Safe in-town distance for gas fill-up

[quixotic]

Considering that there's no conventional reserve on the tank, I was wondering if there's a safe, round number to use (either miles or kilometers) to remind me to gas up.  

Thanks in advance.

[Bob_Roller]

There is a reserve, with the lever on the fuel tap in the 6 o'clock postion, you will use fuel down to a standpipe in the fuel tank, about 5 gallons, 19 L  from full .

With the fuel tap lever in the 12 o'clock position (reserve), you have about .5 gallons, 2 L to empty after getting to reserve .

Not unheard of , to have a previous owner cut the standpipe on the fuel tap inside the tank, so you don't have a reserve .

If you find yourself out of fuel on reserve, that proverbial 'between a rock and a hard place', there is still usable fuel in the tank .

You need to get the tank free from the frame, remove the wire bale at the back and then pull the tank back so its free of the rubber support at the front .

Pull the front of the tank up, then rotate the tank to the left, then put the front of the tank back down and reinstall the fuel tank .

I've measured the amount of fuel after this and its around .4 gallon or around 1.5 L .

May save you from walking someday !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bengt_Phorqs]

Or you could replace the petcock with one that has the reserve.  They aren't too expensive, even used, and it's an easy fix.

[Bob_Roller]

I  never thought of a non OEM fuel tap installed !!!!!

The bike should have a Germa fuel tap, it has a 17 mm nut that secures the fuel line at the bottom, or 6 o'clock position on the fuel tap .

Only other OEM fuel tap, is a Karcoma, it has a barbed fitting for the fuel line at the three o'clock position .

[Barry]

I deliberately ride to the reserve before filling up.  That leaves me  with 28 - 30 miles and then as Bob said there is more still on the right hand side of the tank making 50 miles in total if you are really desperate. Hard to get into serious trouble with a 50 mile reserve.

[marcmax]

I hate to admit it but I have gotten in the habit of unscrewing the cap when traffic is light and just looking into the tank. If the gas is below the center hump in the tank I just stop for a fillup.

[Luca]

Giving you more than you asked for, but...

Not a bad idea to clean the petcock on the new-to-you bike.

The Germa design puts the screen after the rubber valve disc, so you can end up with crud in the small passageways.  I got stuck on the side of the highway once fiddling with the fuel tap because reserve just wouldn't flow.

I replaced my tired petcock with a Karcoma variant.  The Germa parts were hard to find and the Karcoma keeps junk out of the petcock entirely because the screen is in the tank.   Harder to clean the screen, but kinder to the internals.

As for your question... I was getting about 200 miles before I hit reserve.  That was a lot of highway/40mph  roads.  150 miles should be more than safe... but it would really help if you knew that your tank had a regular standpipe and reserve standpipe.

[quixotic]

There is a reserve, with the lever on the fuel tap in the 6 o'clock postion, you will use fuel down to a standpipe in the fuel tank, about 5 gallons, 19 L  from full .

With the fuel tap lever in the 12 o'clock position (reserve), you have about .5 gallons, 2 L to empty after getting to reserve .

Thanks.  That's good to know.  I was putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5 (the lack of a petcock on the right side had me thinking that its absence translated into a reserve of zero) (plus, the mention of it in the "cons" section of this page: http://www.nebcom.com/noemi/moto/r65faq.html).  Now I know that when I feel the old gal coughing, I can quickly reach down and twist the petcock lever (assuming that there's no crud in the passageway, as Luca mentioned).  

[Bob_Roller]

The words on the plastic cap under the lever on the fuel tap probably have worn off, or are unreadable .

Here's a link to a BMW parts site .

http://bmwhucky.com/007516.html

About 3/4 ths the way down the page, they have the cap with the words on it, this should clear up what position is what on the fuel tap .

[Justin B.]

one other possible issue to look into would be the "straws" missing from the tap.  You can turn on the valve and run the line into a gas can until the flow stops then you can verify that turning the lever to reserve starts fuel flowing again.  You could also measure how much gas comes out in the reserve position so you know exactly...

I just mention this as I have had fuel taps that the straws had been removed from by somebody...