Fuel Capacity

Hello,

On Sunday i went to Brighton with a few other Harleys,i filled my Road King up as did my mate fill his 2000(w reg)fat boy up at our meeting point.So off we set on the ride to sunny Brighton,parked up along Madeira Drive and had a stroll round buying a few little goodies.

We decided to leave about 3ish and set off home avoiding the A23 which would of been chocker.My mate indicated to me he would need to fill up with petrol again before reaching home,i was most surprised at this as i still had well over half a tank.

The Fat boy tank does look a tad smaller than my Road King,when he got the bike earlier this year,the previous owner had misplaced the owners handbook so the spefications of the tank capacity are not known.Would the fact its a non injection make a lot of difference,it was serviced before he took delivery as well.

Steve

[weedavie_j]

Hi Rocketman, the standard fatboy tank holds 18 litres approx. which is about 5 US gals. which is approx. 4 of our gals. ................................

......................which means you should get approx. 200mls. to a tank if you were to run it dry.

Personally I like to start lookin' for a gas station after about 160mls to be on the safe side;) all this info is of coarse variable dependin on how you ride,road conditions, traffic,if you have a windshield,condition of your bike etc.etc.
Everybodies idea of 'needing to top up' is different.
You don't say how many miles you did but some people get slightly apprehensive the minute it goes below half tank

Wacko (the man who has never ran out of gas) just ask any of me mates!

[Ming the Merciless]

Economy can be boosted to 48-50mpg by gentle riding, but even a headwind can take consumption to 38-39 mpg. I expect your mate was looking at the fuel gauge - big mistake, as it's about as useful as a chocolate teapot. On the same tank as your friends, mine shows completely empty after around 110 miles. The safe usable range for a Twin Cam Softie is 150 miles (based on 40 mpg, giving a theoretical range of 160 miles).

[SJC69]

EFI tends to be a bit more fuel efficient.

I filled my RK up just as I left home 1/2 mile to filling station, went to Brighton and back, with some shite slow moving traffic but not too much, there and back mostly motorway at shall we call it enthusiastic speeds, 180 miles and still no fuel light on.

The RK will normally do at least around 180 miles with the screen on until the fuel light comes on, so that’s when I tend to fill up 180 miles unless I know exactly how far to the filling stations, 200miles can be achieved easily with 60mph cruising .

That said it does all depend on how much you fill your tank to start with, your riding style etc... no two will be exactly the same.

I agree the fuel gauge does seem to be ornamental rather than functional!