XR650L Acerbis 22L tank woes

[wbagwell]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to spread a little info about some problems I've been having with my XR650L related to the Acerbis 22L tank. This may help revent some pretty troublesome events for those with this setup.

I've had trouble with the tank shaking loose, even with Loctite on the bolts that hold the steel brackets to the tank, which are the ones that keep coming loose. This weekend they shook loose while I was riding pretty aggressively on some rather rough terrain.

When one side shook loose, it let the tank shake around enough that it broke the frame tab on the opposite side, allowing the tank to bounce around, which then bumped into the rectifier and broke the tabs on the frame that hold it in place, letting the rectifier bounce around.

Needless to say, I would recommend that anyone with this tank who rides agressively should look into having the bracing system heavily reinforced.

The unfortunate part was that my brother was machining a newer bracket that should have held the tank on more firmly and would probably have avoided this.

Picutres of the carnage here:
http://www.geocities.com/wwbagwell
click on 'fuel tank'

Wright

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Wright Bagwell
http://www.geocities.com/wwbagwell/

[RichLees]

sorry to hear that, Wright. what you need is the 40 litre tank with custom mods and mountings :-) I beat the bike half to death in Algeria and the only casualty was one of the Acerbis bobbins which had a 10mm bolt so I made a new bobbin with a door-stop and Acerbis bark-buster fitting. its a little cumbersome at the MX track ....
good luck with the repairs
Rich

[wbagwell]

Here I thought I was the only one crazy enough to take the L onto the MX track. You get the nutter award for doing it with a 40L tank!

Actually, I quite like the L for hard riding, though the suspension makes jumping a fairly treacherous endeavor. The weight of it smooths out bumps and the soft seat makes really long riding sessions more tolerable. I rode an XR400 recently and it beat the crap outta me. I was riding faster but I got tired in a fraction of the time.

Sadly, I'm retiring my XRL for an XRR this week, since I'm looking to do more competitive riding.

Wright

[POB/London]

Don't take down the site!
Don't take down the site!
Don't take down the site!



I think Karim Hussein knows a lot about the 650 XR/R. He's doing the El Chott Rallye on one soon.

[wbagwell]

I won't be taking the site down, though I haven't updated much recently. I should do one last big update and then I'd be glad to turn ownership over to another rabid XRL fan. Rich, are you at all interested in it?

One thing I'd really like to expand upon is the jetting, exhaust and GPS mounting section - I know little about jetting, since I was lucky enough to get perfect jetting with the kit Baja sold me, and I never had reason to tinker with it.

[RichLees]

I set off for 2 years in 2 months time so I might have more feedback on the XRL, but won't have anywhere to host it or any means to upload stuff: I'll be doing internet cafes with 56k modem between 6 PCs wherever I find them ;-) all this means that I'd be wrecking a great site and I don't want to do that!
the XRR is great ... Martin quite literally rode his into the ground ... he looped it and broke his leg so I got to ride his bike behind the Land Cruiser. its way faster, way firmer and hard on the butt. fuel consumption and fuel tolerance were impressive: same as the XRL on Algerian plonk. for more competitive stuff, its the way to go, but I couldn't get on with it for a long, long trip. good luck with it in the competitions!
Rich

[wbagwell]

Man, I envy you. Well, anything pertinent you find out about the XRL you wish to share, send to me (or post here) and I'll update the site.

In fact, anything you guys learned in Algeria I'd be glad to post as well.

If you're passing through California, drop me a note and I'll be more than happy to take you to some amazing places around San Francisco.

[RichLees]

thanks for the invite, Wright. I might get to California, Arizona etc in April 2005. we'll have to see how money/time/enery go!