Hmmm, reserve.......

[yambabe]

Can you "adjust" the point at which a bike goes on reserve?

The Zeph spluttered to a halt on me twice today, both times in fairly inconvenient places. The tank holds about 12 litres I think, yet it ran out at 96km and 102km on the tripmeter! Both times the fuel guage on the dash showed about half-full and I could see petrol when I opened the cap to refill.

I'm going to have to go out with a can of juice strapped on the back soon I think and see how far it will actually go on reserve, but does (my guess) 2/3rd to 1/3rd on to reserve sound a bit excessive? None of my other bikes had that much left on reserve, and they all went loads further from reserve to reserve!
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[cestrian]

You cant adjust it, sorry. What bike is it?

[NickD]

IIRC the Zephs got a proper old style petrol tap. If so it should be possible to trim the tube for the main feed so it sits lower in the tank.
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[steveh]

with the older style, reserve is the point that the longer tube can no longer suck fuel through, so youd have to lower the point of exit, but being a mesh be carefull not to get loads of bits in there.

Just drain your tank, and remove the tap from the bottom.

with the new ones, its a solid tube (on mine it is anyway) wich in theory, you could trim down.
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[cestrian]

If you don't mind me saying......
Problem is tho, by trimming the main tube, you'll gain an extra few miles on the 'main' supply, but the reserve supply will be reduced drastically. There's no point in doing the job, in my opinion. You'll still get the same mileage on a tank full of fuel.

[ncrn]

The best thing to do really is learn when roughly your bike is going to run onto reserve, for example my bike does at about 120 miles normally, if I'm not really thrashing the bike everywhere. So as I'm approaching 120 miles on my trip counter I begin to think about how the bikes responding and look out for any signs of running out of fuel.

I don't get caught out as often now I've started doing this
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[steveh]

[djfr1]

[steveh]

are you sure your not running it on RES then turning it too OFF?
The markings (if any, could be wrong)


Steve.
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Current : 06 Zx10r, 07 Wr450f SM, 74 850 norton commando, 63 bsa b40, 1962 Triton 650, 67 Triumph Tr6r, 1955 Triton 750, 1978 TY250E.

[cestrian]

Or.... perhaps the tubes are connected 'back to front', ie the RES tube is on the FUEL ON part of the tap, and vice versa.
I had that problem on my GS500, right PITA

[Sharpy]

[NickD]

[Nath]

Yup, and that does seem a fair complaint, 1/5 of the tank capacity is the reserve on my two Hondas.

Drain off all the petrol, see how much you have, then see how much more you need to brim the tank and find out its full capacity. Then note how much fuel you have to stick in to brim it when filling up after hitting reserve. If the reserve really is 1/3rd of the total capacity then I would definitely be looking to do something about it.

Neither of my two running bikes have working odometers/trip-counters. When they hit reserve I start paying attention to how many miles I'm travelling so I don't run out of juice.
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[Dazbo666]

If it's correct, 1/3rd reserve does sound to be excessive.
In my (admittedly limited) experience approx 1/4 or 1/5 seems to be about the norm...

EDIT : Just for the record, (with conservative riding) my 1991 GPZ will do 163 miles until it splutters to a halt and needs the reserve
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[yambabe]

[krebsy]

My ZZR will do 135+ (13Ltrs+) with two-up and not hit the reserve whereas Phil_C's Hornet hits reserve at 88 miles. all down to the Bike make, model and tank size. A CBRF600S will do 190 miles to the tank easily without a worry.

Dashboard fuel guages are notoriously pish on bikes. Mine does 70+ miles before coming off full and once it hits 110 (at about "2/3rds full") the needle drops like a stone. Don't trust them, just measure the distance from full to reserve and use the odometer/trip meter to know when to fill up.

K.
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[veeeffarr]

[SoulRider]

i will get around 120 miles on mine before hitting reserve and then im guessing around 20ish on reserve.

Whereas coronaboner on his RSV mile will only get 80-90 miles before hitting reserve. Different bikes different milage but to be honest half a tank of reserve sounds like way to much.
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