Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech tank reserve question

anyone know how much of the the tanks capacity is left over when switching to reserve? 1/2 gallon, 1 gallon? just curious cuz the resrve tube on the petcock is WAY shorter than the main. Thanks!

i would say a 1/2 gallon. some say more with a pingle. i would just say 1/2 to be on the safe side

Frank

The single petcock makes you wonder how the designer thought you'd get the fuel trapped on the other side of the tunnel without tipping the bike 45 degrees to the left.

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just curious cuz the resrve tube on the petcock is WAY shorter than the main.

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If you think about it Jeff that's how it works. The taller tube (main) quits "drinking" earlier leaving fuel in the tank to flow out of the shorter (reserve) tube from the bottom of the tank.

If you want an exact answer, the original style tank holds 4.4 total gallons including a .9 gallon reserve.

My bike went 31 miles on reserve @ 40mph, I get 36 mpg+/-

Sounds right to me. 0.9 times 36 equals 32+/-.

I intentionally ran mine down just to see how far she'd go on reserve . Around here , there's usually plenty of time to find a pump after the initial sputter . You should get at least 25 miles or so . Also DON'T forget to return your petcock back from "reserve" to "run" position or the next sputter will be your last .

thanks fellas. I want to run mine dry just to see an average of what I get, but I do almost all highway riding and there are no stations for a 17 mile strip going to work. Maybe one day I'll grab my cell phone and a sandwich and head out for the great mileage adventure...(the sandwich, of course, to have while I am awaiting a buddy to come refuel me)

I always run until I hit the reserve. I make a mental note of the mileage and figure I must get gas within 20 miles. I went 35-40 on the highway once but was getting very nervous - I was traveling with HD friends with bigger tanks. Fortunately, I've never run out of gas on the bike. That highway scare has kept me to my 20 mile limit which I've come close to lots of times.

BTW, when I stopped to fill up on the highway, I pumped 4.3 gallons. I guess I could have gone a couple more miles or so.

Went for a ride today, traveled 140 miles when I hit reserve (pingel petcock), went 5 more miles to a station, and put 3.5 gallons in, so I would guess I still had 30 miles or more to stranded. That was all highway though, city brings my average waaaaayy down