Ran out of gas on the freeway

andrewexd · November 1st, 2009, 12:47 AM

Basically Im going home today and I figure I have enough gas to get me home (20-23 miles) and note I am on the GSXR not the 250. The GSXR does not have a fuel gage but instead a reserve tank that has an indicator which flashes when it's hit the reserve. This is about .7 gallons which would equal about 35 miles left (?). There's also a trip meter that shows how many miles you have used while on the reserve tank and it read about 18 miles so I figured I had enough gas.

So anyways, Im on the freeway and the bike starts jerking and the starts slowing and then speeds back up so I downshift and this is still going on until there's no power at all when I give I give it some throttle. So now I panic (

) and look behind and the cars are far away (it was 12am-ish) so I move over to the shoulder on the right and thankfully I was right at the exit. So I try to start the bike thinking maybe it's something else but it dies quickly and I smell smoke. I turn on the hazard lights (which is a nice feature

) and ride down the offramp in neutral and there's a gas station right there! so yeah I only pushed it like 5 feet and rolled down to the gas station and filled up and went home.

Too bad I don't have a credit card so I could figure out how many gallons fills it up

but I put in 3.3 gallons and it looked like it had .5 to go. And on top of that I couldn't find the damn freeway entrance for 15 minutes. Oh and before this incident I cracked my tire guard thingy where I didn't take my disc lock off and the alarm didn't even work until I heard the crack but thankfully I was backing up by foot and not launching it so there's only a minor crack.

yay me. Now I know it gets like 120 to the tank

where as I got at least 150-160 on the 250.

CZroe · November 1st, 2009, 02:05 AM

Umm, 35 minus 18 is 17. 17 is less than 20, thus 17 is also less than 23. If it only had 17 miles left on reserve, how did you figure that you'd have enough to get 20-23 more miles away? Did you only just discover that it only gets about 35 miles on reserve?

Well, I've run my Ninjette dry twice even with a fuel gauge (UNRELIABLE!).

andrewexd · November 1st, 2009, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CZroe

Umm, 35 minus 18 is 17. 17 is less than 20, thus 17 is also less than 23. If it only had 17 miles left on reserve, how did you figure that you'd have enough to get 20-23 more miles away? Did you only just discover that it only gets about 35 miles on reserve?

Well, I've run my Ninjette dry twice even with a fuel gauge (UNRELIABLE!).

yeah I didn't really know how many miles this thing gets per gallon or on the reserve. I never calculated MPG either because I only filled up once so far

KJohnson21 · November 1st, 2009, 08:08 AM

I did the same thing last year on my YZF600R when I was getting used to it. Ran out at an exit about five miles short of my normal one. I only had to push it half a block to a station, could have been worse.

bob706 · November 1st, 2009, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewexd

Now I know it gets like 120 to the tank

where as I got at least 150-160 on the 250.

160 miles on a tank of gas?! You must have run that thing like a raped ape all the time.

ninjabrewer · November 1st, 2009, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob706

160 miles on a tank of gas?! You must have run that thing like a raped ape all the time.

I have always gotten over 220-240 on a tank of gas.

nb

CZroe · November 1st, 2009, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob706

160 miles on a tank of gas?! You must have run that thing like a raped ape all the time.

I only get about 170 and I try to conserve. Then again, every time I think I might have a problem, people here tell me that it's normal. I only broke 200 once and that was when I tried to hypermile the hell out of it and risked sputtering out long before 200 (was on E with 20+ miles to go).

Reswob · November 1st, 2009, 10:17 AM

I'd contribute horrendous gas mileage to to the CA emissions system, or the gas blend they're forcing you to use in CA, or both. I usually get about 250miles to tank (~50mpg+), although I ran out of gas once at 200 miles and had to push the bike about 2 miles home, so I always make sure to fill her up before 200 now! (Fuel gauge is worthless, I'd rather have a clock or gear indicator or something useful).

OP, why do you have a gixxer and a 250?

CZroe · November 1st, 2009, 10:47 AM

My bike is a 49-state. I purchased it in VA when I still lived in GA.

andrewexd · November 1st, 2009, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob706

160 miles on a tank of gas?! You must have run that thing like a raped ape all the time.

is it that bad ? I always just fill up $10 worth because I don't have a credit card. oh well and almost all of my miles are highway miles going 80 indicated.

bob706 · November 1st, 2009, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewexd

is it that bad ? I always just fill up $10 worth because I don't have a credit card. oh well and almost all of my miles are highway miles going 80 indicated.

So that 160 miles to a tank is not on a full tank? Then that isn't so bad. The way you said it made me think you were getting around 40mpg which is low for a 250.

Reswob · November 1st, 2009, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CZroe

My bike is a 49-state. I purchased it in VA when I still lived in GA.

Then probably the gas. Are most CA stations high ethanol?

andrewexd · November 1st, 2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob706

So that 160 miles to a tank is not on a full tank? Then that isn't so bad. The way you said it made me think you were getting around 40mpg which is low for a 250.

Yeah, I usually get 55 mpg at least (when I calculate)

I don't think i've ever passed 200 either but im also very cautious when in comes to the fuel gage. If It's near the last white bar I usually fill up.

minuslars · November 1st, 2009, 03:20 PM

You do know that indicator lights are also called idiot lights, right?

If you place 100% trust in any of the instrumentation on your bike, you are an ______.

CZroe · November 1st, 2009, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reswob

Then probably the gas. Are most CA stations high ethanol?

Well, I did about 3.5K miles in other states (mostly GA) and I don't think I ever broke 50MPG anywhere else. I'd say it's my weight (nearly 250lbs) but I've seen others who weight the same and get consistently better mileage. I usually decide at fill-up whether I'm going to take it easy on a certain tank (try to stay under 55MPH w slow accelleration, early shifting, limited braking, etc) or ride the crap out of it and it doesn't seem to make too much of a difference.

The worst was 117mi before running out of gas in AL. I'm sure I got bad gas that time... the gauge wasn't even reading right (still said I had a quarter of a tank). AFAIK, most states force E10 Ethanol blend most of the year.

Reswob · November 1st, 2009, 04:58 PM

Damn. I ride balls-out most of the time and still average 55mpg. (I'm not exactly the most 'aerodynamic' rider either if you know what I mean!)

mike_sema · November 1st, 2009, 09:47 PM

man that sucks

minuslars · November 1st, 2009, 10:05 PM

I always got 220 miles out of my '03 ninja. You checked your carbs for mixture settings and whatnot?

Verus Cidere · November 2nd, 2009, 01:09 AM

Wow. I'm getting over 300 miles per tank regularly! Do I ride like a granny or something???

inbox526 · November 2nd, 2009, 02:41 AM

wow those are awesome mileage numbers. I'm getting around 140miles per tank? Or similar to that? My mpg calculations keep giving me around 40 or so.

CZroe · November 2nd, 2009, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Verus Cidere

Wow. I'm getting over 300 miles per tank regularly! Do I ride like a granny or something???

'07 bikes get much better fuel economy (Kawi claimed 85; not they claim 61). Do they have more capacity too?

adouglas · November 2nd, 2009, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CZroe

I'd say it's my weight (nearly 250lbs) .

Maybe it's the parachute you're dragging.

This seems really, really low. That fuel is going somewhere. Have you shimmed or jetted the carbs? Is your air filter clean? Assuming everything is stock and properly maintained.....

What kind of tire pressures are you running? Rolling resistance is bad for mileage. At a given pressure, a heavier load means a larger contact patch which means more rolling resistance.

A simple experiment you might try just for grins and to see if you can improve your mileage. I gather that you're all about saving a dime whenever you can, and this could be an easy and free way to do that.

Figure the size of the contact patch at the factory-recommended 28/32 psi, assuming a lighter rider (150 lbs?). This is very simple to do. Total weight on the wheel -- half the bike+rider+fuel for each wheel -- divided by psi for that tire gives you the size of the contact patch in square inches.

Then adjust your tire pressures so that the contact patch is the same size with your greater weight on board. Then see what that does for your mileage, if anything. I really don't know how big a factor rolling resistance might be, but I do know it can influence your mileage.

As long as you don't exceed the max pressure limits shown on the tire, this is safe to do.

Kawasabi · November 2nd, 2009, 09:27 AM

I am getting around 400 miles per tank, man, do i ever go above 25 mph or what?!?

Alex · November 2nd, 2009, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adouglas

Figure the size of the contact patch at the factory-recommended 28/32 psi, assuming a lighter rider (150 lbs?). This is very simple to do. Total weight on the wheel -- half the bike+rider+fuel for each wheel -- divided by psi for that tire gives you the size of the contact patch in square inches...

That math would only work if our tires were simple balloons with no internal structure; allowing the contact patch to be directly related to the weight on the wheel and the air pressure inside. Modern tires aren't like that, and while adding pressure will more than likely make the contact patch somewhat smaller, there is no way to figure out exactly how much that is affecting the size of the patch without much more information about the particular tire.

That said, trying a little more pressure certainly wouldn't hurt things. I just don't think it would help much either. Rolling friction between 25 psi and 40 psi isn't going to more than a few percentage points at most for fuel economy. FWIW, I can get our ninjette down to the mid 30's in mpg during spririted rides, and shouldn't they all be spirited?

I'm not terribly aerodynamic either.

Snake · November 2nd, 2009, 11:10 AM

This happened to me while I was headed back home and I thought I had enough gas to kake it to my favorite gas station. I was lucky I was in town and was able to push the bike to a gas station a block away. It was not fun but I learned to stop at the nearest gas station as soon as I hit reserve.

ScorpionNinja · November 2nd, 2009, 03:31 PM

Colder temps, rider going PAST 6,000 RPMs during take offs, Rider blasting down the highway faster you go, the More Gas youll use, as MPG suffers... Yes! :yoda:

Ok, mid-summer this year i filled up.
Then stuck to city roads, only short shifting around 4.5k-6k during take offs. Riding mostly the open country roads while chilling at 55-60 MPH, i had like 334 miles on my tank, before deciding to hit a gas station and fill up again!

i got like 74.3 MPG

front tire psi: 27
rear tire psi: 30

rider weight: 166 lbs

wind: calm, 10-15 MPH if any!

Point: If you ride like you stole it Everytime you take off,etc. Your Not gonna get good MPG like the 61 kawi lists!

(during the first 610 miles on my Ninja, i kept track of all mileage and gallons of gas used. I got 62.78 MPG during break-in)

Over the last month, my MPG dropped from my avg. summer time 65-68 MPG.
Down to like 55-59 MPG. Due to the colder morning to work and overall temps in the 40-50s!

*note: Any Carborated Engine is GOING too take a Hit in Cold Temps! Also in Winter/Fall months your cars MPG goes down, due to the cold temp. Its just Life! * <lol>

If you ride the highway keeping up with cars doing 70-85 MPH, your gonna Get 45-55 MPG (ish) on a warmer day.

I filled up and rode I-75 and US-10, at 80-90 MPH, in the pouring rain (Friday Oct. 24th) up to my Cousins halloween party last weekend & only got 44.16 MPG for the whole trip!

Reswob · November 2nd, 2009, 09:23 PM

Filled her up today at 180miles. Took 4.095 gals! Pretty low mileage this tank.

Although I also filled the Jeep up at 230 miles this morning. Took 20 gals

CZroe · November 2nd, 2009, 09:41 PM

I broke 200 again today! Also broke 50MPG (finally!) 202.5mi, 3.99gal. I had to ride it on red for many miles, but it wasn't as bad as the last time I pushed it way too far and broke 200. It's almost as if it were somehow "calibrated" better because I forced it so far passt "E" a couple tanks ago.

November 1st, 2009, 12:47 AM	#1
andrewexd ninjette.org guru Name: Andrew Location: LA Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): 07 GSXR600 (N250 sold :( ) Posts: 415	Ran out of gas on the freeway Basically Im going home today and I figure I have enough gas to get me home (20-23 miles) and note I am on the GSXR not the 250. The GSXR does not have a fuel gage but instead a reserve tank that has an indicator which flashes when it's hit the reserve. This is about .7 gallons which would equal about 35 miles left (?). There's also a trip meter that shows how many miles you have used while on the reserve tank and it read about 18 miles so I figured I had enough gas. So anyways, Im on the freeway and the bike starts jerking and the starts slowing and then speeds back up so I downshift and this is still going on until there's no power at all when I give I give it some throttle. So now I panic () and look behind and the cars are far away (it was 12am-ish) so I move over to the shoulder on the right and thankfully I was right at the exit. So I try to start the bike thinking maybe it's something else but it dies quickly and I smell smoke. I turn on the hazard lights (which is a nice feature ) and ride down the offramp in neutral and there's a gas station right there! so yeah I only pushed it like 5 feet and rolled down to the gas station and filled up and went home. Too bad I don't have a credit card so I could figure out how many gallons fills it up but I put in 3.3 gallons and it looked like it had .5 to go. And on top of that I couldn't find the damn freeway entrance for 15 minutes. Oh and before this incident I cracked my tire guard thingy where I didn't take my disc lock off and the alarm didn't even work until I heard the crack but thankfully I was backing up by foot and not launching it so there's only a minor crack. yay me. Now I know it gets like 120 to the tank where as I got at least 150-160 on the 250.

November 1st, 2009, 08:08 AM	#4
KJohnson21 ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Ken Location: Indio, CA Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): '08 Kawasaki EX250 "Yoshi", '99 Kawasaki Concours "Grace", '06 Concours "Belle", '06 Yamaha YZF600R "Slick" Posts: A lot. Blog Entries: 3	I did the same thing last year on my YZF600R when I was getting used to it. Ran out at an exit about five miles short of my normal one. I only had to push it half a block to a station, could have been worse. __________________________________________________ < ATGATT > Sweat you can wipe off, Road rash you can't. HEY!! Unregistered!! Does your bike have a name?

November 1st, 2009, 09:47 PM	#17
mike_sema ninjette.org guru Name: mike Location: tucson az Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): ninja 250r Posts: 371	man that sucks __________________________________________________ 08 250R: sportisi VR full exhaust, Dynojet, custom seat, kleen air rmvd, rim tape, grips, fender chop,zg db windscreen,k&n air filter,15t front sprocket,sportisi-usa clipons,solo seat cowl

November 2nd, 2009, 01:09 AM	#19
Verus Cidere ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Michael Location: Southern NM Join Date: Feb 2009 Motorcycle(s): '91 Honda CBR600 F2 Posts: A lot.	Wow. I'm getting over 300 miles per tank regularly! Do I ride like a granny or something??? __________________________________________________ 1991 Honda CBR600 F2, White/Gray, D&D slip-on exhaust, tail integrator, gel grips, Custom undertail.

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November 1st, 2009, 02:05 AM	#2
CZroe CPT Falcon Name: J.Emmett Turner Location: Newnan, GA Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): '08 CP Blue EX250J, '97 unpainted EX250F, 2nd '97 unpainted EX250F (no engine), '07 black EX250F Posts: A lot.	Umm, 35 minus 18 is 17. 17 is less than 20, thus 17 is also less than 23. If it only had 17 miles left on reserve, how did you figure that you'd have enough to get 20-23 more miles away? Did you only just discover that it only gets about 35 miles on reserve? Well, I've run my Ninjette dry twice even with a fuel gauge (UNRELIABLE!).

November 1st, 2009, 10:17 AM	#8
Reswob ninjette.org sage Name: Josh Location: Richmond VA Join Date: Oct 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 Triumph Bonneville Black Posts: 627	I'd contribute horrendous gas mileage to to the CA emissions system, or the gas blend they're forcing you to use in CA, or both. I usually get about 250miles to tank (~50mpg+), although I ran out of gas once at 200 miles and had to push the bike about 2 miles home, so I always make sure to fill her up before 200 now! (Fuel gauge is worthless, I'd rather have a clock or gear indicator or something useful). OP, why do you have a gixxer and a 250?

November 1st, 2009, 10:47 AM	#9
CZroe CPT Falcon Name: J.Emmett Turner Location: Newnan, GA Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): '08 CP Blue EX250J, '97 unpainted EX250F, 2nd '97 unpainted EX250F (no engine), '07 black EX250F Posts: A lot.	My bike is a 49-state. I purchased it in VA when I still lived in GA.

November 1st, 2009, 03:20 PM	#14
minuslars ninjette.org member Name: Arthur Location: NoVA Join Date: Jun 2009 Motorcycle(s): '03 EX250 Posts: 134	You do know that indicator lights are also called idiot lights, right? If you place 100% trust in any of the instrumentation on your bike, you are an ______.

November 1st, 2009, 04:58 PM	#16
Reswob ninjette.org sage Name: Josh Location: Richmond VA Join Date: Oct 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 Triumph Bonneville Black Posts: 627	Damn. I ride balls-out most of the time and still average 55mpg. (I'm not exactly the most 'aerodynamic' rider either if you know what I mean!)

November 1st, 2009, 10:05 PM	#18
minuslars ninjette.org member Name: Arthur Location: NoVA Join Date: Jun 2009 Motorcycle(s): '03 EX250 Posts: 134	I always got 220 miles out of my '03 ninja. You checked your carbs for mixture settings and whatnot?

November 2nd, 2009, 02:41 AM	#20
inbox526 ninjette.org member Name: Matt Location: Southern Cali Join Date: Feb 2009 Motorcycle(s): None yet Posts: 49	wow those are awesome mileage numbers. I'm getting around 140miles per tank? Or similar to that? My mpg calculations keep giving me around 40 or so.

November 2nd, 2009, 09:27 AM	#23
Kawasabi ninjette.org member Name: J Location: NYC Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): RED 250R Posts: 112	I am getting around 400 miles per tank, man, do i ever go above 25 mph or what?!?

November 2nd, 2009, 11:10 AM	#25
Snake ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Rick Location: Alexandria, Louisiana Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 05 Blue Ninja 250 Posts: Too much. MOTY - 2017, MOTM - Jan '19, Oct '16, May '14	This happened to me while I was headed back home and I thought I had enough gas to kake it to my favorite gas station. I was lucky I was in town and was able to push the bike to a gas station a block away. It was not fun but I learned to stop at the nearest gas station as soon as I hit reserve.

November 2nd, 2009, 03:31 PM	#26
ScorpionNinja ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Dave Location: Michigan Join Date: May 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 650RTE & 2009 Kawasaki Ninja 250R (SOLD) Posts: A lot.	Colder temps, rider going PAST 6,000 RPMs during take offs, Rider blasting down the highway faster you go, the More Gas youll use, as MPG suffers... Yes! :yoda: Ok, mid-summer this year i filled up. Then stuck to city roads, only short shifting around 4.5k-6k during take offs. Riding mostly the open country roads while chilling at 55-60 MPH, i had like 334 miles on my tank, before deciding to hit a gas station and fill up again! i got like 74.3 MPG front tire psi: 27 rear tire psi: 30 rider weight: 166 lbs wind: calm, 10-15 MPH if any! Point: If you ride like you stole it Everytime you take off,etc. Your Not gonna get good MPG like the 61 kawi lists! (during the first 610 miles on my Ninja, i kept track of all mileage and gallons of gas used. I got 62.78 MPG during break-in) Over the last month, my MPG dropped from my avg. summer time 65-68 MPG. Down to like 55-59 MPG. Due to the colder morning to work and overall temps in the 40-50s! note: Any Carborated Engine is GOING too take a Hit in Cold Temps! Also in Winter/Fall months your cars MPG goes down, due to the cold temp. Its just Life! <lol> If you ride the highway keeping up with cars doing 70-85 MPH, your gonna Get 45-55 MPG (ish) on a warmer day. I filled up and rode I-75 and US-10, at 80-90 MPH, in the pouring rain (Friday Oct. 24th) up to my Cousins halloween party last weekend & only got 44.16 MPG for the whole trip!

November 2nd, 2009, 09:23 PM	#27
Reswob ninjette.org sage Name: Josh Location: Richmond VA Join Date: Oct 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2008 Triumph Bonneville Black Posts: 627	Filled her up today at 180miles. Took 4.095 gals! Pretty low mileage this tank. Although I also filled the Jeep up at 230 miles this morning. Took 20 gals

November 2nd, 2009, 09:41 PM	#28
CZroe CPT Falcon Name: J.Emmett Turner Location: Newnan, GA Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): '08 CP Blue EX250J, '97 unpainted EX250F, 2nd '97 unpainted EX250F (no engine), '07 black EX250F Posts: A lot.	I broke 200 again today! Also broke 50MPG (finally!) 202.5mi, 3.99gal. I had to ride it on red for many miles, but it wasn't as bad as the last time I pushed it way too far and broke 200. It's almost as if it were somehow "calibrated" better because I forced it so far passt "E" a couple tanks ago.