This got me thinking I had no idea and would have guessed around about 130-150 at a push but last night I took mine to 166 miles but I was riding with the warning light on for the last 15 miles just waiting for it to conk out, I'm not sure I'll make it to the petrol station round the corner next time I want to go out, so which brings me to the question how big is the reserve tank and how many litres do they actually take and what's the biggest amount anyone has put in because I reckon I'll beat it next fuel up
I once put 17.68 litres in the 17.7 lite tank of my 2008 blade, see: https://www.1000rr.co.uk/threads/4-lucky-teaspoons.13396/
So what I want to know is how far everyone pushes it once the fuel light comes on? I've not done more than 20 miles with the fuel light on.
Never more than 15 to 20 after having to push it about 500yards to the garage I was aiming for thinking 30 would be safe.
It’s just down to simple maths. As I wrote earlier, the 2008-2011 model has a very accurate reserve gauge. When the light comes on you have exactly 0.8 gallons left in the tank. So if you’re averaging 40mpg and you don’t change your riding style then it’ll run out in 40 x 0.8 = 32 miles. Or, if you’re on a long motorway trip and averaging 50mpg and you don’t change your riding style then it’ll run out in 50 x 0.8 = 40 miles. If you get in a real jam (as I did above) then you can extend it a lot by trundling along in top and, if really desperate, turn the engine off when coasting down hills…
I'm on an rr04 and no idea whats left in the tank when the light comes on! Hence a total lottery but so far staying under 20 miles and keeping the revs down hasn't caught me out yet.
OK, agreed, the above only works on a 2008 to 2011 model. However you can do the following on any model to see what’s really in your reserve: If you work out what mpg you normally get, then go for a ride and ride like normal until the light comes on. Then zero the trip meter and ride to nearest petrol station and brim the tank. Yours is an 18 litre tank. So if you put 15 litres in, it means you get 3 litres in reserve plus what you used since you reset the trip meter and you know what that is from your average mpg and your trip meter reading. eg if you normally average 40mpg and your trip meter was 10miles then you had an extra 0.25 gallons at the time the light came on. Therefore when light comes on you’ve got 3 litres plus 0.25 gallons = 0.9 gallons which means you can ride 36 miles from “light on” to “empty”. Then at least you will know for sure whether you’re already on the edge at 20 miles or that you can really go another 50…
I went out this morning and filled up 4 miles after the light came on and squeezed in 14 litres so will take reserve as 4 litres. I'm well in the safety zone of keeping to 20 miles on reserve as at nearly a gallon it should have 35 miles+ left on 4 litres.
Excellent! Now you know. Might be really useful one day if you find your normal fuel station is unexpectedly closed and you’re already at the 20 mile mark…
Yesterday my light came on at 97 miles, headed to fuel station but bike stopped a mile before it at 106miles total
Yeah it was definitely full. I always reset the trip when I fill up. To be honest I use a very fast (closed private road) where the bike was flat out quite a few times on there. I was also trying to show off to a car full of girls in bikinis that were heading to the beach. I wasn’t exactly considerate of fuel consumption, let’s see what this tank brings lol
Yes, something very odd going on. 9 miles on 0.8 gallons means 10.8mpg and I think that’s very unlikely even when extreme stunting to impress the pretty girls… Unless it was a 9 mile rolling burnout?
my 2019 just did 147 miles before the light came on telling me I've got another 45 miles left. Pretty impressive and apparently 48mpg - average speed of 50mph as my commute is half urban and half 70mph dual carriage A roads