Don't worry. Be happy. Just ignore it. Use your trip odometer and keep a record of your fill-ups, so you can obtain an accurate average mpg.

 

My gas gauge is sort of a reminder for me. When I start the bike up after a few days of being off it, it tells me if I had just gassed up before parking it, or not. Then I remember that I just made it home on empty and needed to gas it soon, or whatever the circumstances were were.

I have a 2" tank lift and know that when the needle first hits "E" on level ground that I have 25 "safe" miles left. In that regard, it is handy and fairly accurate, but if I fail to notice when it first hits the "E" I'm lost because that is where it will stay until empty and it moves really fast once it gets below the 1/4 tank level then stopping at "E" and staying there.

The odometer/trip meter is also a nice way to calculate your next refueling, but I recently built the engine and did a lot of erratic accel/decel runs for a few hundred miles to seat the rings, yielding me 22 to 25 MPG, it's hard to trust the odometer on that amount of mileage drop.

I keep a log during each fill-up, gallons, odo reading, date and notes telling me the town or whatever so that I can look back, recall the trip and picture in my mind the conditions, two-up, slow country rides, fast, racing, etc. so that eventually I'll be able to trust my odometer and maybe my gas gauge more.

For now I'm carrying a 1 gallon Reda saddle bag gas can (actually holds .87 gallons) for insurance and for when riding with buddys that forget to fuel up.

 

I've got a 2001 fxd,the gauge crapped in 05,just left it . i fill up at around r4 135-150 miles or reserve.............

 

The guage isn't all that accurate on mine but the light seems to always come on after using 3.5 gallons out of my 4.7 gallon tank. I still use the odometer though.

 

Mine is just a good reminder if havn't paid attention to the Odometer that when hits the E Mark have 2 gallons left on a 6 gallon tank ..

 

Ah, good old petrol taps with a reserve...those were the days :-)

 

I think the general answer is - it's not just you =)

 

doesn't matter anyway as gas always depends on riding style. wind, load, drag, etc, if you expect it to be that good well I think your looking for something thats not there, like many posters have said most of us just work on a certain number of miles, and know if we are riding hard then thats going to be a lot less,

 

I notice my light comes on at 1/4 tank, if I ride a bit then shut off and back on the light will go off, I figure its the float on the gauge and since the bike sits on the stand at a angle it thinks I have less than I actually do...

The tank gauge itself is slow to come up, that I hate, but if I sit on the bike and wait a minute it comes up to where it should be....

 

I go by the miles on mine too. I just reset my trip odometer everytime I fill up with gas. I know about how many miles I can go on a tank and just make sure to monitor the mileage. My fuel light comes on long before I run out.