Anyone ever run out of gas?

[bob706]

I was in a group ride on Sunday and ran out of fuel. Call it being into the ride or just a case of sh*t for brains but at 264 spirited miles my bike would go no more. Luckily someone had a quart of gas that saved me from walking or worse, riding pillion. Actually, the quart didn't quite get me to the station. I went about 12 miles and ran out again. So one of the guys went and got another quart and that got me to a station and the bike took about 4.5 gallons. One thing I though was wierd was I swore I saw fuel in the tank after running out the first time ,albeit not a lot. Does anyone know if the shape of the tank allows for every bit of petrol to be used? Anyway it was a lesson I won't soon forget.

[Ramen]

264 / 4.5 gal (if the tank was filled before you took off) would be 58.6 miles per gallon. I'd say you used every last drop possible.

[Dano]

only ever ran out of gas once in arizona in my old 64 chevy truck..was a long 3 mile walk I will never forget..never want to run out again.

[Reswob]

Well the tank should hold 4.8 gals, so sounds like it doesn't use the last .3? I ran out once, luckily just off my exit, although the 2 mile walk home pushing the bike and sweating in my gear sucked. I'll never let it run over 200 miles without stopping for gas again!

[Betlog]

On a related note, do you guys ever get to see the fuel gauge set to full? Whenever I fill mine up it usually goes about 1/4 to the full gauge. When filling the tank with gas, I let the auto-shut-off of the pump work. That is, I don't measure the gas level by sight. How do you guys fill up your tank?

[kevlarorc]

I fill up by sight. I usually get it about 1/2 an inch below the metal bit under the gas cap. In the heat we get here I don't want to fill it up all the way. I usually don't want it to get below 1/8th of a tank.

[Momaru]

Originally Posted by n00br1d3r

How do you guys fill up your tank?

I usually sit on the the bike & tip it up so it's level, then fill to about 1/2-1/4" shy of the closure, where the paint ends. That way I fill to pretty much the same volume every time so I can track mileage a little better and get as much gas as I can in the tank.

Haven't run out of gas in the ninjette yet despite a 250mi trip but have run out a few times in my truck. First time was due to the gas gauge being broken but it literally died rolling into a gas station after sputtering for 5 miles.

[kkim]

Originally Posted by Momaru

I usually sit on the the bike & tip it up so it's level, then fill to about 1/2-1/4" shy of the closure, where the paint ends. That way I fill to pretty much the same volume every time so I can track mileage a little better and get as much gas as I can in the tank.

Paul,

I used to do that for the same reasons you do. But, one night when prepping the bike for a ride the next day, I filled the tank up just as you described using a gas can at home while the bike was sitting upright on the rear stand.

I finished prepping the bike, took it off the rear stand and parked it in the corner, ready to ride the next morning.

Well, the ride never happened for some reason and the bike sat that way all week long.

What I found was that the gas will leak past the seal on the locked gas cap and it ate away at the paint of the inner portion of the gas filler cap area. Fortunately you can't see it when the gas cap is closed. The gasoline actually ate away the paint and flaked it off to the metal. I knew gas was bad for paint and will stain it, but if left to sit for long periods of time, it can actually remove it.

Bob, sorry for the OT... oh yeah, remember to fill up at 200 miles.

[bob706]

Originally Posted by kkim

remember to fill up at 200 miles.

Yeah, I think 200 miles is a safe bet. I'm gonna think of that as hitting the reserve from now on.

[demp]

I ran out once... Never again. I ended up pushing the bike about 2km to the nearest gas station XD, I've never actually been able to get the needle to show full on the fuel gauge either.. I had my gf hold the bike upright (not on kickstand) at the gas station, and filled it up all the way (right up to the metal lip there) and it still did not show full.

[addy126]

lol.. nope have never run out of gas....can't say it wouldnt happen... but nope never in cage or on bike.....

[bob706]

Originally Posted by demp

I ended up pushing the bike about 2km to the nearest gas station

I had to push my bike maybe 250 feet up a moderate incline to get out of a blind curve and I felt like I ran a marathon. The 250 may be a nimble and light bike but not when you is pushing it

[karlosdajackal]

does your insurance not cover breakdown assistance?

I've never run out of gas but if i do, ring insurance van comes with gas, or takes me and bike to nearest gas station. Same really for any other mechanical break down, they try fix at the side of the road if the can't they bring you home and the bike to a garage.

[asherdink]

I ran out of gas once, luckily it was in town. I thought I could go at least 150 miles after filling up but I made it like 120. Not sure if the tank wasn't full or what but since then I fill up after 100 miles. However, I always fill up with the bike on the kick stand, next time I'll have to sit on it and stand it upright.

[cnichols79us]

I ran out Once on a Mountain ride about 20 some miles from anywhere. Switched to reserve and it died as I pulled into the 1st gas station I came too... Luckily.

[FrugalNinja250]

I kept trying to figure out why running out of gas was such a big deal here in this thread, then I realized that most here apparently don't have a reserve function on the fuel petcock like my 2006.

I run out all the time but can switch to reserve before the motor quits altogether, rarely losing more than 5mph of speed.

On the other hand, the drain tube inside my tank has a hole in it and I can only put in about 3 gallons, about 1" below the filler neck bottom edge, before fuel starts to run out the overflow hose.

My reserve position has gotten me over 20 miles, around here that's plenty as it's rarely more than a few miles between fueling stations.

The one time I had to push my bike is because I put some gas from my lawnmower's gas can into it. Apparently that gas was still good enough to run the mower but not good enough for the bike. That was a bad day...

[riiken]

For those of you that really push your bikes...

How often do you fill up?

[bob706]

Originally Posted by FrugalNinja250

I kept trying to figure out why running out of gas was such a big deal here in this thread

I should have added I have an 08. I usually don't fill up till around 220 or 230 but have pushed it to 240 a couple of times. At 264 I was literally pushing it

[Soujyu]

I usually fill up after 240 miles. I was doing some pretty hard riding this weekend, and I still could get 240 miles on that tank of gas easily.

[JokerSeven]

Nope, never ran out of gas on 2 wheels or 4. I have coasted in to the station a time or two. Just lucky I guess.
On the 250 I start looking for a station at 200 miles just to be safe.

[untdavid]

I've never run out of gas before and hope it will never happen. I wonder if there are any repercussions from running out of gas. DETONATION? Maybe?

[Momaru]

Originally Posted by kkim

Paul,

I used to do that for the same reasons you do. But, one night when prepping the bike for a ride the next day, I filled the tank up just as you described using a gas can at home while the bike was sitting upright on the rear stand.

I finished prepping the bike, took it off the rear stand and parked it in the corner, ready to ride the next morning.

Well, the ride never happened for some reason and the bike sat that way all week long.

What I found was that the gas will leak past the seal on the locked gas cap and it ate away at the paint of the inner portion of the gas filler cap area. Fortunately you can't see it when the gas cap is closed. The gasoline actually ate away the paint and flaked it off to the metal. I knew gas was bad for paint and will stain it, but if left to sit for long periods of time, it can actually remove it.

Bob, sorry for the OT... oh yeah, remember to fill up at 200 miles.

Ohh, thanks for the tip Kelly. I was a chem major, I should think about things like that. Especially since I put my hand under the gas filler when it's going over the tank to keep it from dripping on the paint.

[CodE-E]

Haven't run out of gas yet - as soon as the orange "low fuel" indicator goes on (the fuel injected 250R models don't have a fuel gauge), I get paranoid. The most I've ridden with one tank was about 370 km (230 mi). Don't remember how much I filled up, but I think it was around 15 liters (about 4 gallons), so I guess I could do 400 km, but more would start getting risky.

[CZroe]

I've run out. Never got 264 MPT tough.

[Angel-be-Good]

I ran out once...at around 175 miles. The bike only took about four gallons so I suppose I could have shaken the bike a bit to get to that last .8 gallon, but I ran out a quarter mile from my apartment. And now I refill every 150 miles.

[JeffM]

I've had to switch to reserve a few times at around 190 miles. However I tend to keep the revs up.

[noche_caliente]

There's a post around here somewhere about the time that Nick NJD022588 ran out of gas and my DH came to the rescue with a gas can.... in the mean time I managed to kill my battery by keeping the lights on so that we would be visible It was a pretty amusing incident in the end! I don't think he had hit 200 on that tank though...

[Samer]

Originally Posted by n00br1d3r

On a related note, do you guys ever get to see the fuel gauge set to full? Whenever I fill mine up it usually goes about 1/4 to the full gauge. When filling the tank with gas, I let the auto-shut-off of the pump work. That is, I don't measure the gas level by sight. How do you guys fill up your tank?

That's odd. My fuel gage does show full when I fill it up. It takes a few minutes to get there. It creeps up slowly, but it gets there. Also, I fill it up on its side stand which means I'm not filling it to the max because I don't want to risk a spill over.

This thread came at a funny time for me because I'm right at 198 miles on my trip meter, and I didn't ride to work today because I haven't filled it up. I know I've got plenty of margin but I'm very cautious about fuel. Just one thing I'd rather not have to worry about.

[headshrink]

Wow.... I never make it to 200 miles!
You sure you aren't doing Imperial Miles?

[riiken]

I'm on my first tank of gas and so far rode 100 miles. My fuel gauge still shows 3/4 full. Would it be safe to say I could last another 100 miles on this tank?

BTW, my bike is completely stock.

[bob706]

Originally Posted by riiken

I'm on my first tank of gas and so far rode 100 miles. My fuel gauge still shows 3/4 full. Would it be safe to say I could last another 100 miles on this tank?

BTW, my bike is completely stock.

You could easily go another 100.

[Kawikaze]

I have never gotten less than 200 miles out a tank. (usually 240 on avg.) But I just swapped out my front sprocket to make it a 15/45, and I am waiting to see if there is going to be a noticeable difference.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by bob706

You could easily go another 100.

Not "easily" for a lot of us (myself included). It depends on the bike, fuel, rider, and technique. For example, I have to hyper-mile to break 200 MPT and I've only done it twice in 12K+ miles. I usually get ~186 MPT but I ran out at 117 once, unless it was some other issue that cleared up when I added gas like my most recent breakdown in the rain.

[backinthesaddleagain]

Originally Posted by n00br1d3r

On a related note, do you guys ever get to see the fuel gauge set to full? Whenever I fill mine up it usually goes about 1/4 to the full gauge. When filling the tank with gas, I let the auto-shut-off of the pump work. That is, I don't measure the gas level by sight. How do you guys fill up your tank?

Mine seems to go to 3/4 or 7/8 when I fill to the baffle with bike on sidestand, then goes quickly down to 1/2 once riding, and slower after reaching 1/2.

[Flow]

Running out of gas is something I still have on my to-do list.

[lunerkid]

Never ran out of gas .

The gas gauge is not very accurate on my bike.

Half on the gauge is more like 1/4 gas used.
3/4 on the gauge is more like half my gas tank.
I think the last hash on my gas gauge is my last 80 miles (can't remember this exactly).

I also stand my bike up when filling to get the full tank of gas.
Doing that I can go to about "250" miles on a full tank.
But I tend to fill at 210-220 miles.

I get about 50-55 mpg.

[Cedilla]

I've run out of gas once, luckily I was coming up on a gas station, and I coasted into the turn lane, and I just had to push it across the highway, I think I had just over 200mi on the tank. When I fill mine up, I usually just leave it on the side stand, and fill it until it touches the brim on the low side.

[ScorpionNinja]

Originally Posted by kkim

Paul,

I used to do that for the same reasons you do. But, one night when prepping the bike for a ride the next day, I filled the tank up just as you described using a gas can at home while the bike was sitting upright on the rear stand.

I finished prepping the bike, took it off the rear stand and parked it in the corner, ready to ride the next morning.

Well, the ride never happened for some reason and the bike sat that way all week long.

What I found was that the gas will leak past the seal on the locked gas cap and it ate away at the paint of the inner portion of the gas filler cap area. Fortunately you can't see it when the gas cap is closed. The gasoline actually ate away the paint and flaked it off to the metal. I knew gas was bad for paint and will stain it, but if left to sit for long periods of time, it can actually remove it.

Bob, sorry for the OT... oh yeah, remember to fill up at 200 miles.

Yea kkim, ive had this happen to me too! I tried to squeeze every bit i pre-paid for, but if it goes over the cap it goes into the overflow outter tank then leaks out the 'Penis' from underneath!

If this happens, i would make sure you cover the hole so flaking paint dont go into the gas tank, and scrap away the clearcoat/paint that has flaked! Otherwise on your next fill up, if its windy some of that flaking junk can fly into your gas tank!

No ive never ran outta gas on my 250R!

-Solo riding, my failsafe point is 250 miles!

-with GF on back on trips, failsafe point is 200 miles!

Best i got (coming in on Vapors at a gas station!) was 331.2 miles on 4.6 gallons!!

[KJohnson21]

The "best" I've done was on a friend's Honda CBR1000F Hurricane. He'd taken it to LA to get tuned up, and it ran well, except that it was getting really poor mileage. So, I volunteered to ride it back to the shop in LA for a touch-up. I ended up running out of fuel on a remote section of I-10 about two miles from the next gas station, at night. (Where it'd normally still have half a tank!) Unfortunately, I couldn't leave the bike there because somebody could've easily loaded it in a truck, or run over it, and this was way before anyone had cell phones. So, I had to push it. I had to push it uphill with a headwind! After pushing it for more than a mile, I tried to fire it up again, and it started! I jumped on and rode the shoulder 'til the exit where it coughed and died. I left it under the street light at the exit and walked to the station and got a gas can. I was super-paranoid about running out for the rest of that trip.

"Reserve fuel" reminds me of fun with my first bike. The fun part was that it had a petcock on both sides of the tank. After a lot of practice I could switch while on the freeway without loosing significant speed.

[Alex]

Yup, ran out of gas miles from anywhere in the middle of Highway 58. Had traded rides with a friend, he had my supertanker RT (7.1 gallon tank), and I had his Tuono (4 and a little gallon tank). Things got a little futzed up, and I ended up riding his bike much further than planned when groups split up, and I hadn't realized what kind of mileage his Aprilia gets at high speeds. Turns out well under 30 mpg, so I ended up running dry 20 miles before McKittrick. All of my supplies (tube, siphon) were sitting in my own bike 50 miles away, and a friend that was with me was also low on gas and had no tube or siphon available anyway. Luckily for me he ended up riding to the next town, filling his bike up and finding a tube to transfer some fuel when he got back. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't a clear tube, so when he got the flow started he ended up with a mouthful of premium. yuck! I ended up running close to dry twice more on the way out to Death Valley that year; it's no fun running a bike with 100 - 110 mile range on roads that have stretches without gas for 75 - 100 miles...