As most of you know, I have a love/hate relationship with Spinner's fuel tank. I love the look of the old school Sportster peanut tank, I just hate the mileage. Topping off the tank with a fuel cuff is the only way to play it safe right now. I know, I know, I'm not the poster-boy for logical thinking...

Anyhoo, last fill I topped off the tank to the spout by accident, no cuff. Perfect fill. No splatters, no over-fill, just fuel right to the gunnels. Lucky shot.

I'm home mid-day now, I rode right after going to the gym and then down to the shop without topping off. Beautiful morning, so I hit the slab and just putted. At 45 miles, I just didn't want to be bothered with getting off, so I passed up an off-ramp. The next one was a bit of a ways off, so I decided to circle there. I figured if I could get back to Hwy 151 I'd decide on a plan then.

Now my record before the warning light is 57.3, so I was a bit surprised when I passed 57 miles--and the 151 turn off--with no light. So, now it's a game! I kept on the slab. The next off-ramp was a big sweeper to old Hwy 30, so I decided that would be the place to exit. However, I still was going strong, no pops or wheezes when I hit Stoughton Road. I could re-join Hwy 151 going through town, so I turned there.

I did all of the tricks. I stayed in the tallest gear I could, I gauged stoplights and stayed moving. I granny-shifted out onto the highway, always poiting towards my home gas station.

I got to 60.7 when the light flipped on! A new record!

However, I was still a ways out from the station. I knew that I had pushed a head-wind on the slab, with many miles over 70 MPH. While you cannot drain an EFI tank, even if I could that's only 85 miles per tank, at best. You sure don't want to ever go beyond 70 miles unless you're wearing comfortable shoes for pushing a dead bike. But have no fear, I floated into the station at 66.3 miles. Both the longest trip to a warning light, and longest span without a fill.

Oh yes, I had a blast, and that's all that counts. Kind of makes Black Betty feel like a Gold Wing!

That little girl of yours is still probably breaking in, and you milked every mile out of every drop but hey, a new record is always good news. Any numbers to crunch? MPG improvements? BTW what she got on the clock now?
ON a side note,
As you know I'm a CA resident and this is bikini weather now, so I find myself torn, should I go and crank the throttle or throttle the cranks on my bicycle???
I do one day on each over the weekend.
So I'm down at the beach drooling at the loose titties, riding along and I see this dude on a 48 posing next to the sand while his lady shoots his pic. Trouble is where he's parked is a big no no (no motor vehicles past this point). If the police had seen him - big fines, impounds... So after I recognized the bike I stopped and told him to get the F out of there before big brother sees = we now have cameras.
Thought of you Tourist, and your lil spinner... just paying it forward.

I'm at the magic point with Spinner's engine. Broke-in enough for stellar performance and tight enough so that a complete rebuild is miles away. I just turned over 7,400 miles. At 50 miles a per spin, that's quite a lot for a local scooter. The service writer told me I out-distance most Electra-Glides.

(Edit: At this rate I will log more than 7k to 8K miles during the five month riding season we usually get, and that includes the late start we got here for cold and wet weather. I should supercede 15K overall on Spinner by autumn. The service writer states that the average Electra-Glide runs up 3K to 4K per season. During that same period, that touring bike will break 8K overall, at best. Yikes! Increase your mileage--buy a smaller bike, it worked for me.)

In fact, my wrench is watching tire wear!

I'm not thrilled with the slim choices for fuel tanks, but it might become moot. I'm destroying the stock shocks, I'm pushing the tires to death, and I hate the crappy cheap spoked wheels the bike came with. I told the wrench that if the tire goes he should change-out the wheel, as well. I think the winter build will change-out the shocks just in case Spinner takes on The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge...

Oh, she might, but this morning I got up and yesterday's gym muscles were screaming! Sturgis? Oy, I'll be lucky to make the west side of Madison today! If there wasn't free coffee at the dealership I might not go south today, either...

Main thing here is what you're getting out of that little bike... Enjoyment!!
Not many people in any walk of life can say that about their daily drivers...

Ride the wheels off and then get some more, life is short.

In the end, I think that's what I'm doing. I'm finding that I don't really care about the cost of operation, I'm just objecting to the repeated stops.

The one drawback is that I like the profile of Sportsters with 2-gallon peanut tanks. I sat on a Nightster last week, and they have a modified 3-gallon peanut. From the saddle it looks like a goofy elongated banana. Instead of using CAD design to re-define the size of the tank 2:3 but keep the same shape (which could now easily be duplicated with the "deep draw" system for sheet metal) MoCo just bastardized the shape.

Talking to the service writer and the parts guy, to even get a Nightster tank, have it painted, then having Spinner's original tank gutted of the electronics and the new tank installed would cost just short of 1,000 bucks. They usually give me a break, but I'd still be on the hook for at least 800.

That's 200 gallons of fuel. At even 40 MPG. That's 8,000 miles of riding. That could work-out to an entire normal season.

I'm still for a "spare" tank even if its a stylish gas can on the back of that little sporty.
You'll still have to stop though and that really isn't a real answer to the problem. Just makes "having" to wear comfortable shoes less likely.

LOL. Comfortable shoes and the ablility to push hot dead weight...

I do think a portable and secure tank on the detachable rack is an idea. I've thought about it. Perhaps a gallon. I'll have to think of a way to get the bung on the topside for an easy fill, and no spills or leaks on rough road, but an easy way to funnel the fuel into the tank. I have seen cans where the cap is a reverse funnel--unscrew it, flip it over and screw it back in. Voila.

Some of the decent aluminum tanks are pretty pricey, and the red resin kind make me wonder about failure or rupture from long term vibration. Still, I'd only carry it when I knew I'd be packing on the miles, but under 150 for the day's range.

Anymore than that and it's got to be Betty.

I think you're on to something, with the reversible spout can.
I have the detachable wind screen, so when I feel sporty I just pull it off and voila... instant rk-sportster. LOL

I never wanted to be a trend setter--too much pressure. But it is common knowledge I own a little bike. One of my gal-pal riding buddies got a Street Glide, and since her '03 Sportie did not bring her the trade-in value she expected, I told her to keep it. Even a Capital City sales guy has mentioned to prospective customers that more and more of his client base has two bikes.

Oh, a guy might own a big dresser, but also a Dyna Glide. To guys like that, it is a smaller bike.

It's twelve miles from my house to the bike shop, and only eight miles to the gym. When the weather is nice I park all of the things with big engines, ride my Sportster, run it on dimes and nickels (I really do), and wind up riding more than most folks.

Edit: My "biker's wallet" is just a pouch. For every transaction I do, I toss the change into this wallet. My wife brings her change home and adds to it. This is the "allowance" I use to run Spinner. I only used paper money once last riding season. I just flipped over 7,500 total miles.

https://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb23 ... 01-107.jpg

I have the 'small' V twin, great on gas and even though the bike is the FL family its small an nibble to me.
I can't live with out the bags, just too easy to keep and take things with me. They lock and keep dry, I keep an extra set of cloths in there just in case I get caught in any weather. Plus that big 5 gallon tank makes life very easy. My year has a choke and 3 position petcock with reserve tank, she starts to cough and I just reach down and flip it to reserve and I have 1 gallon left. Life is good!!