2013 usable fuel range

[Gone in 60]

I’ve been searching for a definitive usable fuel range for my ‘13. So far, the warning comes on at about 130 miles. Three gallons fills it, which means I should still have something close to the .9 gallon reserve left. Is 150 realistic before I’m in trouble? That would be about the same as my Bonnie. Thanks

 

[the Ferret]

Yes I went as far as 180 on my 13, and 225 on my 14 dlx, but a lot of that depends on riding style, speed, stop and go, and uh, exhuberence with the right wrist.

It uses a lot more gas at 70 + than at sub 65, and 45 to 60 with no stops is about ideal.

 

[Cormanus]

Gone in 60, check out http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=11741 and, in particular this post, http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=11741&pid=186675#pid186675

 

[DBXXX_imp]

150 is doable, but I can't help but get anxious when that last block is flashing. I usually stop every 120, which I find to be a pretty good interval for leg stretches anyway.

 

[flynrider]

I’ve been searching for a definitive usable fuel range for my ‘13. So far, the warning comes on at about 130 miles. Three gallons fills it, which means I should still have something close to the .9 gallon reserve left. Is 150 realistic before I’m in trouble? That would be about the same as my Bonnie. Thanks

That sounds reasonable. I think it's been pretty well established that the gauge warning comes on after 2.9 - 3.0 gallons have been consumed on the 2013 model. Whether or not there is truly .9 gallons after that depends on how much you trust the specs. The most I've ever put into the tank, when it was nearly empty, is 3.7 gallons, so I use that known figure.

I figure that leaves me slightly more than 1/2 gallon when the warning flashes, which under most conditions, should be good for another 20 miles. The only caveat would be if you're riding in conditions that would result in a mileage figure less than 40 mpg. Running down the Interstate at 80 mph into a 20 mph headwind will give you a figure less than 40 mpg ( BTDT). When I did that, the warning began flashing around 109 miles.

 

[the Ferret]

Ive often wondered how capacity of a tank is determined. By laser, by mathematics, full to the top with the bottom plugged and no fuel pump, or fuel pump intact filled to bottom of neck and then poured our siphoned out?

 

[flynrider]

Ive often wondered how capacity of a tank is determined. By laser, by mathematics, full to the top with the bottom plugged and no fuel pump, or fuel pump intact filled to bottom of neck and then poured our siphoned out?

That's a good question. I think the most accurate way would be to fill the tank as it sits on the completed motorcycle and then drain the fuel through the line at the bottom. This would not count unusable fuel that wouldn't make it to the outlet, due to tank shape or orientation.

In aviation our plane specs include figures for total fuel (to account for weight) and usable fuel (to account for how far you can go). Some light planes can have as much as 3 gallons of fuel per tank that is considered unusable, due to tank shape and orientation.

 

[Cormanus]

The critical point is that fuel consumption varies considerably depending on riding conditions. Battering into headwinds can make a significant difference. The trick developed by noroomtomove (and modified by kennyw for US riders) works very well in the specific conditions of each tank as it takes into account actual consumption to the point when the red light starts flashing. You can pretty much bank on 137 miles, but I have got up to 165 miles. Noroomtomove, who is even more frugal than the Ferret with fuel, has got better than 190 miles.

 

[Gone in 60]

Thanks guys. I’ll shoot for 150 on my next tank. It’s the same range as the Bonnie so an easy figure to remember. I’m never more than an off ramp away from a station, but the ones near home are considerably cheaper than those downtown so I can plan my stops like I already do.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Some manufacturers like Aprilia are helpful when the tank gets down to a certain low-level. At the predetermined low-level they know how much fuel is left and the current rate fuel is being metered out to the cylinders. Using those figures, it reports on the instrument cluster the number of kilometers (or miles) you have remaining in reserve. If you happen to throttle the engine some more, the metering rate of fuel increases and thus, your expected range remaining is adjusted down and the display updated. Conversely, if you decide to sip fuel enroute to the next gas station, your remaining range will be recalculated up. This approach is precise, sans any fuel leaks or injection problems.

 

[the Ferret]

Thanks guys. I’ll shoot for 150 on my next tank. It’s the same range as the Bonnie so an easy figure to remember. I’m never more than an off ramp away from a station, but the ones near home are considerably cheaper than those downtown so I can plan my stops like I already do.

If you have to stop downtown, just throw a gallon in to get back to the cheap stations, but really what could the difference be for 3 gals of gas between the cheap places and the expensive places ...50 cents?

 

[peterbaron]

Ive often wondered how capacity of a tank is determined. By laser, by mathematics, full to the top with the bottom plugged and no fuel pump, or fuel pump intact filled to bottom of neck and then poured our siphoned out?

This may not satisfy you by 100% but IMO, during designing, for most common or regular tank shape, simple math formulas can be used by engineers to calculate tank volume.
Here are a few examples:

Online calculator: Volume of geometric shapes

Volume Calculator

For more complicated and irregular shape, like motorcycle tank, math as well, but formulas are much more complicated/combined.... but now days, there might be special computer programs...

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Yeah, 21st century modelling software packages can integrate over surfaces and determine volumes. This would also be popular with many 3D printing programs.

 

[Gone in 60]

Thanks guys. I’ll shoot for 150 on my next tank. It’s the same range as the Bonnie so an easy figure to remember. I’m never more than an off ramp away from a station, but the ones near home are considerably cheaper than those downtown so I can plan my stops like I already do.

If you have to stop downtown, just throw a gallon in to get back to the cheap stations, but really what could the difference be for 3 gals of gas between the cheap places and the expensive places ...50 cents?

If you have to stop downtown, just throw a gallon in to get back to the cheap stations, but really what could the difference be for 3 gals of gas between the cheap places and the expensive places ...50 cents?
Hey man, 50 cents is 50 cents. No joke, the Shell down the street from my LA job is over five bucks a gallon for regular right now. Nobody knows what particular mafia family it must be a front for.

But, at 150 miles per tank I can comfortably get from my neighborhood to there and back without thinking about it.

 

[Haggard Rider_imp]

On my '13, the furthest I have gone with the last bar merrily flashing red before getting to a garage is 124 miles, and then managed to get in just under 2 litres so a theoretical 'run dry' limit of maybe 150 miles but I wouldn't like to push it that far, 120 / 125 is my 'stress free' limit.

Fuel consumption has varied from 48mpg for one tankful to 57mpg at best

 

[Randy B]

On my '13, the furthest I have gone with the last bar merrily flashing red before getting to a garage is 124 miles, and then managed to get in just under 2 litres so a theoretical 'run dry' limit of maybe 150 miles but I wouldn't like to push it that far, 120 / 125 is my 'stress free' limit.

Fuel consumption has varied from 48mpg for one tankful to 57mpg at best

Imp or US gal?

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Thanks guys. I’ll shoot for 150 on my next tank. It’s the same range as the Bonnie so an easy figure to remember. I’m never more than an off ramp away from a station, but the ones near home are considerably cheaper than those downtown so I can plan my stops like I already do.

If you have to stop downtown, just throw a gallon in to get back to the cheap stations, but really what could the difference be for 3 gals of gas between the cheap places and the expensive places ...50 cents?

If you have to stop downtown, just throw a gallon in to get back to the cheap stations, but really what could the difference be for 3 gals of gas between the cheap places and the expensive places ...50 cents?
Hey man, 50 cents is 50 cents. No joke, the Shell down the street from my LA job is over five bucks a gallon for regular right now. Nobody knows what particular mafia family it must be a front for.

But, at 150 miles per tank I can comfortably get from my neighborhood to there and back without thinking about it.

I thought it would never happen, but GoneIn60, that is about $1.50 U.S. per gallon more than the current rate in The Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario.

Typically, gasoline is more expensive in Canada ... Ontario for example, due to the government taxes, the most recent being a carbon tax. Current prices here are about $1.25 Cdn per litre or $0.925 U.S.

 

[Haggard Rider_imp]

On my '13, the furthest I have gone with the last bar merrily flashing red before getting to a garage is 124 miles, and then managed to get in just under 2 litres so a theoretical 'run dry' limit of maybe 150 miles but I wouldn't like to push it that far, 120 / 125 is my 'stress free' limit.

Fuel consumption has varied from 48mpg for one tankful to 57mpg at best

Imp or US gal?

Imp or US gal?
Ok, looks like mymemory was slightly off. I've gone back to when I was keeping a track of my consumption and what I've found is this....

MilesFuel (litres) MPG MPL Range
93.6 7.48 56.89 12.51 177.69
97.6 9.17 48.39 10.64 151.14
126 10.66 53.73 11.82 167.84
110 9.21 54.30 11.94 169.60
124 10.71 52.63 11.58 164.41
113 9.86 52.10 11.46 162.74
127 10.36 55.73 12.26 174.07

sadly this isn't going to format nicely, but you'll see from the range, we're looking at 150 to nearly 180 miles. Seems like I'm being a tad conservative with my refuelling, although, when ridden 'with purpose', refuelling at 120 or so is still a good idea!

 

[the Ferret]

Here is the spread of gas prices here right now around Cinti

2.64
BP (22 reviews)
2696 Madison Rd & Edwards Rd
Cincinnati - East
50m ago
Icon jeffdbrown

2.67
Sunoco (21 reviews)
7250 Fields Ertel Rd & Yorktowne Dr
Cincinnati - NE
3h ago
Icon RichardCraniums

2.67
Shell (38 reviews)
2700 Madison Rd & Edwards Rd
Cincinnati - East
15h ago
Icon zsa129

2.68
Warsaw Food Mart (42 reviews)
3400 Warsaw Ave & Del Monte Pl
Cincinnati - West
4h ago
Icon penguins4kt

2.69
Marathon (11 reviews)
5968 Springdale Rd & Daleview Rd
Cincinnati - NW
2h ago
Icon BDWheels

2.69
Marathon (16 reviews)
5361 Kennedy Ave & Highland Ave
Cincinnati - NE
12h ago
Icon Changt81

2.69
BP (25 reviews)
249 W Mitchell Ave & Kenard Ave
Cincinnati - North
54m ago
Icon Walterc118

2.69
Anderson Mini Mart (16 reviews)
Cincinnait-East

Over $5 a gallon? Gasp! Got to love Kalifornia

 

[Haggard Rider_imp]

Petrol (gas) is $7.50 per imp gallon ($1.65 per litre) equivalent over here, diesel even more.