Total Motorcycle Community Forums

i remember the first time i had to use the reserve. i misjudged how much gas i had. i had read about using the reserve and knew what to do. but my first thought when the bike started to sputter wasn't to turn it to the reserve. i was a little freaked out and worried something was wrong with the bike. then i thought to turn it to the reserve and all was right with the world.

If it makes you feel better this happened to me just recently. To make matters worse the triple has two petcocks, so I had to do this on both sides to make it happen. It's what happens when you ride FI for so long.

I do it all the time. usually I start riding and look down "shoot I shoulda put it on reserve before I took off" so then I wait till the bike wont let me go faster than 55mph (yes my bike slows to 55mph when the tank is about empty) then I pull over switch to reserve and then head to the gas station .

ofblong wrote:then I pull over switch to reserve and then head to the gas station .

Why don't you just reach down and switch to reserve?

That's what I've always done. The engine usually goes right back to normal in a few seconds.

If you're not familiar with the location and operation of the petcock on your bike, it may be a good idea to practice a bit before you have to do it for real. Riding down the street with the engine surging and the rider fumbling around for the petcock can be a dangerous distraction.

This brings up another point, why dont a lot of bikes have fuel gauges? Even my riding lawn mower has a fuel guage... I know this maybe a stupid question but can they be installed aftermarket... I have never researched that, can't tell why, just never did!

Anyone with a V-star 1100 do this?

Fuel gauge only works when you look at it... i sometimes get really low because I'm enjoying myself.

In a car you can hear the chime when you're low. Without that I'd take longer to notice it in my car too. With the bike, it tells you and you can switch to reserve and scoot on towards a service station

storysunfolding wrote:Fuel gauge only works when you look at it... i sometimes get really low because I'm enjoying myself.

In a car you can hear the chime when you're low. Without that I'd take longer to notice it in my car too. With the bike, it tells you and you can switch to reserve and scoot on towards a service station

I agree with that I too enjoy myself and forget about things like the reason I left on the bike (milk..)
I know that sputter felling that reminds me to goto reserve. I usually try fill up before hand but like you said sometimes your are just enjoying the ride to much...And a gas guage may not help...

Johnj wrote:

ofblong wrote:then I pull over switch to reserve and then head to the gas station .

Why don't you just reach down and switch to reserve?

because I have to reach quite a ways down and the way people drive around here if I slow down to 55 im getting run over. I would rather be safe and pull over to the side to switch it.

big_ry_ry wrote:This brings up another point, why dont a lot of bikes have fuel gauges?

If your bike has a petcock with reserve, then you don't really need a gauge. After awhile, you'll be able to tell with a fair amount of accuracy, how many miles on the tripmeter you'll go on the main tank. At that point you can either change to reserve before the sputtering starts, or head to a gas station. The tripmeter becomes your fuel gauge.

Adding an aftermarket fuel gauge to a bike that doesn't already have one is not easy. You'd have to rig up some sort of float system in the tank with a variable resistor to drive the gauge. I'd consider this one to be in the "Waaaay more trouble than it's worth" category.