tripdog7

Member
Oct 3, 2002
47
0
My riding buddies, with their four-strokers, love to go for all day rides in the extensive trails of Northern Michigan. (6 or 7 hours of hard riding) I love all day riding too, but what do I do about re-fueling at some remote gas station? What is the best way to carry pre-mix oil and get the right mixture at a gas station. (we're lucky here in that riders are welcomed in small town gas stations)
I thought of carrying enough pre-mix for exactly 2.9 gallons (KDX capacity), but then what if I'm not empty? Carrying oil in a fannyback seems messy, any suggestions? Until a fuel pump has a pre-mix option, I'm baffled.
 

dirt bike dave

Sponsoring Member
May 3, 2000
5,349
3
I use some small rubbermaid plastic bottles that I bought at the grocery store. The bottlles are rectangular in shape, maybe 4" tall, 2.5" wide and 1.5" thick. They have large mouth screw top lids that don't leak, but I carry them in a zip log bag anyways. Capacity on the bottles was unmarked, but they hold 9 ounces, enough to mix 2.5 gallons at 35:1. Mark the sides of the bottle with a sharpie pen at 1 ounce increments.

Four ounces per gallon is 32:1, Three ounce per gallon is 43:1. Don't sweat it if you are a little off on your ratios. Pour in an estimate of the oil you will need first, and fine tune as your tank is almost full.
 

BRush

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jun 5, 2000
1,100
0
Moose sells a nice little carry pouch that fits onto a fanny pack belt kind of like a canteen carrier. A 12 oz Golden Spectro bottle (I run Mobil MX2T) has OZ graduations and fits nicely into the moose carrier. Nothing wrong with carrying premix in your fanny pack though, just be sure to put the bottle in a plastic baggie to avoid leaks. Some folks duct tape the cap in place to prevent unfortunate accidents.

As to mixing, I do the math at the pump. I just remember that 40:1 is 3.2 oz per gallon, or 4 ounces per 1.25 gallons. DB Dave puts the oil in first. I do it the other way – I add gas first and then figure the oil amount and add it last. The reason is that I’ve seen a lot of folks mess up and put too much oil in first, then realize they’d need to add a lot more gas than their tank can hold to get the right ratio. Don’t forget to give the bike a shake to mix the oil.

It does not have to be hyper accurate. Your KDX won’t be bothered if you end up at 38.5 to 1 instead of 40:1. When you fill up, be sure to leave room for the oil!
 

woodsy

~SPONSOR~
Mi. Trail Riders
Jan 16, 2002
2,933
1
Hey Tripdog: I am also ridig with a group of guys every Monday - ALL DAY RIDE! I have been thru the drill many times and here is how I handle it. I carry a left over, 16oz baby oil bottle filled with 2 smoke oil in my fender pack. I keep the container wrapped in rag with a couple rubber bands holding the rag covering on. When I pull up to the pump for refill I "guesstimate" how low my fuel is by my odometer (looking in the tank works too), I SHUT OFF THE FUEL PET **** (I have seen more then one bike with straight oil in the carb cause this step was missed) and if there is a little fuel left in the tank (if not add a gallon) I add the estimated amount of oil (I mix on the shy side for this first mix) in the existing fuel/recap and shake the bike. Fill a couple inches from the top, look at the pump reading and finish adding oil, top it off. I have ALWAYS gone with the 32:1 mix ratio at the pump - this leaves LOTS of room for error (20:1 thru 50:1 mixes are workable) and is easy to fiquire from a 16 oz bottle (Half the botttle is 2 gallon gas!). I have NEVER been caught without oil at this rate with this container size and have ridden MANY miles of cross country ridin - dual sporting and straight tight woods all day rides (sun up to sun down).
I like to "shake" the mix in a the bike from front to rear (like going over whoops) as this seeems to mix the best. Also dont forget to turn your gas back on cause it really is embarrising when those ridin buddies on their XR's who normally see nothing but green leaving them behind leave you behind about 1 block away from the station.......
Woodsy
Of course you realize that I use my KDX250 for WOODS RIDIN and very little street ridin (although I did ride it across the big MAC - third gear wheelie between the pillars - this year). If I am going street ridin with the group I ride my Royal Venture - it handles the road better, has cruise/radio/intercom and I dont have to worry about premix - course it dont handle the tight woods like my KDX either........
 

KelvinKDX

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Aug 25, 2000
1,622
0
Tripdog7 - When i used to live in France they had fuel pumps with pre-mix. Just dial up what mixture you wanted and fill er up! :cool:
 

KiwiBird

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jan 30, 2000
2,386
0
My method is similar except I have 2 containers as we refuel from whomever has the most gas.

I have an empty 16 oz bottle and another bottle containing oil that is graduated so that one graduation of oil is 16 oz of gas. I'll almost fill my tank with the 16 oz bottle, counting how many times I use it, and then on the last one empty only about 8 oz and add the correct amount of oil to the remaining gas in the 16 oz bottle and shake it to mix the gas and then add that to the tank.

I loved Europe with mixed 2 stroke gas at the pumps.
 

canyncarvr

~SPONSOR~
Oct 14, 1999
4,005
0
Must be nice to have gas stations here and there. In o-ree-gone, we used to...but EPA regulations have closed most mom&pop grocery store type gas pumps.

EPA being federal, how is it youse guys have gas so readily available?
 

TransAm77

Member
Feb 10, 2002
168
0
tripdog: Where at in Mi are you? And how far north do you go? I'm going up the the U.P. today after I get out of work. I'm hopping to find some snow/ice, but I don't think that will happen this weekend. But I'll bring the extra set of wheels with the studded tires just incase.
 

kdxjr

Member
Jan 2, 2002
165
0
those small clear plastic bottles you get to put small amounts of shampoo in when you and your wife travel work well..I agree with the
guy above don't sweat it if your ratios are not right on.
 

tripdog7

Member
Oct 3, 2002
47
0
Thanks for the great info. I ended up getting a Rubbermaid juice box that holds 9.5 ounces, has a rubber seal and pour spout... it worked great. We rode near Mio TransAm, and stopped at the Pink Store to refuel. I just poured in 2 gallons and measued the amount of oil by lines I marked on the clear plastic container. I used to live in Seattle and same thing about stiff regulations for gas stations.... not sure why its different here. (no fume collectors on the pump handles)
I was joking about pre-mix at the pump! Must be nice in Europe. (I hear they have 2-stroke sport-bikes too!)
 

jmutiger

Member
Oct 10, 2001
169
0
If you click or cut and copy this link, you'll see the absolute best way to mix your gas:

http://www.maximausa.com/products/misc/mixbottle.asp

What I do is fill up my KDX to just about full, then say it's 8 litres, I go along the bottle and where it says 8 litres at 40:1, that's how much oil I use.

If you can subtract from 20, then you can store the oil in this bottle too, and it doesn't leak. Just don't put gas in it, it'll leak after a while if you do.

Jon!
 

andrew

Member
Aug 7, 1999
278
0
I use a baby-bottle - you know, the ones with the markings on the side and the rubber teat... The hold about 250 ml and with the teat reversed back inside the bottle they don't leak.
 

DVO

Member
Nov 3, 2001
231
0
As for containers, you can just use your imagination considering the maximum you may need. For the mix, I do the math in my head but we use the metric system up here and it's pretty simple. For my jerry can I made a little chart on the computer with litres on the left and the appropriate amount of oil on the right and for various mixtures. I plasticised it and tie-wrapped it to the handle of the j-can. You could always do the same and just keep the card in your tool kit or something of the sort. Just a thought. Good luck.
 
Top Bottom