Fuel Light Challenge #1

So this morning I go out to my bike and look at the dash when I turn the key. 2 bars of fuel left. Hmm.

Now usually the way it works out is that the day that I need to fill up, I usually have 3 bars left that get me to my work and then to the petrol station afterwards. Today however was different and instead of going to the nearest petrol station to fill up I decided to see if I could conserve my petrol in order to get to work on 2 bars.

My work is 34 miles from my house and I knew that really, it wouldn’t be an issue, but I didn’t fancy playing the fuel light challenge so played it cool and done the eco thing.
Sure enough I arrived at work with still 2 bars, where as normally I would have been on total flashy (reserve tank in GSR terms. The petrol pump symbol flashes when you have say 5l left in the tank, and the whole gauge flashes when you are down to your reserve 3l ish.)

It got me thinking. If I can get to work on 2 bars driving at the speed limit and keeping accelleration to a minimum, what would it be like if I always did that? In other words babied it about from full tank?

Well here we go then, the start of the test. See chart below.

Ok. So usually I fill up my tank and then bomb it. Not in town necessarily, but on the motorway or dual carriageways etc. My full tank gets me home from the petrol station, then a full commute the next day, then in to work the next day after that. I then go to the petrol station on the way home with around 5.1litres left in the tank (even though it’s on half flashy, I am too chicken to play the fuel light challenge.)

Tonight I filled up my tank to the brim, 10.9litres of fuel. Calculating (roughly) the MPG, it seems I get 44.5mpg in rip-the-arse mode. From the second I turned on the ingition, I was in eco mode, so pull away and immediately to 2nd gear, then change up through the box until 5th doing 30mph. Easy on the throttle and no hard accelleration.

It’ll be really interesting to see just how long my tank lasts, and I might take it that one step further and strap a jerry can to my seat and really run it dry to see what the mileage I can get out of it is like. I will then compare that to the normal use data.

*Normal Use = hard accelleration, very fast cruising speed on motorways and occasional red-liner.

** Economy Use = quick shifting up to high gear, soft accelleration, low revs, speed limits everywhere with occassional lower than, and general eco mindset.

So I got home tonight with full bars. I will bet that tomorrow I will still have full. Let’s Rock!