I have dropped my 888 tank off at the fabricators for a quote to manufacture ally versions. His first impression, “These are not going to be cheap, we have to do the tooling from scratch.” We then started talking about options……
Guys, I need to know what you’d like here and we’re going to have a consensus. The original, as a 100% replica, would involve tooling for the original type cap and all the internal pump and pipe parts. Alternatives would be a Newton Equipment cap, (as used on many race-bikes, fits the 888SPS carbon tanks and many others e.g. Harris race tanks. See link here:
http://www.newton-equipment.com/Aero...ange%20400.htm ) and a 916/996 style fuel pump assembly.
Personally, I quite like the idea of the removable pump assy. It had the gauge sender, pump, filter, pressure regulator and QD female connectors in one solid assembly. The fabricators already make 996 style tanks and already has plenty of the necessary parts.
To help you decide, I am expecting the quote to be in the range 600 to 750 pounds per tank if we do an initial batch of 20 tanks. This may get cheaper assuming use of the above options and any reuse of other tooling he can find. This price will be plus tax and shipping to your final destination. Depending on the deal, for non UK orders, I may be able to get the purchase tax removed if we set up and export order, but it would require multiple tanks shipping to one non UK address…………
Right, I can already hear you asking about the quality? To help reduce your fears on that score, these are the guys that have been selected to make the Foggy Petronas road bike tanks; they also do all the Crescent Suzuki (British Superbike and Moto GP team) work and a huge amount for custom choppers, Battistini’s etc…
I will need to feed your requirements to him in the next few weeks and then we can firm up on the final spec.
Regards,
Rob