BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Just wondering.

I know the outside skin is metal....but I heard the tank is plastic....true or false?

DJ

I have only had mine long enough to need to put gas in once but the gas WAS going into or at least through a plastic spout or neck. All in all putting the gas in was less easy than on other bikes I have owned.
Mark

Yes. Which is to say the part covering the plastic gas tank is metal. The container underneath it, which holds the gas, is plastic. I think gas tanks are required by law to be made of plastic.

The neck on the tank is a little unusual, as Celticus notes. The opening fits a gas nozzle pretty closely. I imagine it's intended to prevent over-filling.

AllanCook wrote:The neck on the tank is a little unusual, as Celticus notes. The opening fits a gas nozzle pretty closely. I imagine it's intended to prevent over-filling.

It makes it IMPOSSIBLE to "see" the gas fill. You just have to trust that the shut off system at the pump is working correctly. I miss the old tanks where you could put your fist through the opening if you had to...(for whatever reason you'd need to). In reducing vapor release it became a no see operation now.

Putting gas in these new bikes is indeed an act of faith. And in my case, my faith was not rewarded as I used -- unbeknownst to me -- a busted pump and badly overfilled. Gas all over the bloody place. I watch it pretty carefully now.

I asked my dealer today..Re is the tank metal?...he says yes..it's metal...it just has a plastic insert in the filler hole.

It was just a salesman...what would he know.. ...maybe he's right..

DJ

Which dealer do you use DJ?

Well, DJ, you got me to do a bunch of research, and I think I may have been mistaken. I can find no evidence to support my understanding that the gas tank is plastic under a nice metal cover. From everything I can tell, the tank is all steel. My bad.