Fuel tank size

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Sullen Merc

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Just curious what size fuel tank you are running and about how many miles you get out of it? Still in the planning phase of my build and any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
John
 
I run a 2 gallon tank, on a run get just over 60 miles out of it without panicking for a petrol station
 
I like the larger size & shape of the "standard" size (15 litres/4 US Gal) tank and usually
start looking for gas and hitting reserve at about 130 off highway miles.

WESTERN Australia and a 2 gallon tank? That Jay must have some big ones!
 
bluebikerblan said:
I like the larger size & shape of the "standard" size (15 litres/4 US Gal) tank and usually
start looking for gas and hitting reserve at about 130 off highway miles.

WESTERN Australia and a 2 gallon tank? That Jay must have some big ones!
Click to expand...

The bike with the 2 gallon tank is in the UK, never to far from a petrol station there, though did run out a little while ago:doh: slight miscalculation on how far I'd been, no speedo and no reserve, the one from WA had a 3 gallon tank on it, but never used to go far, can't stand straight roads.
 
Last edited:
I have a 78 Special with the smaller tank..............11 litres or 2.9 US gallons. I would be on the reserve at 190 kms or 118 miles. Completely empty tank would be 261 kms or 162 miles.

My gas consumption is 23.7 km/litre or 55.8 mpg when doing highway driving. However, if your carbs are not tuned, you will get less distance.
 
1.7 gals and 85 miles till I hit reserve which gets me almost 7 miles. I carry an extra liter of gas on roadtrips for those stretches where gas is scarce. My small tank lets me stretch my legs about once an hour. I bought a tourtank, but Fedex fucked up and said I refused delivery(i waited at home all day and they never showed), so it got returned and I got a refund.
 
bosco659 said:
Wow 2L won’t take me far. 😬
Click to expand...
Guy Fieri No GIF by First We Feast


I always had range anxiety on my old bikes. I used to pay more attention to the tripometer than anything else. I always reset it with every fill up and as soon as it had 80 miles on it , I was looking for a gas station. I know that I filled up more than necessary, but man I hate walking! 😬
 
Yeah, like Bob I keep at least a level of awareness of the trip. Make it a habit to check it before every run. Well, with multiple bikes it's a good habit anyway. Also make it my habit to zero the trip at every fill, except the Bullet which does have a lovely cheap Smiths Chronometric replica but doesn't have a tripmeter. The W800 's red Low Fuel light at 135-140 miles, so I usually fill at 100-120. The XS, must be a bit less anxious than Bob, so I like to fill after not much more than a hundred miles. The Bullet ran onto reserve just once at 158 miles so gets filled at 100-120 miles like the Kwak. Or sooner in all cases if there's a good filling opportunity comes up before those miles. Or if I can't remember like happens on the Bullet. Or if I've got a long run coming up.

So while I sit warming the bike up, I compare the trip reading with those numbers, think about where I'm going, filling stops on the route, alternative routes and the stops on those, or if it's just a joyride I think where shall we fill up today?

So with that taken care of, no need to worry about running out of fuel at all.
 
It’s been a long time since I hit reserve on my bike. Yesterday, I was at about 230 km and went to fill it up - it took about 11L. That means I still had up to 4L left (and I had not hit reserve yet). Not 100% sure but I thought I used to be able to go pretty darn close to 300km to reserve which agrees with Kevin’s guess of 2L of reserve fuel. I suppose this is all academic because I usually fill up after each ride (usually less than 200km). I’ll test this at home one day by draining the tank and will report my findings.
 
When I was working on jetting on both the Blue Tracker and the Red Bike I had fueling stops that suggested 35-40 mpg (and black plugs). Fueling a motorcycle IS not an exact science as different days I have different tolerance to how "close to the top (neck)" I run the fuel in the fuel tank. So we need to be honest with ourselves about our fuel consumption bragging rights. I was surprised to go 180 mi to reserve on the Red Bike but the next time might only be 150 mi. I don't get enough miles to give an accurate answer but a bike that give many smiles per mile and pretty good fuel economy is a big plus. The 2litre reserve volume (apparently) gives you 40-50 miles for finding a petrol station (at a reasonable speed). Disclaimer here, I have never been to Australia and never had to outrun Mad Max.
1724902594149.png
 

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