How accurate is the low fuel countdown?

[A1A Rider]

Same as with any other new bike, got to ask, how accurate the low fuel mile estimation. Specifically, this bad boy being so hungry, there is a fear of running out of fuel. The countdown is starting at 2 bars left, is it accurate, does it jump, like showing 10 miles left to, hello, you are out of fuel in one mile.. ?

 

[gadget_ho]

I've not had it jump, it just counts down. Ride hard and it counts down faster! Does it just stop when it hits zero? Couldn't tell you, I normally pull in with it still at 20-30 k's at worst.

 

[Azisbest]

Speaking as someone who has probably at least 30 times run the countdown all the way to 0 I can tell you this. Almost every time it has gone down to zero there was still another 3/4 or even a full gallon left in the tank. Well except for once, I had begun to rely on still having gas left when one day when it said 0 to empty, I ran out on the spot. So I never let it run that low any more lol.

 

[Kiwicol]

It shouldn't be too hungry (unless your right wrist is giving it a work out) If you find you've got down to the last 2 bars, just ease up on the speed. Stick cruise control on at 104kph (or 60 mph) or better still, if you have to get a long distance before being able to fill, slow down to 80kph (50mph) and you'll be using at the rate of 5.43L/100km or less at times (52mpg (imperial) in old money). I 'had' to do this scenario a while back & it 100% is legit.

 

[dfresh]

Always is pretty accurate for me. If I’m in town I don’t start looking for a gas station until I’m down to 20 miles or so left. I’ve taken down to 8-10 miles left and had about about 1/4 of a gallon left at that point,

 

[Gimlet]

I've had mine down to ten miles remaining a few times without incident.
Haven't really explored the dash display options on mine, but does it offer a "miles to empty" readout when the tank is full, or only when the fuel light comes on? My car offers this if you cycle through the display options. It doesn't much matter in a car because it has vastly more fuel range than any bike but it would be extremely useful on a motorcycle so you can plan ahead for fuel stops.

Few large capacity bikes except grand tourers and some big adventure bikes have more than 200 miles fuel range. Most high performance bikes have under 150 and sports bikes often less than 100. If you had "miles to empty" displayed from the moment you fueled up based on on-going consumption so it adjusted itself according to the way you ride - which is what my car does - it would be very handy indeed.

 

[Kiwicol]

Gimlet, it has exactly what you're saying your car has.
I reset the Trip 1 meter on every fill so I know how far I've gone since I filled up, the instrument display shows this on the right panel, change to Fuel display & it shows the average fuel use of L/100km, the instant fuel use (very handy to watch this on different right wrist imputs) and at the very bottom, info piece #3, is distance to empty, this is all there from fill up, just switch between Trip 1 & Fuel after fill up reset on both.
Up to you if you want to reset the Trip 1 data, if you didn't, the first one, distance since filling, would be compounded, average fuel use would be more accurate as you're using a bigger sample of data, Instant fuel use would be the same as would distance to empty. The issue I can see with that is you're using historical data as opposed to current riding data to estimate your distance to empty, so if last week you were giving it stick, the fuel use would be high as opposed to touring (say) which is going to be more economical. IMO you want the current fuel usage data to accurately display your available range.
I can get 300km easily from a tank in general highway riding, 340km if I really have to stretch it, or giving it a bit of stick & it'll drop to 240 - 250km for the tank.

 

[Einar]

I don't trust estimated remaining range indicators generally, so I go by my historical fuel usage and known capacity. At ~5.02 US Gallons capacity, minus 1/2 gal reserve, and at 41 US MPG avg. on the freeway, I set my personal hard limit at 185 miles (meaning I plan to fuel up before that). My soft limit ("bingo fuel") is 150 miles, at which point I'm looking for a stop (usually much earlier due to spine issues). That soft limit gives me a bit over 55 miles before I run out, assuming freeway speeds only. My worst fuel mileage has been 27 US MPG, so after 150 miles of freeway I know I have between 36-55 miles left. I sometimes ride in areas where I won't see a fuel stop for over 25 miles.

That said, mine has appeared to be accurate for as far as I've dared go.

I use Fuelly to track all fuel-ups, and my average over the last 6 months is 36.8 US MPG (33.7 if I include the entire year, including break-in).

 

[Nashvegas]

I carry a MSR 30oz fuel bottle in my commuter bag. Very solid seal & body. Haven’t used it yet but I bet I will at some point, maybe to help someone else.

 

[Kiwicol]

Einar, where I live & ride (rural west coast of NZ) the fuel stops can be 100km+ apart, range anxiety is a real thing when you have a low capacity tank. I think outback Australia would be worse though, by a long way. Having a gas station every 25 miles would make range anxiety a thing of the past.
Anyway, the point was the bike has a fuel computer and a good one at that, with lots of information the rider can use in whatever way suits them & their circumstances..