Fuel availability!

[daryl]

Captain - mates in Oz use fuel bladders that they strap down over their soft luggage. I believe the brand of choice is Liquid Containment (refer link: Liquid Containment) as they come in various sizes from 2 litres upwards, are reasonably priced (starting from AUD$80 = £50) and are already fitted with tie down loops.


I hired cheap Chinese bikes in Mongolia last July and rode just short of 3,000km and never had difficulty finding fuel within each 250km. This was mostly on the Mongolian "B" roads - ie they appeared on the map, most times hmy: Only on one occasion did we have difficulty where they had run out of fuel and this was actually on the main road to Moron but was quite near a large Nadaam festival (likely cause of the shortage). Luckily there were stations further down the road within 50km that had fuel.

I can't speak of Western Mongolia or other countries that you will cross.

Sounds like a great trip! (thumbs)

Slightly off topic, but do you have any more info about the Mongolia trip? (where you hired from / what it cost etc)

[captinktm]

A gallon fuel can strapped on luggage...

But ponder this..you can do 350k then another 100k but you push it and still run out....when riding innthe wilderness its always touch and go...

This of course is the real problem, but experience as show me that if you have ridden 200 km from the last petrol station/civilisation and you can not find a way through or may be over the mountains to the next marked fuel, then you must double back to the last know fuel. If you had a max of 350 this would mean turning back a lot sooner and I have found that this often means missing out on some good routes. In Turkey I would dump fuel in the mountains so that while out on the exc I could make it across. When in Romania I spent 3 days on the ridge of the Carpathian mountains and then the only reason I had to find a way down was to get more fuel. But as you say this is always going to be the case at some point, I just want the point to be father apart.

[92kk k100lt 193214]

I also find the same especially as sometimes I like to travel at night when its either cooler or traffic is lighter and places are not always open.

I have looked at fabricating an under seat tank for the K100, in place of the battery [change it to LI or gel] and by relocating the Injection Control Unit.

I can get about 7 litres in the available space but the true or usable gain is more. The main tank is 22 litre but you kind of use max 17-18 litres. By adding the under seat tank its possible to go for an outside tank fuel pump and filter. It avoids any modifications at all to the original tank pipes or wiring all which simply remains in situ. Thus out of the now 29 litres its then possible to use about 28 of this, a very significant gain of almost 50% before anxiety kicks in and no messing about. My only disadvantage is that it would have to be taken out to remove the starter motor or alternator but simple connections will make that possible and they don't come out often anyway.

Aluminium welded construction with very simple in and out spigots to the same diameter as the existing connections is my preferred option and a fabricator will do it reasonable if you can either give important because you can shape it out of polystyrene so you can be sure it will fit.

[micksea]

If you are using the kriega 15 litre soft panniers then a rotopax can fits inside them taking up approximately half the capacity.just leave your spare socks at home (thumbs)

[captinktm]

I also find the same especially as sometimes I like to travel at night when its either cooler or traffic is lighter and places are not always open.

I have looked at fabricating an under seat tank for the K100, in place of the battery [change it to LI or gel] and by relocating the Injection Control Unit.

I can get about 7 litres in the available space but the true or usable gain is more. The main tank is 22 litre but you kind of use max 17-18 litres. By adding the under seat tank its possible to go for an outside tank fuel pump and filter. It avoids any modifications at all to the original tank pipes or wiring all which simply remains in situ. Thus out of the now 29 litres its then possible to use about 28 of this, a very significant gain of almost 50% before anxiety kicks in and no messing about. My only disadvantage is that it would have to be taken out to remove the starter motor or alternator but simple connections will make that possible and they don't come out often anyway.

Aluminium welded construction with very simple in and out spigots to the same diameter as the existing connections is my preferred option and a fabricator will do it reasonable if you can either give important because you can shape it out of polystyrene so you can be sure it will fit.

Now that's a bloody good idea, shape it out of polystyrene first I don't why I did n't think of that as back in the day i cast (rom ali) a bike shaped clock using polystyrene to make the shape in the sand mold which then of course evaporates when the hot metal is pored in. Thanks for kick starting the old brain.

[DaleC]

Slightly off topic, but do you have any more info about the Mongolia trip? (where you hired from / what it cost etc)

We hired from Cheke at Cheke Tours (www.cheketours.com). She has about 30 or so Shineray Mustang 150 and hires them for €13 per day. She is based right near the airport in Ulaanbaatar Airport.

Do google "Cheke Tours" for mixed reviews on Horizons Unlimited and advrider.com - to be sure that you know what you are getting yourself in for! Some people haven taken the bikes back after 1 day while we lasted 3 weeks but were more travelling sedately than riding enduro! We were also aware that these bikes are something like €600 new and rode them accordingly!

Apologies for the thread hijack....

[minkyhead]

my only thought was when gordon went to mezuga he had a a full braap 44 litre tank ..but he ended up not filling it as it was far to heavy ...a auxilery underseat tank makes far more sense ..but a 40l fuel load is a fair few kgms whichever way you jump

IMG_3910 by minkyhead56, on Flickr[/img]

[Redmurty]

I used to worry :pinch: now I just carry a screw driver and a can :whistle:

cheers Spud

[qcnr]

:laugh: :laugh:
Those fuel bladders look good. As soon as you have emptied the fuel into your tank,
they stow away quite small. Just roll it up with the top undone, then do it up and
a tiny roll to hide away untill the next fuel stop.
2 7.5l filled with about 5l each, should give usefull extra range.