Do you find that the last gallon of gas in the wings is not usable?

I just mounted my tank over the weekend with all the other mods.
The petcock was set to ON obviously. Today on my way home from work I ran dry at about the 220 km mark (136 miles) on this tank.

I had to pull over to find RES, switched it, and off I go... For about 8 kms / 5 miles.
Then she runs dry again. Through the sides of the tank, I can see that the wings are full of gas, even all the way up to the petcock it seems.

So I'm pulled over on the highway again, leaning my bike over and standing it up trying to transfer gas from the wings to the little "center bowl" where the petcock resides. That is successful, but it gets me another 5 kms or so. I can only transfer a small amount from the wings to the bowl by leaning the bike.

With the bike upright (riding down the highway), the gas in the wings is not getting to the bowl. (When I say bowl I mean the center bowl of the tank, not the float bowl). I ended up having to pull over 3 times when the bowl ran dry, looking like a fool, leaning my bike over.

I'd like to contact Acerbis about this. Anyone tried that? I'm guessing it's going to be about as helpful as smashing my head against the wall.

Yeah, Yeah. [8D] I don't wanna hear it from all you "IMS tank" boys... I wasn't willing to give up my rad fan, and the Acerbis holds a half gallon more than the IMS. Though it turns out I'm carrying it around for nothing...

 

So far i have not had to use reserve 170 miles and i fill up 2.8 gallons. I to have often wondered how that fuel is supposed to work it way up out of the wings. Since these tanks were intended for dirt application one can only think its the slosh factor that gets the fuel up to that bowl where the petcock is mounted.
I will take 170 mile over 90 miles any day of the week but still how can we get the most out of are investments.

 

The solution is simple:






All joking aside, while I don't have one of these tanks, it seems logical that the sloshing and bouncing around would tend to get most of the gas into the useable area. Were your last X number of miles smooth road-only? Maybe it needs a little help in the form of some rougher terrain.

 

Brian - yeah, I was highway ridin - on the way home from work. Totally flat and nowhere to turn off and find hills.
It wouldn't really buy me anything anyway, becase as soon as I get back on flat ground the "bowl" stops getting fed and you dry up in a few miles. Really frustrating when you can see almost a gallon of gas in the tank!

Scat - that's pretty good if you get 170 miles on that 2.8 gallons. 60 mpg I guess.
Looks like I only got about 50 mpg on my first tank - tho I've been riding it like I stole it.

Maybe that tells me I got things setup a bit rich. Or I'm beatin my bike too hard.
Nah, I drive my truck that way too and she's still happy at 160,000 kms. Tho gas mileage is a bitch! (4.7 v8 dakota)

 

The worst i have seen was 46 mpg lot of single track that day the best was 63.5 mpg

 

If it was only that simple...[8D]

 

Pastrana makes it look like ballet.

 

I have attempted to get an Acerbis tank to help solve my parked-wreck situation. I can't find it listed anywher on the net or elsewhere. The Acerbis site doesn't list it and says it has nothing for my KLX250S. Can someone help me source one and tell me if the tank is really an improvement or a blunder.
Parkedwreck

 

The acerbis part number is 11159403 and I got mine off ebay from this guy:
http://stores.ebay.ca/MOTORCYCLE-ACCESSORY-DIRECT

Even though the last 3/4 gallong is barely usable, I still like the tank.

 

Did you find a good fix for the choke function? I want to keep my bike stock and quiet. I wondered what fuel source selector did you use? Does the tank come with a new one or is that the original? I tried the e-bay site and it said that the tank was sold.