[mfrankpdx]

Today I took off my tank to clean my air filter, and while removing the lines from the fuel switch I noticed it was on the reserve position. I hadn't switched it to reserve since the last time it started sputtering from lack of fuel, which was about 1000 miles ago. After filling up I forgot to switch it back to on. Are there any issues with riding with the fuel switch on reserve, other than once you run out of gas you're screwed?

 

[Sven Hoek]

No damage can occur that I'm aware of other than as you already stated "once you run out of gas you're screwed!"

 

[omninate]

After filling up I forgot to switch it back to on.

*whew* I thought I was the only one who ever made this mistake! I've done it twice, and only realize it's happened the next time I go to fill up, but I was wondering what might happen if I rode with it that way for too long.

 

[Jsvob03]

lol. first tank i had the bike, i kept using the reserve setting for some reason...of course i ran out while practicing. funny stuff, glad i was in my parking lot!

 

[sonyminidiscman]

man, the reserve saved my a** ........... u have no idea how fast the engine dies and how fast you slow down...... I was going 140 oh the highway, and basically no shoulder on the fast lane side..... had my bike for less than a month....... so i don't know where everything excatly was......... and going at 140, worrying about slowing down too much and worrying about cutting to the right shoulder and worrying about cars coming up that might not see you slowing down........ man, that was some experience... luckliy i made it to the right shoulder, found my reserve button, started the bike and found a gas station.

 

[ydant]

I don't understand why it's on the left side instead of the right. If fuel cuts off on the highway, the best option is to clutch in (lose as little momentum as possible), switch the petcock to reserve, and then throttle + clutch your way back up to speed.

As it is now, it's a nice little stretching act - or you have to suffer through the engine braking. Poor usability design...

Luckily there's usually a little bit of warning - in that acceleration will stumble, but steady speed gets enough fuel, giving you enough time to switch over.

 

[render]

I don't understand why it's on the left side instead of the right.

I'm confused why you would want that. Your throttle and clutch are on the right so it would naturally make sense to have the petcock on the left so you can use your left hand to move it to the reserve postion while using your right hand to throttle. . .

 

[omninate]

Your throttle and clutch are on the right

My clutch is on the left ...

 

[ydant]

I don't understand why it's on the left side instead of the right.

I'm confused why you would want that. Your throttle and clutch are on the right so it would naturally make sense to have the petcock on the left so you can use your left hand to move it to the reserve postion while using your right hand to throttle. . .

My clutch is moving when I'm not looking at it?

It all depends on how soon you catch it - and if you get the warning stumble. If it stumbles on accel, then you can probably keep light throttle and maintain speed long enough to switch. If it stumbles and cuts out, then you need to clutch in to keep from accelerating way too rapidly to a stop. Hard to clutch in and switch the petcock.

I'm not sure there's an ideal position for it, really. Better to know you're about to run out and switch to reserve right before you actually do.

 

[fourflush]

I'm almost always on the freeway when I hit reserver (right around 180 miles into the tank). The warning stumbles seem to give me enough time to switch the switch. I rarely loose more than 5mph before the bike comes back.

After reading a few threads in the troubleshooting section about water in the tank i like to run my bike a bit on reserver to hopefully get any of that junk out before it accumulates enough to cause a problem. Dont know if that actually works or not.

 

[fog]

Only if there is a gross amout of water in there. a better way is to just put in some dry gas once in a while.

FOG

 

[jrocket]

By the time my bike stumbles from lack of fuel it takes a few minutes to get fired back up. I don't know if this is because I am usually on the freeway doing 70mph but my first stumble even if i switch it that second about 10 seconds down the road it will cut out and die. I have made a habbit of waiting until I hit 200-205 and then switching. This is every 4th day on my way into work.

 

[jlmay]

man, the reserve saved my a** ........... u have no idea how fast the engine dies and how fast you slow down...... I was going 140 oh the highway, and basically no shoulder on the fast lane side..... had my bike for less than a month....... so i don't know where everything excatly was......... and going at 140, worrying about slowing down too much and worrying about cutting to the right shoulder and worrying about cars coming up that might not see you slowing down........ man, that was some experience... luckliy i made it to the right shoulder, found my reserve button, started the bike and found a gas station.

140 on the highway? what bike were you on and what kind of apocalyptic emergency caused you to go 140?

 

[sonyminidiscman]

man, the reserve saved my a** ........... u have no idea how fast the engine dies and how fast you slow down...... I was going 140 oh the highway, and basically no shoulder on the fast lane side..... had my bike for less than a month....... so i don't know where everything excatly was......... and going at 140, worrying about slowing down too much and worrying about cutting to the right shoulder and worrying about cars coming up that might not see you slowing down........ man, that was some experience... luckliy i made it to the right shoulder, found my reserve button, started the bike and found a gas station.

140 on the highway? what bike were you on and what kind of apocalyptic emergency caused you to go 140?

HUM.........I am from up north............so 140 is KM/hr............ not 140mph! 140km/hr is normal right?

 

[Guest]

140km/hr = 87m/hr

A quick "ball park" way I've used to figure out the mph from kph when I'm in Canada traveling as a passenger looking at a kph sign is:

Take kph divide by 2 then add 10% of the original kph. eg. 140/2=70; 10% of 140 is 14; add 70+14 = 84 (pretty close).

 

[jlmay]

140km/hr = 87m/hr

A quick "ball park" way I've used to figure out the mph from kph when I'm in Canada traveling as a passenger looking at a kph sign is:

Take kph divide by 2 then add 10% of the original kph. eg. 140/2=70; 10% of 140 is 14; add 70+14 = 84 (pretty close).

there wasn't a km/h next to the 140 and me being used to mph assumed mph. then i read his last topic, but was too lazy to edit this. 140km/h is still a little high 120km/h is my normal interstate speed.

 

[sonyminidiscman]

140km/hr = 87m/hr

A quick "ball park" way I've used to figure out the mph from kph when I'm in Canada traveling as a passenger looking at a kph sign is:

Take kph divide by 2 then add 10% of the original kph. eg. 140/2=70; 10% of 140 is 14; add 70+14 = 84 (pretty close).

there wasn't a km/h next to the 140 and me being used to mph assumed mph. then i read his last topic, but was too lazy to edit this. 140km/h is still a little high 120km/h is my normal interstate speed.

yeah sorry my bad for not being clear............ but 120km/h is a nice ride speed... but when i am on the fast lane, got to be 140kmh......

 

[Gman]

I must be different, I fill up my tank before it gets to reserve.

I look for a station or try to fill up when my bike gets a little over 100 miles on the trip meter.

 

[ydant]

I look for a station or try to fill up when my bike gets a little over 100 miles on the trip meter.

If I did that, I'd have to fill up 6-7 times on a weekend trip instead of the normal 3... That's a lot of gas stops.

 

[mfrankpdx]

I must be different, I fill up my tank before it gets to reserve.

I do that now too ;D The only time I switched to reserve was on my second tank of gas, and I was seeing how many miles I would get before I had to switch. Since then I fill up around 150 miles. I think I got around 185 miles.