Empty promises
Big tank is no benefit when the range indicator tells fibs
With 6690 miles on the clock of the Africa Twin Adventure Sport, I’ve now consumed 22 tanks of fuel at a rate of 52mpg. While the economy isn’t remarkable, a high percentage of the miles completed have been done at fast lane motorway speeds which obviously doesn’t help when it comes to being frugal.
But while the consumption is acceptable I’m less impressed with the digital fuel gauge and range calculator. With a full tank the display promises over 300 miles, which, in reality, is about 10% high. With 50 miles of range showing on the dash the fuel light comes on, so finding a fuel station subtly appears on your radar. Given that I’ve been doing the same commute to the MCN offices for over a decade I am well versed in the exact location of every fuel stop on my route. With that knowledge I’m able to plan my stops accurately and as a result push it a little bit ensuring that I arrive at my favourite BP garage with only a few miles showing on the indicator. And this is where I recently got caught out. Most bikes have a fair bit of contingency when it comes to the predicted range and the reality of the amount of fuel left in the tank; last year I did 22 miles on my KTM 1290 Adventure S with zero miles showing in rural Spain. The Africa Twin is different, but not in a good way. On a recent run up the A1 I was three miles away from a fuel stop with 10 miles showing on the range. But instead of it counting down to nine, eight, seven and so on, the display suddenly flicked to zero and a quarter-of-a-mile later the bike started stuttering and ground to a halt a mile-and-a-half later. That meant I was over a mile short of the petrol station and a significant eight miles short of the last displayed predicted range.
I have no problem in a fuel range being accurate and there being no built-in contingency, but not giving you enough miles to match the predicted range you’ve been working to for the past 300 miles is very poor. Lesson learned.