Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech It Just Quit !

Well it's been at least 25 years since the last time it happened but it happened again. I ran out of gas! I was on a back road and it coughed once and I thought "what the heck was that" I then rode about 6 miles thru a town and past 2 gas stations up over a hill and it just died. I thought oh OK I will go to reserve so I pulled the Pingle lever all the way back and still nothing! WTF!! Tried cranking a couple times and it caught for a couple seconds and died again, so I took the gas cap off and shook the bike listening for a sloshing sound, wait better listen a little closer Nope nothing "Damn" How did that happen? I then got off the bike and examined the petcock, I then realized that I already had the darn thing on reserve. Is it just me or is Pingle petcock designed a little out of the ordinary? I just think it would make more sense to go from OFF to ON and then to RESERVE when needed instead of going from OFF past RESERVE to ON??? Any thoughts or is it just me?? Anyway I turned the bike around coasted back down the hill to the bottom and only had to push my bike about 100 yards to get to the gas station. DUMMY!

in a club I was in, the president before me started something called "the rubber chicken award" we handed it out monthly to the member who had demonstrated superior motorcycling skills in the area of operation and maintenance. They would relenquish the "honor" only when someone else had demonstrated feats of supreme mental acuity.
AND THIS MONTH THE WINNER IS... ......

Most petcocks are designed to turn one way for normal and the other way (through off) for reserve. The one on my '03 seems to have been intended to mount on the other side 'cause it works backward to what I'm used to. Now, back in the "good ol' days", this was less of a problem. On my two olde time Brit bikes, you push in on the right tap to turn it on, then push in on the left one for reserve. On the old HD's I've owned, you unscrew the knob on top of the tank for on and pull it up for reserve.

What is a real pain, is when you switch to reserve because you needed to, then forget you did that and run out anyway.

25 years ago I used to be in a hurry all the time. Did that more than once. I would pull in on reserve then never change the position. That may have happened to you.

It is a good attitude to be able to be amused by it. The greatest part about running out of gas is the running part. They never run out in the garage. It means you are riding.

Now my trip odometer is set and I get gas between 100 and 130 miles without fail. If not I promise I would forget again.

Pingels are easy. Front off, Rear on, middle reserve. No confusion if Up is on, or if Up is off. Much easier to run out gas with the oem petcock imho than the pingel. The oem petcocks are iffy. Gloved hands trying to feel for the embossed arrow? Really. Then trying to remember if the dern thing is supposed to point up or down. (Hardley petcocks operate the opposite way triumph petcocks do, btw)

The Pingel middle position (reserve) is tough to set as you have to think about it. Why? The swing has two stops: On and Off. So when you run out of gas with a Pingel, odds are your fuel tap is either on or off. So either give a half swing on the lever (to reserve) and look for gas or swing the lever to on and cuss yourself. Either way you still have Paris (spit) err reserve. Unless you happen to be an old geezer. The memory of not having run on reserve for 30 miles seems to vanish at times. Couple that with simply swinging the pingel lever through the reserve position provides enough fuel to get several miles down the road, where, you think, aha! Gotta go to reserve. Big time grins again. Wind is back in your face, you have what, at least an easy 30 miles to get gas. Until you run out. Then the light comes on and another notch appears on your whittle stick as yet another senior moment is recorded. Two times Cinnamon Girl set me down in fields of mosquitoes. I’ll get to the bottom of this! So I bought a one gallon fuel tin, filled it with ½ gallon then set it in the saddlebag. Rode CG until I hit reserve, then recorded the odo reading and rode CG until she ran out on reserve. Why the test of reserve fuel levels? To answer the question, “Did I run out of fuel due to CG’s pingel reserve being skinny?” After all, Vera Lynn had a pingel for years. CG’s was a new addition. I think that greybeard has already validated the geezer syndrome. Being as the fuel is always shut off, I doubt that I had left it on reserve overnight as saxtron mentioned. I digress,…

The pingel fuel tap positions seem logical. Reserve being a non natural position, i.e. not a click to be felt, nor a stop to encounter. Sure the Pingel lever is horizontal which happens to be the reserve position on the oem petcock. Once you get past the lever swinging horizontally, the Pingel simplicity becomes apparent.

The trip meter is how I know how much danger of running out of fuel I am.

after having to push more than one bike for this very reason in my life, i decided long ago that, 100miles i get gas!!! end of conversation!! i always set my odometer when filling up. i am never in that big of a hurry to be anywhere when i am riding so a fuel stop at 100 is nooo problem. i would much rather fill up every 100 than push for 1yrd. been there done that dont want to do it nomoe!!! besides after 100mi its time to rest the buttocks,get hydrated,enjoy a smoke,and maybe answer a few questions about Triumph that i havnt heard before

Click on to my Photobucket link below and look at the last pic of what I did the the symmetrical petcock lever , I rendered it assymetrical , so lever down is "on" and lever "up" is reserve . As I ride , just a touch reassures me that I'm OK on the gas .

Touches are so reassuring .

Question here, guys:

How many of you turn your petcock to the "Off" position after a ride and as you garage your baby?

I've never done that, and I've never had any problems with my carbs or any other problems starting up my bike later on, even after the bike may sit a week or two.

(...of course I'm talkin' about a relatively short duration between riding sequences, and not any long length of time such as during those "winterizing" intervals which some of our more northern based members around here go through yearly)

I only ever turned mine off on my Honda Scrambler, because it had one float that liked to get stuck open for no apparent reason at random times. On the America, I can say I pretty much never turn it off.

old habits are hard to break. the uncle that got me into riding told me to always shut fuel off when done so always have and always will. dont see why i shouldnt and can think of a few reasons why i should. better to be safe than sorry i guess

fuel off then key off is my park ritual and fuel on then key on is my start up ritual. Always have and always will as newt said I can think of a few reasons to do so but none not to.

On occasion I turn it off but mostly not.
I do switch it to reserve at 130 mile per the trip meter. Because I don't like the studdering hesitation when it gets low. I did run out og gas one time. I had to switch it to reserve on my way to the Backwoods but continued there rather than turn around and get gas. That night when I left I ran out before I could get with in 5 miles of a station. Luckily a bar maid saw me on the road and called the guys to come help. She thought I had gotten to drunk to ride and pulled over. The guys came with ramps, trucks, gas, jumper cables, and tools. I felt like a schmuck.

I do the trip reset thing every 100 miles. Not ran out yet.

My habits are: Key on, gas on, keep off, gas off. Refill every 100 miles, stop and top off at the last gas station before home.

I almost never do anymore as I've never had a problem with the BA. I always did with my old Honda as, on a few occasions, a carb float stuck and dumped an entire tank of gas.

It’s interesting to me that a lot of you seem to fill up at the 100 mile mark. The reason I say that is because my BF and I took our bikes out last Sat (mines a ’07 Speedy) on a 270 mile ride and we stopped twice for refreshment breaks just over the 100 mile marks both times. I decided to fill up while I was there and only had to put 2 gallons in it both times. So my question is does the last half of the tank go by faster than the first half? Because I would think if I got 100 miles on 2 gal. that I could get more than another 40-50 miles on the other approx. 2.4 gal left in the tank. Right?

I fill up after hitting reserve usually around the 135 mile mark, averaging 3.6 gallons. But should I fill up at the 100 mile mark I'm looking at 2.4 to 2.7 gallons depending on which bike I'm on and how hard I'm riding.

When I ride Vera Hard I get 35mpg. Ride her soft and I'm looking at 40mph. Cinnamon Girl likewise is 36/46. Yes CG does get better overall gas mileage.

To answer your question if you could get more than another 40-50 miles on the other approx. 2.4 gal left in the tank: Yes! Given that you are getting 50 mpg, you should use 140 on your tip odometer before you fill up, end even then, you won't be on reserve.

The 100 mile mark is more a function of monkey butt prevention on slab rides than it is a need to refuel. On rural roads the 100 miles mark is usually interspersed with several stops, so no need to stop for rear end reasons. However, at slab speeds, the 100 mile mark usually means speeds at 75+ mph. After a couple of tank to tank segments (at least 20 miles past reserve before fill up), that 100 mile mark may well even migrate down to 75 then 50.

I got religious about turning it off after my Bonneville Black unloaded a gallon plus of gas in my garage floor about two days after I bought it. Small piece of rubber from the fuel line stuck the needle valve open (previous owner had removed the hidden filter and not replaced it with a real filter. Remedied that very quickly.

Quote:

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How many of you turn your petcock to the "Off" position after a ride and as you garage your baby?

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Always.. even at fuel stops.