acerbis tank 23 liters

[xt performer]

Hi there

I read all the post from acerbis xt tanks and some of you have some problems in theirs tanks, so it's true they are made of plastic?

Here in a motostore are selling an acerbis xt tank 23 liters for the newers models 95-03, but the answer is if are this tanks kind of fragile?

thanks

[damandaz]

Hey haven't heard about the 23L tanks having any problems myself. My personel experience has been all good! Have had mine on for over a year now and no probs what so ever.
hope this helps
Cheers Daryl

[xt performer]

thanks for the reply.

I think what about if your bike fall over,what about the fuel tank?,i'm telling you this because when my bike falled over,the plastic side of the tank got broken.

so,any comments?

thanks again

[DAVSATO]

hi, acerbis tanks are made of plastic, original tanks are steel. i think most peoples problems are to do with repairing the plastic tanks, steel is easier. the acerbis tanks are not fragile or weak, but if you have a crash that would damage your tank, it would get damaged whatever it was made of. personally i would worry more for my skin!


i have heard that UV/sunlight can make the plastic brittle. i have no idea if thats true, but everyone(acerbis included) say that plastic tanks should be painted.

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dave

[This message has been edited by DAVSATO (edited 08 December 2003).]

[LordStig]

Yes, it is true that UV damages plastics (including polythene and GRP). Painting would help block this radiation, although getting paint to stick to polythene might not be easy! GRP requires a self etch primer. Presumably these petrol tank plastics must already be resistant the the type of thinners used in most paints, or they wouldn't be be much use for making petrol tanks.....

Stig

[mbishop]

Hi

I've run an Acerbis 23l on my 'offroadised' XT600e and despite quite a number(30+) of crashes its still in perfect nick other than a few scratches. Its landed on mud, rocks and hard trails with one particularly memorable 50k get off - so I'd say that they are pretty tough!

Acerbis state that is should *not* be painted - I guess that the pigment in the poly, white in my case, protects vs UV.

Cheers
Bish


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[xt performer]

Hi mates:

Thanks for the posts, that were the aswer i was looking for,here there are places like the desert at the north and fuel station are not close enough to fill the tank up,same in south.

thanks again

[DAVSATO]

bish,
thats interesting about acerbis saying not to paint the tank, is that a new thing(within a few years)? also, i heard that up to a couple of years ago it was illegal to have an unpainted plastic fuel tank, in UK at least.

out of interest, my friends aprilia has a polythene tank, but hidden by a painted plastic "dummy" tank.

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dave

[This message has been edited by DAVSATO (edited 09 December 2003).]

[mbishop]

Dave

My tanks ~ 1year old and the instructions clearly stated 'Do not paint' and it has acerbis logo's bonded on each side that would be a pain to pain over anyway.

I've got a late 70's road registered Montesa Cota with an unpainted poly tank, so I'm pretty sure that the regulations would specify painting - surely it would fail the MOT or vehicle type regs...

As an aside, I'm also a Kayaker with a number of plastic boats - made out of exactly the same stuff as tanks. Whilst I have seen cracked boats, it's a real rarity - normal years old and pretty mashed examples. I guess the poly in these things must be UV protected or stabilised by the pigment or some additive in the mix.

Cheers
Bish

[mbishop]

my last post should say WOULDN'T require painting....