Author Topic: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity  (Read 4381 times)

Offline lazlokovacs

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california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« on: August 28, 2015, 01:49:51 PM »
is around 17.4L on my bike. It started missing just as I pulled off the autostrada into the gas station today. Filled it all the way up, 17.36L...

YMMV

but could be good to know for someone somewhere, especially as the factory claims 19L. (I still have the fuel filter and the pump in there, as stock)



ride safe



oldbike54

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2015, 01:54:06 PM »
 What's an L ? :laugh:

  Dusty

Offline atavar

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2015, 02:00:08 PM »
A fourth of a G plus a titch

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Online rocker59

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2015, 02:02:03 PM »
17.4 L = 4.596594 USG

which ain't much for a touring bike!   :shocked:   (but we all know that... damned flaccid whale penis...)
« Last Edit: August 28, 2015, 02:02:49 PM by rocker59 »
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oldbike54

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2015, 02:31:13 PM »
17.4 L = 4.596594 USG

which ain't much for a touring bike!   :shocked:   (but we all know that... damned flaccid whale penis...)

 Hmm wonder if , like the Fiat 500, a little blue pill might enlarge it a bit  :grin:

  Dusty

Offline atavar

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2015, 03:43:11 PM »
If you are really in to it a decaliter is 2.64 gallons.. 
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Offline atavar

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2015, 03:50:27 PM »
Hmm wonder if , like the Fiat 500, a little blue pill might enlarge it a bit  :grin:

  Dusty
prolly not, but if you run lots of ethanol the tank will bulge and you can fit more in it..   :shocked:
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Offline cruzziguzzi

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2015, 04:42:08 PM »
is around 17.4L on my bike. It started missing just as I pulled off the autostrada into the gas station today. Filled it all the way up, 17.36L...

YMMV

but could be good to know for someone somewhere, especially as the factory claims 19L. (I still have the fuel filter and the pump in there, as stock)



ride safe

When new, not trusting warning lights - nor my mindfulness of them - I had to check the realistic range I could get out of my Calvin relative to the odometer. Keeping in mind that I'd need to essentially run outa gas to get real numbers, I carried (as I often do) a camp stove fuel bottle and set out to rid myself of a couple tanks of fuel in a couple different scenarios.

The numbers really only matter to me since I ride in a singular fashion when it comes to Guzzi owners but I did get this bit of generic knowledge from the experiments. Once it's run&done, I could get several more miles by at least twice; stopping, toeing it backwards, stopping hard with the front brake and leaning as much as I dared to the left.

Here, I was assuming that my bike "dressed" to the left - proven out when I went through the in-tank fuel pump discombobulation.

Got me something like 18+ (maybe a touch over 20? - tough to recall) miles by doing that before results were nil.

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Offline dlapierre

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2015, 06:09:31 PM »
Metal tank. That won't bulge.
I rely on my idiot light. It goes on at 235 km faithfully. I know I still have lots of fuel left, but I obey the light out of habit.

Offline jim_W

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2015, 08:58:33 PM »
If I could figure out how to post a photo, I would show you my fuel capacity fix.  :embarrassed:
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Offline jim_W

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2015, 09:21:05 PM »
http://s447.photobucket.com/user/jim_wolfe1/media/guzzi/gas2_zps1sbfxah2.jpg.html

Three additional gal.  The aux tank feeds into the vent at the front of the original tank. Canister was removed some time ago as it was giving me problems. The aux tank is vented so it runs empty before main tank starts to go down. The only air the main tank can get is through the aux tank.  Fill front first then install cap, then fill rear tank. Cap on main tank seals well.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2015, 09:48:31 PM by jim_W »
"There are a few must-haves in life. They are (1) air, (2) food and drink, (3) clothing, (4) shelter, and (5) a good revolver. Everything else is optional."

Offline Cam3512

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #11 on: August 28, 2015, 09:26:48 PM »
17.4 L = 4.596594 USG

which ain't much for a touring bike!   :shocked:   (but we all know that... damned flaccid whale penis...)

That's about right.  I once sputtered and limped into a gas station on fumes on my Calvin.  Tank took 4.6 gallons to the very top.  I "think" it had 170 miles on the ODO, all highway.  After that, figured I would always be safe gassing up at 150 miles.

No my light doesn't even come on until the 190-200 mile mark on my V7, and that's way to early!
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Offline Wayne Orwig

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2015, 09:43:01 PM »
All of the way back in 1994, they hollowed out the inside of the tank to make room for the air box and snorkels. I have gotten about 4.7 gallons, and emptied them a lot of times. My wife is not happy about that.  :grin:
Having the pump and filter inside doesn't have much impact.
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Online rodekyll

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2015, 09:58:47 PM »
That's about right.  I once sputtered and limped into a gas station on fumes on my Calvin.  Tank took 4.6 gallons to the very top.  I "think" it had 170 miles on the ODO, all highway.  After that, figured I would always be safe gassing up at 150 miles.

No my light doesn't even come on until the 190-200 mile mark on my V7, and that's way to early!

That's about the range of my Convert/hydro/ev.  If I don't have gas in about 150 miles I'm eyeing my spare gas (two 6-liter blitz cans)  lustfully.  I hate it when I get woke up from sleeping at the pumps on account of some stupid lynx sniffing all cold and drafty on my feet.  A guy could catch his death.   :shocked:

I'm solving that problem for the same powerplant in the trike by figuring in two 5-gal jerry cans plumbed through a 'lectric selector.  Take THAT closed gas stations!     closed gas station -----> :violent1: <------lotsa gas on board

Steve Swan

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2015, 10:23:32 PM »
have run out of gas on my 09 CalVin twice.  ok, so i like to push the limit and i'm not smart.  now that we got that out of the way. 

1st time was 2012, on hwy 40 someplace in somewhere Kansas.  what i remember is 102 degrees and 198.6 miles on tripmeter, only had to push about 4 blocks.

this past June, ran out just south of Gillette, Wyoming.  what i remember is i didn't have to push, coasted into station, filled up 4.77 gallons.  i could still see fuel in tank.

ps.  4.77 gal = 18.05 liters.

« Last Edit: August 28, 2015, 10:25:47 PM by Steve Swan »

Offline cwiseman

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Re: california vintage real world useable fuel capacity
« Reply #15 on: August 28, 2015, 10:40:56 PM »
Steve, I feel your pain.
Once I coasted into a station popping and pinging, that was the lucky day.

When I picked up my bike on the east coast all stock I got just shy of 200 miles out of a tank and had plenty left, riding two up and taking it easy learning the bike.

Flash forward a few years, leaving last years national rally in Elkadar just as we got out of town we filled up on the edge of town. Headed out in a blaze of glory loaded down with TONS of camping gear (part of it I had shipped there from a ebay seller so we would have it on time) riding two up through the hills and curves at a incredible pace, running 80+ most of the way and just as we got on the interstate I noticed the light on but figured no need to turn around to the station we just passed, sure enough a couple miles further we ran out dead dry. It was about three miles to the next station, called 911 and a nice officer gave my smarter half a lift to get gas. We had 123 miles on that fill-up.
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