From: svoboda@rtsg.mot.com (David Svoboda)
Subject: Re: Bikes Indoors and Riding with Gas
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 15:55:47 GMT

In article <BxLy1t.Eqz@vuse.vanderbilt.edu> dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (The Nashville Flash) writes:
|In article <1992Nov11.190254.8516@rtsg.mot.com> svoboda@rtsg.mot.com (David Svoboda) writes:
|>I have thought of taking along a quart or so of gasoline as an emergency
|>fuel when I go on long tours.  What is the net.consensus on what would be the
|>best container for that, and where it would be best to put the container.
|
|BAD IDEA.  You will be carrying a bomb which you INTEND never to use.  

Well, yeah, I know that, but there is a much less-well armored bomb between
your legs.  (One thing about having your mind in the gutter; it can't break 
falling off the curb!)

I would also be using it on camping trips, as I use gasoline in my 3-fuel
stove, and it's difficult to drain it out of the gas tank, directly. It
would be nice to have another container as a `tween.  As long as I was
using it as that, I might as well use it once in a while as a backup gas
supply.

|A better idea is to carry a length of hose to use as a siphon.  

And what, pray tell, do I siphon OUT of?  I ride alone, almost always.

|This can be
|stored unobtrusively many places in/on the bike... inside the bars, taped
|to a frame member, etc.  Having this semi-permanent addition to your bike
|will serve you on short rides as well as long ones.  

Yes, that's already part of my cataclysm bag.  But I ride alone, and most
modern cages have a little door in the filler neck that prevents siphoning.

|(Why do you plan on 
|running out of gas on long tours rather than short rides?)

1. I live in the midwest.  Civilization.  There is a phone almost everywhere
in civilization, and I am a member of MTS, which covers running out of gas, all
I need to do is call.  This past summer, however, I rode out to the Joust, and 
noticed that there were areas where I didn't see another car or person or building 
for over an hour, and it was in the desert, so I could die waiting for a good 
samaritan to come along.  It made me think about what special precautions I 
might take to better prepare me for the worst in that sort of situation in the 
future.

2. When touring alone, I usually run my tank (remember the Supertanker Concours?)
until reserve, then get gas (tempered by terrain, civilization, etc, of course).
Although I have never done it, it wouldn't be out of the question for me to
forget to turn the petcock back to run from reserve, and end up walking.  As I
said, this could be bad in some areas.  And you can be careful, but it's a good
idea to cover one's own stupidity anyway.

The idea isn't to carry this thing full all the time.  Just carry the empty bottle 
in a saddlebag, then if civilization looks to be getting thin, fill it up, and 
empty it back into the tank when civilization reappears.  Given that, where would 
you carry a bottle of gasoline on your bike, and what would that bottle be made of?

Dave Svoboda (svoboda@void.rtsg.mot.com)    | "I just can't take
90 Concours 1000 (Mmmmmmmmmm!)              |  this weird shit
84 RZ 350 (Ring Ding) (Woops!)              |  before breakfast!"
AMA 583905  DoD #0330  COG 939  (Chicago)   |   -- Evo Woman
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