CCM fuel tank
 

Anyone got any ideas about a larger tank on a 604 CCM?
The stock one is 13L - not really big enough for a decent range on the atlantic route to west africa.

I've tried to fit a 20 litre Clarke tank from an XR600 but it's not wide enough in the middle to fit over the CCM mounts.

You could try asking the factory, or on the UK rally raid Yahoo! group. Failing that try a 'wanted' ad in TBM.

I considered a CCM once as an overlander and recall there was a larger tank available, this being back in the days when CCM ran their bikes in desert rallies.

Tank Luck?
 

Did you have any luck finding a large tank? :scooter:

One of the guys on the owners club website had a 23L tank that the CCM factory had made for their Paris Dakar entry in the late 90's and sold it to me.
23L is better than the std 13L but for my last two UK - West Africa trips I've had a 40L tank on a XR600 and got used to not having to worry about whether fuel stations were shut / out of fuel / I had no money till the banks opened etc.
The down side was that 40L of fuel was a lot of weight high up (I had to reinforce all of the mountings) and I can only remember filling it up completely three times on the last trip. Most of the time I kept it around 20 -25L
The plan this time is to use the 23L as the main tank and split another 5 or so litres onto the pannier racks.

Thanks for the reply and photo B of B, I've stuck a post on the 'wanted' section of the owners club website so fingers crossed...:detective:

Someone has just pointed out that they think the large tanks were for the Rotax engines, I don't suppose you know if they can still be made to fit the new Suzuki powered ones do you? Thanks again...!
:oops2:

Hi Chris

I've just posted up on the CCM site about tank possibilities but regarding your specific point, as far as I know the problem is more the other way round.
The older Rotax engine has a large cam drive tower on the left hand side (it uses a belt drive) and this may well hit the bottom of some other tanks. CCM were using this engine when the PD tanks were made so it fits.

The current Suzuki engine is much more compact around the cylinder head so clearance shouln't be a problem. Everything else seems to be much the same - frame, mountings etc - so I would guess that it would go straight on.
On a more general point, there always seems to a degree of bodgery needed when fitting aftermarket tanks. Even on my ex factory CCM one I had to make a new bracket for the horn and another for where the seat mounts onto the tank. I had to fabricate a complete secondary mount when fitting a 40L acerbis tank on an XR600 and if you've read Chris Scotts report about his XR650L trip a few years ago you'll know that he had to do much the same.
Most of the mountings seem to be fine for tarmac travel but fragile for off road and for what you're doing minimising the possibility of overstressing the std mounts with a few kms of corrugated piste would be high on my list of things to look at.

Thanks for the replies again B of B. I'm still considering the CCM as an option so if I do end up fitting a large tank will let you know how it goes. I will also consider using the original tanks with some simple Acerbis supplements (see below - kinder to my wallet but less practical on route) or seeing if I can fit some rear side tanks such as those made for KTMs.

http://www.acerbis.it/moto/index.php...&id=464&cat=19


http://www.acerbis.it/moto/index.php?module=catalog&type=detail&id=459&cat=19

I've also looked at the acerbis auxillary tanks but they seem (the front tanks at least) horrendously expensive for what is just a posh 5L petrol can.
I'm not sure where the rear one would go - on top of the luggage?

I suppose if you're having pannier racks made / making them yourself you could build in somewhere to keep them but weight distribution might be problem. I done a few trips (back in my foolish youth) where all the weight was on the back and the front wheel only had a incidental connection with the road. You could put them on a front rack but I didn't fancy being covered in fuel if something split.

Came across a couple of sites you might want to have a look just after I posted last time. Both are Aussie based so a bit of a pain to get stuff to the UK but worth considering.

http://nomadtanks.com.au/index.php - good range of rear fuel tanks

http://www.rvaqualine.com.au/home.php - alternative to acerbis?

i tried the CCM factory, but they had a complete Dakar bike. maybe they would have leads.
i might try a KTM 640 Adventure tank and try plastic welding for any bits in the way.