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04 883 Sportster fuel capacity

Discussion in 'Motorcycle Tech Talk' started by NeilP, Jan 24, 2010.

  1. NeilP

    NeilP Active Member

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    Just planning a 10day trip across France to Austria in March.
    Not too long a trip, one way on Google maps shows about 1000miles to the destination, a bit of touring around there then back 8 days later.

    Was wondering what sort of mileage I am going to get out of the Sporty with one tank full, standard tank. All bog standard. no Big Sucker or CVP kit added yet....it is all sitting there in the box but am going to wait till I get back.

    I live on an island, with 40mph speedlimit and never really get the bike up more than 3rd gear, certainly not it top for more than half or mile or so,It is all stop/start riding in the low gears.
    So how many miles before reaching the reserve tank when i am on the open road cruising at 60-70mph. Also .how many miles do I have on the reserve tank.

    Cheers

    Neil
  2. cowboy

    cowboy Moderator Staff Member

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    Neil the sporty has two different fuel tanks One has a bit over 3 gal US & the other has a bit over 4 gal US , My daughters 04 883 was getting about 45 mpg & she had the bigger tank , but it has the carb kit & pipes SE air clearner kit & she weighes in about 120 lbs :rolleyes:
  3. NeilP

    NeilP Active Member

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    Reckon mine is the smaller one. I have only filled it up at the pumps ONCE and a couple of times from a can down the farm, so as yet do not know the size of my tank.

    The title of this thread is probably wrong...the actuall capacity is not what I need to know...i need to know how many, miles i can do before it all goes quiet and I start pushing...This will be two up but minimal baggage
  4. chucktx

    chucktx Moderator Staff Member

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    i would set my average to 40miles per gallon. then after a couple of fillups, do the math and see what your actual mileage is. reserve is approx 1/2 gallon.....
  5. NeilP

    NeilP Active Member

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    1/2 a gallon, that figures. Now i think about it, I remember going out with the bike and a 5 litre can when i first got the bike. I ran till I had to switch to the reserve, then ran it empty. I seem to remember 20 or so miles, but that was local riding not more than 40 mph max and never above more than third gear.
  6. Art_NJr

    Art_NJr New Member

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    3.3 U.S. gallons. Only the 2004-up 883 & 1200 "Custom" models have the 4.5 gallon tank.

    125 miles to reserve would be a good round number to remember.
  7. NeilP

    NeilP Active Member

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    125, OK, thanks.
  8. SPORSTERBOY

    SPORSTERBOY New Member

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    my 03 gets around 120-130 on the flats and hill country and mountains about 100 mine has a free flow air cleaner bigger jets and drag pipes.
  9. NeilP

    NeilP Active Member

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    I got 75 on the last fill up over here, but it is all stop start riding in gears 1-3 very rarely get up to 5th

    The bike is all back to stock again now, so will see what improvement that makes
  10. NeilP

    NeilP Active Member

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    Just realised, US gallons or standard gallons. Your Gallon is only 3.8 litre, while a gallon here is 4.54 litre. I just filled the bike up 5 miles after it ran out on the main tank, it took just over 10 litre and I did 89 miles on that.
  11. Art_NJr

    Art_NJr New Member

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    :roflmao: That's why I said "U.S. gallons" when referring to the size tank your bike came with (3.3) - I figured y'all had Imperial gallons over there :roflmao:

    Funny story - many years ago I drove a semi-truck & the 1st time I went across from the U.S. into Canada, I found out they sold fuel in both Imperial gallons & liters - neither measurement was used in the U.S. - talk about a "confused customer" :gah:

    When I started looking for a place to get diesel big enough for semis, I saw 2 stations across the road from each other & the signs out front had 2 very different prices - because one sold by the Imperial gallon & the other by the liter. Got my calculator out & converting to U.S. gallons, the price @ both stations was the same, but @ 1st glance, it was quite a shock 'cause neither price was anywhere near what I was used to seeing!

    And of course I had to figure out the Canadian currency - I'd made an exchange before I crossed over so I'd have it, but I certainly wasn't used to the different colored bills or the slightly different purchasing power of their dollar. I love Canada, but I was glad to get back to where I didn't need to have a calculator in my pocket all the time!
  12. NeilP

    NeilP Active Member

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    Yes, I saw that you did say US Gallons when reading back through the thread...did not pick that up on the first reading!!

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