Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Utterly Idiotic Touratech Fuel bottles

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Stray Dog (Post 412489)

FYI, you'll probably find it's mainly Esso that's the problem
Most, if not all supermarket pumps will take a UK card.

Dog

We must have been very unlucky then because we did struggle on more than a few occasions.

They are cheaper from HG and are great for water.
For oil, i put it in a 500ml lucozade bottle with black tape round the lid, and refill the engine when needed, when the bottle runs out, i keep it, then when i go to the gas station, i buy a full litre of oil, put 1/2 of the litre in the engine,and the other 1/2 goes back in the lucozade bottle.
Petrol if you are really stuck can go in a 2 litre lemonade bottle, i havnt had one melt yet.
Sometimes you can get carried away with some of this stuff.
As regards the fuel stations with the wonky fuel cards, ive normally paid a foreign helpful motorist in cash, and they use their card for you,easy.

Hi guy's ,i have bought one of these "fuel" bottles in full knowledge that a filling station nozzle will not fit ! You only have to take a quick look to guess that !
TT have a fuel bottle with a large opening for use at a petrol station. These 'small mouth' bottles are designed for stove fuel which in Europe comes in a bottle to decant into the TT "fuel bottle".
:thumbup1:

Hi Folks I am ordering two of these. Fuel Friend - 1.5 Litre Fuel Bottle - Red
Regarding fuel stations on a Sunday, I was in Belgium earlier in the year and the self service machines would not take credit cards. Thankfully a passing local offered to put 10 Euros worth in my tank in exchange for cash. Since than I have been looking for small fuel bottles fit for purpose. These bottles at least look as though they are up to the job and I believe you can fill them from a petrol station nozzle. If not I will be filling them from the fuel tap extension I have on my tank (used to fill my petrol stove) and then filling my tank up with the petrol pump.

GM

Was this in the middle of nowhere in Belgium on a Sunday - I was there two weeks ago and bought fuel with UK credit and debit cards (we bought three lots over the days) without any problems - although one of them had us negotiating the pre payment menu in dutch which took a couple of goes. You usually get the choice of pre pay in cash in the shop or stick your card in the reader to pre pay at the pump.

The cash option is a real pain on a bike - go in, queue up and hand over money, go back out, fill bike, go back in, queue up, argue over how much you handed over in the first place because you dropped the receipt, eventually get change and go back to bike. With winter clothing, balaclavas, earplugs, wet gloves etc its taken me half an hour to go through all that in the past

Small containers are a pain to fill from a pump. Unless you really concentrate you overfill it and fuel comes shooting out the top like a shaken up coke bottle. If you're filling a container in my local garage they won't switch the pump on unless it's on the ground - no holding it in your hand. When it all sprays out then you get it in the face.

It was a prepaid caxton credit card that was refused although the cash machine had no problems with it at all handing money over like no tomorrow. The other rider that was with me had the same problem with his standard credit card. The local who stopped to help us out said many of the pumps would not take credit cards only debit cards (which I never carry). As there was no cash option we were panicking a bit!

This was in Ypres area. Around 40 or so miles away when we got into France we had no problems because the stations were open and manned. The Thursday prior to this was (unbeknowns to us at least) a bank holiday and everything was shut save for the pubs and the odd café. Other campers on the site said they too had problems getting fuel with credit cards on that day.

Consequently fuel bottles have now become the order of the day. If I cant get fuel into them from the pump I will as I said before fill them from the tap on my tank and then top up the tank again. Putting a tap between the tank and the carbs was probably one of my smartest ideas.:thumbup1:

A few years back I was prepareing my bike for a series of trips. I grabbed the Tour a Tech catalog and threw it at my bike. And it bounced off.
They didn't make anything for a 1981 XV 920 Yamaha. So I had to go in a different direction. I made stuff and it worked fine. For extra fuel I made a couple of shelves that fold on the back of the huge aluminum panniers I got from a different bike. On these I strapped a pair of 5 liter S-100 jugs. They are sturdy and hve openings big enough for a gas nozzle. I only put a gallon in each to alow some expansion room.The jugs were free, the shelves made from old road signs and the straps were given to me at a BMW dealership.
They worked perfectly for the 13,500 miles of the trips and will go with next time as well.

http://bikebreakerbaker.smugmug.com/...gs%20013-M.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by s445203 (Post 411123)

This is a review of the Touratech little plastic reserve fuel tanks, possibly the most utterly useless piece of kit I have ever come across. They came with the second hand small Strom I bought. At the time, I didn’t think too much about them (except of course a small part of me felt “Hmm. They look kinda long distance cool, don’t they?”). Oh how I have grown to hate them with a passion on my first week into my trip across South America. But I digress.

Basically, a reserve fuel tank needs to carry out three main duties:
1. Enable you to put fuel in it easily
2. Enable you to transport said fuel safely
3. Enable you to take fuel out when you need it

With this background, let’s begin our review. Here they are, mounted on their Touratech panniers (these also display elements of utterly idiotic design although not as bad as these reserve bottles, and I digress once again).

http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/14...3020800103.jpg

As you can see from this picture, they are well and truly mounted onto the panniers, and so 1/3 of the job they need to do is OK. This I’m afraid is the highlight of the review.

We now move on to filling them. It turns out that the idiot who designed this made the opening too small for a petrol station pump to fit in it. Yes. That’s right. A reserve fuel tank you can’t fill from a petrol pump. So what you have to do is scrounge a Coke bottle (see – Coke managed this, and they weren’t even trying Touratech!) which you fill up and then you slowly tip the Coke bottle into the fuel reservoir.

However, before you can get to pour your Coke bottle over the petrol station concourse (and your beloved, idiot-designed Touratech bottle), you need to get the little spouty thing out of the way. This is no mean feat, for it requites pulling it out at EXACTLY the right angle – it’s taken me a 30s of fiddling to get this right every time I’ve tried so far.

Here's a photo of me 25s into trying - I've nearly solved the puzzle!
http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/54...3020800105.jpg

And finally, having arduously filled your bottle, when it comes to unloading it, you’ll helpfully find that the stupid spouty thing which is so hard to get out of the bottle, doesn’t actually fit. That’s right. The spouty thing actually serves no purpose whatsoever, apart from being in the way when you try to fill your bottle.

Here's a picture of two things which ought to fit, but actually, do not:
http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/12...3020800106.jpg

Overall, I would give this product 0 starts out of 5. And I would dearly love to meet the man who designed it, to have a frank exchange of views.

The OP is using the wrong Touratech 2 Litre can for petrol. The one he has is for oil. The correct 2 Litre can can easily accommodate a fuel pump nozzle (Touratech Part Number: 070-0580)

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/...pscnsr6j6c.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by manray (Post 507444)

The OP is using the wrong Touratech 2 Litre can for petrol. The one he has is for oil. The correct 2 Litre can can easily accommodate a fuel pump nozzle (Touratech Part Number: 070-0580)

:clap: I find it hilarious that it has taken 2.5yrs, for someone to come up with correct information :rofl:
The OP will be feeling a bit :oops2: if he's still around:innocent:
Well done manray bier

It took Touratech that long to source one, get the logos added and be able to quote the price without laughing.

Its a much newer product.

Andy

Just in case somebody doesn't know of this cheaper alternative to a TT fuel/oil containers

http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/...big/038121.jpg

The hole on all cola bottles (probably of whatever) brand, but definitely those made by CC Inc, is big enough to take a fuel pump nozzle. To transport, put 2 in a plastic bag and knot it, then lash under a bungee.

Obviously a TT fuel/oil bottle is more impressive when visiting Starbucks (other coffee shops are available...), but when done with the cola bottle (like when you're in most parts of the world where they have lots of petrol stations...), you can recycle it, rather than carting it around for the rest of your trip.

I don't want to get all anal about this but the hole in my "utterly idiotic" TT bottle = 19mm and the 2L coke bottle next to my computer atm = 22mm. Anyone know how big a petrol nozzle is? Maybe Coke do different sizes, or maybe it's Pepsi bottles you need.:rolleyes2:

If things get really desperate you could always try using a condom. Shove most of it inside the TT bottle and put the open end over the petrol nozzle. Works best with the larger Euro size. :rofl: :eek3::rolleyes2:

Quote:

Originally Posted by backofbeyond (Post 507501)

I could start spending my time measuring sizes of holes in cola bottles as well as fuel station nozzles, but life is quite short. :(

In the 4 or 5 times I used plastic cola bottles for fuel they all worked fine. Probably not a valid statistical sample, but it'll do for me. :innocent:

Far East Siberia (BAM and RoB)
USA (on the Continental Divide Trail through northern Colorado into Wyoming)
Baja California dirt trails
Spain (When many French petrol stations were closed because of a strike and I had to transit to get to Switzerland)
Chile to Bolivia across the Atliplano to Uyuni.

No condoms were harmed in these activities.

The coke bottle hole is 7/8. All petrochemical stuff is imperial sizes.

Andy

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris (Post 507495)

Bingo. The soda / water bottle solution works perfectly. And bingo on the transport -- 2 in a knotted plastic bag, with bungee between them, I've done that a number of times.

Could never understand why moto overlanders want to rig up an expensive set of containers that add needless weight and volume to an already packed moto and need to be tended to for the duration of a ride. OK, it makes sense for bikes with a small tank of say less than 4 gal / 15 L, but otherwise...?

Quote:

Originally Posted by backofbeyond (Post 507501)

If things get really desperate you could always try using a condom. Shove most of it inside the TT bottle and put the open end over the petrol nozzle. Works best with the larger Euro size. :rofl: :eek3::rolleyes2:

Now that's funny! :rofl: