R1200GS Fuel Guage

[silverbullet]

Hi,

I have recently picked up a new 12GS and I am a little worried about the fuel
guage reading- Even if I fill the bike up to the rim on the centre stand the guage
still show one bar short of full up- is the normal ?

I swapped an R1200RT for the GS and I hope this is not the start of a lot a
hassle.

Mark

 

[riderbob]

I too swapped a 12RT for the GS. My fuel gauge goes to the top, but after a certain number of miles it heads down rapidly. The bike is only a week old, so it may be due to the running in. Constant accerelation / deaccerelation.

While it was hard to give up the RT, the GS is excellent!

 

[silverbullet]

OK- I will give it a while and get it checked on first service

I mis my RT after just a week, hope I made the right decision

 

[Eastriding2002]

I've had mine a couple of weeks now and I've found at top up the guage goes to full. It then stays showing full until around 95 - 110 miles where it suddenly plummets to the 1/2 way mark. Then it drops gradually until the warning comes on at around 170 - 180 miles, showing 45+ miles to go. I ran it to zero minus 10 recently and got 20.05 litres into the tank.

 

[Yoda]

+1 on what Eastriding said. That seems to be "normal" behaviour.

My '04 was the same.

 

[JayGee]

Like has already been said, the GS fuel guage reads full untill it is half full then drops to half full in one go, on mine there aren't any steps/blocks in the LCD between full and half, after that it's very accurate. It's a bit of a pig as you don't know if it's nealy half empty or nearly full so I still have to use one of the trip meters. I'm considering a move to the RT and would be interested in how you guys who've moved the other way find the comparison of the two bikes. My main reason is I do a lot of two-up touring and feel the RT would be better at that (less buffeting, more weather protection etc) but I don't want to loose the fun in the twisties.

 

[Dellis]

Use a trip meter - served me well for a good number of years on a multitude of bikes.

Dave

 

[the civil one]

Works a treat on 10 yr old transits !

Use a trip meter - served me well for a good number of years on a multitude of bikes.

Dave

I have used the trip Meter on a Multitude of Differant Bike s, Buses , Vans ,
Which is fine , with the exception that this BMW 1200 GS cost I.T.R.O
9K GBPs .

 

[Dellis]

A fair point....

 

[jonnie comet]

Silverbullet and Riderbob.......

....just as a matter of interest, why did you both get rid of your 1200RTs ?...

I've caught myself looking at a couple recently.......nice 'bikes.

....must be getting old.........I would never have looked twice at an RT five years ago.........

Re fuel gauge........Mine works exactly like Riderbob's.......

 

[riderbob]

The essential ingredient!

The RT is a fantastic luxury touring bike (did 11,500 miles) and if I could afford it I would have the RT and the GS in the garage. I sold it because I couldn't have both and I want to go up trails, with my mates, and explore; the Dolomites, places like that. Get away from the normal tourist traffic.

The RT feels a bit heavier, but is planted on the road and is good in the twisties. The weather protection is almost too good, in hot weather you roast behind that fairing even when on the lowest setting. What I will miss is being able to sit on the motorway, cruise control on 90 and not a breath of wind around your helmet. My only complaint about the RT is the seat is utter crap! In fact I don't have the words to describe how bad this seat is. (Actually I do, but I might offend someone using them.) The GS has a much better seat.

If you don't want to dissappear up trails then I would very highly recommend the RT (I don't work for BMW). However, I've met quite a few people who tour on the GS, but it takes time I think to get the right set-up.

I could go on, but the above is the essential ingredient.

....just as a matter of interest, why did you both get rid of your 1200RTs ?...

I've caught myself looking at a couple recently.......nice 'bikes.

....must be getting old.........I would never have looked twice at an RT five years ago.........

Re fuel gauge........Mine works exactly like Riderbob's.......

 

[JayGee]

The RT is a fantastic luxury touring bike (did 11,500 miles) and if I could afford it I would have the RT and the GS in the garage. I sold it because I couldn't have both and I want to go up trails, with my mates, and explore; the Dolomites, places like that. Get away from the normal tourist traffic.

The RT feels a bit heavier, but is planted on the road and is good in the twisties. The weather protection is almost too good, in hot weather you roast behind that fairing even when on the lowest setting. What I will miss is being able to sit on the motorway, cruise control on 90 and not a breath of wind around your helmet. My only complaint about the RT is the seat is utter crap! In fact I don't have the words to describe how bad this seat is. (Actually I do, but I might offend someone using them.) The GS has a much better seat.

If you don't want to dissappear up trails then I would very highly recommend the RT (I don't work for BMW). However, I've met quite a few people who tour on the GS, but it takes time I think to get the right set-up.

I could go on, but the above is the essential ingredient.

Thanks for that, I do tour on the GS, Dolamites, Alps, pyrenees etc. but am just finding the buffetting on the high speed rides there a bit of a pain (well actually a lot of a pain)

 

[RichP]

I've had mine a couple of weeks now and I've found at top up the guage goes to full. It then stays showing full until around 95 - 110 miles where it suddenly plummets to the 1/2 way mark. Then it drops gradually until the warning comes on at around 170 - 180 miles, showing 45+ miles to go. I ran it to zero minus 10 recently and got 20.05 litres into the tank.

I just picked up my 07 and the dealer showed me a bulletin that came out on this exact topic. Due to the shape of the tank there is not a good way to gauge the top half of the fluid in the tank, so they don't actually start tracking it until the tank is half empty. Ater putting on 1000 miles I am starting to get used to it.

Like already mentioned, use a trip meter, at least you have a good idea if the tank is closer to full or closer to half empty before you take off.

 

[Eastriding2002]

I'm one who also uses the trip meter, the guage is just an extra to alert me. I think getting to know your bike and how it will use the juice is more important than the guage being exact. I haven't yet had the balls to ride it until it stops to see how far it will get once onto reserve.

 

[SilverBobGS]

Fuel Guage

I would just like one that is fairly accurate. Not one that goes from full to half to one bar in 50 miles then the countdown comes on goes off and then comes back on after another 10 miles. Just how accurate is the countdown mileage. I would rather like to know if the gps says 47 miles to garage and the countdown says 48 miles to go.

 

[Paul Wakefield]

The RT is a fantastic luxury touring bike (did 11,500 miles) and if I could afford it I would have the RT and the GS in the garage. I sold it because I couldn't have both and I want to go up trails, with my mates, and explore; the Dolomites, places like that. Get away from the normal tourist traffic.

The RT feels a bit heavier, but is planted on the road and is good in the twisties. The weather protection is almost too good, in hot weather you roast behind that fairing even when on the lowest setting. What I will miss is being able to sit on the motorway, cruise control on 90 and not a breath of wind around your helmet. My only complaint about the RT is the seat is utter crap! In fact I don't have the words to describe how bad this seat is. (Actually I do, but I might offend someone using them.) The GS has a much better seat.

If you don't want to dissappear up trails then I would very highly recommend the RT (I don't work for BMW). However, I've met quite a few people who tour on the GS, but it takes time I think to get the right set-up.

I could go on, but the above is the essential ingredient.

Agree with the above apart from the seat. Having moved the other way (GS to RT), I find the RT seat more comfortable than the GS! Each to their own. I reckon, if you're not going off road, the RT is a very fine bike. Handles well (particularly with Conti Road Attacks), plenty of toys (heated seats as well as heated grips on a cold or wet day is pretty good). ESA well worth it. Go out for an afternoon's fun ride or tour Europe; it does both well.

Paul

 

[THE ROVER]

not recommended but

I would just like one that is fairly accurate. Not one that goes from full to half to one bar in 50 miles then the countdown comes on goes off and then comes back on after another 10 miles. Just how accurate is the countdown mileage. I would rather like to know if the gps says 47 miles to garage and the countdown says 48 miles to go.

On a trip to bonny scotland in june I went on the road through Glencoe and should have filled up first, anyway did'nt. Fuel gauge did its countdown bit, got to zero and still no sign of a petrol station.
Ended up free wheeling down hills etc. Managed to do a further 15 miles before finding fuel. Not normally that daft.

This week I ran it low but that was mainly a time issues. Again it got to zero but I knew I could easily got to some fuel. I filled it up on zero and managed to get 19.75 litres in it. So I assume that you can get more than 20 litres in it(it is a 20 litre tanK??) or I was very close to being stranded

 

[newman7096]

On a trip to bonny scotland in june I went on the road through Glencoe and should have filled up first, anyway did'nt. Fuel gauge did its countdown bit, got to zero and still no sign of a petrol station.
Ended up free wheeling down hills etc. Managed to do a further 15 miles before finding fuel. Not normally that daft.

This week I ran it low but that was mainly a time issues. Again it got to zero but I knew I could easily got to some fuel. I filled it up on zero and managed to get 19.75 litres in it. So I assume that you can get more than 20 litres in it(it is a 20 litre tanK??) or I was very close to being stranded

I managed to get 21.25 litres in mine by removing the rubber sleeve from the filler neck!