Just made the jump 2 weeks ago from sport bikes to harley...Lovin it so far! I'm having to switch to reserve at about 50ish miles, then i go to the gas station and fill up. I don't have a portable gas can at the moment so i don't want to see how far on reserve it can go. I am just trying to figure out if that is around normal or not. I'm 99% sure the tank is stock and assuming the petcock is. Bike runs and idles fine.

For those who don't like to read. Is 50 miles then having to switch to reserve OK or is something goin on?

 

It's alright if you're only putting in a gallon to fill it back up. A few hot mods, cold weather and a poor carb tune could easily cut that mileage in half.

 

That seems too soon. Like the previous post mentioned, how much gas are you putting back in the tank?

 

I think if I remember correctly about 1.5 gals back in or so. What cpuld be some of the casues for this? No pooling under the bike, carb cover has small drip that pools with oil but I think thats just the carb breathin through. Other than it running rich or a leak being somewhere what else could it be? Also wjen I switch to reserve I normally have to pull over and let it sit for about 30 secs befpre the gas feeds. I can see it fill in the fuel filter, but I dont thinl that has to do with my bad mpg.

 

Drag pipes and S&S carbs were commonly fitted to bikes to make them look sporty, by well meaning owners. That is a polite way of saying your bike may not be very well set up! In other words alarm bells are ringing in my mind. Your mileage doesn't sound too good either. SImplest thing to do is get a local friendly indy to take a look and set it up for you. Don't be surprised if he suggests doing something with your pipes!

 

I don't really have the money to change anything around with the bike or anything like that, the bad gas mileage I can deal with at the time, my main concern is if its going to die 5 miles after reserve or 50 miles. I was able to find a 1 gal gas tank that i will use to test this out tomorrow though!

If it turns out i get another 50 miles on reserve being around 100 total, what is going to be the most likely culprit? Running rich? tuning issue? etc?


*edit* didn't mean for that to come off as dickish grbrown, the bike runs strong and pulls pretty evenly (other than in first) so i think tuning wise its ok, plus i love the sound of the drag pipes i don't wanna loose it!

 

It's worth just doing simple checks, like seeing exactly how much it takes the refill the tank after going onto reserve. With carb tanks the gas tap is a standard feature, not model specific, so you can see that with the Sportster tank there is more fuel at the bottom of the tank than at the top. So it is also likely that reserve will be quite a decent amount.

Gas mileage and range is a subject that comes up often on HDF and as a new owner you just need to take a little time to check things out and get used to your bike. As for not running well in first gear, that suggests it is NOT so OK on the tuning front! Get it running properly in first and it will be even better in the other gears! May also give better mileage.

As I said earlier, that set-up is prone to running problems and unless you are an ace tuner, find one to get it just right for you. You may find you have a very different bike!!!

 

Thanks for the advice, planning to do the ride a little later today in reserve

 

I wanted to bump this thread still having the same issue. I was hoping a carb go through tank drain and oil flush would fix it (I was afraid gas was leaking into the oil since no pooling under the bike). I took it in for the above work about 1 month ago, it ran like **** after due to some bad gas (or so i think that was the cause) Surging, sputtering, etc. Brought it right back to the shop and he guy went through it again, said it was fine etc etc etc. Rode it and it was fine, ran out of gas the other day when switching to reserve and got about 5 blocks before it totally died and i had to push for a mile. Next day i put 1 gal in, started right up perfect and went to the gas station picking up another 1.1 gal. Rode about 40 miles on that then filled up again today. SO i think whatever issue the bike was having after getting it back from the shop is fixed be it bad gas or something else (was thinking the ignition system was getting too hot or needed replacing) But im still having the gas issue.


What else could cause this bad of gas milage? I do basically all big city riding (st pete florida, live down town) and seems like im getting 45-55 for the entire tank, i don't trust reserve at all. If thats all im gunna get that fine i just want to make sure there isn't any other issues.

 

Have you figured out how much the tank holds? If its truly just over a gallon then everything sounds fine, that just blows.

This may be a duh thing, but you aren't sticking the nozzle all the way in when you fill up, are you?