EricV
Riding, farkling, riding...
2011 Site Supporter
2012 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
While I have posted pics before, I don't think I ever really did a separate thread on my expanded fuel tank. So here goes. It's been a couple years since I got this made up and I'll try to give some back ground and what was done. I've spent 30 years as a machinist and have a diverse variety of manufacturing and fabrication skills myself, but did not have access to the equipment needed for this job, or the specific skills in welding thin wall sheet metal.
This is what I ended up with. There are no issues seeing the instruments over the tank bag. I am 5'11" with a 31" inseam for perspective. The tank bag is a Bags Connection 'City' bag on their quick release fuel cap ring.
I have been using a fuel cell of some kind on my bikes since around 2003. For the 2011 IBR a good friend Ernie Azevedo offered to make me a fuel cell for my Super Tenere. Ernie has made other cells and is a fantastic welder and machinist with his own shop and business. https://eazcycle.com/ The 4.8 Gal fuel gravity feed, flat bed design fuel cell he made me worked flawlessly and I used it for several years. (forum link on that HERE but the pictures all expired.)The wife was riding a F650GS twin with a fuel cell of her own. When she upgraded to a R1200GSA with a 7.9 Gal tank it became a situation where when we did a gas stop I would need to add a couple gallons to my fuel cell to match her range, or if I filled up the cell and my main tank, I had significantly more range than she did and would have to pay attention to when she needed gas. Easy to forget about if you don't need any for a couple hundred more miles.
I had seen other expanded Super Tenere tanks already. Jaxon Fife of RideOnADV has made a few and his are things of beauty. I started thinking it would just be nice to have the same range as the wife's GSA w/o the cell and also that would give me a bit more room for camping gear on the back of my bike. I scored a used OEM tank in perfect condition off ebay for around $225 with shipping. It was stripped of bolt on parts, so I picked up the side tank mount brackets, but was planning on swapping over my gas cap assy and fuel pump. The tank was black, which matched my '12 S10, but that was really moot, since it would need to be stripped for the welding.
I contacted RideOnADV and discussed cost and his work is truly outstanding, but just was a bit more $$$ than I wanted to spend on the project. So I picked up the phone and started calling local welding shops in St George, UT where I lived at the time. No one wanted to take it on, or would at an even higher cost. A few days later I noticed a business card on the wall at the local ACE hardware for a welding shop that I had not called. Stark Welding. I took a card and called Nathan Harker, the owner, the following day. He was interested enough that he wanted to take a look at the bike and discuss the possibilities. He had a guy that was very good at thin wall steel welding and his own skill set was broad with brazing, metal fab and welding skills for gas, Mig, Tig and more.
I strapped the used tank to the back of the bike and rode over to Stark Welding's shop in the neighboring city of Washington, UT off E. Washington Dam Rd. Nathan came out and we discussed the shape of the tank, my goals and clearance issues, etc. After some consideration he gave me a $500 price. I pointed out some of the issues like making new vent lines and re-brazing them in and the un-known issues that always come up on fabrication projects and told him I wanted him to be happy with the price, but didn't want the price to keep changing. He assured me that what ever price we agreed upon would be The Price. After some further consideration, he decided that $600 was more in line and I agreed to that price. He thought he could get it done in a couple of weeks if no other large projects came in.
I left the tank and we agreed that he would call me when he had it sectioned and tacked together so we could check for clearance issues before continuing. We had already discussed where to section the OE tank and add metal. I left most of the how and what angle to him, only giving my suggestions based on what volume and what had been done by others on Super Tenere tanks.
About week later Nathan called me to have me come out with the bike so we could check on things. I rode over and removed the stock tank from my bike so we could place the tank in process on it.
At this point it has been sectioned along the top and raised, as well as being sectioned lower, but not yet raised. It became clear that the Rox fixed 1 1/4" up/back risers would not be sufficient to give clearance for a larger tank than this. I also felt that this would not be enough volume for my needs. I let Nathan know that I could get taller, adjustable Rox risers and that we needed to bring the top level up a bit more and raise the lower level up as initially planned and we discussed various angles.
Next call I got was about 3 weeks later. He'd had some other large jobs come in and had to back burner my tank for a while. I understood as he is a small shop. I went over and we talked some more about the vent lines and agreed that the cleanest method would be to make new lines from steel fuel line or brake line. This meant un-brazing the factory lines, (which had been cut during the sectioning process earlier), fabbing new lines with the correct bends for the new size tank, then brazing them back in. Not a process for the feint of heart working on a thin, sectioned and welded tank. Trying to keep the metal from warping due to the heat is part of the challenge along with getting a perfect seal everywhere on brazing and welding.
About a week later Nathan called again and I went over with the bike. The tank was finished! He told me about all the fun he had. He really wanted it to look nice, but ever time he tried to grind welds to smooth them out more he ended up causing leaks and would have to re-weld. I assured him I was truly a form follows function kind of guy and much more concerned about it working well and not leaking than looking pretty.
Here is what it looked like when I brought it home.
Yeah, it's a little blocky/chunky.
This is what I ended up with. There are no issues seeing the instruments over the tank bag. I am 5'11" with a 31" inseam for perspective. The tank bag is a Bags Connection 'City' bag on their quick release fuel cap ring.
I have been using a fuel cell of some kind on my bikes since around 2003. For the 2011 IBR a good friend Ernie Azevedo offered to make me a fuel cell for my Super Tenere. Ernie has made other cells and is a fantastic welder and machinist with his own shop and business. https://eazcycle.com/ The 4.8 Gal fuel gravity feed, flat bed design fuel cell he made me worked flawlessly and I used it for several years. (forum link on that HERE but the pictures all expired.)The wife was riding a F650GS twin with a fuel cell of her own. When she upgraded to a R1200GSA with a 7.9 Gal tank it became a situation where when we did a gas stop I would need to add a couple gallons to my fuel cell to match her range, or if I filled up the cell and my main tank, I had significantly more range than she did and would have to pay attention to when she needed gas. Easy to forget about if you don't need any for a couple hundred more miles.
I had seen other expanded Super Tenere tanks already. Jaxon Fife of RideOnADV has made a few and his are things of beauty. I started thinking it would just be nice to have the same range as the wife's GSA w/o the cell and also that would give me a bit more room for camping gear on the back of my bike. I scored a used OEM tank in perfect condition off ebay for around $225 with shipping. It was stripped of bolt on parts, so I picked up the side tank mount brackets, but was planning on swapping over my gas cap assy and fuel pump. The tank was black, which matched my '12 S10, but that was really moot, since it would need to be stripped for the welding.
I contacted RideOnADV and discussed cost and his work is truly outstanding, but just was a bit more $$$ than I wanted to spend on the project. So I picked up the phone and started calling local welding shops in St George, UT where I lived at the time. No one wanted to take it on, or would at an even higher cost. A few days later I noticed a business card on the wall at the local ACE hardware for a welding shop that I had not called. Stark Welding. I took a card and called Nathan Harker, the owner, the following day. He was interested enough that he wanted to take a look at the bike and discuss the possibilities. He had a guy that was very good at thin wall steel welding and his own skill set was broad with brazing, metal fab and welding skills for gas, Mig, Tig and more.
I strapped the used tank to the back of the bike and rode over to Stark Welding's shop in the neighboring city of Washington, UT off E. Washington Dam Rd. Nathan came out and we discussed the shape of the tank, my goals and clearance issues, etc. After some consideration he gave me a $500 price. I pointed out some of the issues like making new vent lines and re-brazing them in and the un-known issues that always come up on fabrication projects and told him I wanted him to be happy with the price, but didn't want the price to keep changing. He assured me that what ever price we agreed upon would be The Price. After some further consideration, he decided that $600 was more in line and I agreed to that price. He thought he could get it done in a couple of weeks if no other large projects came in.
I left the tank and we agreed that he would call me when he had it sectioned and tacked together so we could check for clearance issues before continuing. We had already discussed where to section the OE tank and add metal. I left most of the how and what angle to him, only giving my suggestions based on what volume and what had been done by others on Super Tenere tanks.
About week later Nathan called me to have me come out with the bike so we could check on things. I rode over and removed the stock tank from my bike so we could place the tank in process on it.
At this point it has been sectioned along the top and raised, as well as being sectioned lower, but not yet raised. It became clear that the Rox fixed 1 1/4" up/back risers would not be sufficient to give clearance for a larger tank than this. I also felt that this would not be enough volume for my needs. I let Nathan know that I could get taller, adjustable Rox risers and that we needed to bring the top level up a bit more and raise the lower level up as initially planned and we discussed various angles.
Next call I got was about 3 weeks later. He'd had some other large jobs come in and had to back burner my tank for a while. I understood as he is a small shop. I went over and we talked some more about the vent lines and agreed that the cleanest method would be to make new lines from steel fuel line or brake line. This meant un-brazing the factory lines, (which had been cut during the sectioning process earlier), fabbing new lines with the correct bends for the new size tank, then brazing them back in. Not a process for the feint of heart working on a thin, sectioned and welded tank. Trying to keep the metal from warping due to the heat is part of the challenge along with getting a perfect seal everywhere on brazing and welding.
About a week later Nathan called again and I went over with the bike. The tank was finished! He told me about all the fun he had. He really wanted it to look nice, but ever time he tried to grind welds to smooth them out more he ended up causing leaks and would have to re-weld. I assured him I was truly a form follows function kind of guy and much more concerned about it working well and not leaking than looking pretty.
Here is what it looked like when I brought it home.
Yeah, it's a little blocky/chunky.
Attachments
Last edited:
