[jonjon122]

today i was on my way home and i ran out of gas... i live in a rural area around 30 miles from the city.The time i had filled up before i had been offroading and going up some steep hills and i put on the reserve gas to ensure the gas wouldnt cut mid climb. i was around 10 miles from the city and the engine did the dreaded fade away........ i pulled in the clutch and rode the momentum. when i stopped i was realized i had left on the reserve!!!! i was flat out of gas... it took around 2 hrs for my gas to come.

do you guys have any gas shortage stories? and also the tw gas tank is extremley small!

 

[qwerty]

I grew so tired of filling up before every ride just in case that I switched to a XT350 tank.



Once made a wrong turn on a planned ride and ran out 1/4 mile from a station. I coasted off the road and up a slight hill, then stepped off the bike as I laid it over on its side to dump the gas over the hump in the bottom of the tank. Picked tdub up, rolled back down the hill, fired her up, and headed for the station. &$%&*^%%^ highway patrol lit me up and tried to tell me I crashed. Threatened to write me for failure to maintain control and leaving the scene. Idiot.

 

[PJungnitsch]

I got tired of running out too. I mainly commute with mine, and shuddering to a halt in the middle of traffic is not fun. Lots of people have bigger tanks than stock of one kind or another.

 

[bbagwell]

I have never ran completely out, but I have had to switch over to the reserve.

 

[phelonius]

Many years ago Late seventies or early eighties, I and two friends were riding the South central Oregon desert, minimal camp gear etc.

We had gassed up somewhere around Christmas Valley and had been meandering south through what I think I remember as the Sycan marsh area with the intent to gas as we came out on the hiway between Klamath Falls and Lakeview just east of Bly Mountain.We got there about 4 PM only to discover that the only gas station for 40 miles was closed.

A short huddle and it was decided to head towards Lakeview at thirty five MPH slipstreaming each other as best we could. We agreed that if anyones engine conked out the others would not stop but would continue on at the same speed in the hope that one of us could make it to Lakeview. I had Honda a XL350s and the other had an SP 370 Suzuki, the third rode a Yamaha DT 250.

I was in the middle position when about 20 miles from Lakeview the 250 ran dry The two of us tucked in and kept motoring as planned. About 5 miles from Lakeview, I heard the engine ahead of me pop and stutter. I moved left slightly and as he went to the shoulder I continued on.

I could see lakeview getting closer and could barely make out the sign at the gas station ahead when I heard my engine stutter. I quickly slanted the bike to the left to get the last dregs to the petcock and was just over 100 yards from the station when the fire went out. I held the clutch and didn't even try to down shift lest it slow the bikes progress.

I rolled up to the nearest pump and didn't even have to use the brakes. I just put my feet down and stopped. I gassed up and borrowed a fuel can and went back for my friends.

We forted up in a motel in Lakeview for the night so as to have the use of showers and the nearby bar.

That is my best out of gas story.



Phelonius

 

[biglefti]

I ran out two weeks ago. Guess where I was............the engine quit about two feet before I got to the pump at the circle K. Pretty cool, didn't have to push. It held 1.85 gallons. I did have two 32oz MSR bottles in my Fat Max that I didn't have to use.

 

[530-TW]

Many years ago Late seventies or early eighties, I and two friends were riding the South central Oregon desert, minimal camp gear etc.

We had gassed up somewhere around Christmas Valley and had been meandering south through what I think I remember as the Sycan marsh area with the intent to gas as we came out on the hiway between Klamath Falls and Lakeview just east of Bly Mountain.We got there about 4 PM only to discover that the only gas station for 40 miles was closed.

A short huddle and it was decided to head towards Lakeview at thirty five MPH slipstreaming each other as best we could. We agreed that if anyones engine conked out the others would not stop but would continue on at the same speed in the hope that one of us could make it to Lakeview. I had Honda a XL350s and the other had an SP 370 Suzuki, the third rode a Yamaha DT 250.

I was in the middle position when about 20 miles from Lakeview the 250 ran dry The two of us tucked in and kept motoring as planned. About 5 miles from Lakeview, I heard the engine ahead of me pop and stutter. I moved left slightly and as he went to the shoulder I continued on.

I could see lakeview getting closer and could barely make out the sign at the gas station ahead when I heard my engine stutter. I quickly slanted the bike to the left to get the last dregs to the petcock and was just over 100 yards from the station when the fire went out. I held the clutch and didn't even try to down shift lest it slow the bikes progress.

I rolled up to the nearest pump and didn't even have to use the brakes. I just put my feet down and stopped. I gassed up and borrowed a fuel can and went back for my friends.

We forted up in a motel in Lakeview for the night so as to have the use of showers and the nearby bar.

That is my best out of gas story.



Phelonius

Great story!

 

[qwerty]

One of the wreckers I drive has a funky gauge. I was pulling a car on a 5-lane at about 45 mph when it ran out. Luck was shining my way, because there was a rare gap in the oncoming traffic and I was able to coast into a Shell station across the street and right up to the pumps.



I've put 1.95 gallons in the stock tank a couple times. I think the pumps are wrong, always in the sellers' favor.

 

[Xracer]

I've never run out but I have pulled a Persang with my Fontera when the owner gapped his fuel stops a little too far apart.

 

[[email protected]]

Didn't run out but I may as well have. I was riding my BMW on the Klondike Hwy between Whitehorse and Dawson City, YT. Pulled into Carmacks and knew that I had easily enough gas to make it to the next station about 50 miles down the road. What I didn't know was that the guy who ran that station had run out of gas and that the fuel delivery truck was due in "an hour or two." Well that was ok, I wasn't in any rush and didn't have enough fuel left in the tank to go anywhere. I enjoyed a good breakfast at the station's restaurant, waited an hour, two, three, four, maybe five and then someone told me that the station operator was having financial difficulties and that the fuel truck wouldn't leave Whitehorse until the money was in hand. Finally the station operator remembered that he had a couple of gallons of gas in a jerry can in the shed. A couple of gallons for $10, that is, as I poured it in I wondered how old it was. That was in 1985, gas was probably a buck a gallon. Fired her up and off I went to Dawson City with no problems. Learned a valuable lesson, that being always gas up when you can, not when you need to. On the TW I've discovered that a 30 oz TSR bottle nestles nicely, horizontally, between the slats of the CycleRack, and there it stays, always full --- hopefully.

 

[elime]

Two kinds of people on the Earth. Those who have run out of gas and those who will run out of gas.

 

[underthewheel]

i gessed my run out off gas story go like these: back abot 1980 or so i run out off gas in my honda motercyle and i uses a hand sifen pump on somebody car to put this gas into a coke botle..just enouf to get me to gas staten.too these day i still cary a hand sifen pump weth me on tw200 in these talebags incases of emergincys.





fontintown firmarshel,

tenny

 

[RockyTFS]

Speaking of running out of gas, do experienced TW guys have a rough gauge of how many miles to plan between fuel stops when running in the dirt, say at average speeds between 10 and 25 mph in rough mountainous country with a stock tank?



I'll figure this out eventually, but somebody's experience might save me some unpleasantness on the first few trail rides. The much touted figure of 80 mpg on pavement is of little use for my type of rugged 4 wheel drive trail riding. Naturally I'll carry at least a gallon can with me, but I really don't yet have a clue on how long of a day ride I could conservatively plan with that amount of fuel. (2.8 gal. minus 1/2 gal reserve)



Thanks,



Rocky

 

[rm_hm]

Let's say you have a bit under 1/4 left on a stock tank. If you are on the flat or going up hill the bike will run fine. But if you head down a steep trail you will need to switch over to reserve pretty fast since the fuel will run to the front of the tank.



Other fuel range threads



http://tw200forum.co...3/ShowPost.aspx



http://tw200forum.co...6/ShowPost.aspx



http://tw200forum.co...9/ShowPost.aspx



http://tw200forum.co...5/ShowPost.aspx



I've heard estimates on the new clarke tw tanks of reserve at 130 miles and empty at 170.

 

[small's]

Yesterday I was on my way home and started feeling the surge and sputtering then she died. So I stopped and turned the reserve on and it still didn't want to run more than an idle. I laid the bike all the way over and started her up. Then two miles down the road it died again and I coasted about two hundred yards to the gas station. I'm pretty sure the reserve must be plugged up. I'm gonna have to investigate that.

 

[Wheelie Nelson]

i never ran out until i got my clarke clear tank. i have ran out twice since then. the first time, i learned the lesson that looks can be deceiving, and even though there is gas in the tank, it may not be able to reach the petcock because of angles. the second time, i had left reserve on and was paying no attention to the level at all.



both times i felt like an idiot.

 

[joedirt1970]

I have not run out of gas on the TW yet. However, after working an overnight shift, my bike wouldn't start. I pushed it several times only to have it fire up for a moment the first couple times. It must have been the exhaustion of working over night, because after about the 5 attempt at bump-starting the TW I realized that I had turned the petcock off...DUH.





Back when I was 16, I had a little Datsun truck. I ran out of gas as I got to the top of a hill. I was able to flip around and head back down the hill. Perfect, I would be able to swing LEFT into the gas station the bottom of the hill. Unfortunately, some BOZO that was turning left OUT of the gas station was pulled out so far I couldn't pull in and had to park on the street, then borrow a gas can from someone to walk 25 feet and get gas.

 

[peruano]

Turn your petcock off every time you stop the bike and you will never try for very long to ride it without turning it on (its a habit), and you also will never get caught riding it on reserve (its a habit). Its like the kill switch, use it and you will not be confused by it when it is temporarily left off. If you never use it, but it get turned off by accident, you will end up with a dead battery (didn't turn off the key) or frustrated because nothing happens when you hit the starter. I'm a creature of habit and try very hard not to develop bad habits. Don't get me wrong, I have them in the rest of my live, but I try to avoid them in conjunction with motorcycles. Think about some examples (braking in curves; over confidence on rear braking, no helmet, no socks or long pants, never checking chain slack, never checking air pressure). I try to avoid all of these, because they are serious short comings. So too could be running out of gas as you are entering a freeway, or bombing up a steep hill on a rasty road. I've never run out of gas, and will give it hell trying to avoid it. Just my preference. Tom

 

[qwerty]

TWs have a kill switch?

 

[bend42]

... how many miles to plan between fuel stops when running in the dirt, say at average speeds between 10 and 25 mph in rough mountainous country with a stock tank?

Rocky



Sounds like we ride the same places. I have been getting 50-52 mpg in the dirt averaging 15-20 mph. I am also getting 65 mpg on asphalt, tho that is not my fav.



John