Stupid Question I've just never had to do it

[Stuart]

I've been on long trips before and I have never needed to switch over to reserve. So here's my question, when you run out of gas in the tank you hear sputtering and what else happens? I'm assuming loss of power, also is it safe to just flip both my petcocks from on to reserve while the bike is going 45?

I realize stupid question but someday I'm going to have to use them and it'll be good to know

[Freakinout]

The bike will sputter and continue to do so until it dies completely, as soon as you think your out of gas switch to reserve. you can do it while going 100mph if thats how fast your going.

[bikeaholic]

no such thing as a stupid question around here

just flip it and keep riding

[Stuart]

Thanks guys, I'm still working on remembering both petcocks I've ridden a couple thousand miles now on my bike and various other machines.

The other day I got on my friends bike and he is really new and didn't know about ON-OFF-RESERVE because his bike didn't have the on off fuel so he was looking at me like I was retarded for leaning and looking at the left of the engine

[ZX-2R]

You should become familiar with its location so that you don't actually kill it and can switch while riding...with the engine turning over as you run out of gas it will automatically just suck the air on through and then the gas will start flowing so it is restarting and running as if nothing happened but a bubble of air just went through it.

[1Adam12]

Reset your trip odometer or look at your current miles and calculate about how many miles you can go. This will give you a guestimate of how far you have left before running out and if by chance that you do run out of gas, ya always have the reserve. Practice moving your petcock while on the bike so you are familiar with it or just stop off the road.

No biggie - and no dumb questions ever!

[Stuart]

yeah, that's why i've never had to use the reserve, because I use the trip very well and my combined tank and MPG is tremendous I average about 50 mpg City at least

[1Adam12]

Wow,

With the gas prices so high 50 mpg is awesome!

[Freakinout]

Wow,

With the gas prices so high 50 mpg is awesome!

I get 50-55 on the highway (depending on my speed) with my 500R

[Stuart]

yeah, i've gotten as much as 75mpg, my tank is 3.2 gallons and a .7 reserve so when I hit 230 without going onto reserve I figured it was time for more gas, I should have gone just to see how long it took, because my reserve would have carried me over 35 miles to the next station no matter what