I've used the Safari Tank for years and its a quality bit of kit, although granted it is expensive. Probably 70 or 80% of DR650's in Aus have the safari tank fitted - everyone who uses the DR for adv riding at home uses it as its the only tank which gives enough range for heading out into the sticks in Aus. Its marketed as 30l but its more like 32 from new, and it will swell as it ages. Our 2 now fit about 35-36l in them. Reserve is about 4l or so, although it seems to vary from tank to tank for some reason, I think it has to do with how they swell.
Pro's:
- Its big, its the only real option when going remote.
- The tanks are very strong - ours have been dropped numerous times and are fine. Of all my mates at home, I've never heard of one of these things being punctured or split.
- The tank gives a bit of wind protection for the legs.
Con's:
- When about 2/3's full the fuel does slosh around in technical terrain, but you get used to it. If you grip the tank with your knees it negates it and its fine. (For the record, petrol has a density of around 0.75 to 0.8 depending on quality so 30l is about 23-24kgs, not 30).
- The petcocks aren't great. I've had friends who have some weeps when turning to reserve, although it seals again when its turned. I pretty sure Acerbis use the same brand (OMG - the brand, not the the acronym) petcocks.
- I've read of people have trouble fitting these but I never had any trouble with my two - straight bolt up. A good trick is to drill a hole in the tongue which locates the seat. This allows you to lever the tank with a screwdriver and get the two bolts to line up easier.
- With the standard BST40 carb, you have to rotate the fuel inlet barb to empty the tank. The standard barb points upwards and the resulting loop in the fuel line means the line ends up higher than the petcock and you won't be able to empty the tank fully. Best thing to do is to remove the carb, then carefully rotate the barb with a shifter. Be careful though, people have twisted the barb when doing this. Mine were fine - i did it carefully and made sure it was twisting at the inlet and rotated the barb, not twisting the barb itself. A better solution is to replace the BST40 with a TM40 pumper which has a rotating inlet barb which solves this issue!
- when full, the extra weight loads up the front of the bike. Some HD fork springs are really needed. Depending on rider weight and the way you like to ride, somewhere between 0.47 and 0.55 is about right.
Cheers, Mick
Topic: safari feul tank?!?!? (Read 1305 times)
