Magnas don’t get soggy in the rain.

But Ogres do… no riding today.  Dang it.

It's sulking there, alone in the rain...

Learned a lot about my new bike this week.  Chain tension, lube and inspection.  Saddle bags can unzip off.  And I learned that my bike gets 40 MPG on the dot, which is pretty good.  So I learned just how far my bike can go on a tank… then shortly there after, I learned just how far I can go on my reserve tank.  Which I found out was about 400 yards short of the gas station.  Luckily the bike can coast pretty good, to within 100 yards.  So it was not a lot of pushing, but enough to hammer home the lesson.   Seriously, I need a bigger fuel tank.  I heard you can get a tank off a Honda Shadow, and with some modification, make it work for the Magna.  If anyone has any detailed information on that – I’d really like to hear it.

 

16 thoughts on “Magnas don’t get soggy in the rain.”

  1. Pull the tank and measure the distance between the mounts. Then check other tanks for fit. There may be options other than the Shadow.

    I used to work with a guy who would build choppers out of old Hondas, just ’cause everyone else was doing Harleys and he didn’t want to be part of the crowd. A /lot/ of the parts seemed to be pretty interchangeable, either directly or with only minor modifications.

    I’m guessing you should be able to find a tank where the bolt hole either lines up, or just has to be made a bit oval to fit. Biggest thing to watch out for is the width of the tank, up front, relative to the handlebars/forks, so you don’t end up denting the tank.

    You could always strap a small gas can to the luggage rack, and just re-fill the main tank as needed!

      1. Yeah, he usually did the inline 4’s, but I kept telling him to grab the engine from a wrecked V65 and build one…

        Personally, I’d love to get a CX650T, just because you /never/ see them on the road.

  2. A 1-liter fuel bottle in your saddle bag provides 10 miles of range extension and a lot of peace of mind.

  3. That was about the only thing I didn’t like about my Vulcan: it needed a bigger tank. Yeah, if you can find some kind of jug that’ll seal well enough to go in the bags or somewhere, wouldn’t be a bad idea.

    1. If I plan on any distance riding, I’m going to have to pack a couple 2 liter bottles of fuel. Great bike, great engine, small tank… this is a handicap.

  4. Fill a couple of empty oil bottles with fuel and keep them in your saddlebags. Leave room for expansion. I usually colapse the bottle somewhat to get the air out so that the bottle can expand with out leaking/popping. It’s worked for me for the last 35 years,’tho in the “early days” we used metal canteens on our belts.

  5. Yeah, I think for this bike a back-up can is the solution. Oh, and watch out after a short rain…when the oil on the road hasn’t been completely washed off.

    1. Yeah, I’m sure those are /really/ for carrying gasoline…

      Of course, if the proof is high enough, you could at least still call it “fuel”…

  6. Worked out on the Vulcan that about the time I needed to gas up, I also needed to stretch a bit(especially with the factory seat, which sucked on a nuclear level). But having some extra range would’ve been REAL nice.

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