Hey all I had up till a year ago had a 2012 FLHR till I lost a fight with a car, now I have a 1998 FLHR was wondering when it should be switching to reserve, It has a CV carb. And I pulled in the other day around 185miles and it took 4.7gal and had yet to start sputtering to switch over. Any info helps thanks.

 

I recommend that you do it shortly after you hit 185 miles.

 

Arr you sure you were running off the main to begin with? You'd think there'd be a half gallon or more in reserve. Hopefully dawg will answer this...that guy will know how much reserve it should have.

 

every bike I've had with a reserve, I would fill it and run it down until it started to run out and switch it over. that way I knew how far I could go. make sure you're not too far away from a gas station you only have a gallon or less on reserve

 

When I had bikes with a reserve I'd always pack a can of fuel, a half gallon or so, ride till it sputtered, note the milage then ride till it died. I'd then know how far it would go on reserve, put the extra fuel in and go fill up.

 

Load, and riding conditions (town, Hwy etc) will all effect how far your reserve will get you as well.

 

I believe my 02 Dyna has a .9 gal reserve. I purposely ran the bike down to the switch over point and that was close to 4 gals. That's about 150 miles (using 38 mpg combined driving) My gas gauge has a red zone for the needle and that is my secondary indication. Trip odometer is my primary indication.

 

Damn... When I was on a 5 gallon tank 150 was a safe place for me now on a 6 gallon 180 is good.

I guess I’m way harder on the throttle than most... 45 mpg is laughable when I do what I consider being easy the best I can do is around 38.

 

I agree. Are you sure you had the valve in the right position and not running on reserve the whole time? It's easy to accidentally flip it the wrong way if it's still new to you. .3 gallons is not much of a reserve. That or you may have been right at it and over filled it a little. Either way, verify the position of the valve or if you are really concerned, drain the tank and pull the valve and make sure the tip for main is still there. You can also see how tall it is that way and get a feel for how much is in the tank when it gets to it. It may be very short.

I did get pretty good on my dirt bike as a kid switching to reserve on the fly. That was my gas gauge. Thank you for bringing back some fond memories. I like the light and countdown much better than anticipating the sputter that never comes at a good time.

 

I understand where youre comming fron, though every bike ive owned but the 2012 had a reserve im use to em in all different locations, and the stock petcock was leaking so I replaced it, toward the rear is off down is on and toward the front is reserve