What's the tank off of and how old izzit?
I like that.. I missed how big it is, too..

Don't know if ya can see the metal flake ?     I put a light flake and the first coat of clear today ....

Next start with the decals !

Black ,   the metal flake is silverish and makes it look lighter in pictures than it really is .    I put some decals on today .   Plus 6 coats of clear high gloss Polyurethane .    Same thing on both sides .

Black!  Good answer!  

It looks a little metallic in the pics. I guess that's the metal flake.

Here are my hard bags mounted, 3/8" off the shocks as per the list's group mind, giving enough room to put my tent and my chair over the aluminum rails inboard of the bags.

Since this is my long distance Barcalounger, I will NOT be dragging the bags on the pavement in the mountains ..... I have a Savage for that sort of action.

          Really, I won't do that on purpose, ever .......   This is my laid back purty long distance bike.

LED turn signals are "extra bright" and are "high power draw" enough to operate the flasher system and are big and bright enough to be noticeable in the daylight.  

Still seems a little bit wimpy to me, but I am biased that way, I guess.

Next steps are to get it insured and inspected, then start playing around with the fuel system.   Since what I am doing with fuel is a one-off system I would want it to be easily removable for yearly inspection purposes.    

People who hard mount commercial aluminum keg based fuel systems still get some occasional grief come inspection time, so I think I don't want that hassle "built into" my bike in any non-removable way.   I think I want my jugs to just pop out of the bags after cutting off the cut-off valve in the fuel lines and pulling the fuel line off the cut-off valve's barb.  

This way I can run one adder jug or two adder jugs, depending on if I need more storage or would rather have an extra 2.6 gallons of gas per jug.  

This gives me the ready choice of 3.2 gallons in the tank, or 5.8 gallons by adding one jug, or a whopping 8.4 gallons of gas capacity when adding two jugs.    

I figure 8.6 gallons total capacity counting the main tank's 0.2 gal reserve and the volume of gas sitting in the new fuel filter, lines, existing fuel pump and cut-off valves.

I expect the fuel sloshes in the aluminum containers, making some slap/ringing noises.    My slosh will be gas on plastic and it will be inside the saddle bags, where it will be muted to a large degree.

Part of what I envision is a small diameter nylon tube with a needle valve (yup, basketball football needle valve) penetrating the top of the carry handle of the gas jug (press fit to the tiny hole).   This gives me a way to vent fumes out of the saddle bags down to the pavement, along with whatever tiny bits of liquid make the same journey.   It also allows the jugs to breathe instead of getting suction locked.

I was considering venting the fumes into the air box, but in case of a "operator error" type flow control mistake I'd rather the gas flow be out where I can see it rather than quietly filling up the air box.  

I have 3 caps, one virgin and two drilled for a fuel line.  

Tested my fuel pump and it will transfer gas under pressure up a clear line all the way to my garage door opener track overhead before I hurriedly cut the thing off.

Bottom of the bag is on the same level as the entry and exit ports of the fuel pump, so the only heavy lifting the fuel pump has to do is provide some suction for the last inch or so in the jugs.   Max lift required is 1-2 inches, well within the rated air suction capacity of the fuel pump.

Priming the system (filling up the lines) is easy as the bottom of the gas tank is even with the top of the jugs.   I can back flush from the gas tank into the jugs to force clear all air bubbles from the system.

Standard drill for use will be turn on both jugs and fill up the main tank while it is also running into the jugs clearing out all air bubbles.   Once you know the lines are flushed, cut off the main tank, fill it completely and put the cap back on.

Now fill up the bag jugs and cap them.   The bag cut-off taps remain on as this is the gas you will be pulling from first.

Now run until you get a sputter choke event when a jug goes empty.   Then turn on the main tank and let it backflow into the jugs, clearing out all the air bubbles.   Then go looking for some gas, having 100+ miles of remaining range to do so.    When you arrive, you should still be air line void free, so just fill 'er on up.

Put insurance on the Barcalounger today, plan to put tags on it this upcoming Monday, then get it inspected prior to doing the rest of the fuel line / bag jugs installation work.

As far as a break in trip, I will take several within the state to visit family, etc to shake out the various cobwebs.   Right now, considering I have to continue to work to get any kind of affordable insurance my trips this year are kinda limited by the work/vacation thing.  


Kickstand Lodge   June 13-18    Dave,  Oldfeller,  MM,  Stewmills,  RaleighGuy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZGNOB5m5Ro&t=166s
http://kickstandlodge.com/rates.html
From here it is a short hop up to the Dragon, and to all the really neat surrounding roads we love to ride.    For East Coast beginners, this is one of the closest (and the BEST) Southeastern trip possible.   Some have argued the area is the BEST BIKING IN AMERICA and I might have to agree with them.   I think I'll take the Savage on a trailer to this one.



MM's farm     Sept 8, 9 & 10    MM,  Oldfeller,  Dave,  Lancer   This one I will ride the Barcalounger and camp out one night on the way.