Ducati Monster Forum

Hi all,

Just wondering approximately how far you can ride once the low fuel light has come on?  I am riding a S4R - Testratretta with Termignoni full system and have been wondering how many kms I can ride before completely running dry? 

I know it varies greatly depending on how you ride etc. but I was just trying to get some idea.

Cheers

Bret

On my M1000DS I pushed the envelope and got no more than 25k before the whole shooting match shut down!! ??? (Freeway 100kph)

You wont get the whole reserve because as soon as the injector pump senses low pressure it shuts the engine down!! No coughing and spluttering just no more engine noise. ;D

 [bang] [bang] [bang]

I have discussed this with Ducati through my dealer [bang] [bang] Not only is the plastic tank not holding the advertised 14 liters (12.5 is closer), but the light comes on at 1.5 liters left, not the advertised 3 liters [bang] [bang] [bang] The response I got: "that's normal" - true Ducati style I guess? Because I wish to maintain a good relationship with my/the only dealer I have to settle for the piss poor solution of checking the trip counter to plan my rides. Normally I would have made them suffer until they came up with a solution, at least for when the reserve light comes on.

(Otherwise I feel fine ;))

My info may not help much given the difference in our bikes. I have a S2R800. At the time the exhausts were standard.

My fuel light usually comes on at about 200km. I took a full jerry can (5ltr) with me and rode around some country roads at a conservative pace (ie. how I would ride if looking for a servo). I got 40km from the light to cut out. There was still fuel in there as I could hear it. Upon putting the extra fuel in the tank it started as usual (first go)which meant there was fuel in the lines and no need to crank it over to pump it through from the tank.

Try repeating this and you'll get a better estimate for your bike.

In Tasmania no one thinks any differently of a motorcyclist riding around with 5 litres of fuel strapped to his back???

In Melbourne we'd suspect you of terrorism! or in some neighbourhoods you'd get mugged for the petrol too.

I'm on a 992ds and can get 40k out of my 'yellow light', my light also comes on with around 3 litres in the tank, steel tank too. I've obviously got the quality model (made by the bloke after he'd finished with his mistress but BEFORE he went home for late lunch).

thinking about buying a large capacity kevlar tank next year - 4kg lighter with more capacity!

 

.... but if it holds 4kgs more fuel, then it isn't really any lighter (unless it's nearly empty)  :P

My consumption is too erratic to even consider a 'rule of thumb', if the light comes on I try and get some fuel .... it requires less brain power and causes less anxiety - top up when you can if it's a long distance between drinks.

but you can ride around tassie on a tank

My s4rs ran out and the noise stopped 2 months ago around 185 kms. Its poor milage but sh?t loads of power
Rich

spot on! the xtra 4 litres will be an extra 4 kg (that the tank saves) so...same weight (when full) an extra 70km of  [moto]

did I mention the tank has carbon panels  :o

Actually... I hate to be a bit of a nerd, but... fuel has a density of ~703 g/L. This means 4 L has a mass of 2.8 kg. Water at 4°C and atmospheric pressure has a density of 1000g/L.

Oh, and yes, I am ignoring the thermal expansivity of fuel, but it isn't too much. I think I did some rough and ready calculations and the mass difference between 30°C fuel and 0°C fuel is in the order of 3.5% mass.

As for "how much fuel left" I get about 35 km out of my S2R1k when the light comes on. Can only get about 12.5L into the tank from empty before it'll rush out the overflow too...

Don't lie, you frickin love it!

this also means that even with a full tank I'd be saving weight! Nice!

how close to the actual lip does fuel have to get before it 'overflows' (sounds like a Pearl Jam song)?

Brett I ride the same 2007 S4RT as you with the full open Zard system and the DP-ECU.....  [moto]

When the light comes on I have between 20-30km to go depending on the twist of the grip.....  :'(

Now if I could get the "Saddle Box" people to include an extra fuel tank in the seat as well as the boot???????  [roll]  [roll]

With the plastic tanks, there's a little breather hole. Exceed that and you may well know it. Can't remember how far below the lip that is, but not too far.

And yes, you're right, a nerd is my job and I'm resigned to that fact. I generally leave discussions on density at work though, but today, just couldn't resist.

+1 on the 20 to 30 km  [bang]

that really is piss poor consumption!!! even with the smaller plastic tank, jeez!
my 996 S4R has the steel tank, so another 2 litres, with the full arrow system, open airbox and filter and a d/p ecu and it ran out of puff at 265km. and it wasn't bone dry either, just picking up aerated fuel and shut down via the ecu. my light came on around the 190 kph mark IIRC.

paul.

I've got a bit over 210km out of my S4Rt on a nice sedate ride averaging 110km/h on the open road, took just under 12 ltrs to fill up, I'm pretty sure the Fuel Odo was over 30km, they are hazy figures though, it happened a while ago. I was riding really gently for a while to make sure I got to the next town.

Some hard facts would have made this info all the better  ???

My 2007 S4RT Monster, Zards and DP ECU with 14 tooth sprocket.

Here are some fuel figures from my last 20 fill ups.

As you can see it does vary a lot ranging from 203km to 118km when the light comes on.

Averages at the bottom on the figures.

Km           Fuel          Litres        Km per   Km when
Milage      Litres        / 100km    / 1 litre   light comes on
67            3.93          5.9           17.0       187.5
161          9.75          6.1           16.5       181.6
148          8.3            5.6           17.8       196.1
130          7.04          5.4           18.5       203.1
182          12.19        6.7           14.9       164.2
176          11.15        6.3           15.8       173.6
70            5.28          7.5           13.3       145.8
145          9.64          6.6           15.0       165.5
49            3.64          7.4           13.5       148.1
128          8.34          6.5           15.3       168.8
50            2.96          5.9           16.9       185.8
159          9.15          5.8           17.4       191.1
139          8.17          5.9           17.0       187.1
47            4.36          9.3           10.8       118.6
67            5.43          8.1           12.3       135.7
148          9.86          6.7           15.0       165.1
29            1.84          6.3           15.8       173.4
112          7.73          6.9           14.5       159.4
63            4.52          7.2           13.9       153.3
154          10.37        6.7           14.9       163.4

Averages                  6.6            15.3       168.4    Averages

Nertastic post below.

S2R1k, tunes, mainly commuting with some rides in the hills, no ECU mods, O2 sensor ditched ages ago. Ridden with the appropriate right wrist, and the occasional lofted front wheel in joyous abandon. One speeding fine in this :).

Odo (km)	Trip (km)	Fuel (L)	Econ (L/100km)	Light dist	Empty dist	Dist past light?
				(approx, km)	(approx, km)
168.0	168.0	10.95	6.52	165	206	41
340.0	172.0	11	6.40	168	210	42
511.0	171.0	11.03	6.45	167	209	42
673.0	162.0	10.4	6.42	---	210	---
839.0	166.0	10.35	6.23	---	216	---
1014.0	175.0	11.38	6.50	165	207	42
1180.0	166.0	11.65	7.02	153	192	38
1341.0	161.0	10.35	6.43	---	209	---
1534.0	193.0	11.81	6.12	176	220	44
1711.0	177.0	10.59	5.98	---	225	---
1922.0	211.0	11.25	5.33	202	252	51
2116.0	194.0	11.25	5.80	185	232	47
2292.0	176.0	10.34	5.88	---	229	---
2496.0	204.0	11.25	5.51	195	244	49
2686.0	190.0	10.25	5.39	---	249	---
2867.0	181.0	10.15	5.61	---	240	---
3045.0	178.0	10.33	5.80	---	232	---
3246.0	201.0	10.18	5.06	---	266	---
3421.0	175.0	10.2	5.83	---	231	---
3609.0	188.0	10.34	5.50	---	245	---
3806.0	197.0	11.36	5.77	186	233	47
3995.0	189.0	10.7	5.66	---	238	---
4199.0	204.0	11.2	5.49	196	245	49
4397.0	198.0	10.65	5.38	---	250	---
4596.0	199.0	11.24	5.65	190	238	48
4807.0	211.0	11.52	5.46	197	246	49
4992.0	185.0	10.45	5.65	---	238	---
5174.0	182.0	10.7	5.88	---	229	---
5357.0	183.0	11.51	6.29	171	214	43
5546.0	189.0	10.65	5.63	---	239	---
5726.0	180.0	10.17	5.65	---	238	---
5813.0	87.0	5.25	6.03	---	223	---
6005.0	192.0	9.75	5.08	---	265	---
6212.0	207.0	11.62	5.61	192	240	48
6401.0	189.0	10.74	5.68	---	237	---
6585.0	184.0	11.3	6.14	175	219	44
6775.0	190.0	11.64	6.13	175	220	44
7038.0	263.0	14.64	5.57	193	242	49
7236.0	198.0	11.26	5.69	189	237	47
7398.0	162.0	10.69	6.60	---	204	---
7578.0	180.0	11.03	6.13	175	219	44
7771.0	193.0	11.05	5.73	188	235	47
7938.0	167.0	10.44	6.25	---	215	---
8115.0	177.0	10.5	5.93	---	227	---
8298.0	183.0	10.8	5.90	---	228	---
8472.0	174.0	10.55	6.06	---	222	---
8647.0	175.0	10.7	6.11	---	220	---
8840.0	193.0	10.5	5.44	---	247	---
9015.0	175.0	9.34	5.34	---	252	---
9228.0	213.0	11.95	5.61	192	240	48
9382.0	154.0	8.53	5.54	---	243	---
9564.0	182.0	10.59	5.82	---	231	---
9761.0	197.0	10.5	5.33	---	252	---
9945.0	184.0	9.71	5.28	---	255	---
10137.0	192.0	11.08	5.77	186	233	47
10320.0	183.0	10	5.46	---	246	---
10532.0	212.0	11.24	5.30	203	254	51
10720.0	188.0	10.34	5.50	---	245	---
10924.0	204.0	10.79	5.29	---	254	---
11138.0	214.0	10.9	5.09	211	264	53
11328.0	190.0	10.11	5.32	---	253	---
11520.0	192.0	11.03	5.74	187	234	47
11724.0	204.0	10.51	5.15	---	261	---
11924.0	200.0	10.3	5.15	---	261	---
12130.0	206.0	10.49	5.09	---	264	---
12333.0	203.0	11	5.42	198	248	50
12533.0	200.0	11	5.50	195	245	49
12720.0	187.0	10.49	5.61	---	240	---
13108.0	388.0	20.64	5.32	202	253	51
13315.0	207.0	10.55	5.10	---	264	---
13526.0	211.0	10.8	5.12	---	263	---
13717.0	191.0	9.85	5.16	---	261	---
13898.0	181.0	11.05	6.10	176	220	44
14088.0	190.0	11.3	5.95	181	226	45
14267.0	179.0	9.6	5.36	---	251	---

Average economy is 5.69 L/100km. Looks like about 40-50 km once the light is on. Corresponds to what I know, I did 46 km from light to pushing the one time I absolutely ran out.

The 'distance to light' is how far it'd take, at that average economy, to get to 10.85L used. This is known, cause at least a couple of trips I know where I turned off to go to a certain servo. The distance to empty is also approximated, cause I know how much it took the one time I did completely run out  [bang] . It's simply maths to take one from the other to work out how far I can go, roughly, once the light is on.

Nerderific stats, if I do so say myself. I started doing this cause I wanted to compare fuel brands (end result: it's too close to call), found out you can see the changes due to warmer or colder weather in the fuelling (due to the pressure/temp sensor - O2 sensor has been unplugged for a fair while now), and it's also useful for calcs like this!

Holy crap! I'm amazed that one person in this little end of the forum kept such info. But two people is just flat out incredible.

I just ride until the light comes on and put fuel in so I can ride again. I couldn't tell you how much I put in or any of that info.

Maybe you guys need to get out more. ;D

Absolutely!





I only do it for the car  :-[





Bike is for fun  [cheeky]

agreed!!
i ride my bikes for fun, so what it costs is mostly irrelevant, though your figures are certainly interesting. as above, i just fill it when it needs it, service it as necessary and ride. [thumbsup] crikey! my XR8 chews through some guzzaline too but i'm just too scared to work that one out. if i did the wife might nag me to sell it and buy a bloody prius [bang]


paul.

my s2r1000 does on average 150 before the fuel light comes on. I commute in crapo city traffic with stop, start, gas, honk, punch, repeat processes. So I use a lot of fuel compared to someone just cruising on more open roads. Oh and I am the riding equivalent of a lead foot, since I got the termis I gun it off all the lights, downshift with a solid stab at the throttle and keep it in the meaty range when in traffic for razor fast response and annoying amounts of noise for the steel coffin commuters. hahaha its worth the extra $5 of fuel each week by miles.

When I head out on a sat for a burl I get to 190 - 200 before light. its completely too small a tank though, I don't know how I'm going to do long trips on it, there has to be more than 200 kms between some fuel stops out on the open roads?

The sad thing is that being one of those "amazing & incredible" people, I take that as a compliment......  8)

Okay I am a Virgo and anally retentive.... You should see the cupboards in the kitchen, all the tins lined up, in the bathroom all the towels hung a certain way.....

Only kidding....... Or am I ???????  [roll]

he's not kidding, I was just in his bathroom counting the threads in the bathmat to make sure it was the same number as the bristles in each of the toothbrushes he uses 3 times a day in a rotating order based on a roll of a die.
 [laugh]

You got it all wrong kursed........  :-\

I determine which tooth brush I use by the stars..... None of this dice / change sh...t....  [roll]  ;D

uuuuummm why was kursed in your bathroom, wont Super get jealous ???

oh I wish I was born that lucky,(does this remind you of a Monty Python skit?) you should be commuting on an S4R, 100km and the fuel light comes on, that's 10ltr/100km, my wallet would be better off with a Corolla, but my soul demands the Testastretta  [evil]

My first thought when I read Ellingly's post was "how many years has it been since he saw some naked boobs?"

My second thought was "perhaps I should also start keeping a record and a little book!"

Kursed: although a big tank is a luxury, when touring around the place the small towns have plenty of gas available...it's only when you're half a tank down and say "ah, can't be bothered" that you'll hit huge distances between petrol stations!

Last night, actually. I own a house with the owner of them. And she rides, too! For reference, they weren't seen on a webcam, either, nor in .jpg form. Or .avi, .mpg, .mov, on YouTube or any other video sites... Actual flesh. (Last year's birthday present to me from the owner of said breasts: DucatiPerformance side bag for the S2R1k. She knows and appreciates this hobby, even if she mainly has ridden Japanese sportsbikes... of which I was guilty of until June 2006.)

As for keeping it. I'm a scientist. I'm the messiest person you'll ever meet - my desk is absolutely not neat. But, a few years ago, I realised there's actually NO hard data on fuel economy, in terms of different brands etc. From this, I decided it was worth my while compiling some data and looking at it. Doesn't take long, I just type it into my mobile phone every time I fill up (yeah, yeah, it's naughty to have those things on by the fuel pump). Adds not too much extra time to my filling up time. Also, I play with data all day, usually spatial data (as I'm a geologist). Studying something that is more akin to time-series data is interesting :).

Consider it one of my side projects in 'science in real life' that I'm working on. I have a few little studies on the go.

suggestion for next experiment: can a woman EVER have enough pairs of shoes?

 ;D

Test subject so far says no. For even if you own all of the styles of shoes, you will never have them in all the colours.

shoes what i have a small amount of shoes, and the one i love are boot long black boots

righto righto, time out hey!?
now, i'm in brissie, and i don't know too many of you sydneysiders and i don't want to offend anyone, ok? but.............jukie has that avatar, and now she's on about long black boots!!!! is anyone else curious about the tease going on here? or am i the only one with a curious mind? :-\

paul.
and that is a NOICE avatar jukie.

Paul, get with the program...

'Jukie' is actually a 16 year old boy who likes computer games and sneaker collecting.

We're all 'in' on the tease

 ;)

I'd agree - 200 kms to the low fuel light is typically OK, although just barely. When we did the haul to PI for the WSBK my bike had the shortest range out of all of them (SV650, 749, Guzzi Griso and the M800) but we never had issues with finding places to fill up.

My M800 with a 14T hauling me around does a pretty consistent 200kms to the warning light - a little less if I spend the day up and down MQ pass or similar. If I put a 15T back on it, I'd expect that maybe would stretch to maybe 220kms on average.

So back to the low fuel indicator thing, there is a story that involves me, my M800, the RNP, waiting on the side of the road for the missus to ride down on the vespa with a jerry can..... well I'm sure you can work it out! Suffice to say, I don't trust the reserve either - the light comes on, I'm looking for fuel....

Gum Boots.  ;)

no fmb

And they would have to be black ones, otherwise they wouldn't be long enough?

how country is this and the names are true look up google earth if you dont believe me anyway got invited to a wedding at mole creek  and one of the guest a cow cocky turned up in a suite and tie and polished gum boots  [laugh]

That is not something that would surprise me at Mole Creek.

(I did used to live in Tassie, and only know of that one. Plus there is a creek by that name in NSW, but don't think a town is associated with it).

There's always Black Charlie's Opening in Tassie...

Just up the road from where I lived in SA is a place called "No Where Else"......  ;D

I've always been a big fan of the set of geological units in northern WA called the "Crackatinny formation". I'm too lazy to reference it properly back to work's databases.

This thread is seriously getting jacked here though!

Jacking all over the thread talking about rocks (or getting rocks off), spreadsheets and statistical/analytical comparisons is disgusting.

You should be ashamed of yourself.