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Never thought about this at all until I was going through the manual again, it recomends turning the fuel valve off evertime I park the bike. I normally ride everyday or every other day now that the weather is better, but never turn the fuel valve off.

How many of you do this or is it something you also never think about?

My petcock is vacuum operated, so I never worry about it.

If I dont turn mine off I leak gas all over the transmission.

If you float needles seal well, you will never notice anything unussual, if it leaks slightly, you will have a fuel puddle under the bike every morning. It is a good precaution to turn it off, can't hurt.....

I have a dumb n00b question. How does the reserve work anyway? Am I to believe there is a separate chamber within my gas tank? And if so, do I have to turn the valve to reserve to ensure that separate chamber gets filled with fuel? I've never ridden long enough between fill ups to use the reserve.

Your petcock has 2 tubes sticking up into the tank. The one connected to the 'on' position is longer and draws fuel until the level in the tank drops below the top of that tube. Then switching to 'res' draws fuel from the shorter tube. This tube draws from almost the very bottom of the tank, so when it sucks air, that's cause there is only air left to suck.

You don't need to worry about filling a seperate tank or switching the valve, it will 'fill' first, with no help needed.

Speed Trader wrote:I have a dumb n00b question. How does the reserve work anyway? Am I to believe there is a separate chamber within my gas tank? And if so, do I have to turn the valve to reserve to ensure that separate chamber gets filled with fuel? I've never ridden long enough between fill ups to use the reserve.

All the reserve does is allow fuel to flow from a lower pickup in your tank.

The petcock has two 'straws' (for lack of a better word) inside the tank of differing heights. When you have the petcock in the 'On' or 'Run' position, it draws fuel through the taller straw. When the fuel level gets below the level of this straw, your bike starts to die until you switch it over to reserve, which draws fuel through the shorter straw.

The reserve is there to remind you that you are getting low on fuel and should be looking for a gas station sometime within the next 50 miles or so.

Personally, I leave my petcock in the 'reserve' position all the time and watch my trip odometer and fuel guage.

you have a fuel gauge on that old lump ???

Yeah, it's called clocking the miles since you last filled up, and guesstimating when to tank

One thing... always remember to re-set the tap to Run after you fill up. I'm not sayin' how I came to think about this.

TechBMW wrote:you have a fuel gauge on that old lump ???

Come on, Tech... has being immersed in the Ducatisti world caused you to forget so quickly?.
Zooks have had all manner of bells and whistles for, like, ever. Remember the digital gear readout on the GT triples?