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Why are Acerbis Tanks so expensive ! Why are Acerbis Tanks so expensive !
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  #1  
Old 25 Nov 2011
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Why are Acerbis Tanks so expensive !
Hi All

Just in the prepping stage of my TT600RE and want a bigger tank,

So a few weeks ago a shop said they could get one for £240... now I thought that was expensive, anyways decided to bite the bullet and buy one

Rang today to find the price had gone up to £350 !!

I mean for what?? a mould lump of plastic !

So for now I think I will work out a way of strapping a jerry can somewhere on the bike.

Just wondered how people justify spending that amount of money?

Cheers
Geordie aka Will
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  #2  
Old 25 Nov 2011
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I am in the same boat as you. Can't justify the money for an expensive custom tank, so found a large used plastic tank off an XR650 that I was able to adapt to my bike with some custom brackets.

Plastic gas tanks seem way overpriced. Unless you've tried to make your own. Then you realize how expensive it is to produce limited runs of specialized products. Producing custom injection molds is not cheap. Nor is the english wheel and other custom tooling needed to make a custom metal tank. Which is why custom small runs of gas tanks are so expensive. Thank goodness for jerry cans.


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John Downs
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  #3  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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Yep I will go for a Jerry can unless a cheaper one comes up on ebay


Im quite happy to pay good money for something I can look at and think "yep thats worth the money" but for a plastic tank... it will never be that !

Cheers
Geordie aka Will
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  #4  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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I expect they are so expensive because of the cost of a mold for something that is made in relatively small numbers, although the cost of the molds is coming down as like everything else the Chinese are making then much more cheaply than we can.
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  #5  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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Check out E-bay, there are guys who can weld who make race, grass tracking tanks etc. Made me a 10 litre auxilliary tank for 90-quid.

I'm an engineer. It's a while since I bought plastic automotive parts but with any blow or injection moulded part tooling and set up costs are key. Take ten shots to get it right then do a run of five parts and your costs just trebbled. Run of five thousand parts and no one will notice.

This isn't what drives Acerbis though it's what they might use as an excuse. The market is swamped with Starbucks customers who'll blow two grand to make their bike look like the one inside the cover of the Touratech catalogue. The market is now saying Acerbis tanks are worth £350 so they'd be daft to hold their prices. Prices only fall when someone else stumps up the cost of entry or some other fashion takes over. I've been out of this market for ten years but would guess you could make a profit selling these tanks for £200.

Andy
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  #6  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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it would be interesting to find out the raw cost of a tank ... but then its like the KFC secret ingredient... something we will probably never find out.

When you look at say, a large screen tv these days, you can pick up a fairly decent screen around the £350 mark.... then I think well theres lots of little circuit boards and components... however I still look at an acerbis and think.. its just a blown out lump of plastic

Surely if they lowered the price then they would sell more units.. at £200 all my bikes would have larger tanks !

Cheers
Geordie aka Will
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  #7  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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You think £350 is expensive for a tank (actually it is). About 10yrs I paid Acerbis double that for a 40L tank for my XR600 - and then had to make up or modify all of the mounting brackets. Ok its a bigger tank than most but the mould making process is going to be much the same and the extra plastic is going to be pence. Looking at what they charge now I suspect Acerbis think that their prices have come down.
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Old 26 Nov 2011
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Think ya self lucky you don't have a BMW X Challenge .....................
..............£550







Cheers
Pete
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Old 26 Nov 2011
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Surely it is just a question of volume (and I don't mean the tank capacity )

The product range and the market for long distance motorcycling is very much niche and the costs are unavoidably high when serving a small market.

With product liability laws and so on, it is simply not feasible for a proper manufacturer to put onto the market anything that has not been properly designed, tested and proved safe. Especially if that product has to hold 30 litres of highly flammable liquid 5 centimetres away from a boiling hot piece of metal that is bouncing hard over corrugations at 60mph.

Its alright for an individual to bodge it up, not a well established company like Acerbis
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Old 26 Nov 2011
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Flat Fuel Tank.
Hi, this is a useful shape to attach to a bike, perhaps one each side at the front. Ocean Slim Tank - Water, General Chandlery | Mailspeed Marine Lindsay.
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  #11  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by geordie_e View Post
Hi All

Just in the prepping stage of my TT600RE and want a bigger tank,

So a few weeks ago a shop said they could get one for £240... now I thought that was expensive, anyways decided to bite the bullet and buy one

Rang today to find the price had gone up to £350 !!

I mean for what?? a mould lump of plastic !

So for now I think I will work out a way of strapping a jerry can somewhere on the bike.

Just wondered how people justify spending that amount of money?

Cheers
Geordie aka Will
Because people will pay it ?

Not sure where you are going, but do you really need a larger tank ?

Bigger tank, more weight.

We took our Aprilia Pegasos through Latin America, they have a 15 litre tank. All we did was add a 2 (US) Gal tank on the back of each after Mexico.

And then we didn't need to use them until Chile !
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  #12  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BruceP View Post
Because people will pay it ?

Not sure where you are going, but do you really need a larger tank ?

Bigger tank, more weight.

We took our Aprilia Pegasos through Latin America, they have a 15 litre tank. All we did was add a 2 (US) Gal tank on the back of each after Mexico.

And then we didn't need to use them until Chile !
I concur. Unless you're going well into the middle of the Saharan nowhere, you don't need a big tank (and you'll also need to know how to ride an overweight shed competently). Take plastic jerry cans where (possibly) needed.

Or even better cola bottles (won't rot with petrol inside; hole big enough to take petrol pump nozzle....)

I believe Colebatch did all of his Siberian/Mongolian trips just on a standard 14 litre xChallenge tank.

With ref to the costs of Starbucks fashion accessories (Acerbis) from Italy: consider the changes in £/euro exchange rates. All imported stuff into the UK is becoming more expensive.

cheers
Mr Starbucks (who has an aftermarket 27 litre tank for his DRZ and a 38 litre one on his Transalp: not to mention the standard 24 on his Africa Twin... hypocrite )
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  #13  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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Originally Posted by mcgiggle View Post
Think ya self lucky you don't have a BMW X Challenge .....................
..............£550







Cheers
Pete
R100 GS tank from Touratech...£870.

I was given one for nothing
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  #14  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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Well maybe Im tight when it comes to money lol

I have a standard 10l tank.. about 120miles range.. so I think it will be a case of keeping my eye on fleebay or rig up some spare cans somewhere.

Our RTW trip takes us thru Europe and usual Stans, russia and south Korea and then onwards towards the Americas

Anyways, lots of other peoples thoughts

Cheers
Geordie aka Will
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Old 26 Nov 2011
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They sometimes come up on flea bay (assuming its the same as an xt tank).

If not strap a gallon can on the back of the bike.

Glad to see you have gone for a TT-R/XT lookalike though. Might see you on some of the better Stans/Mongolian roads next year now!

Dan
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