Reserve fuel tank? By silverfox96 (Read 4,738 times)

[silverfox96]

Hi fellas, and ladies! I've been googling for an aftermarket reserve fuel tank with no success at all! I'd like to mount something like a 1 or 2 quart bottle/tank under my seat, with a manual petcock/switch that I could just turn, if and when my main fuel tank runs out on a trip. Just something that would get me another 25 or 30 miles, if I run out of gas in the boonies somewhere! Has anyone had any experience with this? I'm open to any and all ideas and appreciate any info you might have. Thanks!

[Bashan]

Hi Silverfox96, hope this finds you and yours doing well. The unfortunate thing about fuel tanks is they must meet federal guidelines for safety which jacks the price up. When I was looking for an auxillary tank the best site I could find was Just Gas Tanks. One of the items I thought would be particularly useful was the gas bladder:

These are collapsible, take up very little room, and could be mounted almost anywhere.

Then they have the handlebar mount which would get things out of the way if you had a naked front end :

justgastanks.com/images/a3c834afc8cc6b94a07f1d60494c5e76.jpg

[/img][/center]

They also have a really nice back rack tank that might be the best for a scooter:

My personal favorite though is Coyote Gear.

Click on image for link to site

This is a one man operation and he does just beautiful work with aluminum tanks. He will build custom designed just for your scooter or has several standard models to choose from. Here is the one I puchased installed on my Frankenscoot:

Rich[/b]

[straightbangin]

Wow great devices bashan. They are like gas flasks LOL. If you wanted to go cheap you could probably just strap one of those red emergency gas containers to the back of your scooter. Im sure it would look silly unless you could find one that fits inside one of those trunk attachments

[silverfox96]

I don't think I want to go with one of those red plastic gas cans fastened to the back of my scoot, though. It looks as if it's going to be one of the custom tanks. I believe that a 4" diameter 8" long tank will do exactly what I want. That should give me approximately 1/2 gallon, or a bit less. Just enough to get me to a station to fill up. But you're right, Bashan, It's not gonna be cheap! Thanks, Bashan and Straightbangin.

[new2scooters]

Jan 5, 2012 9:05:34 GMT -6 silverfox96 said:

Hi fellas, and ladies! I've been googling for an aftermarket reserve fuel tank with no success at all! I'd like to mount something like a 1 or 2 quart bottle/tank under my seat, with a manual petcock/switch that I could just turn, if and when my main fuel tank runs out on a trip. Just something that would get me another 25 or 30 miles, if I run out of gas in the boonies somewhere! Has anyone had any experience with this? I'm open to any and all ideas and appreciate any info you might have. Thanks!

If you wanted to stay on the inexpensive side of fuel storage add-ons you could use a backpacking fuel storage bottle. An example can be seen here: www.rei.com/product/783963/msr-fuel-bottle-with-crp-cap-30-fl-oz I used one similiar to the photo when I was doing long distance bicycle touring. Never leaked and I always had spare fuel available for the stove to cook on...I used a 1 pint storage bottle and it fit in a spare water bottle holder perfectly. They are available in 1 quart sizes also. Plus it always was a conversation starter when I'd pull into a gas station on my loaded touring bicycle and fill up.

[Bashan]

I know a lot of state troopers here in 'Bama and had asked them about hooking up one of those red tote gas cans as an auxillary tank. They all said if they pull you over and see something like that which does not meet code your bike will be towed and you will get a ticket. Then they told me some grisly horror stories about some of those cans exploding which I will not go into. Rich

[silverfox96]

Exactly why I'm not interested in carrying gasoline in one of those storage cans on my scoot. I keep a couple of cans (those red plastic ones) of gas in the garage for the lawnmowers, during the summer. I've never had one of them explode in the garage, but one one occasion during the mowing of my lawn, I left the gas can sit on the sidewalk in the back yard, while mowing. I though it would save a bit of a walk to the garage for refueling. After about 30 minutes in the sun with temps close to 90 the lid blew off the can and shot gas everywhere over a 12 to 15 foot radius. Sure don't want that happening under my seat or in my trunk!

[jct842]

now that you mention it I have had a red plastic can spray gas at me when I opened it too. in fact I have several that are all misshapen from pressure and one that is caved in from vacuum from when gas cooled. these are permanent shape changes too. apparently gas expanding and cooling makes for huge volume changes.

one big deal on a second gas tank is the level of gas being different can be a problem for spilling if your not carefull with a valve set up.

[mike6736]

I just gas up my Honda every 150 - 180 miles and not chance running out

Mike

[89newbie]

Thanks for the tip on the red tanks, all these years I have never had a problem, but then again Ihave never trusted gasoline and have kept the cans in the shade to minimize evaporation. LOL I was a gas fitter with a master license for natural gas and propane, and I nave never trusted gasoline at all, too many variables with temperature expansion and volatility.