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Tip of the Week
Use Your Odometer as a Fuel Gauge.
This tip, and all of our tips-of-the-week, are general
principles provided for your consideration. They are not
hard and fast rules that should be applied without thinking
in all circumstances. Always use your judgement and take all
current safety factors into account while riding.
No Cup Holder?
A resetable "trip odometer" is an option on most
cars, and standard on expensive ones. Have you
ever wondered why every motorcycle, even the least
expensive, has one? It's not a luxury item, it's a
fuel gauge.
An Accurate Fuel Gauge
Many motorcycles lack a standard fuel gauge and,
even when present, they are notoriously
inaccurate. (They tend to be nonlinear, meaning
the second "half" of the marked capacity is much
smaller than the first "half".) However, bikes use
fuel at a very consistent rate and odometers are
quite accurate, so your trip odometer will tell
you how much further you can ride on the fuel in
your tank. This is especially handy when you are
about to ride through a region you know has few
gas stations - how far can you ride before you are
out of gas?
Learning Your Range
To use your odometer this way, you have to get
into the habit of completely filling the tank every time you
add gas (i.e., Fill it to the same level, near the
top - no half-tanks). At the same time, note the
odometer reading and then reset it to zero. When around
town, where there is no real danger of running out
of gas, let your bike run out of main-tank gas and
switch to reserve before gassing up. Note the
odometer reading where you had to switch to
reserve. (If you have a low-fuel warning light
instead of a reserve tank, modify these
instructions accordingly.) After a couple of times
through this exercise, you will have a very
accurate picture of how many kilometers you can
ride before you hit your reserve.
It is also very useful to know how far you can
ride on the reserve tank. On most bikes, it's
rather farther than you think. When you switch to
reserve, reset your trip odometer and then note
the reading when you get to a gas station. You now
know you can go at least that far on reserve.
Every time you over-stretch your range you will
learn more about your reserve capacity.
 Actually letting your reserve tank run dry is a useful exercise, the ultimate test of your real riding range. If you're going to try this, however, remember to make arrangements to have extra fuel brought to you, or with a travelling companion, and do it in safe circumstances, not in freeway rush hour. (We know experienced riders who have forgotten the spare fuel part of this experiment.) Also, to avoid fuel line problems, start and refill with fresh gas, not the jerry can that sat in your garage all winter.
If you do run out of fuel, and have to switch to reserve, when
far from a town, you will probably feel an urge to hurry, to find
the next gas station quickly. You must fight this urge. Riding
faster uses more fuel, and it is fuel, not time, that you are low
on. When you switch to reserve, slow down.
The MRC Tips of the Week are a collection of riding tips written by, and drawn from the riding experience of, the MRC instructors, a group with hundreds of years of cumulative riding experience. The tip changes every week. Check back to our main page every week to learn more from experienced riders.
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