I went for a skill tuneup ride today and almost made it back without dumping it. I was about 50yrds from the road and the front end washed out.

Anyway I had put a big loop in the plastic I am using for the carb overflow. I picked the bike up pretty fast, probably within 10 seconds. When I got back to the homestead, I checked the tube, yep there was about 2x4" of vertical inches of gas & about 4" wide horizontal tubing full of gas.

I am thinking this is where about 1/2 of my gas goes, I am not that skilled and like to get into some rough stuff all the time.

So the question is..... Does anyone make or know of something you can put on this overflow to catch all that gas? I am thinking it would have to be below the carb with a resevior as wide as the engine????

Any Ideas?

 

Are you saying that you think you generally lose about 1/2 of the gas in your tank, out the overflow line, because you drop your bike a lot?
I know the overflow will leak gas if the bike is on its side but you don't lose that much.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.
Dan

 

Darren, you have no skills, so you're wasting your time trying to tune them up.

But seriously, I'm with dan on the question of where a lot of fuel might be going. I have more gas coming out of the carb overflow tubes when the bike falls over off the kickstand than what comes out the fuel cap hose. I say "falls over off the kickstand" because I never fall down or crash the bike. I'm too good for that. Dan took a picture that proves how good I am.

 

Well, originally I was going to check if there is gas sloshing out the overflow while generally riding, which would mean my float is probably adj too high. But, I forgot to look before I fell over, I was getting confident I was going to make it home and check it there, but some boulder and the rattling of snake tails occupied my pea brain for a second and woops, I was down.

But I am only getting 35-ish mpg while riding hard, so every little thimble full will help. I don't want to be walking like crash-danno.

 

35'ish?...yeah, something's wrong for sure. When you and I were riding in Colorado last August, both our bikes were getting very good mileage in the 50's range if I recall. In fact, your 34 pumper was the final straw that caused me to decide to get a Mikuni pumper.

 

Ummmm.... that's the LAST place you want to be falling down!!!

The only time I've ever seen fuel coming out of my overflow line is when I over-fill my tank. I notice it most when I'm trailering somewhere and I've just "topped" it off. After riding a bit, the fuel level goes down and it eventually quits dripping. I though my 56MPG (give or take) was bad... but 35MPG really sucks! You sure the jetting is right?

 

That is the overflow out of the carb, not off the tank.
The 35mpg we are talking about is trail riding at generally WOT between corners. General trail riding/road I get a lot better.
But on the trail, where usually the bike is laided down a few times, the mileage suffers greatly... therefore the need for a catchtank would be handy.

 

Three options:
1. Make a catch tank from a small soda bottle
2. Re-use the coolant overflow as a fuel overflow
3. Fall prevention http://m.motorcycle-superstore.com/A...temColorId=262

 

I like option #3, do you put the wheels on both side or just one like a sidecar?
I'm trying to be serious here!

 

haha sounds like you need both!