Does the 2000 VFR have a Reserve Petcock?

I haven't seen one on mine, but the gas gauge blinks when it gets low. Does it actually have a Petcock that perhaps I've missed?

 

Nope - the 'reserve' on the bike is how far you get after the gas gauge starts blinking. There's no fuel petcock at all.

I haven't pushed it far yet, but know it's good for at least 30 miles or so...

 

No petcock as previously stated. I routinely get 45+ MPG out of mine. It has a K&N & a Staintune slip on. You should be able to get at least 200 miles before the fuel gauge flashes.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

when the light flashes-get thee to a gas station
I got 13 miles off my blinking light just the other day

 

Wow I usually only see 160 or so...

 

the most miles I have traveled after the the gauge started blinking was 41 miles and it took 5 gallons to filler up to the top.

 

I don't know if I my bike is simply just an awesome specimen or what but I don't understand how someone could only get 160 miles to flashing fuel gauge on a 5th Gen. I do not baby this bike under any circumstances. It was meant to be ridden & I ride the thing hard. The only thing I can offer to explain this is that I live at sea level. Even then, when I run on the Blue Ridge & Cherohala, both of which are at times over 5000 feet, I still get over 200 miles on a tank of gas. My average over 8 years of ownership is over 44MPG. Since the gas prices have gone up, I am on a quest to see if I can get 50MPG over 200 miles. Closest I've come yet was 49.89MPG

In 8 years of ownership, I've seen under 40MPG two times:
1) When I put the Staintune on. I rode around almost everywhere at 8000RPM for about a week. I got 38MPG that week.
2) When I went thru the USAF SportBike Instructor course. That was 5 days of riding 6-8 hours a day. All of the riding was in 1st & 2d gear and had lots of throttle movement. I still got 39MPG in this case.

As long as you aren't on a racetrack or live on a mountain in CO, anyone should be able to get 40+mpg out of a 5th Gen.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2:

 

I like Rustbucket only see about 150-160mi out of a tank. I have a 5th gen as well.

Interesting.....now i'm wondering if something is not right with my bike.

 

I wonder if it's the gas gauge that's off on my bike - I don't think I've ever put in more than 3.5 gallons or so. I don't pay too much attention - when the bike says it's time for gas I fill it up and go...

 

I routinely get ~48 mpg on my 2000. Thats daily commuting... usually have to fill up due to blinking light at ~215-220 miles. I just got back from a 2400 mile road trip and managed 51+ mpg on a few tanks

 

Maybe it is just me but letting your fuel get that low on a regular basis doesn't sound like a good thing to me. When the fuel gets low you have a higher chance of pulling in gunk/debris that might be at the bottom.

I have on '07 and it got down to one bar on the gas gage and it still have over a gallon left.

 

I'm in the middle road...around 180-190 miles before the blinking light on my '98.

 

Dumb question but how do you accurately determine your MPG? I know that the bars on the fuel gauge represent how much is left but I've noticed that if you don't completely fill the tank up all the way to the rim it will still indicate a full tank.

I've thought about filling the tank up ALLLLL the way up and then carry a gallon of gas in my backpack and literally ride until I hear a sputter.

Is there a super accurate MPG gauge add-on that I don't know about?

 

I can get about 220 before we blink,I think then about 50 more to the gas station.Never ran out,my reserve(blinktime)seems to leave at least a gallon.I've thought I'd run it to fumes at times but never remember putting more than 5gals in the 5.8 gal tank. I'm a stock 2004 and avg. 44-48mpg sporty style riding.PS.I love my VFR

 

Joey,To check milage;at a fillup record milage and how many gals you took,next fillup record the same.That will give you how much gas it took to go the miles between fillups.Then divide the gals into the miles traveled and you should have miles per gallon

 

I have a 5th gen also.

Only once have I come close to 200 miles to a tank, and that was doing all highway on a ride from NJ to PA about 3 weeks ago. Riding the typical back roads that I do, I’m lucky if I get 160 to a tank before the last bar starts flashing, and it typically comes on around 150. I would be considered a spirited driver, though.

Quite embarrassing, but I ran it out of gas once. Made the assumption that I should be getting 40+mpg. Last bar started flashing, and I made it about 112 or 13 miles before she was dead out.

My PC recently went on the fritz. Bike was getting less than 20 mpg, and while on the way to my dealer (to have it checked) the FI light came on. Turns out the ECU (or whatever its called that controls gas/air mixture, etc.), was completely shot. Obviously, this contributed to my bad gas mileage.

ECU was replaced with a brand new one. Bike was tuned, and all fuel related items that they could inspect were checked/cleaned/adjusted and I still can’t get the mileage some of you are getting. That’s amazing.

(To clarify the above: I bought this bike in January of 2008 with 5800 miles on it. Dealer guaranteed everything would be perfect. They replaced the ECU at their cost. I paid them for 1 hour of labor).

I’m not mechanically inclined; I pay my dealer to do this stuff. He did say that it is common enough where the “assembly” inside the tank can fail, resulting in your single bar on the gas gauge flashing early. Of course, just go and fill up to test this theory. If your last bar is flashing and you can only squeeze 3 gallons in, then it’s a problem with the internal parts, and not necessarily with the gas mileage.

Oh well, 35 MPG is a helluva lot better than the 13 I get in my truck (or 9 when I'm towing my boat! )

 

My user manual says the tank is 21L including 3.5L as a reserve from the time the fuel light comes on. (ie, 17.5L until the fuel light)

 

Something to consider when calculating fuel mileage is speedometer error that will throw off the number. I am pretty sure my speedometer reads low - at least when I go by one of those police radar setups that show you your speed. I need to check it against a GPS someday. I have gotten fuel mileage as low as 35 MPG commuting/blasting around town, and as high as 49 MPG on the highway. Since my speedometer is off however , those figures are not highly accurate.

Anyway, if your speedometer is off, then so is your odometer, right? If you use your odometer to figure your mileage, then the value you come up with will not be accurate.

I don't know how much the accuracy of VFR speedometers vary from the factory (given stock gearing and tires of the same diameter). If they are all off by the same amount, then comparing one bike to another gives a good idea of how you're doing. But if one VFR reads high and one reads low, then your fuel mileage would be way different.

 

My speedo is off too - at an indicated 80mph I'm going about 75-76mph by my GPS.

21L=5.54gallons... I had no idea the tank was so big! (yeah I feel a bit stupid)

I'll pay attention the next couple of times I get gas and see how I'm doing for mileage.

 

MPG is not rocket science. I reset TRIP A at the time of every fill up. After I run, I fill up to the roughly the same level every time. I divide TRIP A by GAL from the fuel pump. My lastest example was 186.7/4.017=46.47. I am not for one minute suggesting this is a highly scientific precise measurement. I do know that I am averaging just about 46 for the entire year of 08 so far so I am happy with my #'s. I will say that I know for certain the speedo is not completely accurate. This is just from driving by the Police YOUR SPEED signs. I know that my odometer is more accurate than the speedo. I base this on nothing else than the measured mile posts on the sides of roadways.

So, are my number scientifically precise? Absolutely not. Are they good enough for me & my piece of mind? They sure are. See below.

2000 Honda VFR800fi = 45+MPG all day, every day.
2005 piece of shit Ford F150 = 15.8 on a good day.

KC-10 FE out...
lane: :usa2: