On 18/04/2018 23:38, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
wrote:
On Wednesday, 18 April 2018 18:19:29 UTC+1, Rob Morley wrote:
On 15 Apr 2018 10:12:52 GMT
Bob Eager wrote:

I thought the Triumph one was divided vertically, which was why I
mentioned it.

AFAIR just two (concentric?) pipes in the tank, one reaching the bottom
and the other not quite, you twisted something on top of the tank to go
from regular to reserve. I'm guessing that also had the advantage of
the higher pipe not picking up crud and water from the bottom of the
tank in normal use, while you could squeeze out the last gallon when
needed.

It's a complex/expensive way to let you know the tank is near empty. I
guess it dates from the days before dashboard fuel gauges were
widespread.

Yes. And still quite common on motorbikes long after most car makers had
abandoned it.

I thought the usual way with motorbikes was to have separate pipes to
either lobe of the tank (which straddled the crossbar), with a three
position lever designated 'off', 'main' and 'reserve'. (Though the
distinction between 'main' and 'reserve' was arbitrary as the tank is
symmetrical; the reason that the main tank contains more fuel is that it
effectively includes the common area above the crossbar.)

--
Max Demian