Petcock on Reserve

[Gary N.]

I leave mine on reserve all the time simply because I do not find any value in having to move it! This bike has THREE other things to tell me I am going on reserve (the fuel trip meter, the idiot light, and the fuel gauge itself), so feeling the engine falter as it unnecessarily starves for gas is pointless. In addition, although changing the petcock to reserve is usually easy, that is not so with the chrome wind guards I use in the winter. And even when they are not mounted, having to take a hand off the bars and lean forward to change the fuel to reserve introduces a small amount of additional risk to the control of the bike that is really unnecessary with the other fuel warning systems we have.

 

To each their own,

Goose

 

I'm with you Goose. Pain in the a$$ looking for that valve. At 1/2 a tank my GPS warning goes of. At 1/4 tank the counter starts and light comes on. What more do you need?

[Condor]

I leave mine on reserve. 35mpg. I start looking for a station at 150 miles. That's a couple of hours in the saddle, and about time to stretch the legs a bit.

[jfoster]

I'm with you Goose. Pain in the a$$ looking for that valve. At 1/2 a tank my GPS warning goes of. At 1/4 tank the counter starts and light comes on. What more do you need?

 

That's all great of your getting consistent fuel (maybe it has nothing to do with fuel)....for what ever reason, every once in a while i'll get a tank of gas that will be gone in 130 miles at normal riding speeds. So in respect, if your running on reserve to try to keep your fuel petcock cleaner, the odometer, gps, warning light, and fuel guage can all leave you short 30-40 miles and out of fuel. Not a big deal, unless your on a stretch of road with fuel stops spaced 40 miles apart.

[99silver]

I run mine as it was designed to operate, on the run position and when it sputters ( most of the time before the light goes on ) I switch to reserve and look for the first gas station. Ran out of gas once when I was a teenager and did not enjoy it a bit. And yes I shut off the fuel when I am not riding and have not had a problem since I was a teenager.

[V7Goose]

That's all great of your getting consistent fuel (maybe it has nothing to do with fuel)....for what ever reason, every once in a while i'll get a tank of gas that will be gone in 130 miles at normal riding speeds. So in respect, if your running on reserve to try to keep your fuel petcock cleaner, the odometer, gps, warning light, and fuel guage can all leave you short 30-40 miles and out of fuel. Not a big deal, unless your on a stretch of road with fuel stops spaced 40 miles apart.

I'm sorry, but you make absolutely no sense at all to me. Whether you go 130 miles or 210 miles before hitting reserve is totally immaterial. My fuel trip meter comes on at virtually the same point that I have to manually switch the petcock to reserve if I have not left it there (maybe 3 mile difference). The seven RSVs that I have personal experience with in this have all been extraordinarily consistent and go on reserve with about 1.5 gallons of fuel left in the tank.

 

So if my dash tells me I am on reserve at the same time that I would have to bend over and manually move the valve, what possible value could I ever get from simply being forced to move the valve when it is not necessary?

 

Leaving your petcock in the normal position does not give you one drop more gas, nor does it tell you that you are going on reserve even one meter sooner as your travel down the road.

 

And to your comment about how far away the next gas station is - you are going to go on reserve at the exact same point no matter if the next gas station is 1 mile or 100 miles away. If you care about not running out of gas, then you simply need to pay attention to how much gas you have left, and the position of the petcock on this bike cannot help you there in any way.

 

So to repeat the maim premise here, your fuel gauge will constantly tell you how much fuel you have left, your fuel trip meter will come on to tell you that you have 1.5 gallons of fuel left, AND the idiot lit on your dash will come on to tell you that you have 1.5 gallons of fuel left. And for those people who just cannot seem to understand when they have only 1.5 gallons of fuel left, despite those three glaring indicators, then they still have the opportunity to leave the fuel valve in the normal position so that they get the joy of feeling the engine starve at the exact same time they see all the other indication telling them the same danged thing.

 

A few people have reported that they do not think their fuel gauges are consistent or accurate - OK, so why don't you just get it fixed? This is NOT a typical problem for this bike. All of the RSVs with which I have personal experience, including every singe one of them where I have ridden hundreds of miles with other owners, have been very consistent and accurate in both the fuel gauge reading and when they go on reserve.

 

There was a time when bikes had no way of telling you that you were getting low on gas EXCEPT the normal/reserve petcock. But that is not the case with the RSV. I don't care one bit if you prefer to leave your petcock in normal or reserve, but please do not try to tell me there is any value in your personal preference unless you can actually tell me what that value might be.

Goose

Edited October 25, 2010 by V7Goose

[jfoster]

All I'm saying is my bike did the same thing the original poster described. The fuel guage indicated that it was near having to switch it to reserve, which it was already on reserve and within couple of miles it was out of fuel.

 

You say I didn't make any sense...how else can I say it. It ran out of gas unexpectedly, the fuel gauge gave a false reading of bout 30 miles, it only happened that one time. I personally think I got a tank of gas with E10 and it burned up alot quicker. I use one of the trip odometers and the fuel gauge and both indicated I had atleast 30 to 40 miles of fuel left when it didn't. My point is you can watch your fuel gauge, gps, a sun dial, whatever...S--t happens. As originally posted...thats why I quit running on reserve.

Edited October 25, 2010 by jfoster

[Wolf]

If I could just get Clare to fill up my bike every day, then I could quit worrying wether or not I had enough gas!

[sadicarnot]

I had a Vulcan 750 once that ran out of gas. Engine faltered and I switched to reserve but nothing was there.

 

I've got a friend with a Intruder 1500LC with open pipes and a jet kit. When I ride behind him you can smell the raw gas flowing out the engine. The cruxt of it is that he gets about 85 miles to the tank. For whatever reason he does not go by mileage but by the fuel gage. Invariably I know when he needs gas better than he does. It happens all the time: "Do you need gas?".."No I have 2 bars left on the gage".."OK well we are at the mileage where you usually need to fill up".. "No I have plenty of gas left".. We end up going about a mile or 2 and he will pull into the gas station.

 

Makes me chuckle when I know how far friends bikes can go better than they can.

 

Since that incident with the Vulcan I have never had a gas issue. Been left by the battery a few times, that sucks.

[midnightventure]

I leave mine on reserve all the time. My daily 30 mile commute is mostly on curvy roads and I would hate to be passing somebody in a tight spot and start sputtering.

[elmicko]

I know this may sound silly, but I do my bike the same as my truck. As soon as it hits 1/2 tank I start looking to fill up. Yeah, I'm buying gas more often, but I've never run out. It works for me.

[Venturous Randy]

Like many early Ventures, my 83 probably has a stuck valve and I would be afraid to mess with it. It is on reserve and that is fine with me. So far, with putting almost 120,000 miles on this bike, I have never run out of gas. I just try to be aware of the bars and according to what my riding plans are, will fill it at two bars or 40 miles after the light has come on. After I made the washer mod on the needle jet, I have gone at least 225 miles and not worried about running out of gas. I routinely am at 150 miles and have two bars left. Actually, the bike can go a lot farther than I can.

RandyA

[Condor]

I'm with you Randy. I usually start looking at 2 hours and 150 miles on long trips. Around town I'll run it down to the bottom. The red light had only come on once at about 225....