looking to attach a fuel bottle outside the stock luggage for a long trip as back up, I found one model at twistedthrottle.com : anyone tried this ? any other suggestions ? thx
don't want to lose storage capacity and like the exterior mount. I do not want the big tank on the rear seat as I will have luggage as well there.
I've had them, but have finally decided to carry the fuel bottles inside my cases. Put some velcro on the bottles and some on the front inside corners of the cases to hold them upright. I have Gobi's but the concept should work with the Journey's.
So, looking at those fuel bottles makes me wonder just many extra miles do you really get out of them? You're getting 32 oz of fuel per container. So, you get 42-50 MPG depending on year, weight, and riding style. So you're getting about an extra 10 to 12 miles out of each.
Makes me wonder how useful they really are in the long run.
Ever been on a trail (yes...a TRAIL) on a Uly, having fun, and the light comes on? And GPS shows the nearest station further away than your reserve distance?
Ever go on a long ride in an area you KNOW doesn't have a lot of stations, and the reserve light doesn't always align with the stations that are there? (like, Blue Ridge Parkway)
Ever been riding with another rider who ran out of fuel?
Ever just wanted to know you had a "little extra", just in case?
Maybe I do need a new hobby though. Since I have not only a fuel bottle in a tube, but also a first aid kit in the other tube.
Oh. Wait. I did that because I've already been lying bleeding in a ditch once, without a kit. Maybe I just like to over-react
Very funny - if you can't plan on keeping fuel in your tank, maybe you need a new hobby.
You never have been in a remote area and gas stations are more sparse than you expected? Or possibly for some reason your fuel economy is much lower than usual? Gas light never malfunctioned? Weak battery made your Tripometer reset making you think you had more fuel than you do? Or on a carb bike, accidentally forget to move the knob to on from reserve?
What if your riding along and someone else was stuck due to no fuel for some various reason?
Just like a handgun, better to have it and not need it vs not having it and needing it
What if a belt lets go, a rear bearing goes out, stator, regulator, ECM, etc., etc., etc.
Out of those, the belt and bearings are small and easy to pack under the seat. Once I get enough miles on my 1125's, I will be swapping out belts and putting the used belts under the seat for the just in case.
Stators/regulators, ECM rarely fail, headlight bulbs fail more often. Like the Boyscout motto, be prepared. Just some basic precautions, and then you handle and situation the best you can.
quote:
I was just wondering if 10-12 miles really was enough. that's all.
Usually, yes, also if you are riding with me you are looking at about 20 miles per jug, 30 if I am on the Blast
Well, I was on a group ride this weekend and one of our peanut tanked brethren ran out of fuel (he left the reserve on, so he didn't have it when he needed it). An MSR bottle got him the few miles to the scheduled gas stop.
Where is the cheapest place to purchase a fuel bottle that fits? A few years ago in the South East all of a sudden all the gas stations were out of gas. Came as a big suprise.
There are a couple vendors that sell MSR knock-offs on Ebay, but I have heard the new MSR's have the best leakproof cap.
I have the tool tube on my sled, but until I get full bags on my XT, I don't see a need to mount it on there yet. It takes little room riding in side the bag and does not leak. (now that I have jinxed myself......)
Also, note my misadventure last weekend through upstate new york.
The irony was that I was going to pick-up sme tool tubes to carry spare gas... when I ran out of gas, due to a fuel light malfunction. which degenerated due to bad gas.
Pso, check around at places like REI, and sporting good stores that sell backpacking stoves. Back when I still used liquid stoves, the MSR stuff was top notch. They even replaced the fuel line on my stove on a voluntary recall, w/ a stainless braided line. MSR, by the way stands for Mountain safty Research, so they tend to be sticklers about quality. No Im not affiliated in any way...
I was ordering some stuff from CampMor this weekend so I added two of them to my order since that brought me over $100 and qualified me for free shipping. $19.95 seems to be the standard price online for them.
Put two tool tubes on the Uly using nothing but zip ties, and they just quietly disappeared... which is really nice. So now the tools and tire patch kit and pump are all sealed up in there. If I need them, I just cut up the zip ties and pull them out.
Which reminds me, I still need to add a first aid kit and one of those little survival blankets, and maybe a couple of tire irons... though plan A for a puncture is use the sticky ropes to get to a place with real tools.
I thought you meant they fell off and were lost on the road.
The smaller ones might be good for behind the license plate. Somebody fit 2 of the larger ones back there, but he needed to cut it down a bit. these may be perfect from the get go. Edit: Upon further inspection, the small ones are actually longer than the original, just skinnier.
I have 4 tubes, I love my tubes. Some laugh, until they need something in them. 2 have tools, 1 has jumper cables, and electrical tools and supplies. 1 being used as a water bottle holder, still have not got the MSR bottle. First aid kit I usually put in my soft tail bag, don't have a good bottle to put it all in yet.
I think I'm going to take out the tools in one of the tubes to fit the MSR bottle, not sure. I like having the easy access one for a water bottle.
I have two behind the racks, and two under the licence plate. I run with out the side bags a lot, so didn't mount them there. The ones under the plate fit well. I made bracket set-up for the one on the rack cross bar, looks ugly but works, and I didn't have to trim much. The other one, I screwed to the two lower screws just above the reflector.
Note on the MSR bottles. You can find cheaper bottles. The Bruntons are a little cheaper. But keep in mind the MSR bottles are made here in America, are top notch, and are worth the extra $ IMO.
Oh, sorry about that! I meant I filled them with tools, hooked them in, and utterly forgot about them until a couple days ago when I was looking at something else on the back and remembered they were still there. Oh yeah! I did put those on!
So it's the perfect tool setup... stuff them full of things you will rarely need and want with you, but don't want to worry about. Some of those tools have been carried around more then 60,000 motorcycle miles now, and never been used. I'll be happy if they go another 60k miles without being used, but they are there if I need them.
For mounting, I kept the big tab near the cap with the three holes. Those get zip tied to the rear frame support towards the back of the bike. The tail light assembly will keep you from removing the cap (or keep the cap from removing itself completely) unless you cut off the tubes.... so it is a "break glass before using" type thing. $1 worth of zip ties, and a 5 minute installation, so not a big deal.
For the other smaller end of the tube, away from the screw on cap, I used an angle grinder to cut off the mounting tab so it sits higher under the wheel. Then I used a few more zip ties to strap the body of the tube to the luggage racks. You have to be careful at this point that the tube ends up in a place that doesn't interfere with the bags going on and off... not hard, but you want the bags on there when you do it to make sure you don't create a problem.
So they are all mounted up, and if you weren't looking for them, you wouldn't even know they are there. That's a lot of nice invisible storage space for $10 worth of luggage.
From a durability standpoint, I don't think it would hold up on my KDX for aggressive trail riding (which in my case, means a lot of falling over and dragging things out of the mud ).