He Says - The Fuel Tank Dilemma.

Well the frenzy has died down a bit, and every waking moment is no longer being consumed by thoughts about the trip. I only think about it every 12 seconds (the 10-second mark is historically taken). The web site has stalled a bit, we have the general concept set up, it is just the technical side of thing that turned out to be a hassle, what will work in one browser will not working in the next and vise-versa so much for WYSIWYG programming (the geeks will understand this one). Savings wise we are doing well and are more then on track to make our goals, conservation organisation alliance has not even started. Anubis’s preparations have also hit a slight snag and that is the core of this post.

Although there is great debate over "Do Overlanders really need to carry extra fuel or not". Some saying that there is no real need these day, with petrol (literally) driving the world you can always find some. Others say that sometimes the distances are further then your average bike’s range, so you need it. Still others say that carrying a small jerry can, is all you need to do to be safe enough. I personally think that there is truth to all of these opinions but being a bit on the better safe then sorry persuasion, I have decided to install a bigger tank. This will give us the extra fuel /range when we need it and it will not take up luggage space like a jerry can will.

The OEM tank on the Africa Twin is 23l, which gives a range (to dry while two-up-fully loaded) of 195miles (314km) on the nose while on UK highways @70-80mph). This, by the way, turns out to be exactly 4.8miles (7.7km) before the petrol station where you where planning on filling up.

So the search began (well in truth I have been looking at tanks for years) but I digress. Companies like Touratech and African Queens both sell oversized tanks at outrageous prices, African Queens being the cheaper option (slightly) and having the wider range of sizes.

Looking at what was available from African Queens, I realised that I could go either rear-tanks (heck-tanks) or “normal”. The rear tanks have the advantage of having the added weight spread over the bike, which is prefect for rallies. However for touring, the majority of luggage (weight) is already in the rear, thus negating the spreading out factor. Plus the pannier- racks would also have be modified (widened), thereby making the bike much wider, this would defeat all the work I did to narrow the pannier system in the first place. So rear (or heck) tanks are perfect for rallies but they did not meet my needs (this time).

So “normal” style tank it is. African Queens offered the super-tanker size of 56lt (2.5x bigger then the OEM tank), frankly it looks silly, it is way to big and would make the already heavy bike way to heavy. Next choice was 45l, still very big and heavy and I could not see the need for a 400+ theoretical range. Both these tanks have the added disadvantage that you must also change the fairings and seat so an extra expense.

Then I saw a 36l tank at the 2007 HU meet. It looked like a normal tank, the bike was the same size the faring and the seat were the OEM ones, Perfect! The 36l was reported to give a rage of 350miles (two-up-fully-loaded), and the calculated range was still 310miles, good enough! This seemed like the perfect compromise, but at over €1000.00 from African Queens it was still an outrageous price, plus there were still some modifications that I would want done. Maybe jerry cans are the way to go?

Well by the power of the internet, I found the company that actually makes them for African Queens: Boana Moto racing sports. They sell the tanks and will make the modifications that I wanted for about half the price that African Queens wanted for the stock unit. Prefect! Although they are in Italy they speak perfect English and were more then helpful. I placed my order. I was told at the time that the tank will not be ready for about 6 weeks due to the requested modifications. I saw nothing wrong with this, as it was me changing things after all. To my surprise it arrived in about two and a half weeks time. The tank itself was a work of art, although fibreglass (GRP) it was smooth as silk, and the modifications were perfect. The tank is 50% bigger then the stock tank and being GPR weights about half, bigger bonus. The only problem was that I needed to buy a second fuel tap as my OEM tank only has one. Well I emailed Boano simply to ask what size thread they used and they told me that they would send me both Taps that I need free. So far customer service has been outstanding!

Well all was not roses, Honda will not sell me the OEM decals that I needed to make the tank look like an OEM one. And so I had to search all over the place to find a vinyl printer that could make them for me with out charging an arm and a leg. I eventually found a company called The Image Works (UK) that would print the decals at a very reasonable price. They did a great job and now everything is set. All I need to do is paint or get it painted and fit it.

Well still not all roses! Over the weekend I was removing a bad organ (see next post) and so had Anubis in parts, so I attempted to place to new tank on.. It does not fit. My crash bars are too narrow, although it is only by a few mm it is enough to render the bars useless in an off and to make the tank not fit. So now I am searching for more appropriate bars. This was not an expense that we counted on, and neither of us are happy but truly it is only my fault. Their may be a sliver lining, from a company called overland solutions, but that is an other thread if it works out... Stay tuned for He-Says - The Crash bars!