6 ms·

This reminds me of the reserve tank toggle on some motorcycles. When you run out of gas, you switch the toggle and drive directly to a gas station.

0_____0 6y ago
always fun when you're barreling down the highway and the engine starts to lean out, prompting you to hurriedly locate and switch the petcock over before the engine stalls completely. suppose then that you go fill up and forget to set the petcock back to normal. 8ball says: "I see a long walk in your future."
- geocrasher 6y ago
  I once put a new fuel pump in a Chevy pickup with two tanks on the side of the road because I was switched to the empty tank. Good times.
- jessaustin 6y ago
  IME it doesn't take too many hikes to learn that part of the procedure for turning off the engine is "turn the fuel switch off reserve".
  - 0_____0 6y ago
    out of years of riding it's only happened to me a couple times. one time i was eastbound on the bay bridge when my bike started to sputter. i'd just reassembled the tank and had left the screw-style reserve fuel valve open, so there was no reserve fuel to be had. a very kind lady put her blinkers on behind me and followed as i coasted the last few hundred yards toward yerba buena island. i pushed my bike up the ramp and looked in the tank to assess. it's a dirtbike, so the tank has two distinct "lobes" to accomodate the top tube of the frame. I had a few ounces in the tank but they were not in the lobe with the fuel pickup, so i dumped the bike on its side to get the fuel to slosh over to where i wanted it. i got back on the highway and, going quite slowly and gently, managed to get to the gas station at west oakland bart, the engine leaning out and sputtering right as i rolled into their lot.
    - chihuahua 6y ago
      I think that driving on those last few ounces of fuel is a completely different feeling. Normally you take for granted that the engine works for hours at at time. When you've come to a stop and found those last few ounces of fuel, it's such a relief that the engine can run again, and you know it won't run for very long, but every minute that it continues running saves you many minutes of walking or pushing. You appreciate every minute that the engine produces that amazing amount of power (compared to your own power when you're pushing a 300+ pound bike)
      - 0_____0 6y ago
        It's a crazy amount of energy. The 2.5 gallons of gas that that tank holds has more energy than all the food I eat in a month.
- dnautics 6y ago
  Surprised there isn't a mechanism that mechanically switches the petcock over when you put a fuel nozzle up to the port
  - quesera 6y ago
    Most motorcycles are surprisingly manual. This was originally a necessity (like in cars), but remains aesthetically preferable for many riders. OTOH, Honda Goldwings have stereo systems. They might grow an automatic fuel reserve switcher-backer someday too. :)
    - names_are_hard 6y ago
      Many new bikes come with a lot of rider aids for safety (ABS, TCS) as well as all kinds of electronics (fuel maps), so this is changing. But of course manual transmission won't go away until bike are electric. I am one of those who likes things old school. My bike still has a carburetor, has no fuel light or tachometer, and I have certainly had some practice reaching down to turn the fuel petcock to reserve while sputtering on the highway. If they didn't intend for me to do that, why did they put it on the left side? :)
      - thesmok 6y ago
        > But of course manual transmission won't go away until bike are electric. See multiple Honda bikes with DCT (dual clutch transmission). This is what I'm planning to get as my first bike.
    - abruzzi 6y ago
      Fuel injected motorcycles don’t have reserve (at least, none that I’ve seen.) instead they have low fuel lights or full fuel gauges. I’m guessing it’s because the fuel pumps are in the tank and the fuel injection system needs high pressure.
      - ericbarrett 6y ago
        Fuel injectors require filtered gas because even small particles can clog them, and said filter is more likely to be clogged or even compromised by sucking up the last drops of fuel (and scale and debris) in the tank, so the low-fuel warning is required. Carb jets can get clogged, too, but are wider since they're not under as much pressure. Also, since they're a wear item they're a lot easier to clean and/or replace.
hprotagonist 6y ago
The bikes I've had that have had reserve tanks have also been old enough to raise the disconcerting follow-on question, which is: "is the reserve gas also full of sludgey crap that's settled in the tank and hasn't been disturbed really in a year, and am i about to run that through my poor carbs?"
- jedberg 6y ago
  My friend had a truck with a reserve tank, but it was the same size as the main tank, so he would just flip the switch at every fill up to make sure they both got used.
  - jmkb 6y ago
    Had this in a 70s F150. A "Main - Aux" switch on the dash, right above the 8-track player. I used to let the main tank sputter out on fumes and then triumphantly shout "Rerouting auxiliary power to engine!" while sliding the switch. Letting them empty out alternately would have been a lot smarter.
    - rigrassm 6y ago
      My father drove a '95 F-150 for years that had the dual tanks. Shortly after highschool I got in accident that ended up totaling my vehicle and got a couple months I was using his truck (he runs an Auto repair shop from a garage behind the house so he almost always had something available to drive) and I ended up using it to go out on a date with someone I had met at work. I noticed on the way to pick them up that the truck was running on empty in the main tank but I checked and the aux tank was full. Then I remembered the first time my dad let the tank run down and start sputtering down the road and decided to keep going on the empty tank. Make it to pick them up and start heading down the highway(where we were it was a good 3-4 miles to the nearest gas station) and then the truck finally started to sputter. I proceed to play along with it pretending to panic for a good 20 seconds and then I turned and saw the look on their face and couldn't help but start laughing. Switched to the aux tank and when the truck started running again I turned and and the look I was getting indicated I was being mentally murdered. Then they punched the crap outta my arm and started laughing and calling me not so nice things. Ended up being an awesome night out with someone I'd end up being friends with for a long time. It's weird how this kind of random conversation in an unrelated internet post can drag you way back down memory lane.
rcthompson 6y ago
Motorboat fuel tanks have a reserve as well. It's just a raised area that splits the bottom of the tank into 2 separate concave areas. One of the concave areas contains the end of the fuel line, and the other doesn't. When you run out of gas, you tip the tank up to dump the remaining gas from the other basin into the main one, and then you restart the engine (or keep it from stopping at all if you're quick enough on the draw) and head for the docks.
- Breza 6y ago
  Old SCUBA tanks didn't have gauges, they had a reserve tank with enough air to get you to the surface. You'd realize you were running low (which I'm sure was terrifying) then hit the switch and slowly surface (you don't want to surface quickly when diving).
  - squeed 6y ago
    Yeah, my dad had a tank like that. I dove with it exactly once - never again, yikes. It was coated inside and out so, despite being a steel tank, it was in excellent shape.
IgorPartola 6y ago
It is a shame that motorcycles have moved away from this model. My last bike had a manual petcock with a reserve setting. It was problematic because I’d forget to turn it from off to on, take off on what’s left in the carburetor bowl, and the engine would start sputtering just down the road. But I also never got stranded. New bike has a vacuum-actuated fuel valve, no reserve. It does have a fuel gauge but since the tank is not a nice simple rectangle and the angle makes a difference the gauge is basically untrustworthy. So I go by the mileage and hope I don’t get it wrong. How hard would it be for them to add a reserve setting so it could just be between On and Reserve so I could just flip between them as needed?
cellularmitosis 6y ago
buying a translucent gas tank has been one of the best investments I've made into my bike.
- ThePowerOfFuet 6y ago
  I bet that gets fun in a hurry in the event of a collision.
  - cellularmitosis 6y ago
    It is extremely thick plastic. I wouldn't be surprised if it dislodged from the frame before it burst. In any event, in any collision violent enough to rupture the tank, the rider will have already been thrown a hundred feet away (and be dead...)
aitchnyu 6y ago
In the Honda CBF125 group on Facebook, a fellow Indian shared a photo of his bike. A British guy asked what's the switch, he's never seen one before. Same bike, same country of origin, but only certain markets get the switch and the recessed panel.
- Mauricebranagh 6y ago
  The UK version of Indian bikes have deluxe items added like disk breaks.

0_____0 6y ago

always fun when you're barreling down the highway and the engine starts to lean out, prompting you to hurriedly locate and switch the petcock over before the engine stalls completely. suppose then that you go fill up and forget to set the petcock back to normal. 8ball says: "I see a long walk in your future."

geocrasher 6y ago
I once put a new fuel pump in a Chevy pickup with two tanks on the side of the road because I was switched to the empty tank. Good times.
jessaustin 6y ago
IME it doesn't take too many hikes to learn that part of the procedure for turning off the engine is "turn the fuel switch off reserve".
- 0_____0 6y ago
  out of years of riding it's only happened to me a couple times. one time i was eastbound on the bay bridge when my bike started to sputter. i'd just reassembled the tank and had left the screw-style reserve fuel valve open, so there was no reserve fuel to be had. a very kind lady put her blinkers on behind me and followed as i coasted the last few hundred yards toward yerba buena island. i pushed my bike up the ramp and looked in the tank to assess. it's a dirtbike, so the tank has two distinct "lobes" to accomodate the top tube of the frame. I had a few ounces in the tank but they were not in the lobe with the fuel pickup, so i dumped the bike on its side to get the fuel to slosh over to where i wanted it. i got back on the highway and, going quite slowly and gently, managed to get to the gas station at west oakland bart, the engine leaning out and sputtering right as i rolled into their lot.
  - chihuahua 6y ago
    I think that driving on those last few ounces of fuel is a completely different feeling. Normally you take for granted that the engine works for hours at at time. When you've come to a stop and found those last few ounces of fuel, it's such a relief that the engine can run again, and you know it won't run for very long, but every minute that it continues running saves you many minutes of walking or pushing. You appreciate every minute that the engine produces that amazing amount of power (compared to your own power when you're pushing a 300+ pound bike)
    - 0_____0 6y ago
      It's a crazy amount of energy. The 2.5 gallons of gas that that tank holds has more energy than all the food I eat in a month.
dnautics 6y ago
Surprised there isn't a mechanism that mechanically switches the petcock over when you put a fuel nozzle up to the port
- quesera 6y ago
  Most motorcycles are surprisingly manual. This was originally a necessity (like in cars), but remains aesthetically preferable for many riders. OTOH, Honda Goldwings have stereo systems. They might grow an automatic fuel reserve switcher-backer someday too. :)
  - names_are_hard 6y ago
    Many new bikes come with a lot of rider aids for safety (ABS, TCS) as well as all kinds of electronics (fuel maps), so this is changing. But of course manual transmission won't go away until bike are electric. I am one of those who likes things old school. My bike still has a carburetor, has no fuel light or tachometer, and I have certainly had some practice reaching down to turn the fuel petcock to reserve while sputtering on the highway. If they didn't intend for me to do that, why did they put it on the left side? :)
    - thesmok 6y ago
      > But of course manual transmission won't go away until bike are electric. See multiple Honda bikes with DCT (dual clutch transmission). This is what I'm planning to get as my first bike.
  - abruzzi 6y ago
    Fuel injected motorcycles don’t have reserve (at least, none that I’ve seen.) instead they have low fuel lights or full fuel gauges. I’m guessing it’s because the fuel pumps are in the tank and the fuel injection system needs high pressure.
    - ericbarrett 6y ago
      Fuel injectors require filtered gas because even small particles can clog them, and said filter is more likely to be clogged or even compromised by sucking up the last drops of fuel (and scale and debris) in the tank, so the low-fuel warning is required. Carb jets can get clogged, too, but are wider since they're not under as much pressure. Also, since they're a wear item they're a lot easier to clean and/or replace.

hprotagonist 6y ago

The bikes I've had that have had reserve tanks have also been old enough to raise the disconcerting follow-on question, which is: "is the reserve gas also full of sludgey crap that's settled in the tank and hasn't been disturbed really in a year, and am i about to run that through my poor carbs?"

jedberg 6y ago
My friend had a truck with a reserve tank, but it was the same size as the main tank, so he would just flip the switch at every fill up to make sure they both got used.
- jmkb 6y ago
  Had this in a 70s F150. A "Main - Aux" switch on the dash, right above the 8-track player. I used to let the main tank sputter out on fumes and then triumphantly shout "Rerouting auxiliary power to engine!" while sliding the switch. Letting them empty out alternately would have been a lot smarter.
  - rigrassm 6y ago
    My father drove a '95 F-150 for years that had the dual tanks. Shortly after highschool I got in accident that ended up totaling my vehicle and got a couple months I was using his truck (he runs an Auto repair shop from a garage behind the house so he almost always had something available to drive) and I ended up using it to go out on a date with someone I had met at work. I noticed on the way to pick them up that the truck was running on empty in the main tank but I checked and the aux tank was full. Then I remembered the first time my dad let the tank run down and start sputtering down the road and decided to keep going on the empty tank. Make it to pick them up and start heading down the highway(where we were it was a good 3-4 miles to the nearest gas station) and then the truck finally started to sputter. I proceed to play along with it pretending to panic for a good 20 seconds and then I turned and saw the look on their face and couldn't help but start laughing. Switched to the aux tank and when the truck started running again I turned and and the look I was getting indicated I was being mentally murdered. Then they punched the crap outta my arm and started laughing and calling me not so nice things. Ended up being an awesome night out with someone I'd end up being friends with for a long time. It's weird how this kind of random conversation in an unrelated internet post can drag you way back down memory lane.

rcthompson 6y ago

Motorboat fuel tanks have a reserve as well. It's just a raised area that splits the bottom of the tank into 2 separate concave areas. One of the concave areas contains the end of the fuel line, and the other doesn't. When you run out of gas, you tip the tank up to dump the remaining gas from the other basin into the main one, and then you restart the engine (or keep it from stopping at all if you're quick enough on the draw) and head for the docks.

Breza 6y ago
Old SCUBA tanks didn't have gauges, they had a reserve tank with enough air to get you to the surface. You'd realize you were running low (which I'm sure was terrifying) then hit the switch and slowly surface (you don't want to surface quickly when diving).
- squeed 6y ago
  Yeah, my dad had a tank like that. I dove with it exactly once - never again, yikes. It was coated inside and out so, despite being a steel tank, it was in excellent shape.

IgorPartola 6y ago

It is a shame that motorcycles have moved away from this model. My last bike had a manual petcock with a reserve setting. It was problematic because I’d forget to turn it from off to on, take off on what’s left in the carburetor bowl, and the engine would start sputtering just down the road. But I also never got stranded. New bike has a vacuum-actuated fuel valve, no reserve. It does have a fuel gauge but since the tank is not a nice simple rectangle and the angle makes a difference the gauge is basically untrustworthy. So I go by the mileage and hope I don’t get it wrong. How hard would it be for them to add a reserve setting so it could just be between On and Reserve so I could just flip between them as needed?

cellularmitosis 6y ago

buying a translucent gas tank has been one of the best investments I've made into my bike.

ThePowerOfFuet 6y ago
I bet that gets fun in a hurry in the event of a collision.
- cellularmitosis 6y ago
  It is extremely thick plastic. I wouldn't be surprised if it dislodged from the frame before it burst. In any event, in any collision violent enough to rupture the tank, the rider will have already been thrown a hundred feet away (and be dead...)

aitchnyu 6y ago

In the Honda CBF125 group on Facebook, a fellow Indian shared a photo of his bike. A British guy asked what's the switch, he's never seen one before. Same bike, same country of origin, but only certain markets get the switch and the recessed panel.

Mauricebranagh 6y ago
The UK version of Indian bikes have deluxe items added like disk breaks.