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My Ducati 1098's tank is also made by Acerbis, and also suffers with the same problem. When I bought it off my mate, in 2016, he'd already replaced the tank and it had already cracked the paint due to swelling. He used Tesco fuel. I dropped another new tank on it around a year later. I only use super....and my tank is still perfect.
 
Stephen_Spencer said:
That situation seriously sux!

So the only safe set of assumptions are that you cannot avoid running on fuel that includes ethanol and as such, your 961 tank will likely degrade (an indeterminate amount), over an indeterminate period of time!:oops: Two realistic options then it seems - routinely use an ethanol fuel stabiliser or fit an aluminium tank.

Good justification should ’er indoors’ complain about the cost of a shiny new tank! Just don’t disclose the lifetime investment in metal polish required to keep it shiny!😎
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Or they could use a plastic tank that has a painted cover that allows the plastic to breath underneath . Like a Harley XR1200 has or some dirt bikes .
 
TonyA said:
Or they could use a plastic tank that has a painted cover that allows the plastic to breath underneath . Like a Harley XR1200 has or some dirt bikes .
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I thought the XR1200's suffered from bulging tanks as well?
 
cliffa said:
I thought the XR1200's suffered from bulging tanks as well?
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They expand and contract very slightly , but it won't ever bubble the paint . And , it has never prevented me from getting it off and on or leaked .
 
That hasn't been my experience at all over the last 20 years of owning and riding a couple of 60 year old bikes as well as some young 50 year olds.
As he mentions, these were his experiences and others may vary.
My old bikes have been almost ridiculously reliable. I would love to say that this is because I'm a brilliant mechanic but, with the bikes I've ridden the most, the bulk of the mechanical rebuilding was done by others before I purchased the bikes.
We've done about 60,000 miles mostly two up touring on the Vincent. It has done several 3000 mile round trips from Vancouver BC to central or Southern CA. The only big breakdown was when a Ballistic Lithium battery melted in California. That took out the entire charging system so we had to run dead loss all the way home. I bought a big riding lawnmower battery and stuffed it in the top box. I also bought a battery charger and an extension cord to charge the battery at night. That all worked fine to get us home.
I've done about 28000 on the 1975 Commando and it has been very reliable as well. When I bought the bike in 2003 the seller provided me with shop invoices going right back to 1975. Other than a couple of small upgrades, ignition and braking, the bike is still original, not rebuilt or restored.
I did have one electrical problem with it as well and used a similar method to get home. That lack of charging problem was due to a corroded bullet connector, so down to the maintenance man not doing his job.
The other old bikes here have covered about 25,000 miles in total for us with a few small issues, mostly electrical as well.
I've obviously been quite lucky to cover over 100,000 miles on old bikes, often far away from home base with no recovery vehicle present or needed.

Other folks that I know have had some awful problems with their vintage bikes and some are afraid to properly use them because of this.

Glen
 
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Remote touring on a Vincent! Hats off to you Glen 🛠️!

General maintenance of vintage machines is one thing and of course ‘you pays your money and takes your chances’ when buying someone else’s restoration.

These vids are 20 years old but popped up on YouTube very recently - a vastly different engineering endeavour to say the least:oops:! Worth a Quick Look if you haven’t seen ‘em.





 
Stephen_Spencer said:
Ring any bells!?

No, no………. of course not!🤣

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Blimey I'd give up if were him!
That's a totally different experience from what I've had
Mind you I have never taken a bike to a shop for repair in my life
 
worntorn said:
That hasn't been my experience at all over the last 20 years of owning and riding a couple of 60 year old bikes as well as some young 50 year olds.
As he mentions, these were his experiences and others may vary.
My old bikes have been almost ridiculously reliable. I would love to say that this is because I'm a brilliant mechanic but, with the bikes I've ridden the most, the bulk of the mechanical rebuilding was done by others before I purchased the bikes.
We've done about 60,000 miles mostly two up touring on the Vincent. It has done several 3000 mile round trips from Vancouver BC to central or Southern CA. The only big breakdown was when a Ballistic Lithium battery melted in California. That took out the entire charging system so we had to run dead loss all the way home. I bought a big riding lawnmower battery and stuffed it in the top box. I also bought a battery charger and an extension cord to charge the battery at night. That all worked fine to get us home.
I've done about 28000 on the 1975 Commando and it has been very reliable as well. When I bought the bike in 2003 the seller provided me with shop invoices going right back to 1975. Other than a couple of small upgrades, ignition and braking, the bike is still original, not rebuilt or restored.
I did have one electrical problem with it as well and used a similar method to get home. That lack of charging problem was due to a corroded bullet connector, so down to the maintenance man not doing his job.
The other old bikes here have covered about 25,000 miles in total for us with a few small issues, mostly electrical as well.
I've obviously been quite lucky to cover over 100,000 miles on old bikes, often far away from home base with no recovery vehicle present or needed.

Other folks that I know have had some awful problems with their vintage bikes and some are afraid to properly use them because of this.

Glen
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This is simply wonderful. One thing to take into account is that your classic bikes have been reliable specifically because of one simple circumstance - you have been regularly using them.
 
This was in the UK in 2007. We shipped the bike there for the IOM Centenary celebration. Along with 180 other Vincent riders, we were permitted to do a closed roads lap of the IOM.
After thrashing the bike around the IOM we made it pack us around for 2500 miles of touring in the UK.
We had no problems. The UK is a wonderful place for motorcycle touring. We mostly stuck to the A and B roads but also did some Motorway riding when necessary.
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Papa Smurf doing some analysis on second hand 961 values.

Certainly interesting to UK owners - or will be if he can get more data.

 
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On UK FB Market Place apparently. Believed to be Norton honouring/prioritising those that put big deposits down with Donington.

Guess the guys have moved on/no longer interested and are looking to recoup funds through purchase and immediate re-sale. Several have done this according to the FB crew.

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