"E" Means "E" - A Short Story

bwilms · Post by **bwilms** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:26 pm

Yesterday I was riding home happily from work. I knew my tank was a little low, but I had a gas station right on the way so I wasn't worried. A few miles back I had passed one or two others but I said, "Nah, I'll make it to the station by my house." Mind you, the needle was already in the red at this point, but it wasn't hitting the bottom. I soon found out it doesn't have to hit bottom to be out of gas. However, the past few weeks I have been testing the mileage I could squeeze out of the red zone, so, based on experience, I thought I could make it.

Cruising along happily at 35 MPH, all of a sudden I feel a sputter. Then I feel another. Putt...Putt...putt.putt.putt. Uh oh. Looks like I'm empty. So, I pull off to the side of the road, dismount, and remove my helmet and gloves. I guess it's time to start walking. The first half mile of the trip had an all-purpose path (bike and hike lane) running parallel to the road, so I had a safe area in which to travel. The second half mile I walked against traffic, pushing my Buddy along the way.

Strangely enough, I couldn't help but smile the whole time I pushed the Buddy to its destination. It was just funny to me. Even funnier was the kid that rolled up to me on the opposite side of the street, pacing me on his BMX bike as he assessed my situation. However, as I looked over at him, he promptly looked away.

After about fifteen minutes I got to the fueling station and filled up. The electric start didn't work for me, so a kick start did the trick. On the positive side, it was the best case scenario to run out of gas (well, maybe not the best, but close). I was only one mile from the gas station, in a familiar area, with a nice, safe area to walk. Yes, I certainly learned a lesson - don't push it when you have such a small tank of gas. Had I been anywhere else, I might have made use of my 24 Hour Roadside Assistance.

vaderscoot · Post by **vaderscoot** » Tue May 15, 2007 4:16 pm

i know how you feel i ran mine out a few weeks ago but i only had to push my buddy a block and i thought it was funny too now i just fill up every 100 miles. i had made it 114 miles on a tank of gas though! where else could you do that for about $4.50

sunshinen · Post by **sunshinen** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:47 pm

bwilms wrote: Strangely enough, I couldn't help but smile the whole time I pushed the Buddy to its destination. It was just funny to me.

It's great when you come to a point in life when you can laugh at life's little mishaps. I like to call them "adventures."

EBee · Post by **EBee** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:59 pm

Always brings to mind the Carole King song, "Tapestry"...

"My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue,
An everlasting vision of the everchanging view..."

Every time an adventure happens I feel like I"m adding to my tapestry.

xtetra · Post by **xtetra** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:24 am

I think the kid on the BMX just didn't want to admit that he thought your Buddy was cooler than a Harley

I shouldn't push my luck in this area. The one time I ran out of gas on my Yamaha I was literally waiting to make a left into the gas station! Stupid me forgot all about the fact that I had a reserve.

Speaking of which...no reserve on the Buddy right?

bwilms · Post by **bwilms** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:33 am

xtetra wrote:Speaking of which...no reserve on the Buddy right?

If there is, someone needs to show me where it is

lobsterman · Post by **lobsterman** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:49 am

xtetra wrote:Speaking of which...no reserve on the Buddy right?

No reserve on the Buddy. We are expected to know that E means Empty.

louie · Post by **louie** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:53 am

oh E means empty. I thought it meant eventually.

vaderscoot · Post by **vaderscoot** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:34 pm

louie wrote:oh E means empty. I thought it meant eventually.

it does. eventually you will be pushing it.

rob_fuel · Post by **rob_fuel** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:37 am

My needle was right in the middle of the red zone today when I got to the station, but there was still fuel in there when I opened up the tank.

Just for the sake of discussion.

EBee · Post by **EBee** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:19 am

I guess the fuel needle is as 'optimistic' as the speedometer...

What else can you expect from a scooter called Buddy?

bwilms · Post by **bwilms** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:02 pm

I swear, in the situation I explained above, the needle dropped to the lower side of red and then creeped back up to the middle before I ran out of gas. Kind of strange. As much as I like the exercise of walking Buddy Lightning one mile to the gas station, I just don't take the chance anymore

BlueMark · Post by **BlueMark** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:06 pm

EBee wrote:I guess the fuel needle is as 'optimistic' as the speedometer...
What else can you expect from a scooter called Buddy?

Every vehicle I've ever owned the gas gauge had its own quirks. On my car 1/2 means my gas tank is 3/4 empty and will rapidly approach E. On my Blur E means I have at least a third of a gallon left.

Sounds to me like on some Buddys E means you are about to go on fumes, on others it means you still have quite a bit left in the tank. Only experience is going to tell you what kind of 'reserve' you have left at E.

-Mark

peabody99 · Post by **peabody99** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:21 pm

glad it happened in an OK neighborhood. When my bud had its "problem" earlier this week, we pushed it through the neighborhood and we drew the attention of a dieing animal on the desert being eyed by vultures. I fully expected it to be gone in the morning.

I have never been able to put more than a gallon of gas in my tank. I always tend to fill up when it hits a 1/4 tank.

Corsair · Post by **Corsair** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 1:51 pm

EBee wrote:I guess the fuel needle is as 'optimistic' as the speedometer...
What else can you expect from a scooter called Buddy?

LOL!

BlueMark wrote: Every vehicle I've ever owned the gas gauge had its own quirks. On my car 1/2 means my gas tank is 3/4 empty and will rapidly approach E. On my Blur E means I have at least a third of a gallon left.

-Mark

Is there anyway to have the fuel gauge adjusted?

xtetra · Post by **xtetra** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:43 pm

rob_fuel wrote:My needle was right in the middle of the red zone today when I got to the station, but there was still fuel in there when I opened up the tank.

Just for the sake of discussion.

This has been my experience too. I think last tank my needle was in the middle of the red and I added 1.25 gallons and we have 1.7 gallon tanks.

Still, won't be pushing my luck cuz I don't want to be pushing my Buddy.

Tbone · Post by **Tbone** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:54 pm

Bwilms-having been a starving poor musician college student, I noticed with my cars that this would happen. I always attributed the weird spike of the fuel gauge to fumes. Having been stranded a few times I recognized once it dipped I HAD to collect change until I could fill her up more.

Just my $0.02

louie · Post by **louie** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 2:43 pm

all my vehicles seemed to have had it's own tips for letting me know just how much fuel it had.
my buddy has pegged out at E twice, not on purpose. it's pegged out now. i'm not doing it on purpose, i just don't like to stop i guess. it has fuel in it right now, i don't know how much but i can see it.
it also matters if the scooter is leaning, like using a measuring cup with it sitting uneven, your going to get a wrong reading.

Elm Creek Smith · Post by **Elm Creek Smith** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:21 pm

xtetra wrote:...we have 1.7 gallon tanks.

Having run the tank bone dry at one time, I could only get 1.643 gallons in the thing.

ECS

Modern Buddy

"E" Means "E" - A Short Story

"E" Means "E" - A Short Story

Re: "E" Means "E" - A Short Story