and he sez.... "reserve??" I though I was gonna die laughing. Showed him reserve on the petcock, bike fired right up and off he went up the hill. I said there's a gas station at the top of the hill. He was so embarrassed he just kept on goin' so he didn't have to look at me again. To this day I still chuckle when I think about it.
Click to expand...

Haha! That’s a little like the time I took my brand new XT500 back to the dealer in the back of my pickup, I dropped it off and told them it won’t start! When I picked it up, I asked what was wrong with it and the service manager told me , without smiling, “the kill switch was on.” :doh: My only defense was I was still a teenager and pretty much a knucklehead.
 
Mailman said:
So, anyone ever run their bike outa gas?
Anyone know what the limit is for distance before you’re sitting on the side of the road? :whistle:
Click to expand...
I did once recently, after riding the King(fuel injected), I jumped on the xs1(forgetting the petcock) it ran all the way to the bottom of the hill. After much thought I realized and turned on the gas, kicked a few times and ran the rest of the day(without the need of the push back up the hill).
john
 
I ran my ‘76 out of fuel on my first big trip up the slab a couple of years ago. I was on my way back home and it was looking like rain, so I sped up and was going...well, pretty darned fast (over 5K rpm in 5th) and my mental computer was saying that it was going to be tight...but I should have been OK.

Anyhow, I think I was about 55 km from home when she went on reserve and about 9 km out when she sputtered to a halt. Fortunately, I was under a bridge and so I called one of the daughters and she brought the lawnmower gas can out to me and I got going again.

My conclusion: the fuel consumption on my XS650 goes up very substantially above 70 mph.
 
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Once on the SG. Was on the 77-79-60-77 run. It's about a 200 miler. 4 gallon tank (Standard) and getting over 50 MPG so I pushed it. Steady roar turned into a pa-pa-pa-paaaaahhhh.Well nut's. Started pushing a slight uphill (of course) when a younger middle aged H-D rider stopped and offered to give me a ride to a gas station and back. Nothing to hold on except the back of the rear seat and off we went. Made it to a nearby station and bought a 2 plastic gas can and filled it up. Was never so glad to get off a motorcycle. I think I almost fell of a couple times. Thanked him profusely and he stayed around until she was running again. I easily made it back to Tucson and filled her up.
 
Back in my 20’s my buddy and I were out riding. Back then we weren’t so smart and chucking a few beers back. We were heading home down the interstate, about 50 miles from home. I was on my 77 Shovelhead and we were running pretty hard. We had just passed a fuel stop when it started sputtering, so I flipped it in reserve. We still had about 20 miles to go till the next exit with fuel so I knew it was going to be close. About 3 miles from our exit she died. I pulled in the clutch and while coasting on the shoulder at 50mph and I’d lean the bike to the left trying to squeeze out any bit from the right split tank. She’d fire up for a minute pickup speed and die again. I did that about 3 times until she stopped. My buddy went on to grab a can of gas. I sat there for a few minutes on the kickstand long enough to drain the last bit over to the left tank. It was just enough to sputter into the fuel stop just as my buddy was walking out with the new 1 gallon can he just bought.
 
This is worse than running out of gas. I had an audience..Like Mailman, I took my son's Honda Blackbird to the dealer for it's first service. When picking it up a couple of guy's came outside to see the old guy on the Blackbird. I got on the bike while a young kid asks me if I can do any "tricks". That's when it went down hill, the bike would not start. I was confused but a service guy came over set the shut off switch. I was embarrassed and the young kids thought it was funny.....

tim
 
Yes I've run bikes out of gas several times, and come in "running on fumes" a few times. But this is my best story;
Rented an airplane to fly to Joliet IL. about 200 miles away, plenty of fuel in a full Cessna 172 for that round trip. The FBO owner, AND owner of the aircraft, had me taxi to the pumps and filled it with gas. (each wing has a fuel tank) Said I was good to go. It's pilot responsibility to do the final preflight....But the professional pilot, plane owner had just filled it, sigh. Got to Joliet (to look at a plane I wanted to buy) I was really into that mentally. Made the deal to have it flown up to my airport later, it was going to be my FIRST airplane! (low time pilot here) Fired up and ready to taxi for the fight home when the fuel gauges didn't agree, one was on empty. I ALMOST wrote it off as a gauge error (pretty common) I KNEW there was plenty of fuel for the trip. But not familiar with plane, I stopped to do a dip test. WHEW The owner had not replaced one fuel cap properly, it was gone! Top of wing, low pressure, sucks the fuel right out. Had to scrounge and pay big bucks for a used gas cap and fill the plane with gas. Trip home uneventful, but I had been a split second decision away from a dead stick landing somewhere in Illinois. There was a discussion when I got back.....
Another time, I saw a guy leaving the airport in his plane, something caught my eye. It is spectacular how much fuel low pressure will suck out of an open fuel tank. There was an arch of fuel vapor streaming out, visible from the ground a half mile away. Made a sprint to a radio and got ahold of the guy on unicom, he returned pronto, to put on the cap found a few feet from the pumps and refilled the tank.
 
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gggGary said:
Rented an airplane to fly to Joliet IL. about a 400 mile round trip, plenty of fuel in a 172 for that. The FBO owner, AND owner of the aircraft, had me taxi to the pumps and filled it with gas. (each wing has a fuel tank) Said I was good to go. It's pilot responsibility to do the final preflight....But the professional pilot, plane owner had just filled it, sigh. Got to Joliet (to look at a plane I wanted to buy) I was really into that mentally. Made the deal, was fired up and ready to taxi for the fight home when the fuel gauges didn't agree, one was on empty. I ALMOST wrote it off as a gauge error (pretty common) I KNEW there was plenty of fuel for the trip. But not familiar with plane, I stopped to do a dip test. WHEW The owner had not replaced one fuel cap properly, it was gone! Top of wing, low pressure, sucks the fuel right out. Had to scrounge and pay big bucks for a used gas cap and fill the plane with gas. Trip home uneventful, but I had been a split second decision away from a dead stick landing somewhere in Illinois. There was a discussion when I got back.....
Later I saw a guy leaving the airport in his plane, something caught my eye. It is spectacular how much fuel low pressure will suck out of an open fuel tank. There was an arch of fuel vapor streaming out, visible from the ground a half mile away. Made a sprint to a radio and got ahold of the guy on unicom, he returned pronto, to put on the cap found a few feet from the pumps and refilled the tank.
Yes I've run bikes out of gas several times, and come in "running on fumes" a few times too.
Click to expand...

Jeeze Gary! It’s pretty hard to push an airplane to the nearest gas station ......from 6,000 ft up! :eek:
 
cra-z1 said:
Me and my partner ran out in North Dakota. I had my KingPin and she was on her 900 Vulcan and had just switched bikes. She was on mine and talking in the headsets when she mentioned the bike was running funny. Well I guess she got better gas milage than my Vic. She did make it to the next town about 30 miles down the road and brought back some gas. You need to fill up often when going through North Dakota, Montana, and parts of Oregon.
Click to expand...
 
Never ran my XS out but have done it on a couple of my BMWs. Hit reserve on all my bikes occasionally but try to avoid it. Mileage will vary depending on the type of riding so sometimes it still happens. Normal, sedate (60 to 70 MPH) highway cruising gets me furthest. Around town, "spirited" blasting around the countryside, or real high speeds gets me less. My Standard usually hits reserve with miles in the 130s, but as mentioned, that can be less. I usually start thinking about gas when the trip meter hits 100, try to gas up by 120 for sure.
 
5twins said:
Never ran my XS out but have done it on a couple of my BMWs. Hit reserve on all my bikes occasionally but try to avoid it. Mileage will vary depending on the type of riding so sometimes it still happens. Normal, sedate (60 to 70 MPH) highway cruising gets me furthest. Around town, "spirited" blasting around the countryside, or real high speeds gets me less. My Standard usually hits reserve with miles in the 130s, but as mentioned, that can be less. I usually start thinking about gas when the trip meter hits 100, try to gas up by 120 for sure.
Click to expand...

Same here, my usual marker is 100 miles, that’s when I usually fill it up. Yesterday my bike started sputtering and went on reserve at 140 miles, and I was guessing I could probably go another 15 miles. I pulled into the gas station with 153 miles showing on my tripometer. I had about 1/2 gal left in the tank, not sure how far that would have got me. I calculated I was getting 47 mpg out of that tank.
 
gggGary said:
I've seen 180 on the trip meter pulling into a gas station, on reserve on a standard tank, but was pretty nervous the last 20 miles. IIRC it was backroading resto home from the VYMC rally.
Click to expand...

I think 180 is very impressive , without being stranded on the side of the road. I know as soon as I hit 150 miles, I just kept saying “C’mon baby! You can make it! “ :unsure:
 

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