Petrol Roulette

[p.dath]

Why do guys play petrol roulette? I don't know any woman who do (do woman play petrol roulette?).

Petrol roulette is a bit like Russian roulette, except there are usually 2 to 4 barrels firing in rapid succession (much a Gatling gun), but you lose when there is nothing left to load into the chamber.

How can you recognise when you’re playing this game?

At the start of your journey you tell yourself you have enough petrol to make it.
Halfway through the journey to tell yourself you "should" have enough petrol to make it.
Despite not being 100% confident you have enough petrol to make it, you see an upcoming petrol station BUT still ride past it telling yourself you can make it.
You start riding in top gear, and going easy on the throttle "just in case".
You spend more time looking at your trip meter than any other part of your instrumentation.


Losing petrol roulette is crap. It usually means pushing a bike quite some distance or calling for help.

Winning, well winning isn't that great. I think it is more a sense of relief, than a "high 5" moment combined with a loud "fuck yeah I made it" call.


So why do we play this game?

[Latte]

Lazy ... less stops = more riding!

[White trash]

We do it constantly on a Sunday afternoon, knowing full well there's not enough gas in the car to get to the bottle store and back, but it's hilarious fun "running the gauntlet".

Should be an Olympic Sport I reckon.

[simpy1]

Losing! It's 'losing'! Loosing is not a word! (Unless you sing in the toilet. Which would maybe be 'loo-sing' (n) as in I'm having a loo-sing.)

This bizarre phenomenon has spread across the world and to NZ. It must be stopped!

[admenk]

Losing! It's 'losing'! Loosing is not a word! (Unless you sing in the toilet. Which would maybe be 'loo-sing' (n) as in I'm having a loo-sing.)

This bizarre phenomenon has spread across the world and to NZ. It must be stopped!

Yeh, spell it right, you looser :innocent:

[slofox]

Sometimes it is possible to end up playing this game by accident...welllll...sort of by accident anyway...

Let me elucidate:

I can get anywhere from about 180km to 250 km on the vixen before the fuel warning light comes on.

Some days I head out thinking there's enough range to get from A to B and return without grief. Given "moderate" and "sensible" riding habits IYKWIM :whistle:

Then the sun comes out, the traffic is low, the road is dry and the demons get loose and "moderate" and "sensible" degrade into an insane fang over the hill road...and the warning light comes on when you are just about ten km further from refuelling than you have range left...:blink:

So you slow waaaaaay down and pootle it gently towards the gas station - just as outlined in the OP.

So far, I have always made it home. The worst time was probably when I got into the gas station and the tank took more than it is supposed to hold to fill back up...musta gone into negative fuel reserve there at some stage...I didn't know they even had that function installed...

[imdying]

Losing! It's 'losing'! Loosing is not a word! (Unless you sing in the toilet. Which would maybe be 'loo-sing' (n) as in I'm having a loo-sing.)His posts are generally formatted well with good spelling and grammar, you could cut him some slack. Try the rep system?

I've run my bike empty to see how many litres (it counts them as you use them when you hit the virtual reserve) the virtual reserve really is.

[p.dath]

Losing! It's 'losing'! Loosing is not a word! (Unless you sing in the toilet. Which would maybe be 'loo-sing' (n) as in I'm having a loo-sing.)

This bizarre phenomenon has spread across the world and to NZ. It must be stopped!

I just ran it through Microsoft Word, and it corrected about 4 or 5 errors. I also discovered I should be using "lose" and not "loose".

Perhaps we could have spelling roulette?

[Swoop]

This bizarre phenomenon has spread across the world and to NZ.
Here I was thinking it was indigenous to KB.:facepalm:

[steelphoenix]

There are many poor students all across the country that play this game... (though not necessarily on bikes).

[C.Linnell]

Winning is losing too though, because when you leave from your destination you have to find a petrol station really really soon, and you probably left late so you're only going to be worse off!

[YellowDog]

Yes, I'd agree that most females don't play this game.

I do play the game, but I also cheat. I know that the Ks to go display will go down to Zero and will still not be completely out. I have always got fuel before zero; except for last week when I felt sure it was wrong. It showed 44km to go at stop and then the computer reset at my mistake with a false start, which meant it could not take a reading. I ran a further 30 Km before getting fuel.

It's an odd habit and I would ideed sulk with my misfortune if I were to ever lose :shit:

If you know your bike well, you won't run out :no:

[MarkH]

I carry spare petrol, so I should be able to get a further 30+ kms if I run out. But I haven't yet run out, although I have gotten down to ~0.5L remaining.
It is a bit easier when you know not only how many kms you have ridden since the last fill, but also the average litres per km since that fill up.

[Edbear]

When one is old and unfit, one tries not to play any game that may result in having to push anything heavy any distance... :yes:

[specter]

I can get anywhere from about 180km to 250 km on the vixen before the fuel warning light comes on.

:shit: i can do 320 on the sem fiddy, with and additional 60km on reserve (that i know of)

[pete376403]

KLR650s have a secret reserve - but you have to put the bike onto its left side to get the fuel trapped on the right side of the tank. The problem then is picking the heavy mother back up.

[simpy1]

I have never pushed the SRV250 past 250km. But last week I went to Levin & back and did 225km, and it used 8 litres. Theoretically the tank is 13 litres so I could get 366 km....but I would be getting a little worried.

Wellington to Turangi is 326 km.......worth a shot perhaps? I am familiar with the desert road fear.

[slofox]

:shit: i can do 320 on the sem fiddy, with and additional 60km on reserve (that i know of)

Mayhaps I ought to have stern words with the right wrist...:innocent:

[specter]

Mayhaps I ought to have stern words with the right wrist...:innocent:

:innocent: 320km happens very seldom. though the extra torque probably has a bit to do with it

[slofox]

:innocent: 320km happens very seldom. though the extra torque probably has a bit to do with it

If I sit at 6000rpm in top gear (103km/hr) on a long boring straight road, I ought to be able to get 300km out of a full tank - if you believe the maths anyway...

Trouble is, if you wanna use them horsies you gotta feed 'em...

[specter]

If I sit at 6000rpm in top gear (103km/hr) on a long boring straight road, I ought to be able to get 300km out of a full tank - if you believe the maths anyway...

Trouble is, if you wanna use them horsies you need gotta 'em...

im at around 4ish.... and i dont have to smash through gears either

[Reckless]

I play petrol roulette because it's something to keep you entertained at the I'm getting bored and have a sore arse end of a tankful of gas!!
Besides it balances out the trip fuel wise, first 1/2 twist the throttle to get past etc last third light on the gas so you can make it!

The SV just makes Taupo on a tank, Well Wairaki. Could probably stretch it further but I can't be bothered sitting behind Mrs Slowcoach for the sake of a dollars worth of gas over a tankful!

Anyway Petrol roulette food for the nerves!!

[Virago]

As the price of petrol reaches new record levels, the practice of Petrol Roulette becomes more common - but for some funny reasons.

One of our favourite conversations now is "moaning" about the cost of filling our tanks, with there being a sort of snobbery in being able to trump someone else's cost. Here's a classic example:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/136631-How-to-get-back-your-30-ACC-MSL-fee.

Hence the desire to run as low as possible before filling. A bit silly really...

Just over $140 to fill the Falcon yesterday...:innocent:

[jtzzr]

Ironic, I played petrol roulette today.
Not due to lack of money , just due to lack of my inability to read big signs with directions on them((really are those signs big enough?)
As Edbear pointed out, I don`t look at running out of fuel as "Am I fit enough?, more like , how many calories am I going to burn , there's a silver lining to every cloud.

[BMWST?]

i cant play this game very easly but you win at this game if you run out just as you roll into a gas station.
The ultimate is for your bike to expire just as you reach the desired pump.
I DO NOT play this game with my 1700kg car

[DangerMice]

You forgot turning the engine off when sitting at red lights.... :blink:

[BMWST?]

You forgot turning the engine off when sitting at red lights.... :blink:

thats dangerous,some people say that the act of starting uses more petrol than idling for a few minutes

[bogan]

With 150-180km per tank before reserve I often play petrol roulette, cos there are a number of trips where it's 100+km before another station, and i filled up only 50km before the last so can't be bother filling up again. However, due to stopping the feul tap leaking when on reserve, I now have and extended magazine :woohoo: mind you, I'm currently upping the performance, so may have a higher fire rate to go with :innocent:

On another note, you can save huge amounts of energy by minimising braking and acceleration, my electirc estimates energy useage per trip, and by timing the lights from way back so I didn't need to stop (and intersections a little bit), I saved about 15%, and there was only 3 lights over a 9km trip too!

A more extreme game, is russian toilette, played when less than a quarter of your last roll is left, and no spares! Bonus points for a post curry round :shit:

[caseye]

Did a trip out the back of Naike a year or so ago, usually get about 250 on a tank before reserve and then 310 after reserve.
Got to 260 had to select reserve out the back of Waiuku.
Rode through Waiuku and then the back way to Tuakau and then out to Pukekohe.
Rolled onto the forecourt at the Challenge by the race track as she coughed her last and died, managed to roll to the pump.
Had been a hard ride too, bro in law rides a RF 900 and like those roads my old coal burner didn't appreciate being thrown around corners by the scruff of the tank but she did it and in style.
Since then though I keep off reserve, so fill up way before needing to go there.

[Smifffy]

Yeah it's weird, I will bitch at the Moll when I jump in the car (that she mostly drives and fills using my credit card) and the alarm is going off for less than 80 km remaining in the tank, when there are three (at least) gas stations within 3 km of here, at least 1 being 24 hr.

Yet I will happily cruise along on the bike in BFE with the fuel light showing and not being sure where the next gas station even is!

[ac3_snow]

a fairly regular subscriber to the game I once fell victim to its charms.

During a track day at hampton downs my mate run out just out of the sweeper, laughed my tits off watching him push it back in to pit lane. Unfortunately I had to switch to reserve to get the last few laps in.
Monday morning comes by, totally oblivious to it already being on reserve I then run out, on the mway leading up to the harbor bridge.
So Karma kicked me in the ass and I had to push my bike up the on ramp and up a BIG ass hill to reach the gas station.
Since then I am slightly more cautious in my gambling!

[DrunkenMistake]

Oh god, this happened to me the other week, I knew full well I didnt have enough gas to get home from work, and I knew I didnt have any money to fill up, I got home ok, but it required a serious amount of coasting down hill.

didn't* Thought I should correct it before another grammar nazi gets on his high horse and uses M-word to proof read somebodies post :shutup:


:rofl: