Fuel Light

[VTRDark]

Well I have seen the way both of you ride. Stormin rides like he's cruising on the Harley and Lloydie thinks he's Rossi. This is another reason why I can't make sense of it.

(:-})

[Rob]

Sorry I am calling bull on anything above 90 till fuel light I had two Firestorms with the smaller tanks and NO WAY would I get above 85 miles till light came on.

totally standard with full service, valve clearance done and carbs balanced, riden without canning it 90 miles, no more than that, pushing on with the bike used to give me 75 miles on both bikes.

I dont know about the later storms with the bigger tanks tho.

I have a 65 mile commute and manage 2 days. (130 miles) Usually the fuel light comes on about 5-6 miles from home the 2nd day but occasionally it hasn't!

I've worked this out to about 40mpg. (16 litre tank)

This is commuting so steady riding, but a mixture of roads from back lanes to motorway. Shift work so little traffic.

Even when pushed hard on a rideout I never get less than 100 miles to a tank. (I don't do ridiculous high speeds though - I need my license too much...)

Bike has a dynojet kit, K&N filter and free flowing cans (Although I did run standard cans for a while and it didn't seem to make much difference)

Petrol used is whatever is cheapest although I do run a tank of premium occasionally for the cleaning properties.

No idea why some people get really low mpg. Can't answer the question of miles to empty after light on either - the most I've done is probably about 8 and I don't think I've ever had to put in more than 15.5 litres (maybe a bit less)

Edit.

After reading other posts I would add I've also got other mods like lightened flywheel, stick coils, +4 ignition advancer, carbs recently balanced, TPS mod, 2 long stacks - these mods have made a huge difference to how the bike feels, smoother more responsive etc but strangely no noticeable difference to fuel economy.

[StormingHonda]

Well I dont know how you get that sort of mileage, most of my mileage would be A13, as Carl said my riding is smooth, controlled and I dont go over double figuires often, not because i'm scard to but I've ridden for over 20 years and done the mental redline loonie part of a few bikes.

On both my Storms, if I pushed them hard I would get between 70-80 miles, if I took it easy then 75-85...maybe a little more.

This is what used to frustrate the crap outta me, with the storms.

[edds11]

stormin, have you thought that you may be UNDER revving the engine, mine runs sweet at about 4 to 4.5K, if I keep it around there without full throttle movement have got 135mph, that was straight onto a motorway and of the other end. No BS

[Kev L]

As an aside to this and before Tony joins the conversation to berate all those discussing economy of use and Firestorms, how accurate do we reckon the fuel light/gauge is on the Storm and could this be the variable? I fill mine when the last of the bars flashes on the gauge and given that it's a 19l tank it has never taken more than 13 litres.
To be honest I don't really care too much the bike's too much fun.

[edds11]

correction, 135 miles before the light

[callam_nffc]

good point kev, the only true way to give an accurate mpg figure is either running your tank dry or brimming it and dividing the mileage you do by the amount of litres it takes to fill up again, thus giving miles to litres, times by 4.54 and there is your mpg


but as stated, who cares when its this much fun

[Virt]

As an aside to this and before Tony joins the conversation to berate all those discussing economy of use and Firestorms, how accurate do we reckon the fuel light/gauge is on the Storm and could this be the variable? I fill mine when the last of the bars flashes on the gauge and given that it's a 19l tank it has never taken more than 13 litres.
To be honest I don't really care too much the bike's too much fun.

This is true. When I got impatient and started stripping down the storm and emptied the tank into some containers.. of which we didn't have enough so some got transferred into the other bikes we ended up putting 5 litres back into the storm and it was on the final bar on the gauge. The bars may not have a linear progression with how much fuel is in the bike at all. No one knows at where the fuel will be from the gauge and, usually, vice versa.

Also, we took 10 litres of fuel out of the storm and that was showing 3 or 4 bars on the gauge.. Just for reference.

[VTRDark]

With the bars on the digi dash I think you will find the bars stay on for longer the more empty you get. In other words the first bar will disappear quite quick the the bottom bar will stay on longer than the first.

(:-})

[StormingHonda]

stormin, have you thought that you may be UNDER revving the engine, mine runs sweet at about 4 to 4.5K, if I keep it around there without full throttle movement have got 135mph, that was straight onto a motorway and of the other end. No BS

wheres the logic in it, less throttle = more petrol usage.

Unless you have a new storm then I will REFUSE to believe you got 135 miles out of a weedy little early storm tank.

[BigVeeGrin]

Now here's the funny thing for me. Used to get around 95-100 from mixed riding etc. last year. Since getting back on the road last couple of weeks the light is on at 80 or so. Only change to the bike is standard pipes off, Fuel ones on. Would that affect things that much? Lot of spitting and popping goes on, so did think maybe running rich but the plugs look pretty normal.

Only change to me is a grin bigger than before so maybe it's all due to the uncontrollable excitement of being back on it and a more twitchy right wrist

[agentpineapple]

there is the combination of louder nicer sounding exhaust will lead to more use of throttle. also if the bikes running rich it will use more fuel. but as kev said its about the fun, if you buy an old 1000cc v-twin you can't expect good fuel economy. thats one of the areas where modern bikes excel overs the old'ens
that and chassis technolgy.
for what its worth i get between 80 and 90 before the light comes on, but i do fill the tank above the metal bar. i've also run dry of petrol and coasted into a filling station, i took the to fill it to the brim, but for the life of me i can't remember how many ltrs of fuel and how much it cost....doh!!!

[AMCQ46]

i will get 110 miles and 12 L at the red light.......and I could imagine that with a steady hand and legal speeds I could get that up beyond 125, but that will have to stay in my imagination as I cant be bothered trying.

last run round Wales with C Kennedy on his storm, I managed to use 0.5l more than he did on the same 100 mile loop, but I was being a bit more agressive and the light hadnt come on yet......... so chris would be getting close to 110 or 120 before his light came on

[callam_nffc]

from brimming the tank to the fuel light I got 99.3 miles in the last two days, mixture of commuting to a course Ive been on and sitting at 100 on the motorway

[bigtwinthing]

i got 128 miles (from the bigger tank model) but that was my first ride, it was pissing down after a 6 day dry spell so was a tad slippery,however the sliding over the cats eyes was awesome and great fun. and it was on some motorways (sorry) i did blast down to torquay though and stopped and filled up after 81 miles and the last bar was showing on the gauge.however i dont care i love this bike. fill up, have a costa, and bacon butty, great bike.