Utterly Idiotic Touratech Fuel bottles - a frank review
 

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.

I think you're missing the point of Touratech, you're NOT actually supposed to use the stuff, it's for display purposes only when your bike is left in the pub car park and to talk about in the pub.

TT list a separate bottle from the one you're using for fuel with a larger opening Canister 2 litre* with large feed opening and admission for gasoline / fuel * - Pannier accessories - Luggage - Vehicle equipment | Touratech Ltd

as well as a perhaps more useful 3 litre one, although that doesn't fit in a holder. Maybe yours is for oil? Don't think those are TT panniers either- look more like Trax or Hepco Xplorers

I'm astounded that some people think they even they need some of the stuff...I'm even more intrigued that some must think a motorcycle won't even work unless its got a load of additional crap bolted to it?

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Ask the person you bought the bike from, they may have been ideal for them, it depends on how they were using them. It's amazing how you use certain things in a certain way once you are out travelling. Maybe they made a point of always carrying a coke bottle with them. Otherwise leave them in the garage and replace them with the wide opening version that is available on the Touratech website.

I'm astounded that someone thinks that they should judge what gear someone else puts on their bike. Moreover, depending on your fuel capacity and where you are going, extra fuel can be rather important.

These bottles sure don't seem very well designed for purpose, thanks for the review.

Aren't those the 2 litre drinking water containers shown on the Touratech site: Drinking water - Travel equipment | Touratech Ltd

http://shop.touratech.co.uk/canister-2-litre.html


What you want is this: http://shop.touratech.co.uk/3-litre-...tech-logo.html

Wow! Thanks for all the helpful comments. So it seems my bike's history is a muddy one - I guess it's what you get from buying it from a dealer as opposed to the last owner direct.

New learnings:
1. Despite being liberally covered in Touratech stickers, my panniers are actually the TraX aluminum panniers. There will be a write-up of these in due time. I guess the previous owner bought the stupid little bottle which came with some stickers from Touratech and got busy.

2. It seems Touratech do indeed do a larger opening cannister, however, the previous owner somehow managed to get petrol into the ones I have, thus making them unuseable for anything else, and fooling me into thinking that's what they were for. It's still beyond me why Touratech bother to make a cannister which is too small for a petrol pump - I can't think of any possible reason what possible use this can have. And it also gives no excuse for the spouty travesty of a thing.

So I'm afraid they're still on 0 out of 5 stars.

Thanks for helping me learn!

haha well a friencd of my used them to smuggel alcohol into sudan:

Adventures Motorbike expedition through africa - Transafrika part 1

Good review!
I´m not in a position to defend TT, as I have had my encounters with problems with their gear (the bike of Missus looks like straight out of a TT catalogue, but I digress). However, these canisters you write about aren´t exactly TT canisters, they are available at many retailers in Germany; however TT seems to have branded some with their own logo and added a premium without making any further change :-)
Whilst I agree to the content of your review, those of us who purchase the cans new are free to use their brain and figure out the obvious at the time of purchase. Anyways, there is another can available with a wide neck. We have one with the small neck and one with the wide neck. The one with the small neck is used for Coleman Fuel for the fuel-burning stove and I´m quite satisfied with the small neck for that purpose (which is easily filled from the Coleman Fuel bottles). The red funnel fits ok to the neck, maybe your used stuff lacks a seal. However, ours are not exactly drop-proof either and I would like to see the funnel being secured to the canister by a screw-down ring.

I´m not sure why you are not satisfied with the holders of the cans, which are the real TT stuff (and are not available at the usual retailers here); ours are quite all right and we have not had any problems with them over the years. If I recall correctly TT makes them as well with a removable holder so those who dislike displaying all the equipment when not on tour can remove the holders from the panniers.

Cheers
Chris

Well, hardly a big deal is it? No reason why you couldn't use it for oil or meths or Coleman fuel if you left the top off so it dries out first. I'm gonna give these a go next time- Flexible Heavy Duty Fuel Bladder - 4 Litre

reckon you could strap them pretty neatly on top of a rear rack or pannier, even in a tank pannier, and then roll up when you don't need 'em

As always in life,one can purchase a lot of useless staff.No one is forced to do so,motorbike riders are often gadget men and there for easy prey for clever marketing.
Just look at the bikes and their gear,you see on a daily basis, a lot is useless, but brainwashed people still think,i got to have it.
Think this applies to many other occasions in life.
Buy what you want and not what you need, is the motto nowadays for many humans in the western world.

Cheers
RM

Do we have another TT hater? Just asking.

TT have some great kit, some overpriced tat and some shite, but doesn't every manufacturer? Doesn't everybody have some sort of aftermarket part on their bike. If you're smart you can find cheaper alternatives to TT or get the TT parts used off ebay (like I did) when the 'posers' move onto there next hobby. Or leave the catalogue laying around opened at the item you want so your other half can gift you it (as I've also done). Aftermarket parts also serve as a way for owners to personalise their bike so I don't see anything wrong with that. It's a trend or a fashion like everything else. I don't see it as any different to how other types of bikes, such as sports, cruisiers or cusoms, have their 'bling'. The ADV market is no different, just because it's trending now doesn't mean it will be in ten years. And even if it is, peoples tastes evolve and aren't exclusive.

The TT canister in question is not designed for petrol it's for oil or water. If it was designed for petrol then it was poorly designed because a petrol pump will not fit inside. However, I have one exactly the same and I just carry a collapsible funnel or a flat sheet of plastic to roll into a cone/funnel. It's not difficult people. I would prefer a bigger spout but there is another version to take this into account, presumably designed specially for petrol. As for the nozzle, it's not a krypton factor challenge - it's not difficult to get out. As for fit, mine is nice and snug, pours easily with no leaks. Had to use mine a couple of times when on tour and I was glad I had it, and it's done pretty good. I prefer it over a regular Jerry can but that's personal preference.

This TT can is more expensive than a regular petrol can because it's not a regular petrol can. I believe there are cheaper copies about, but if it's too much, buy used or buy something else. Not everyone who has a blinged up bike just uses it for the 'starbucks' run, some actually go on adventures; some big some small. I'm glad there is diversity in the biking world and within the ADV community specifically, people own bikes or ride for different reasons. The great thing about it is the community and camaraderie. I hate to see it eroded with elitist/purist BS. IMPO those haters are the ones that stand up the worst when the spot light is turned on them.

Disclaimer: this is not aimed at anyone in particular, it's just my general thoughts on matters that usually arise whenever TT is mentioned. It also comes up whenever BMW and Ewan McBoorman are mentioned too.

There's quite a lot of truth in that....

I've no idea what TT charge for their branded can but I bought exactly the same thing from a Land Rover dealer last summer for a few pounds. Before I even tried to put petrol in it I concluded that it would be useless for the purpose as without a funnel it would be very difficult to fill from a garage fuel hose. Not the best piece of design I agree but I've just used it for two stroke oil instead where I fill it at home before I leave and the little nozzle thing is perfect for making sure the oil gets into the tank.

Not quite zero out of five as a fuel can (you could use it as a one shot emergency supply) but there are other uses for it and it was worth the somewhere around four pounds I paid.

I wonder where the Strom owner was planning on going?

I used to carry extra fuel on my outfits. 20 or so litres in the tank on a outfit that wil do 45 mpg on a good day, 30 mpg on a bad one is an unpredictable and rather short 130 -190 miles. Anywhere interesting I'd carry a 20 litre jerry can.

The Wee does 59-70 mpg and has a usable 21.5 lites, so 275-330 miles. I wonder where you can ride 270 miles without seeing a petrol station and then be saved by the 25 miles the little can gives you? Now a couple of 10-litre jerries under the panniers for another 250 miles, that's Australia or somewhere.

Is the 2-litre a way of avoiding Autobahn fines? Use the last 25 miles to get somewhere cheaper to be stuck?

Andy

Exactly... Just strap a £5 Jerry can to the back of your bike.

This happens to be a 10L steel one which was too big. A 5L plastic one would of been better.

http://www.touringted.com/_gallery_/...g2_itemId=2387



Something like this would of been perfect..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5L-Litre-P...item2325390992

Takes up very little space as it's more vertical.

I've carried a 2L fuel bottle on a number of bikes (and cars) for years - not the one under discussion but something I got from an army surplus store and it's got me out of the sh1t a number of times when I've misjudged exactly how far it is to the next services. I took it on the little Suzuki I used for the Elephant rally last week as a security blanket and knowing I had it reduced my sweat levels considerably at times. With an 80 mile range it was tricky at times to know whether to stop and put in 3L or continue to the next available fuel at 90km. It wasn't so much about range as range anxiety.

Good ol' Touratech - 15 responses in around 24 hours! About a 2-litre bottle!

They must be doing something right. Anyone setting up a business to sell to motorbikers would do well to study their technique I think.
Wouldn't be surprised if there were a student somewhere preparing to start a thesis about them for his/her marketing MA. :smartass:
I wouldn't be much help - never bought anything from them.

Yep, I noticed this on their website:
"3-litre jerrycan with Touratech logo"
http://shop.touratech.co.uk/vehicle-equipment/luggage/pannier-accessories/3-litre-jerrycan-with-touratech-logo.html
Note: "with Touratech logo". Instead of "with spout"/"in tough plastic"/"approved for petrol".
That's the way to do it. :clap:

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I used two of the 2lt ones a couple of years ago trail-riding in the Pyrenees.

Ok, they were a bit of a faff to fill (took a little funnel) but the reduction in stress from knowing that I had some spare fuel was worthwhile. The standard DRZ(E) only holds 11 litres which with hard riding gives me a range of only about 90 miles. I bought them for their shape and size. I have used 1 & 2lt oil or brake-fluid bottles in the past but these seem a fair bit tougher.

I carried mine, one each side in the bottom of a £10 set of pushbike panniers, my mate made some webbing harnesses for his. I'm sure if you went into an army-surplus shop you'd find a pouch they would fit in. I had tried a 5lt can lashed on the back in the past but found it got in the way when riding serious off-road.

I didn't get mine from TT though, they were about half the price at HG.

Now that I have an "Exxon Valdez" sized tank (aqualine 28lt), I use one to carry engine oil and the other coolant while touring (oops sorry, I mean “extreme adventure riding”)

Agree completely these are crap, why make a fuel container you can't fill from a pump. I curse mine everytime I have to faff with it. They were sold originally as spare fuel containers and at the time TT did not offer anything with a normal size opening.

Touratech equipement is grossly over priced, I now go out of my way to source alternative products, I guess they have to fund their interesting trips somehow !:scooter:

My guess is that the former owner of the canister would have used it for benzine (the clean stuff you also put on the old fashioned Zippo lighters) for use on a coleman camping stove or similar.

Andy, as it happens I live in France, specifically 300 miles down from the ferry ports. It wont be the first time I have landed only to find the petrol stations on strike or have no fuel. So for the last ten years or so I make a point of disembarking with enough fuel to get me home. Then being a cheapskate I use a 5 litre plastic fuel can :) Once I have run through 5 litres I usually empty the can into the bike tank then carry the empty plastic container which is easier than carrying it full.
There used to be a bit of a problem using UK cards at the automatic stations especially on Sundays. Mostly now that has been fixed, but still not everywhere.

I can confirm this is still the case;as we found out going down through France last summer. We had five cards between us, two of which were "Euro Travel Cards" and still no joy at some pumps. Luckily I have a big tank now or it would have been a right PIA

Yep

fill it with Vodka or Motoroil or Vinegar or Oliveoil .... but not gas :D

Thomas :clap:

Would be my preference jeiger

I agree Ted, i've used one of these cans off ebay for a while, there the correct shape, have enough capacity and cheep. Fits nicely behind the panniers on my XL
Teedee

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

Well FWIW
 

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.

TT bottles
 

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

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

: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:

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

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...?

Now that's funny! :rofl:

Or get a GSA with a 45ltr tank?

Oops sorry, did I post this in the wrong argument?
:blushing:

Do it say these 2 ltr xans ARE for fuel?
As seem obvious to me, a too smaller hole for nozzel means not meant for fuel, just as over the years cars, fule holes are smaller for petrol to stop mis fulel

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