Gas Tank Sizes | GTAMotorcycle.com

Gas Tank Sizes

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derek03

Active member
Touring guys! Just curious... What size are your gas tanks? Ie. what fuel capacity makes you comfortable enough to do those 6+ hour rides to PA, Vermont, Lake Placid etc?
My bike has 19L which is quite a lot for a sport bike (zzr600) and when looking for my next bike i keep seeing smaller and smaller tank sizes.. Such as the cb1100 with only 13L, and Yamaha Bolt at even less. Would you tour on these things??
 
Don't people carry fuel tanks?
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In this day and age there always seems to be a service center kicking around. Manufacturers also see a decline in the amount of people seeking long term adventures off the beaten path, therfore that can add smaller tanks to their bike lines doing two things I suspect keep cost lower and maybe keeping styling up..Lastly I think 300-350km's per tank with highway use is pretty standard now.
 
My tank is 22 litres, good for around 400 km of highway riding, 300-350 of day to day riding (commuting, etc.).

Small gas tanks are an excuse to stretch the legs more!
 
Mine is 18L, good for 360km. Generally, I'll wait until the fuel light starts to flash at 300km before filling up. Embarrassingly, I have run out of gas a few times. The worst was in the middle of the New Mexican desert, where two gas stations the gps said would be there ended up being abandoned. Zero cell phone reception, high heat, and little water, wasn't a lot of fun. Ended up taking about three hours before I flagged someone down that had gas.
 
regder said:
wasn't a lot of fun. Ended up taking about three hours before I flagged someone down that had gas.
Click to expand...

That last line can be read so wrong...:lmao:
 
The last range reading i took showed 230km before hitting reserve fuel (i dont have a fuel gauge) but that was all city commuting.
I should do it again based on highway.
 
My GSXR fuel light came on every 200 kms........and I was never stranded for fuel. In fact more than once I was the guy to get fuel for the 600's that did run out on our PA rides.

If your bike can go 200+ kms per tankful, you are fine in Appalachia.
 
Weight is a big factor. My 150 lb friend gets great mileage on his r6, where as I was double the weight and couldn't get as much out of a tank.

Most bikes will do 200kms to the tank, it's up to you to align that up with fillups. My bike has a 15l tank and it's a pain considering it's a litre bike but the breaks every hour or so are good. To each their own.
 
My ST1100 has a 28l tank, which gives me a comfortable cruising range of 400 km. I have gone just over 450 km on a single tank before so stopping for fuel at the 400 km distance allows for a lot of riding before a fuel stop.
 
My GSA has a 32L tank, that keeps me going all day. Getting upwards of 700kms a tank highway. Have not done a long solo trip on it yet, but a few trips last year with friends, I would just fill up every 2nd stop they took for fuel.
 
My VFR750 has a 21 liter tank.

I'm good for apox 350-450kms. I got no problem touring with her.

My old VF500 had a 15 liter tank. I rode it to the Cabot trail and I was fueling every 150kms or so.
 
Been doing some tests on my 2011 Honda CB1000r it is stated to have a 17l tank and a 4.5l reserve. I do have a LCD fuel gauge and I seem to get about 250km's until I hit the last tick on the gauge (appearantly the LCD does indicate when you are running in reserve) this is running about 80-100km's per hour on a open road. So I will factor 300km's per tank doing highway speeds with little to no "stop & go" traffic. Not bad for a 998cc bike I guess..
 
I toured on a Sportster! Maybe 200 km on a tank, just plan ahead a fill up whenever you think you need to. With automated pumps, you don't even have to get off your bike. I would alternate 'gas-and-go' stops of under 5 minutes with regular rest stops on long trips.
 
I did 11,500km on a monster which is 13L when dry. You should have no problem.

I didn't mind stretching my legs and getting a drink every few hours anyways.
 
I'd want a bike to do bare minimum 200km before hitting reserve for touring. There aren't always gas stations everywhere, and sometimes they aren't where they're supposed to be (went out of business) or it turns out they're not open 24 hours.

Best I've ever done was 400km on my ZX-11. It has a 24 litre tank, and that was basically from one highway fuel stop to another. That was intentionally pushing it though, and I prefer to stop for gas more often than that and take a break. :p (Also it gets TERRIBLE mileage if you are hard on the throttle! I have done less than 200km a tank on the same bike, lol)
 
Small fuel tanks are horribly annoying.
On a Magna I was doing 160-180km and that bike had no fuel gauge, nor indicator light. Brutal thing (but otherwise a good cruiser). Prior to that I've owned a ZZR250 which generally did under 400km on a tank then SV650 ~ 350km. I think SV was a 17l. Now I own a VFR800 and I believe it's got a 22l tank. I usually put around 19l in it when the bar starts flashing and at that point I've ridden for around 340km.

Low range is one reason I am not much into sport bikes and cruisers.
If you go up north in Ontario you will find that gas stations are sparse and many close at 6pm. I don't need to worry about fill-ups every 90 minutes or so.
 
Yeah PA and New York and Northern Ontario and Quebec as well especially on a Sunday- general rule of thumb fill up any opportunity once you are half way through a tank.
Burgman gets about 230 km per tank with good reserve after the last indicator comes on but very dependent on speed. It gulps fuel over 120 but can whisper home at low speeds getting about 50 mpg.
Range is a weakness on it - both bikes in Aus had 21 and 25 L respectively and was a good thing.
For James Bay Road the distance between fuel is 380 km so took a 10 ltr spare for the Burgman.
If I do the BRP this year as planned I'll likely take a 2 ltr spare

Stopping to stretch and hydrate after 2 hours is a good thing anyways and slabbing at 130 + will use a lot more fuel on most bikes than touristing at 100 kph
 
I have 18l tank. It is enough for 270+ km. It means that have to stop for gas every 2 hours.1 june i am going to cabot trail and it will be first multy days trip.


I am going with buddy and honda shadow. He has smaller tank (i am not sure <10l?) so we will stop for gas more often than I need.
 
If you are on the main roads should be no difficulty but the top of the Island and inner New Brunswick might be a challenge for 10 litres.
Small spare might be smart.
 
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