How many miles for a full tank?

tpeever said:

CanukNortonNut said:

You can set up a small bicycle electronic speedometer. Most will have trip meters on the screen

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This is what I use too. Works great! Just the most basic wired Sigma bicycle speedo is all you need. About 20 bucks. I replaced the magnet with a stronger rare earth magnet from Radio Shack and epoxied it to my disc brake. I think it would be more difficult to set up with a drum brake. You need to have very little clearance between the magnet and pickup to work reliably. Oh, and make sure you get the WIRED speedo, not the WIRELESS one.

I get around 50-55 mpg (US gallon) and generally hit reserve around 110 miles. Reserve on my bike does not get me very far (found that out shortly after I bought it), about 15 miles max. So I too start looking for gas stations in earnest around 100 miles.

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tp
I have the same sigma on my combat. You must be careful choosing a bicycle speedo as some will only register about 60MPH eg CATEYE will not register more. The Sigma's are good to 160MPH. Good enough for our Commando's These have an LED light when you push but will only light the screen briefly so not ideal for night driving.
Cheers,
Thomas
CNN

CanukNortonNut said:

tp
I have the same sigma on my combat. You must be careful choosing a bicycle speedo as some will only register about 60MPH eg CATEYE will not register more. The Sigma's are good to 160MPH. Good enough for our Commando's These have an LED light when you push but will only light the screen briefly so not ideal for night driving.
Cheers,
Thomas
CNN

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Yep, that's why I chose the Sigma. Did a fair bit of reading up on it before I bought it. Seemed like it was hit and miss with the other brands as to whether they would work on a motorcycle whereas all Sigma speedos supposedly work. I try to avoid driving at night as much as possible and only use the bicycle speedo as an odometer so no real issues there for me in terms of lack of illumination. The Sigma does provide a nice check on the Smiths speedo though which is always 5-10 mph optimistic, assuming I calibrated the former correctly.

This all depends on knowing where next gas station will be. 100 miles on HiRider takes knowing your route routine mileage. Wes 71 makes stops about 60-70 miles on long tours away from home and also carries a canteen in tank or sissy bar bag as too many times prior got caught out so never again he says. I go about 120 miles on Combat Ropadster if behaving semi legal and less if really kicking up heels, far enough away from stations ya can really kick up heels. On my 4+ gal SuVee650 about 160 miles make a stop soon on my mind. Peel IS tank over 200 miles before thinking about gas. Its easy to get 30-50 miles away from gas in Ozarks and some Gravel paths worth exploring are that far away so only Peel invited me to explore a long ways into unknowns. I can remember the mileage from one gas up to the next while out and about and just take a glance in on new day start and remember odometer on first gas up. I have run out 4 times on 3 cycles in 15 yrs and few in car and pu too. Once was return from 2011 Empire INOA rally ran car out onj turnpike but had cycle gas can to make it to fill up.

Even on Peel I have gotten lost 100 miles out and begged stale lawnmower or tractor 87 octane so just took it easy not to detonate.

On one out of state trip Wes had a tank as part of luggage with a hose/valve tee to tank hose so when one tank or the other sputtered on the fly hed works valve to keep on trucking.

The GPS app is a good idea.

Old school modification would be to add a couple 1/8" tubes to the top and bottom of your tank and connect them with clear vinyl hose like I remember Suzuki used to do back in the early 1970s. Then you can see your fuel level at a glance. Works flawlessly until some A**hole comes along and yanks off the hose.

Definatly should be getting around the 110mile mark. I ride mountains with a 21 t sprocket so needs a few heavy adjustments with the right hand sometimes and sometimes it doesnt but i do it anyway. Tuning makes a difference.

Or do what I did when I used the bike in "real life".

Throw the useless show pony tank away and put a real one on.

There are many many places where petrol pumps are more than 100 miles apart.

Connie73 said:

. Tuning makes a difference.

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+1 on that statement.
Also when you switch over on reserve resist the temptation to hammer on at 70-80MPH and bring it down to a sedately 50-55. you will get a little better range. :idea: It may make the difference between coasting into a gas station or humbly pushing it a mile or more. :wink:
Cheers,
Thomas
CNN

A chap I spoke to last night said "If you were to run your bike out of fuel, why don't you lock it up and just take the tank to refill it at the servo?" Food for thought.
Ta.

needing said:

A chap I spoke to last night said "If you were to run your bike out of fuel, why don't you lock it up and just take the tank to refill it at the servo?" Food for thought.
Ta.

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It doesn't have a handle. :mrgreen: plus your still walking. :shock:
Ta
CNN

tpeever said:

CanukNortonNut said:

You can set up a small bicycle electronic speedometer. Most will have trip meters on the screen

Click to expand...

This is what I use too. Works great! Just the most basic wired Sigma bicycle speedo is all you need. About 20 bucks. I replaced the magnet with a stronger rare earth magnet from Radio Shack and epoxied it to my disc brake. I think it would be more difficult to set up with a drum brake. You need to have very little clearance between the magnet and pickup to work reliably. Oh, and make sure you get the WIRED speedo, not the WIRELESS one.

I get around 50-55 mpg (US gallon) and generally hit reserve around 110 miles. Reserve on my bike does not get me very far (found that out shortly after I bought it), about 15 miles max. So I too start looking for gas stations in earnest around 100 miles.

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It sounds like you have a 2.5 US gallon tank, hi rider? I get 110 or so, but that's with a steel roadster tank and more like 45 mpg.

Your reserve is typically more on the highway than on twisty roads due to fuel sloshing over the hump.

The roadster tank's reserve is a combination of the hump plus the standpipe. I measured my reserve capacity once in the centerstand. It was just under 1 gallon. In practice it's more like .5 gallons.

There's also an emergency reserve of gas in the main side of the tank after you run out. You can lean the bike over onto the peg on the reserve side and get a little more gas, enough to go a couple more miles.

You can take out the standpipe altogether and get a little extra range, but then your reserve goes down to .1 gallon due to the effect of the hump in the tank alone.

No idea how far on a full tank. 24 miles on reserve. MKIII Interstate, 1up, BAP taps.
Ran out of main, the engine stopped, at a slightly graded intersection 1 mile from home. Went on reserve, waited 15 seconds and continued home for the 1 mile.
Removed tank for other purposes but did manage to shake 1/2 gallon out into a clear plastic 1 gallon bottle using the reserve tap.
Job done, refitted tank, fueled from spare can, maybe 4 gallons total.
Weeks later after more partial refueling was on a solo adventure exploring north west country roads (30-50 mph) never before traveled by myself.
5:15 pm ran out of main, went on reserve and continued on. RI covers an area the size of a moderate pimple so no reason for concern.
Eventually intersected with a major road, US44, a lake thought to be Watermans directly opposite the intersection. Left should lead towards Greenville. Good.
The BIG SIGN stating Welcome to Connecticut meant I was headed west, a 3 mile excursion in the wrong direction. Some concern. Turned around.
All the while expecting a gas station right around the next bend.
I never knew there are no gas stations once inside RI on US44 east for a long, long way. I either overlooked them or they don't exist.
Ran out of reserve on an uphill corner just beyond Chepachet. Certain concern. Coasted to a stop and tipped her over to the left peg and waited 30 seconds. Started and on my way.
Ran out again 3 miles further along on another uphill. Turned her perpendicular to the rise and tipped over on the left peg again. Fervent concern.
Ran out again on a long downhill. Coasted into a gas station, deserted, not even a desk in the office. Repeated the tipping exercise on level ground. Continued on.
1/4 mile another gas station, pulled in, no lights inside, seemed deserted. (Found out next day later they were in fact open and I should have tried the door).
Ran out for the final time on level ground in traffic at a stop light. Pushed her into a church parking lot.
What now? No phone. Went across the road to a Fire House seeking to borrow some fuel. It took a long time to go up the chain of command to get a no can do.
A good soul, off duty fireman found an empty fuel can, gave me a lift to and from a gas station and I'm on my way.
Very nearly got myself smashed at the next intersection by an idiot not looking where he was going while he was crossing against the light and against traffic.
I actually saw the whites of his eyes when he spotted me, the closest I ever came without impact and they were right, it usually happens within 5 miles of home.
Moral of the story: Adventures are nice, 24 miles is possible on reserve, I need a taller stand pipe on the main tap and none of this would have happened if I was in church alongside the missus.
All the best.

I don't understand why anyone living in America or my country, Australia, would want a bike with a small tank. We do big mileages went we tour, with long distances between service stations. To my eyes the small tank doesn't look good anyway.
My first Norton was a Fastback and I loved it, but someone else wanted it more.
Not having much money to spend, I bought a basket case roadster and restored it. After running out of fuel a couple of times I fitted the spare Fastback tank that came with the first bike. I had to make my own seat and sidecovers to blend with the tank. It doesn't look as good as the Fastback, but now it can travel distances.
I don't know how far it goes on a tank, but I roughly calculated that 60 mpg x 3.5 gallons = at least 180 miles (yes very roughly).
When on a highway I watch the distance signs and start thinking about refuelling at about 250 km (150 miles).

maylar said:

That's what the reserve tap was made for...

I start looking for gas at about 100 miles too.

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Getting the same... 100 miles with my roadster tank

I think the steel roadster tank carries a bit more fuel than a fiberglass roadster tank. Not sure what the difference is in terms of volume or miles.

Stephen Hill

Had to hit reserve at 290 miles with my Steel Interstate tank. Going back to the Roadster tank for originality. Watch for the Interstate on eBay in the coming weeks.

I had a 73 Roadster (ex-Canada) VIN 230034 fitted with a Fastback Long Range tank (4 Imperial gallons including reserve) with homemade glass fibre seat base so aRoadster seat could be used instead of Fastback tail unit.
Twin 34mm VM Mikuni carbs with P6 needle jets per Victory Library booklet.
Full tank at Grafton NSW and wife on pillion and riding with determination
100 miles to Glen Inness and main ran out maybe 5-8 miles out then reserve began to run out just as we reached town and coasted down hill to make it to a gas station.
25 miles per gallon!
I had P8 needle jets for a while before that that added some mid-range oomph but were totally over the top but great fun.
Sadly had to sell after getting melted down in the GFC in Nov 2008.
Current Commando I own is in large lumps with a friend near Boston and a very early production 68 VIV 20M3/126426

I used a Forum member's idea of using knitting row counters by sliding them on the clutch cable. You can get them in 2 different inside diameters. 5 mm was the ones I used. Set the last 4 digits of the odometer to the knitting row and some simple math will give you how many miles you traveled.

The normal fuel tap has a stack pipe to allow for a reserve beneath the pipe, then the opposite side (reserve) tap drains down to the bottom of THAT side of the tank. You still have fuel in the first side, beneath the stack pipe that you can't access. So fit 2 reserve taps or remove the stack pipe from the normal tap to give access to all the fuel in both sides of the tank. (saves laying the bike on it's side to swill fuel from one side to the other)

gripper said:

So fit 2 reserve taps or remove the stack pipe from the normal tap to give access to all the fuel in both sides of the tank. (saves laying the bike on it's side to swill fuel from one side to the other)

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Wouldn't fitting 2 reserve taps effectively reduce the available reserve by half?
All the best.

I had a TR6 with 2 reserve taps and turning on the second tap got you 800 yds I found out the first time I needed reserve but ran out at the top of a hill with a petrol station at the bottom, got a proper main tap on the way home.