I ran out of fuel today. It happened after I switched into 5th gear for the first time of the day, just a few miles from my house. For some stupid reason I thought the bike sputtering and losing power was due to upshifting too early and I was only going about 50 at the time .
Well, I drifted to a stop on a white section of the road couldn't restarted shut the thing off to let the starter cool down and then it occurred to me maybe I used up my entire tank-- at least the normal capacity of it-- in the last three weeks of very little riding?
I've been working on my bike's electrical system, taking it out for short trips here and there a few times a week but never more than several miles at a time. This is mostly driving on small roads with speed limit between 35 and 55 miles an hour and I spend more time in third gear than I do fifth. Hence the poor MPG.
After I let things cool off for five minutes,
I switched my fuel petcock to the "reserve" position and started cranking it. I added a little bit of choke ("fuel enrichment")after about five seconds, and that's what it took to fire up.
Then I filled the tank up at a gas station just a mile or two away and I actually overfilled it. Filled it to within a few millimeters of the bottom of the filler cap opening when I was sitting on the bike holding it straight up when I put the fuel cap back on and let it back on the side stand while I put on my gear fuel started leaking to the left. (I know my fuel tank cap has a compromised gasket; I did that deliberately last year when I was told I was having a vapor lock problem for lack of venting, but I don't think thst was true. I believe the tank's internal venting system works just fine but I've never bothered replacing the cap /gasket.)
So, just for those of you who are curious how much fuel it takes to completely fill a 2996 Honda Shadow vt1100C2 fuel tank after it has run out of its primary fuel and has started on reserve: 3.5 gallons.
I probably should only have put in 3.3 gallons to keep it from leaking when the bike is on the side stand.
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Well, I drifted to a stop on a white section of the road couldn't restarted shut the thing off to let the starter cool down and then it occurred to me maybe I used up my entire tank-- at least the normal capacity of it-- in the last three weeks of very little riding?
I've been working on my bike's electrical system, taking it out for short trips here and there a few times a week but never more than several miles at a time. This is mostly driving on small roads with speed limit between 35 and 55 miles an hour and I spend more time in third gear than I do fifth. Hence the poor MPG.
After I let things cool off for five minutes,
I switched my fuel petcock to the "reserve" position and started cranking it. I added a little bit of choke ("fuel enrichment")after about five seconds, and that's what it took to fire up.
Then I filled the tank up at a gas station just a mile or two away and I actually overfilled it. Filled it to within a few millimeters of the bottom of the filler cap opening when I was sitting on the bike holding it straight up when I put the fuel cap back on and let it back on the side stand while I put on my gear fuel started leaking to the left. (I know my fuel tank cap has a compromised gasket; I did that deliberately last year when I was told I was having a vapor lock problem for lack of venting, but I don't think thst was true. I believe the tank's internal venting system works just fine but I've never bothered replacing the cap /gasket.)
So, just for those of you who are curious how much fuel it takes to completely fill a 2996 Honda Shadow vt1100C2 fuel tank after it has run out of its primary fuel and has started on reserve: 3.5 gallons.
I probably should only have put in 3.3 gallons to keep it from leaking when the bike is on the side stand.
