Right now the fuel tank is in the shop getting the elbow welded on and if all goes well, I'll get it back by the 8th and have it all ready to go for the weekend. I would love to see how far I can go without filling up. I believe once the auxiliary fuel cell is plumbed in I'll have 10.8 gallons, so I should be able to travel just shy of 450 miles easily without filling up. Like most people that ask "how can you ride that far without stopping"? I try to explain it is not traveling that far it is just know that you can if you need too. The extra fuel is like a security blanket, it's comforting to know that it is there if you need it.
When I'm riding I usually get fuel arount 225-250 miles and the longest I've gone is 320 when I exited for fuel to find the station shutdown and had to run to the next. My goal will be running 300-350 between stops leaving me a safety margin of 100 miles.
Well I picked up the tank this past week right on schedule, hooked everything back up and was ready to ride Friday. Three of us went for a short ride 140 miles but I was able to test the auxiliary fuel cell. That morning I fill my tank and put 2.5 gallons in the cell. Once we hit about 120 miles into the ride I opened my manual valve and started to fill my tank. It was cool flying down the road and watching the fuel gauge go up. It was interesting that I could only put in 2.5 gallons on the side stand. I need to put the bike on the center stand and fill one of these times and see how much fuel I can really get in it.
Well I've put in 2 rides since the fuel cell was installed and I can say that not everything went as well as it should have. The riding has been great here in New Mexico. The weather has been in the low to mid 50's in the afternoon. So the weather and the temps have been good but it looks like I will be doing a little more work on the cell in the near future. On my last ride I decide to start out with half a tank of fuel and about 2.5 gallons in the Fuel cell (again on the side stand). With my main tank and cell, that should have been plenty since we were only going about 200 miles. There was only three of us and since all were Sport Touring bikes we all had a decent range we decide no stops until lunch back in town. As we started to come back to town, I was starting to get the low fuel light flashing, so I reached down and switched the valve to dump my fuel cell into the main tank and what do you know, nothing is happening. I have been running all morning pretty hard and I'm still 40 miles from a gas station and the fuel light is flashing. Well I backed out of the throttle and limped in to the nearest station. After an interesting ride, I got the FJR back home and started troubleshooting my fuel transfer problems. Well to make a long story short, I found the quick disconnect was not working properly. I put a strap around the two ends and pull it tight and that fixed the problem. Looks like the connection isn't completely open when connected and needs forced together. So I'll be replacing it soon. Friday's continue to be my big ride days, the last two Fridays we have been out doing 200-250 mile rides. I seem to be watching the weather every Friday and deciding which way to go.
Well our last ride was nothing special, the weather was pretty bad. Just a short loop around northern New Mexico. We took off around 09:00 and did a 240 mile stopping for lunch. We saw the whole spectrum of weather on this ride, we started in the sun shine and about half way through it was raining, sleeting and snowing. The mileage was also enough that I was able to test my aux-fuel cell again. I still have a strap tightened around the quick disconnect to make sure it doesn't slip. I was 200 miles into the ride when I opened the shut-off valve and it worked perfectly again. So I know for sure that the quick disconnect is the issue and I will have to replace it.
This week in between rides I have been opening the shut-off and still seeing the fuel gauge on the FJR go up, so I also know that I will need to do this every once in a while to make sure I get all the fuel out of the fuel cell. It looks like I need to be 2/3's empty before I open the shut-off to make sure the tank will completely empty.
I have been able to get 1190 miles in not a bad month with one Friday left. Janurary and February should be pretty quiet riding in New Mexico for the most part. In March, I'm thinking of doing a 3000 BBG (that is back to back 1500 mile days. I know of a rider that is tring to do three back to back 1500 BBG's before the IBA pizza party in Jacksonville, Florida and he asked if I would like to join in. I'm thinking of meeting him in Van Horn, Texas and doing the last two BBG's with him back to Jacksonville and the IBA pizza party.
The IBA puts on this party every year during Bike Week. They head up to Jacksonville do a one day event where they recognize riders that do a IBA ride to get their. This would be a great way to get some practice in for the IBR in September.
Well last ride for the month and it was a real interesting ride. My Friday group wanted to do a short ride about 150 miles to a little bar for lunch. I decided it would be a great morning to test out my cold weather gear, so I took off at 07:00 it was 19 degrees and did a little 120 miles ride. I met the group for breakfast at 09:30 and we took off at 10:30. Two of the Friday regulars just purchased new bikes and wanted to do a short ride. We all headed out for the Los Ojo's tavern at Jemez, NM. Along the way we were stopped by a local Sheriff, the new bikes were testing a little too fast. They were lucky he was in a good mood and they only received warnings. They were caught in a corner 71 in a 55 (thank goodness they were not tagged in the straight-a-way moments earlier). So after the performance coaching, we headed up to a turn out at a little place and headed for Los Ojo's. While at the traffic stop we lost one rider and did a little search and hopefully no rescue, we never did find him. He took off and went a different way back home without telling anyone. We spent about 30 minutes checking a section of the road but luckily never found him, so we headed for the lunch stop. We hung out laughing about the traffic stop and how one of the riders stopped were legal for the first time. They never had a legal plate on their bike and the first time they are legal an officer stops them. After lunch we head for home, but decide to make one more stop and I called our lost rider, he was sitting at home with a beer. After a mild lashing for not letting us know he was bailing, we all headed for home.
So I closed out the month at 1450 miles. Not a bad start for 09.
Well till my next post ride safe.
