Yes, changing the way you are using the bike directly and pretty drastically changes the range and that is what makes the range indicator so useful at low remain ranges- it responds in real time to how the bike is being used at the moment.
The ECU knows both how much fuel is in the bike but also at what rate that fuel is being used because it is the ECU that is actually using the fuel. The ECU uses the 'current mileage' function coupled with the amount of fuel to constantly change the range displayed. If you have a gallon of fuel and are currently getting 40 MPH then you have 40 miles of range (obviously) but the moment you change the way you are using that fuel, both the current mileage and the range displays will change to accurately reflect that change. The typical thing that happens is that we slow down and the range increases; we can adjust our speed to change (increase of course) our range based on the currently displayed range.
Of course I am selling a device to allow the range device to be used after the low fuel level is reached but only because I have found it useful for my own use on my own bike. When the tank is near full the range indicator IS inaccurate but to be honest, who really cares? The difference in 20 or 30 miles of range when there is 200+ is really not useful, at least to me. But the range indicator is pretty darned accurate at low fuel levels and reflects real world, current usage conditions so it is a much more useful tool near the empty end of the tank rather than at the full end.
All of that said, of course it is only an estimate and I would not dare trust it down to, say, 3 miles remaining. I have had the range function read 7 miles and the bike was still running when I pulled into a fuel station but I would not have passed that station; I had my wife with me and no additional fuel and I cannot even begin to tell you how much she hates walking back to a fuel station carrying a fuel can. :-)
I will strap on a quart or so of spare fuel, run the bike down to -0- on the range function and see how accurate it really is this summer. I would not normally do this as it can be hard on fuel pumps but fortunately I have several laying around from the development phase of the low fuel warning development phase that let out some smoke
Brian
I don't have any numbers for you Brian but it's just the nature of the beast. If you baby the bike when your low on fuel you'll go a lot further than if you beat on it right? I always reset my 'A' odo when I fuel up so I 'almost always' know how far I can go once the low fuel warning comes on.
