The Personal Blog Of
Boston Motorcycle Lawyer

Know Your Gas Range
December 11, 2009

Motorcycles are not toys to be trifled with. They are serious business. If you don’t learn this lesson very quickly, you are going to have a bad experience sooner or later.

Motorcycle safety means many things. It is not just making sure you don’t have a catastrophic accident. Motorcycle safety means that you know how to properly operate and maintain your vehicle in a wide variety of circumstances. Being a safe motorcycle rider requires practice, study, concentration, and a good attitude.

There are lots of things to know about motorcycles. One of the things frequently overlooked is one of the easiest and unforgivable ways of getting stranded.

That’s running out of gas.

Surprising, it happens a lot. Bikers forget that their bikes only have 3-6 gallon gas tanks and have ranges that vary from 100-300 miles. If you have a faulty fuel gauge, you may find yourself stranded in the middle of no where.

Here are some easy ways to keep that from happening:

• Maintenance: Next time you go to your motorcycle mechanic, make sure he checks your motorcycle gauges. If something doesn’t work, fix it or replace it. They are very important.

• Gas Up: Almost every time I go out on my bike, I stop by the gas station and top off my tank. You should do the same, especially if you are riding with no specific destination in mind.

• Use Your Trip Odometer: If you bike has a speedometer, it very like also has an odometer and resettable trip odometer. Use the resettable trip odometer to determine your motorcycle’s range per tank. When you gas up, reset it to zero and when your fuel light comes on, look to see how many miles have gone by. This is a great safe guard in case your fuel gauge fails.

• Know Your Terrain: If you are going on a long trip, map out the gas stations. That way, you’ll know when you need to stop or when you can keep rolling along. Passing a gas station could mean disaster if the next station is 50 miles past your motorcycle’s range.

There is nothing more embarrassing and potentially dangerous than running out of gas. Using a few easy tricks, it will never happen. Use your gauges to learn your bikes range and have a simple plan. That will keep you on the road and off the side of it.