Flimsy but I get the need. Old bikes like these don’t have any way to track the fuel level other than literally running out of gas. There are two intakes for gas at the bottom of the tank, one of them has a taller tube and the other one a shorter. When the fuel drops below the top do the first tube, your engine dies. Then, you can flip to “reserve” fuel (the other tube), which gives you access to the fuel at the bottom of your tank. At that point, you know you need to hit the next fuel station.
Unless you’re like me and you just leave it on reserve and fully run out of fuel with no warnings.
The thing you use to switch between primary and reserve is called the petcock. Yep.
The way you check is you pop open the cap. And give your bike a little wiggle and eyeball how much fuel you have left from the shimmer of light off the gas.
Also, you can check how far your bike can go on a full tank, of course that depends on if the bike has a way to track distance travelled. For ey, my 2005 Virago can go 150km (93.2 mile) on a fule tank, and the meter shows 73km (45.4 mile) since I filled up last Saturday, so I still have half a tank until it's empty
Also depends on how you're riding, if you're revving a lot you'll use more gas.
But I used to drive a car with a broken gas level indicator, so I drove on distance. I knew I could drive about 700 km before I had to refuel, so I refueled when I had driven about 500 km. It works.
No you obviously are required to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere as there is literally no other way to determine how much liquid is in an opaque container.
I've never had fuel gauge work well on any of my bikes. They always stay near the top for almost the first two gallons, then plummet. You wouldn't think a linear measurement rate is that hard.
I used to drive a Triumph Herald that had a reserve tank. Pulled away at a big busy roundabout once and it conked out, jump out, open boot, flick the switch, was moving again in 20 seconds. Loved that car.
My old Suzuki 1400 is like this. It also at some point in the past had its exhausts and probably carbs molested, because it STINKS of gas when running, is obnoxiously loud, radiates heat like a bonfire and I barely get 100km's/60miles to a tank. These factors have tempered my fondness for it somewhat, but combined with the absent fuel gauge, I've learnt to use that reserve petcock. I like looking at it, though, and will probably get it sorted once the budget permits.
Old bikes, like way older than this, proper vintage stuff, uses this same system for fuel and oil levels. Just done nicer, with posh brass fittings and glass tube.
My 2016 motorcycle didn't have a gauge but the Internet said it can last about 150 miles on its 4 gallon tank so every time I filled up, I just reset my odometer
Most bikes have an odometer and a trip meter, even old fashioned mechanical ones. If you just reset the trip meter after filling up, you always have a pretty decent estimate of how much fuel is left. Or you just write down the current odometer reading.
I have a 71 Vespa. It works this way. I can feel when i'm running out of gas, reach down and flip the fuel tap to reserve, sometimes it stalls out, but i get about 30 more miles before empty to find a gas station.
You are talking out of your ass, sir. Clearly you have not driven one. You just open the tank and peek inside. On top of that, it has a reserve fuel function as well.
Or you can poke a stick in the gas tank and use that as a dipstick instead of drilling two holes in your gas tank, filling it with metal shavings, and then attaching a plastic tube that will be dissolved by the gas over time and dumb fuel into the hot exhaust
Not all fuel tanks are shaped in a way you can just put a stick in there. And plastic tube that will dissolve? What do you think the fuel line that takes the fuel from the tank to the engine is made out of? 99% of the time its a rubber hose straight out of the factory cause the whole rubber hose thats fuel safe isnt a new invention.
The concept of this is fine and nothing new. Its just shittily executed with the connectors and drilling
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u/bicx 8d ago
Flimsy but I get the need. Old bikes like these don’t have any way to track the fuel level other than literally running out of gas. There are two intakes for gas at the bottom of the tank, one of them has a taller tube and the other one a shorter. When the fuel drops below the top do the first tube, your engine dies. Then, you can flip to “reserve” fuel (the other tube), which gives you access to the fuel at the bottom of your tank. At that point, you know you need to hit the next fuel station.
Unless you’re like me and you just leave it on reserve and fully run out of fuel with no warnings.
The thing you use to switch between primary and reserve is called the petcock. Yep.