07 Fuel gauge question

So I get on my bike leaving work today. With the bike sitting on the side stand, my fuel gauge is doing the black/red flash. Having read the manual, I believe this means the bike is on reserve fuel which should only be .8 gallon of the 5.8 gallon capacity. When I stand it up straight, it goes back to one solid black bar. I only live 6 miles away so I figure I'll stop at the station right by my house. Just before I get to the station, it starts flashing red again. I stop at the pump and fill up with the bike on the side stand, pretty much all the way full. But the pump says I only pumped 4.564 gallons. That would mean nearly a half gallon before I hit actual reserve. So is the gauge inaccurate? Should I go on the centerstand when I fill up? Or maybe the tank won't hold quite as much as the manual says?

All in all, I don't mind if it tells me to gas up before it gets REALLY close, just wondering if there's a nuance here I'm not aware of.

 

I figure I have aboot 1.2 gallons to play with when it starts to flash. Aboot 50 miles if I play it safe.

 

Deckrat ... fill it to the top and wait a second. You'll see the fuel level go down a little. Keep topping up, there's more room in there than you think.

 

Motorcycle fuel gauges are never very accurate. They are based off a float on an arm, as the float drops the resistance of a potentiometer changes and that is used to display the fuel level. But the tank is a very non-uniform shape from top to bottom, so the gauge can only ever be an indicator, not something to bet your life on. You will see different levels displayed on the side or centrestand, or accelerating or decelerating, because the fuel level where the float is sitting will change.

 

I agree Cadbury ... that said, the gauge on the 6th gen is pretty damn accurate. Each section notch on the gauge is pretty equal in terms of mileage.

 

should the bike be filled upright as opposed to on the side stand? i filled yesterday(only 2nd fillup since buying it) had the fuel touching the bottom of the filler neck and then when i started the bike it was down 1 bar right from the get go

 

No. I fill mine on the side stand all the time ... fill to the neck, wait a second, it will drop a little, fill again and repeat ... there's an air pocket in the top of the tank when it's on the side stand, you just need to fill the last little bit slowly / carefully.

 

The first bar often disappears before I leave the gas station parking lot. The last flashing bar is equivalent to almost 1.5 gallons. The other bars roughly equate to a half gallon each.