Bikes with 'divided' tanks. Tips?

[hornet_guy]

There are many bikes out there like my Honda CB600 whose tank is sort of divided in 2 sides due to the chasis running along the middle.

https://a.allegroimg.com/s512/116bb2/f7de38654f84bb683ff7a5e8a4ef/Zbiornik-paliwa-bak-Honda-CB-600-Hornet-PC36-03-06

It is well known that on these bikes one can't usually make use of the full tank capacity because fuel that is in the opposite side to the tap can't reach it.
Today, I was forced to stop on the side of the road with just 155 km (96 mi) on the clock (on reserve) to tilt the bike to the tap side and continue as normal.

How do you cope with this? Did you have bad experiences? Any tips to live with this?

Cheers

[stinkwheel]

Usually by knowing how many miles you can do before running out of fuel and refilling before then.

However, you were either spanking the tatties off it or something is wrong. A CB600 hornet has a 16 litre tank, you should be getting around 150 miles out of that.

If you emptied it in 96 miles, that's 26mpg. That's 250LC territory.

Was it emptying to uncover the outlet, or was there a fair bit of fuel slopping about in the tank still? The "tunnel" on jap bike tanks is usually nearly totally flat at the back of the tank meaning fuel evenly distributes to both sides. Old Brit bikes had a tap on both sides of the tank (the bit stuck on one side was the "reserve", you ran on one tap then turned the other on when it started stuttering).

I wonder if you are having a fuel pump malfunction so it's emptying by gravity to float bowl level then conking out?
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[hornet_guy]

[F18]

You don't have to 'cope' with it, just use it.

Filling up carefully (on the side stand) gets most to the available capacity in if that's what you want. Usually, I just fill to the bottom metal part of the filler afair - that gets most of the capacity in. Brimming it occasionally gets a little more in if I'm heading on a longer trip.

Those that insist you sit on the bike (level) to get the full capacity in probably only get 100s of mL more for their efforts - instead, just fill up 1-2 miles earlier !
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Summer is just around the corner

[hornet_guy]

[Pete.]

That 'lean it over to get a couple more miles' can be a life saver if you lose track of your range/forget to zero the trip and manage to run out. My bike has a balance pipe so if it runs low and starts to stumble you better make for the hard shoulder sharpish because you know it's gonna die in a matter of seconds.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[MCN]

Re-Fuelling the hoowur while sat on it is a fine way to wash your Haw-Maws with petrol.

What sort of gum munching edjit voluntarily does that?
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[hornet_guy]

[hornet_guy]

[stinkwheel]

The extra you manage to squeeze in by filling the bike level then pisses out of the overflow when you put the bike on the sidestand to go and pay for the fuel.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.