Hitchcocks Forum

A stupid moment today. Out on Alice (350 Classic) blasting along the countryside all good with the world. Suddenly the pop, bang, backfire fart and the motor died. Checked the fuel and the level seemed lower that usual - certainly not as much as I expected. I usually fill her up every 200 miles and as today the miles read **647 I stupidly (for the first time today) assumed I'd filled up at **600 or so. I figured I'd try the reserve but no luck, the motor wouldn't fire; I just couldn't understand. I pushed her a few miles and luckily found a fuel station - my legs had turned to jelly. It was one of those un-manned stations where you pre-pay with a card and she fired up and I continued along. Later on at home, when I had the glasses on, I glanced at the fuel tap and realised that the reserve position for the tap is vertical, the opposite to the normal position, and I'd earlier put the tap to the horizontal (closed) position: the second stupid moment. There would've been plenty fuel!!
I suppose I could be charitable to myself and blame it on a senior moment??

Dont worry you are not alone. I took the tank off my electra X and couldn't work out why there was a strong smell of petrol. I had turned the tap to reserve when it dripped instead of turning it to the off position. Its a good job I don't smoke and was working outside

Been there. Done that. Suffered pushing the bike as well. Last year, I went for a ride on my Aprilia. I ran out of juice, so I turned the tap to Reserve. Only to find it was already turned there. Thankfully, I was rescued after pushing the bike for less then a mile, by another biker who gave me a couple of litres of petrol.

Yep, had someone turn the fuel tap on my (then) everyday modern bike, a Suzuki Bandit, to "prime" when it was parked on a public bike park. Fortunately not too long a push on that occasion!

REgards, Mark

My BSA A10 ran out of petrol one night, I walked across the road to a grocery store and bought a bottle of Shellite. The bike ran normally.