[kiwi rider]

Has anybody ran their bike dry and worked out how many miles/km's you can get out of it once the low fuel level light starts flashing? Ideally cruising at 60mph/100km/h.
Ive never gone beyond 40 miles with the light flashing but there still seems to be heaps of fuel in there when i fuel up.

 

[CBR300R]

Has anybody ran their bike dry and worked out how many miles/km's you can get out of it once the low fuel level light starts flashing? Ideally cruising at 60mph/100km/h.
Ive never gone beyond 40 miles with the light flashing but there still seems to be heaps of fuel in there when i fuel up.

According to the owner's handbook, there's 3.1 litres in the tank when the light starts flashing, so you should be able to coax a bit more than 40 miles out. Not sure how far I'd want ride to put this to the test though......

 

[jmerod58]

I have done this with a couple cars I've owned in the past. I just reset the trip to 0 and make sure I stick close to a few gas stations. Oh and I make sure I have a gas can and that the weather is warm . But I have not done that with the bike yet. I have only gone to the point where the gas bars start flashing.

 

[Fanatic]

Been through this with my cars as well, but haven't tried coming to the point where the single bar starts to flash. Was curious as to what starts flashing and as to what the signs look like.

Off-topic: Don't know how true this is but I've heard that testing with low fuel can put strain on the fuel pump.

 

[Gdaddy197]

The gas gauge starts to blink........I'd say around 40 miles would be a good estimate. The gauge flashes and then I fill up. That's just me though.

 

[kiwi rider]

Well if there's 3 liters in the reserve capacity then working on a consumption rate of 30km/l average (70 US MPG) you should be able to get 90km or 56 miles roughly before starvation. Probably less in stop/start city traffic. Good to know. That's a healthy amount, more than a lot of cars.
@Fanatic yeah I've heard that too about running it dry. You can suck all the crap out of the bottom of yer tank into the system, but I guess that's what your fuel filter is for.
Mind you, our nice new machines should be squeaky clean inside there

 

[mike]

That's why i like bikes like this, at least if you're going to use it for commuting, you can expect to get great mileage and save a ton of money if going from a car to bike.

 

[MotoMike]

Been through this with my cars as well, but haven't tried coming to the point where the single bar starts to flash. Was curious as to what starts flashing and as to what the signs look like.

Off-topic: Don't know how true this is but I've heard that testing with low fuel can put strain on the fuel pump.

That's actually true. It's generally considered a bad idea to run a fuel injected bike (or car) to empty... do it enough and you'll be paying to have the fuel pump replaced. With the fuel pump being submerged in fuel, it relies on the fuel itself to cool the pump during operation. Even running an EFI vehicle to a very low fuel level repeatedly can cause the pump to fail prematurely, due to it overheating. Not to mention some EFI vehicles can be a ***** to restart after running out of fuel.

Just like the CBR250R, Honda purposely calibrated the fuel gauge on the 300R & 300F so that when the last bar starts flashing, there would be plenty of fuel left in the tank to both get the bike to a gas station and keep the fuel pump submerged in gas.

Unless you find yourself really out in the middle of nowhere when the last bar starts flashing, you should have no problem being able to ride for another 25 - 30 miles to get to the next gas station, while still having enough gas to keep the fuel pump submerged. The fuel pumps for these bikes are over $200 USD, so overheating the pump is probably something you'll want to avoid over the long haul.

I can't remember the last time I saw the last bar flashing on my 250R, as I typically refuel when it gets down to two bars remaining on the gauge and around 150 miles elapsed on the tripmeter, which then takes about 2 gallons to refill the tank. Once I went as far as 230 miles on a full tank, but that was really pushing the limit as far as how much gas was left in the tank for the fuel pump cooling... as I recall, it took 3 gallons to refuel after that 230 mile run. I'm typically getting 70 to 75 MPG on my CBR250R.

 

[Late Shift]

Its good to know how much reserve fuel you have left when it says empty but really you should make sure you don't run out of gas ever. better to play it safe IMO.

 

[MotoMike]

Its good to know how much reserve fuel you have left when it says empty but really you should make sure you don't run out of gas ever. better to play it safe IMO.

:laugh: The fuel gauge on these bikes doesn't "say empty"... rather it's the engine that suddenly says "empty", which happens to coincide with the moment it stops running and leaves the rider standing along side of the road. In other words, there's no reserve fuel left when it's 'empty'.

Those who own and ride Honda CBR250R's, 300R's, and 300F's all know that when the last bar on the fuel gauge starts flashing, it's time to start looking for the next gas station.

 

[Fanatic]

With all this said, I'm going to prepare to fuel up when two bars show up. I'll keep the one bar (and one bar flashing) as last resort.

LoL, look what we've turned this thread into. Good for the sake of curiosity though.

 

[westgl]

That is provided you are getting 70mpg, you may be getting more MPG than you think.

 

[KevinPinneo]

All of my fill-ups have come with flashing 1 bar

Average miles: 198.8 miles
Average fill: 2.69 gallons
Average % left: 20.8%

The reserve seems pretty big, and that's after going ~20 miles after it starts

 

[kiwi rider]

The spec sheet says the CBR300R has a 13 liter fuel capacity but I'm starting to wonder.
Yesterday I was out on a ride and I rode the last 50km (30 miles) on last bar flashing. This is about as far as I like to push it.
But when I filled up at the servo I only got 10.6 liters in the tank.
Admittedly that was with only filling it up to the top of the plate with the nozzle hole in it. But your still not going to get much more than another 500ml in there.
Anyone else noticed this?

 

[CDNHONDAR]

I suppose that you could siphon the gas out (as much as you can) of a full tank in a MEASURED device just to see how much you get....(just a thought)

 

[MotoMike]

The spec sheet says the CBR300R has a 13 liter fuel capacity but I'm starting to wonder.
Yesterday I was out on a ride and I rode the last 50km (30 miles) on last bar flashing. This is about as far as I like to push it.
But when I filled up at the servo I only got 10.6 liters in the tank.
Admittedly that was with only filling it up to the top of the plate with the nozzle hole in it. But your still not going to get much more than another 500ml in there.
Anyone else noticed this?

So if Honda's number of 13 liters total capacity is right, you had 2.4 liters remaining in the tank, which sounds about right. Worth noting is that 13 liters is not stated as "usable fuel". So those 2+ liters are there to protect the fuel pump for overheating. Check out posts 21 - 24 in this thread on the 250R site... Hello from Yokosuka Japan! - Page 3 - Honda CBR250R Forum : Honda CBR 250 Forums

I suppose that you could siphon the gas out (as much as you can) of a full tank in a MEASURED device just to see how much you get....(just a thought)

You could do that... :nerd:

Or you could spend that time actually riding and having fun. At the end of the day, the tank capacity is what it is... 13 liters.

 

[Treve82]

According to my little honda book, last bar starts flashing at 3l left in tank.

a couple of times i have put in 11.5L when refuelling

 

[MeeLee]

An inline fuel filter always gives you a tiny window to see the last of fuel being sipped into the system.
Although I highly doubt anyone would look down at it, while riding.

My inline fuel filter and whatever fuel is in the Rebel's carburetor is enough for 1.5 mile of riding. A luxury fuel injected bikes don't have.

 

[JNO]

I suppose that you could siphon the gas out (as much as you can) of a full tank in a MEASURED device just to see how much you get....(just a thought)

That is number 4,267,462 on my To Do list, just after 'Pour boiling water down my undercrackers'.

 

[MotoMike]

An inline fuel filter always gives you a tiny window to see the last of fuel being sipped into the system.
Although I highly doubt anyone would look down at it, while riding.

My inline fuel filter and whatever fuel is in the Rebel's carburetor is enough for 1.5 mile of riding. A luxury fuel injected bikes don't have.

Let's hope you find a gas station within that 1.5 miles. :laugh:

Fuel injected bikes like the CBR have a fuel gauge which tells you that it's time to think about making a fuel stop, long before you're actually out of fuel. From when the last bar on the fuel gauge starts flashing, there is at least 40 to 50 miles of usable fuel remaining... I'd say that is far more of a "luxury" than a measly mile and a half worth of fuel in your inline filter and carb bowl.