Gas Mileage

General Honda Forza 300 chat, questions about the Forza, or questions about riding.

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davenowherejones
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Re: Gas Mileage

Post by davenowherejones »

The area under the seat of a Forza is warm. I would also be nervous of small spills contaminating whatever else I have under there.

I do some off pavement riding sometimes. It gets a little rough. Slower speeds give you longer range. No extra gas needed most times. High speed running is usually in places where the gas stations are less than 200 miles apart. No extra gas needed most times.

Yes, I have been in situations where extra gas was needed but a little better planning could have cured that. Thinking is better than carrying extra gas ALL the time. Using the right motorcycle is also better, not that I do that but sometimes I do some extra thinking.
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Re: Gas Mileage

Post by TheMaverick »

gruntled wrote:A gas can of any size UNDER the seat creates the possibility of FUMES near the engine.
That would depend on the "can". The one I use is made of thick plastic - specifically for fuel - has an o-ring seal, and a ratchet mechanism to ensure it can't vibrate undone. After filling it I leak check it by pressing the sides in hard whilst holding it upside down. For fumes to occur there would need to be some kind of leakage -- and there's no leakage so no fumes.

If someone were to put fuel in something like a 2 litre ice cream container then all bets would be off; I think what's most important is to understand what the risks are and ensure they're mitigated; leaking fuel near any ignition source is never a good thing, but (a) there's no leaking fuel and (b) I doubt there's even an ignition source (spark plug is inside the engine, and the auto-ignition temperature for unleaded petrol is between 495-833 deg F - does the exhaust get that hot?). In terms of engine heat, (a) very little engine heat gets into the underseat compartment on the PCX when I'm riding (too much airflow carrying the heat away) and only a minimal amount of residual heat rises when stopped, and (b) if the container is mostly full then there's minimal air to expand (and the volumetric coefficient of expansion of petrol is negligible). Even fumes need to have the correct fuel/air ratio to be igniteable - normal "vapour smells" don't come anywhere close.

In my case I don't carry it there all the time - (a) No need and (b) I like to use the space under the seat for other things like helmet, but having completed a risk assessment, I don't feel there's any significant risk in the way I do it. If anything, I think I'd be more wary of carrying it external to the bike if there was a possibility for abrasion from a low-side slide to rupture the container (complete with ignition source from any metal parts in contact with the road) and the rider possibly still being in the same location.

Back in my aviation days I was walking around our local airfield - watched a Saab 340B taxi onto the runway - then high-tail it off again. Shortly afterwards a turbo Arrow made an engine-off flapless landing. I spoke with the pilot a few years later and he told me that a fuel hose had failed and the electric pump had pumped fuel all over the engine & hot turbo (he had just taken off) - no fire.
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Re: Gas Mileage

Post by you you »

Having completed the most thorough risk assessment possible I now only ride around petrol stations.
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Re: Gas Mileage

Post by TheMaverick »

you you wrote:Having completed the most thorough risk assessment possible I now only ride around petrol stations.
If you can't add anything of value to my posts then how about doing us both a favour and add me to your ignore list?
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