So does the Connie actually have a warning light? I would assume not since there’s a fuel gauge, but perhaps?
No, no light or anything, just the gauge. But like I said the tank is huge and unless you’re getting really really bad mileage you should be able to get at least 200 miles before going on reserve. And then the reserve is at least a gallon plus. My advice is to just fill it all the way up*, ride until it dies, then fill up. My gauge goes well past the E before I get to reserve.
Don’t worry about running out of gas while you’re moving, you’ll know right away, and when you put it on reserve it’ll start right back up. I turn to reserve all the time while on the highway so it’s not like you’re going to just stop.
*Don’t fill all the way up, as in as much as you can, unless you plan on riding a bit. Otherwise if it gets hot it will just spit out the gas.
Hear hear, what Ed just said in the post above is a perfect response. Ride until reserve a few times, city and highway to get a feel for where reserve is.
You should still have 20-30 miles to spare on reserve.
Right, keep riding and just switch to reserve (carefully, don’t lean too far and swerve - you should know where the valve is and be able to switch while on the run) and let the clutch out slowly, it’ll fire up and keep going.
I usually fill up before I hit the reserve but I had a question for more experienced riders. You mention switching the petcock then letting the clutch out slowly. Do you shift into neutral before you flip the petcock?
And another question on top of that. The petcock on the bike I trained on was on the left side, which I presume is standard. The clutch is on the left handle. How do you flip the petcock while holding the clutch in? Reaching over with your right hand seems bound for trouble.
If you are stopped (needing to hold the clutch in), the bike will just die, so the clutch is moot. Put it in neutral, turn the petcock and restart it. If you are moving, you will feel the bike sputter, and you can reach down while riding, no clutch needed.
My new bike has a gauge, but I can’t believe anyone uses them. Approx MPG and fuel capacity is all you need.
Until the day you’re riding through Colorado in the mountains and at 170 miles you run out of gas. That’s 50 miles shy of what I normally get. I started to pay more attention to it then. Still I do know by the gauge when I’m going to run out.
As for the clutch, I’ve never pulled in the clutch to go to reserve, at least not while riding. Once you go on reserve the bike should start right back up.
As an update, the bike reached the very very end of the fuel gauge’s limit at 125 miles on this tank. I’ve currently gone 154 miles, and it hasn’t sputtered on me yet. So I’m assuming the guage is just WAY off.
On my Nighthawk, I was able to switch to reserve while still moving…no clutch involved. I’ve made of point of noting where the switch is on the Concours so I’ll hopefully be able to do the same thing. It’s harder to reach than it was on the Nighthawk, though.