My Tank is like the Tardis!

**Breed777** · 31st May 2009, 13:09

Ok heres the dilemma.... I had done 80km on my 88 GSXR 250.... at this point the Fuel gauge says bout 1/4 of a tank left.... now this is a 16 litre tank so im told... and Im thinking well thats super bad fuel economy... so I go fill her up.... to the brim... and it only takes 6.9 litres? what gives?

I worked that out to be just over 11km per litre? pretty bad huh? bike has just been serviced, Carbs checked etc... I thought the gauge might be wrong but previously when the gauge has said empty within minutes the bike has run out of gas which tells me ite pretty accurate.... but then to say 1/4 of a tank left and to take 6.9l to fill her seems odd....

what do you guys get km/l from your 4 stroke 250s?

Anyone got a 250 GSXR that can compare mileage?

**Blackshear** · 31st May 2009, 13:12

Mine's pretty close to a 250 GSXR.
Gets about 13~L per 200k's, so 15km/L.
And I thought my bike was hungry

**MarkH** · 31st May 2009, 13:37

Fuck - them toofiddies are thirsty! My 400 isn't a sports bike (or even close to one) but it varies from 22 to 28 kms per litre depending on how I ride it. It is also heavy (200KG dry) and has crappy aerodynamics (Givi screen is 150mm higher than the factory one and a bit wider too).

I suggest you guys get your full license and buy something 650cc - 1000cc because if you are going to get 11 to 15 kms per litre you might as well have a grunty bike!

**Katman** · 31st May 2009, 13:55

Fuel guages on motorcycles are notoriously inaccurate.

Can't see the point of them myself.

**Ragingrob** · 31st May 2009, 13:56

First thing I'd say is don't go from the fuel guage, judge the petrol level by the amount of k's.

**Blackshear** · 31st May 2009, 13:59

Originally Posted by Ragingrob

First thing I'd say is don't go from the fuel guage, judge the petrol level by the amount of k's.

Tripometer gets much attention around the 160 mark

Also, yes. I needs moar money to sit my restricted, and by the time 6 months rolls across, I can do defensive driving or whuteva that stuff is.

Then a nice 600 will do me

**Breed777** · 31st May 2009, 14:00

Originally Posted by Ragingrob

First thing I'd say is don't go from the fuel guage, judge the petrol level by the amount of k's.

My gauge seems pretty accurate in that it says empty when it is empty.

**Harvd** · 31st May 2009, 14:09

dont worry about the gauge, ride the bike lots and when it dies, flick to reserve, and see how far you went.

**6ft5** · 31st May 2009, 14:11

So fill up your bike, set the tripmeter to 0, fill up a container with 5 ltr and ride until you run out of fuel. That will give you a good gauge on your max distance per tank

You could do the same when you start using reserve. Hey its a bike not a precision machine enjoy the ride rather than worry about fuel consumption.

**MarkH** · 31st May 2009, 17:44

Originally Posted by Breed777

My gauge seems pretty accurate in that it says empty when it is empty.

It is often the way:
Gauge - Actual
Full - Full
1/2 - 1/3rd
Empty - Empty

If it was able to accurately tell you how many litres of fuel you had left then it would not be called a fuel gauge - it would be called a fuel meter!

I would definitely recommend resetting the trip meter on each fill-up. You will soon get to know how many more kms you can travel before the bike runs out of the go-juice. It is at least a good backup if your fuel gauge ever stops working (stuck float, broken wire, whatever). I learnt that one with my old car once.

**boman** · 31st May 2009, 18:26

160 - 180km to reserve on 1995 250 Bandit VVT. 240 kms with about 1.5litres left 2008 Sv1000 (took 15.5 litres to fill 17 litre tank).

**davebullet** · 31st May 2009, 20:30

A few things to check.
1. Are your brakes binding?
2. Is your clutch fully engaged?
3. Don't labour your engine.

11 k/l sounds like you have a leak or something.

Our VTR250 consistently gets between 27 - 32 km/l

**Tone165** · 31st May 2009, 23:18

My hayabusa uses no fuel at all for the first 80-90 k...then it sucks the whole tank down in the next 80-100 k.

I reset the trip meter...160k and look for a servo if Im going hard. Have done 250 taking it easy.

Fuel Consumption was a lot better when it was standard...but I don't remember how many Ks in a tank.

My Dorta had a GSX250 (Across) for a while...it used to show empty after it had used only 6 litres. I do not know the (under the seat)tank size, but I doubt it was 6 ltrs!