Thanks for the feedback,
Yes I'm upgraded the bulb & brake lines for safety. I had couple of pads for the tank but found my knees landed about 1.5" behind & decided to keep this simple. Thought about paint but left the tank just bead blasted for low maintenance.
For anyone trying some forming for the first time. I opted for some heavier aluminum, 0.50" I think, a bit heavier than the tank since the bump-outs are not protected. (Also ensured that they didn't protrude so far as to touch ground if dropped) The thicker material was too heavy to easy form so I resorted to the hard edges you see in the photo. The welded liked the thicker stuff, still there were several leaks that needed further welding. There appears to be many custom car welders that are self taught.
One could also drop the sides of the tank down further to gain another few gallons. I chose to maintain the height of BMW's lowest side with the fuel pump. This way the inlet of the pump could remain stock if switching back to the original set-up. There's also the issue of engine cooling but I was a bit conservative when you look at the attached photo. In the end by evolving the R1100S it would be easier & even cheaper to just buy an RS. However, being on the short side, I like the scale & feel of this bike. Here's another image taken on my ride across the US last September.
Thanks for the pointers on reliability Jim. I've followed most of the discussions on this forum over the years & have done the checks. So far the drive train looks within spec. I plan to ride into some remote places & don't need a sudden failure. Regarding the HES, I understand the failure is usually due to overheated wires. Can this problem be seem by inspection? As a side note, this bike has had zero repairs since new.
Charles
