Ran outta gas today

[Firefly]

So I purposly ran out of gas today as I wanted to get an idea of how far I can go on a tank before I go to sturgis.

Well I made it 150 miles and she died right in front of a gas station. I was going there to fill up a 1 gallon tank for my trunk as I figured I could get close to 175 miles from a tank.

I've been averaging around 27 mpg..... I ryde pretty hard and have various gas eating mods.

When I filled up I had a hard time squeezing 6 gallons into the tank. I thought the tank held 6.7 gallons?? No way. No how.

Anyone else have similar experience?

[freewaycop]

Hello, I have had an RT-S for about 3 months now and have found this out. The easier you ride the better mileage it gets. I have averaged over 30 mpg taking it easy at 65 mph on a highway and gotten lower than 20 mpg when riding over 75 mph and passing slower vehicles. When I ran dry it was after 120 miles and had been a hard ride. I was out in the middle of nowhere though. Good thing I was in a group. I keep 2 one gallon jugs in my right side bag. After that I had a hard time getting 6 gallons in the tank. Going to check the tank next time I have the panels off.

[NancysToy]

The full tank capacity is 6.6 gallons, but some of that is above the fill ring. This is a good thing. A fuel tank needs about 10% head space for safety's sake. It allows for expansion, and prevents splashing fuel from airlocking the vent, which can cause performance problems. I never count on using more than 5 gallons, if I can help it, preferably less, before a fill. I have put nearly six in Nancy's Spyder, and I was real, real nervous!

[pitbull]

Hey firefly.....thats metric 6.7 gallons lol....next time you should try to time it where it dies right before you shut it off.....being you had suh great timing this round, why not go for prefection!!!!

[aka1004]

one time i had fill the tank to the rim, i mean right up to the neck because i had 148 miles to next fuel stop and i knew it was going to close.
it turns out it was not THAT close.
i ran out of gas at 138 in the california desert outside of 29 palms... in 110 degree weather.

[Firefly]

I'm not concerned about my mpg.... I ride hard and this tank had a varied batch of rides from cruising to running 100 mph for a good 20 minutes. I'm just not getting where the other 7/10ths of a gallon is???

If I burn through 6 gallons(which is what I filled) and the tank holds 6.7...... Then where is the extra .7??? If it's in there and not useable then what good is it?

I'm thinking these really don't hold 6.7 gallons.

[Firefly]

Ok... So I'm getting what Scotty is saying that the technical capacity is 6.6 gallons..... But apparenty you'll never be able to fill it that far. That's a goofy way of measuring things in my opinion. They should list useable gallons.

So plan on 6 gallons as absolute MAXIMUM useable gallons.

Not sure I can believe the stories of those getting 250 miles out of a tank on these.......

Not complaining......just want to know real-world values.

I plan on filling up every 125 miles at
the very least on this trip...... Which is about time for a break anyways.

[boborgera]

The most gas i ever put in was 5.6 gal. 193 miles. no bars showing.
Usually i fill up at 170 / 180 miles 5/5.3 gal. I'm thinking 6 gal is all the tank will hold.

[Yazz]

Think the .7 gal. space is above the fill ring.

The full tank capacity is 6.6 gallons, but some of that is above the fill ring. This is a good thing.

[Texmac1011]

I ran out ONCE and it won't happen again. I am always at 1 bar at 150 miles and time for gas.

[VaughnCat]

We filled up the RT & the RS at the same time and took off.....
At 158.5 miles and 9/10ths of a mile from the station, the RS ran dry.
We dumped a 5 gallon gas can into it and rode it on to the station. It would only take another .762 gallon making the fill up from bone dry less than 6 gallons of usable fuel.

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20118

This also exposed another issue I've never seen address here (but it doesn't mean it hasn't been) . . . . when we fill the RT & RS at the same time, riding the very same road . . . we always get different mileage reading.... What's up with that?

Cat

[effgjamis]

So I purposly ran out of gas today as I wanted to get an idea of how far I can go on a tank before I go to sturgis.

Well I made it 150 miles and she died right in front of a gas station. I was going there to fill up a 1 gallon tank for my trunk as I figured I could get close to 175 miles from a tank.

I've been averaging around 27 mpg..... I ryde pretty hard and have various gas eating mods.

When I filled up I had a hard time squeezing 6 gallons into the tank. I thought the tank held 6.7 gallons?? No way. No how.

Anyone else have similar experience?

You mean you didn't take a doggie bag from the BRP Lunch Sat?????

[ArmyJoe]

I ran out of gas on my RS the first week I had it because I misunderstood something I read here.

For what it's worth, I was able to go 12 miles after the last bar disappeared.

My furthest distance was 164 miles on one tank.

[pierrelogic]

On a fairly consistent basis after a topped off fill-up (stop when the gas just starts splashing out of the hole) I am at 140 miles and 2 bars when the gas light comes on. As soon as the light comes on...I'm heading to the nearest gas station.

I got it down to a single bar on one occasion and topped it off at 5.6 gallons with 163 miles on the odometer. I was beginning to sweat it a little.

I do also notice that if I'm low on gas and I take a freeway cloverleaf the gas light will come on then go off too so I'm assuming the internal gauge is on the right side of the tank. Just guessing....

[Firefly]

I just can't grasp the concept of getting over 150 miles out of a tank on an RS/GS. You guys are lucky.......

[Smylinacha]

My mpg varies. I use less gas if I'm not in stop and go and around town traffic. If I do that, I get around 125 or 135 mpg. If I do country backroads I get more than 135 - a couple of times I got into the 150 range and that was with the light just coming on. Haven't done much highway riding this season to pay attention but I remember going to and from TN we were mostly doing 75 and I was in the 140 range and the light would come on as I pulled into the gas station.

[boborgera]

My mpg varies. I use less gas if I'm not in stop and go and around town traffic. If I do that, I get around 125 or 135 mpg. If I do country backroads I get more than 135 - a couple of times I got into the 150 range and that was with the light just coming on. Haven't done much highway riding this season to pay attention but I remember going to and from TN we were mostly doing 75 and I was in the 140 range and the light would come on as I pulled into the gas station.

Is that mpg or mptank

[wyliec]

Is that mpg or mptank

Don't you know better than to argue with a woman.

[Firefly]

I think the mpg is lower in the highway due to the increased wind resistance.

I'm going to stick with filling up at 125 miles for sure!

[bjt]

I've never ran out of gas but a number of times I've ridden with the gauge showing zero bars and I haven't ever put in over 6 gallons either. Like Scotty and HDX say, I think the total capacity of the gas tank and the usable capacity are two different things.

[retired1]

If I remember correctly, my Cessna 152 stated in the owners manual, 26 gal. fuel capacity, 24 1/2 usable. Maybe BRP should put usable capacity in owners manual.

[NancysToy]

If I remember correctly, my Cessna 152 stated in the owners manual, 26 gal. fuel capacity, 24 1/2 usable. Maybe BRP should put usable capacity in owners manual.

I don't know, but it's a lot more important in an airplane!

[ElkSpyder]

I've never ran out of gas but a number of times I've ridden with the gauge showing zero bars and I haven't ever put in over 6 gallons either. Like Scotty and HDX say, I think the total capacity of the gas tank and the usable capacity are two different things.

I regularly fill after the light has gone one and some times with no bars and have never put more than 6.0 gallons into the tank. In a normal week I'm fueling Monday am, Tuesday pm, Thursday am, Friday pm, and whenever on the weekend.

[SSG Bean]

I try not to concern myself with the fuel consumption of my spyder. I just try to find a filling station when I hit two bars remaining. If I thought about how poorly (relative) the spyder does with fuel economy, I don't think I'd enjoy it nearly as much. I'll keep tabs on my Toyota Tacoma, but the Spyder I'll just ride and smile.

That said; I appreciate the information you all have provided.

[SpyderWolf]

Is there anything special you need to do after you run out of gas on the Spyder?

I am not planning on running out of gas on purpose, or by mistake, but just curious as I know many cars now have a reset switch that needs to be activated after they run out of fuel. Whn my Spyder hits 3 bars on the fuel gauge, I begin looking for the next gas station.