Carbonfibre said:
His stuff isnt on the same level as that from the "Tank Shop"..................that is unless they have started doing MotoGp tanks recently?
Sorry, but transfering racing know-how to real world problems can easily backfire. I don't know exactly how MotoGP people handle fluids in their bikes but I doubt that this is very different from F1 and that I know very well because I've been involved with all kinds of fluids in them. That includes E10 fuels as F1 switched to them a few years ago and we did a lot of testing in back then regarding all the known problems with this. An F1 car needs to have a fuel cell (aka bladder) made to FIA FT5 spec and AFAIK this is also the case with MotoGP if they choose to run composite fuel tanks. Given the safety benefits of a carbon fire outer hull combined with an almost literally bullet-proof FT5 bladder I find it very surprising to hear that any of them is running a simple foam-filled alloy fuel tank. But even if that is they case I strongly assume that the don't leave the fuel in there for much longer than some hours on race weekends and tests - which means that the corrosive process of Ethanol which from what I've seen on test can already start at E10 ethanol levels simply is not an issue for the one or two years a MotoGP tank is used - actually I'd be surprised if they don't come with a rather restrictive lifing limit of a few kiloklicks, especially if they were made from aluminium and be exposed to the vibration levels seen on a MotoGP bike.
So whilst a MotoGP tank is obviously a very dedicated high-tech piece of equipment the requirements don't have much to do with what a normal motorcycle needs.
There are very few carbon MotoGP tanks, as the cost of replacing them after only very minor damage is considerable, and weight of the carbon tank and required bladder is higher than 1mm aluminum which is what most are made from currently. The point here being that anyone with the skill to make a 1mm MotoGp tank, can easily use the self same skills to make a road bike tank, out of thicker material.
Finally in point of fact MotoGp tanks may be used for a lot longer than a couple of years, and are often repaired and rebuilt for further use after pretty serious impact damage. This is possible with alloy tanks, but will mean a carbon tank is beyond economical repair, and has to be replaced.
Tim
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