I would like to get a plastic rear tank made up for my new NX650 Dominator, which I am rebuilding from the ground up as a rallye bike, having had good experiences with the XR650L.

I already have the bike, and a 24L Acerbis tank that fits. I plan to modify the cockpit with a taller Rallye screen, an IMO, possibly another trip computer and my GPS bracket. Wheels and suspension will be rebuilt.

At the rear I would like to fit an Arrow single-sided pipe and a rear tank. I propose to use the exhaust side as an emergency water tank and the other side (teh left-hand-side of the bike) as a fuel store. This is what I have in mind (sorry, I'm rubbish at Photoshop). The rear tank would have a perforated ally plate on the top for taking a kitbag / ortleib bag.


Link: http://www.pm-04.com/rear_tank.jpg

Does anyone know of a company who can make this? Doesn't matter if the tank is officially rated for fuel or not, really. Companies in the UK and France would be easiest. I will supply a mould, if necessary.

The only people I have found to date will make the tank from welded plastic (needs to have straight edges and faces, boo) or from beaten alumunium (very nice but not vibration-proof). What I want is a PP or nylon tank - like the Acerbis ones.

If I can find someone to make them I propose to get about three made up - I would test one on my Paris > Dakar > Paris trip next spring, and on a ride round the Baltic. I would then offer the others for sale.

Any ideas?

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rallying on a dominator? holy crap, Lewis. the suspension would never take it. the geometry of the swingarm/suspension links probably won't allow the movement you need. as I understand it, comparing the XR650L with the dominator is like the TT600R v the XT600: same engine, but totally different chassis.
that's no help on the tanks, I know, but I'd hate to see you wreck your suspension/spine finding out the hard way

http://www.evamotor.nl/

Go to the travel section and look at the work on the XT, realy nice. Something tells me they will cost lots of money for hand made stuff.

If you want to keep it local and you have the nack of making a mould, then why not try a boat yard and have them fibre glass the tanks to you mould? A friend made up 5l tanks like this for his dr750 and they worked well. Might have to be thickly laid up fibre to give the crash protection tho.

You going to try and get XR suspension fitted?

Thanks a lot Rich and Andy -

To clarify I'm not talking about highly competitive Rallying (who has teh cash for that??!!) but more taking part for the fun, and some lightly-laden adventure touring (as well as this Baltic thing, big-bike rallyes in the UK, green laning, and off-road tours of Europe (Picos and Pyrenees, southern Spain, etc)

It seems from the prelims that XR rear suspension will bolt straight onto the Dommie. Not sure yet whether this will be just the longer shock or whether all of the linkages have to be migratedd too, to get the right rising rate etc. The swingarm on both models is, I believe, identical.

As for the forks, they are the same diamter and the same length, so I am proposing to either fit the Eibach heavy XR650L springs and stiffer oil, or maybe fit a pair of 600R forks, not yet sure. I have had a good look at the frame, and apart from the subframe area I think they are identical.

In the rear, it seeems that if anything the Dommie subframe is better equipped for overlanding, as it is all steel and pretty substantial.

..and the other stuff is more or less superficial. Not much of the original bodywork will remain, and I will use the FMF header / Arrow or Yoshi silencer arrangement I had on my 650L. The carb on the Dommie does not have a needle height adjustment, but apart from that is OK for the job, and the airbox situation is almost identical to a 650L, except that it is smaller, as the battery lives under the RH side panel. If anything, the NX airbox is much easier to sand-proof.

I have read up on the Ozzie sites about Dommies and the desert, and have heard a rumour that a high 'guard messes up the air intake. As the snorkel is under the seat, I can't see how this would work so I'm going to fit one and see. Other mods will be as per 650L really - big sharp pegs, large bashplate, perhaps an oil cooler (although this time it will be a DIY job from a 2CV, not a Jagg one). I am also contemplating getting someone to do a "big-fin" job on the barrel if it ends up coming off.

The other thing in the favour of the NX over the 650L is that there are mounts for a fairing frame already fitted to the front of the bike, which should make fabbing the cockpit / rally fairing much easiier. I was considering using KTM bits for the job, as someone said their bodywork is cheap.

How hard is it to make fibreglass fuel-proof? I could do a really thick lay-up onto a mould myself. I even thought about some thick fibreglass with a DIY carbon-fibre layp-up over the top, for more integrity. As long as I don't waste £££ on materials, I don't mind giving it a go.

Ta!

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=-=-= ON THE EDGE! =-=-=
My XR650L Pan-Med Expedition Site!

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Shame you live on the wrong side of the water...
I have a spare xr6 fork set, 20% stiffer rear xr spring, oil cooler, front and rear bagage racks and an old xr6 I was thinking of scrapping for spares. Really have to clean out my shed.
Love your plans tho, nice road worthy frame from the dommie and then xr suspension.
Its going to be a nice project.

Andy - easy for me to collect all of those things. I have a place in northern France. Drop me an email and we can discuss the details.

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"It seems from the prelims that XR rear suspension will bolt straight onto the Dommie. Not sure yet whether this will be just the longer shock or whether all of the linkages have to be migratedd too, to get the right rising rate etc."

Are you sure? From what i remember the XR shock is much longer and goes up to the tank. The Dommie shoch is fastned halfway
up on the rear frame loop.

"The swingarm on both models is, I believe, identical."

XR use a snail adjuster and the Dommie nuts. I dont think they are identical.

"As for the forks, they are the same diamter and the same length, so I am proposing to either fit the Eibach heavy XR650L springs and stiffer oil, or maybe fit a pair of 600R forks, not yet sure."

The forks are diffrent: Dommie use a 41mm and XR a 43mm, XR fork are longer. You will need the triple clamp aswell.

If you go for a xr front you will need to raise the back also, and i think the xr shock is way to long, maybee change of linkage is sufficient? Or you will need to buy a longer shock, or make the dommie shock longer.

It is enough of pittfalls, and alot of work have fun;-)

Frode

[This message has been edited by frnas (edited 02 September 2005).]

[This message has been edited by frnas (edited 02 September 2005).]

Thanks a lot Frode! If you're right, it looks like there is a lot of work ahead...

I am hoping that the rear shock situation will be easily solved with some XR6 linkages, as you say. But you're right, the upper shock mount isn't in quite the same place.

Some XR6 forks seem to be the way to go, eh? I would check in more detail but I am not in the same place as my bike for a while.

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Just a quick word about the 'big fins job',

I seem to remember speaking to a friend of mine who is a very experienced engine designer about air cooled engines. If my memory is correct he said that the area of the fins on an air colled engine is a vital ratio of two things, if you just increase the area of the fins it can DECREASE cooling efficiency...

Sounds mad I know, maybe you could just check it out before you modify...sorry its all a bit vague.

I'm afraid I cant confirm this right now, but if you want more info I can find out.

Dave

Latest drama is that I have been offered the (awesome) forks, triple clamps, shock and swingarm from an XR650R - yes, R - for the princely sum of £500. This, I am assured, is cheap.

The forks alone are £1400+ from Honda. Unfortunately I am also certain that these will not bolt on to the Dommie, and I can see this becoming a Franken-bike hybrid with a home-welded frame desert shocker. So I said no.

It only occurred to me afterwards that someone without a huge knowledge of dirt bikes, breaking a XR650R for round pub-sums like "a monkey, mate" is probably about as shady as a trogladyte dwelling!

Yikes.

Bike is still languishing in Portsmouth with gunked-up carbs and / or a watery fuel tank.

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david -

So is the best plan to leave the fins alone and get a big oil cooler? Or just to not go anywhere hot?

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I found that there is an abundance or XR650R parts avaialble because in UK its often converted to supermoto.

I put a wanted add for XR650R parts in TBM and got ALOT of calls

hope this helps
Karim

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