Adding 5 more gallons to your gas supply.
 

Before our first Iron Butt ride last year I had a great idea. What would it take to add 5 more gallons to the BMW without setting a beer keg on the back seat. Having a brother who works sheet metal and such, I asked him to weld up two 2.5 tanks that would fit inside of my hard saddle bags. The right side tank has the filler neck and the main feed on the bottom left. Went to the auto parts store and picked up a small electric fuel pump. From the fuel pump it goes to the fuel by-pass line which goes into the tank. After all the hoses were in place time for a test. I put gas in the tanks and hit the switch located in the AUX position in the dash. It Works.

During the Iron Butt ride my dad riding a ST1300 had a 7 ish gallon tank and was very proud of not needing gas every 125 miles, like someone on a LITTLE 636:sorry: Now having a range of about 480 miles, I would show dad that at 375 I still had about 3 gallons or half a tank. It wasn't until the next stop did he find out about the hidden tanks in the saddle bags.

Awesome:dthumb:

So does it draw equally from the saddle bag tanks?
Otherwise it would throw off balance would it not?

Great idea tho... but I like stopping every 140 or so miles, for a streach at least.

The feeder from the right tank to the left tank is 1/2" fuel line. Line to the tank from the left tank is 3/8". Going down the road you could never tell. It was cool riding down the road and watch your fuel gauge go up.

now im lucky to get 100mpt

Don't you mean miles per tank???

or did you mean 10 mpg :lol:

I wished mine had a bit more range... I get 170ish in town... I'm hope'n to push that to 230ish on the trip down to Indy... I've thought about try'n something like this but it's beyond my skill

:dthumb:

I get 180-190 per tank. Fine with me. How's that extra slosh factor?

:nopicsbs:

Thart's all cool and what not, but how many other guys are usually on the iron butt rides with you? Don't you have to stop for gas with them anyway?

I do stop with them, but on other IBA rides it's nice to go 300 to 400 miles. for the most part it was to watch dad's face when he found out the other tanks.

Understood. :lol:

Also how safe do you think they are going to be if ya crash?? but other than that it sounds sweet, I wish I could get more than 120 miles between fill ups.

no worse then crashing and denting your gas tank, actually might be better since its inside a hard bag

But its still more opportunity for gas to spill out and make a bad situation a whole lot worse.

nice-!

i wouldnt worry about the tanks in a crash, just be sure youre flung far away. :idk:

Even though a crash can happen at any time on a bike, when I have them installed I'm loaded with other gear and I try to keep the knee, elbow and valve cover dragin to min.

As long as they're coated inside and have a good seal on the filler and any tubes I don't see that it's different from a normal gas tank. Aluminum inside leather should be pretty tough. You might consider adding some thin foam around it though.

Highside... FTW?

If I had a nickle for everytime I heard that one..... I would have a nickle.

:beers:

Did you leave any room in there for carrying anything you needed? Are the tanks removable or are they completely welded in?

The bags can be removed and the tanks can be removed from the bag. So if I don't need the extra gas I can remove the tanks. If the tanks are in, I just put an overnight bag on the back seat if need be.