Fuel Range Recommendations
 

I am completing my planning process for a ride to Argentina from Colorado. I get about 220 miles from the 5.8 gallon tank. I know conditions will vary so I have fabricated two attachments for extra fuel canisters, as a safety margin. What areas of Central or South America did fuel availability or distance become a factor? What was the greatest distance between fuel stops and what areas? Thank you.

Dont worry and just get going :-)

I had extra petrol tanks with me as well and I never really needed them. Yes, you may be forced to fill your bike with "less than perfect" gas, but thats ok too.

If you always fill up when you see a "real" petrol station, I will dare to say that you will never ever use your extra tanks. I did lots of small back roads and it never became a problem.

When in doubt you can always ask the locals and use a couple of water bottles for gas.

The more crap you drag with you, the worse...

The more crap you drag with you, the worse...[/quote]
Right on Peter. .5.8 US gallon tank is more than enough for anywhere in Mexico and CA that I have experienced. .If your bike can run on regular you are sitting pretty.

We have a fuel range of just under 400km, and never really needed to carry extra fuel. The closest we came to running out was crossing the Bolivian Altiplano.
We did have fuel bladders with us just in case.

Ruta 40
 

You should have a minimum range of 350 km if you will be riding Ruta 40 from Tres Largos to Perito Moreno. This is an issolated area of the Patagonia with very few services.

There is a gas station at Bajo Caracoles but he often runs out and when he does have some on hand, he will ration it out. So in my books, that means you don't plan on any being available there.

I agree 100% :thumbup1:

Watch out for gas milage in Patagonia
 

Í´ve just finished riding Panama to Ushuaia, and back up to Mar del Plata (near Buenos Aires). The only place that I have had trouble has been Patagonia, for two reasons. First, it is so boring (thousands of miles of pampas) that I just wanted to go as fast as possible. The KLR650 with side bags is VERY un-aerodynamic, and at 130 km it is like pushing a wall. This reduced my milage substantially. The other thing is the wind. When it is sideways or coming at you it also drains the gas. Normally I get about 200 miles before I go to reserve, but under the conditions above it has been as little as 120!

Also, I ran into many gas stations in Patagonia that were either closed or out of gas. This is high season, and they sometimes sell out early. For the last 2000 km I got into the habit of filling up often, even if I had only gone 60 or 70 miles. I actually ran out once (first went to reserve, then leaned the bike to get gas into the left side of the tank, then nothing). The VERY good luck was that it finally completely died about 100 meters from a gas station that was open. The gas gods must have been smiling on me!