How many miles for a full tank?

In 1970 I rode my Fireflake Blue roadster from New York to Houston and then from Houston to Los Angeles. I recall many miles of concern as to whether I would make it to the next gas station. I carried no extra fuel. Once on reserve, I would generally pull onto the road apron and reduce speed to 40 or so MPH. The give away that you would make it was either the heat or smell emanating from the upcoming place of civilization. I was never stranded and out of fuel. I had one day I must have gone 6 or 7 hundred miles from Houston to Van Horn Texas. There is a saying about Texas: "The sun has risen and the sun has set and we ain't out of Texas yet". I just mapped the distance, it is 626 miles and it took over 8 hours of riding. No way I could do that today. I used the 100 mile estimate for a tankful of riding. I actually ran out of fuel recently about a half mile from home. I was pushing the limit because I had Av fuel in her and wanted to get home for a refueling. Drats.

Remember the by gone days before the computer age, we would get a map of North America with all the gas station locators on the routes Texaco, Shell, Gulf, Esso...etc. usually these were free from the brand fuel station. I am dating myself now.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/pl ... zilla&tt=b
GPS is now the trend. When I go on trips I will carry one in my tankbag under the clear plastic cover built in on the top.
Cheers,
Thomas
CNN

I have an interstate tank, when I'm going for a run from home I open the tank cap & take a look to see if I have enough fuel for my notional/planned route or whether I need to get fuel somewhere. If I'm en route to a rally/touring I just top off the tank & plan a stop at around 200 miles thereafter (a 3 to 4 hour ride dependent upon road class) I usually identify a location in which to stop to make things easier. This means I that when I do stop I can eat/drink/wee/refuel & as a side product reduce mistakes (e.g. falling off, getting lost, or both).

I've run a Cateye bicycle speedo for at least 7 years, initially as a speedo replacement, now used as a kph speedo (& clock)) for when one is 'sur le continent' I find it fairly reliable up to about 70mph/100kph above this it starts to throw a hissy fit and goes blank. I fitted one when my speedo gearbox died ( quelle surprise) & my MOT due, I was duly informed by the tester that a speedo is not required for the UK MOT, but left it on for touring; it's wireless & I use the magnet supplied with the speedo , so all in all £30 well spent (just my experience).

Cheers, Mike

MFB said:

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).

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I agree. A Roadster tank is not big enough for normal real life riding. At night or weekends it can easily be 200 miles between gas stops. I was a student and could not afford a proper Interstate tank so I ran a home made alloy tank for years until I retired the bike to just being just a play thing for old farts.

We used to strap spare fuel cans to the carrier to make Auckland Wellington in one stop - 420 miles.

One of the reasons I can never take "choppers" seriously. They carry enough gas to travel to the local bottle store and half way back. Useless pieces of ****

Anglophile, I noticed in your avatar that you have a interstate tank mounted with a Corbin seat... I didn't think that was possible. Did you have to modify something??

gtsun said:

Anglophile, I noticed in your avatar that you have a interstate tank mounted with a Corbin seat... I didn't think that was possible. Did you have to modify something??

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Yes, I shortened a Roadster Corbin by about 3 or so inches off the front. The actual seating placement (Corbin mounting bracket) is the same as the Roadster so you sit in the same place.

AntrimMan said:

... and none of this would have happened if I was in church alongside the missus.
All the best.

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I'm sure you were a LOT closer to god than your wife at that time :wink:

Jean