just passing film works, i suddenly felt my bike engine starting to stall, throttle not working. I made a split second decision and changed to the slip road, and push my 220kg bike about 100 metres into the nearby sainsbury petrol station.
obviously my fuel gauge has stopped working, since last week i found the digital display a bit weird when i started the bike engine. and today i was wondering why a full tank this week give me more mileage than usual, i was just attributing this improved fuel efficiency to my improved skill, high speed riding and a lot of gliding…
**“I have owned quite a few bikes, never one with a fuel guage, always relied on Reserve and the Odo.”
**
I miss having a fuel tap with a reserve bit. Why did they go missing?
It wasn’t difficult to turn on the tap and when the power died away, you just reached down and put in on to reserve. That could even be done at 100+ with fair safety.
Now I’m expected to rely on a poxy light on the end of some Italian electrics.
sometimes i prefer a notepad with a ball pen to a laptop. if invention went reverse, i.e. laptop first, then notepad, we could have marveled at the more user friendly paper note book: portable, free of maintenance, direct touch feeling, easy imput, easy to delete and recover date, cheap… sometimes it makes you wonder what’s the point of those latest gadget:D
The first time I used my bike in London was after a break of 8 months - I ran out of fuel on the outside lane of the North Circular near Colney Hatch. I knew what it was immediately and managed to get to the inside lane with some frantic arm flapping. Reserve switches are great but only if you bother to learn where to feel for it BEFORE you actually need it.
Haha when I first got the Bandit took it up the M11 to errrm ‘stretch its legs’ headed towards Loughton then a couple of the cylinders conked out, managed to get it on he slip road and find reserve.
That was with only 100 miles on the meter, but with a load of Redex (or similar) in the tank.
Scared me but taught me :w00t:
I believe it is because modern fuel injection systems use a quiet a power fuel pump that needs cooling, and the fuel passing throught the pump is also used to cool it. So having a tap that can turn off the fuel would result in the pump over heating.
That and it saves a few pennies and a few grams.
Personally I have never had a problem with the reserve light. Find it just as good as the tap on the 125.
I have a light and two switches. The rear tank runs dry with little warning, but the main one has the red light and a res switch on the bars. Supposed to be 3 litre reserve but the light seems to come on at 6 litres these days. Lowest I’ve run it to is 1 litre :w00t:
Kevsta, that may be boring but your probably right.
So what’s with this injection cr*p? You get a shed load of stuff you can’t touch unless your a main dealer, lots more to go wrong, and a less fuel efficient bike. (See tests various. Most recent on the 650 Bandit.)
Interesting that the American single cylinder race guys (650 cc) throw away the fuel injection and go “back” to Mikuni compound carbs.
Most dis able the vacuum tap intake and fit the real item to the tank.
Hmm. Anyone want to buy the complete FI system from a 650 Aprilia?
I believe that if you take a carb and a fi system the fi system will always be more efficient. The reason that is not always the case is due to the stupid EU regulations. You have to have certain efficiency after so many seconds, you have to regulate the noise, CO2, NOx, SOx emissions.
The net result is that carbs can’t meet the requirements and fi systems are crippled to hell.
As for racing, carbs are easy to adjust than fi systems and will give a more consistent result in the hands of small team who cannot lug massive amounts to technical gear to race meets.
