Whelp, like many here I'm also in hell with the tank of my 2008 Breva 1200 Sport. After two weeks of research and several (ongoing) email correspondences to Paiggio, the results remain…they aint doing a thing about it.
Manufactures who went to the plastic tanks (Harley and Ducati to mention a few) back in the late 90's did not figure on the leaching effect of Ethanol fuel. If you've stored your bike with a little gas in the tank and pulled the cover to find hundreds of hive like blisters under the clear coat, that’s the leaching ethanol gas that did it.
You may have also detected the stench of gas while riding and thought you had a fuel line leak or a weepy injector? Nope, it’s those little gas bubbles emitting that smell. And the same thing that caused the blistering is what deformed your (And my) gas tank. Why? Because these guys didn’t spend an additional $4 and coat each tank with Caswell or Red-Kote or some kind of epoxy sealer which woulda prevented all the leaching, blistering and deformation.
Now, there is precedence for action for all who are interested because in 2012, Ducati owners retained Gibbs Legal Services, filed a class action suit and won! I'm not sure how the settlement unfolded but I’m gonna imagine that there were a bunch of new coated tanks on every Monster that was part of that suit.
As for Piaggio? I spoke with Scott at the USA headquarters and he was very responsive and supportive, but had no real answers. When I asked if the tanks were still available and if they’d either give me or sell me a new Breva tank, he said word came back that I needed to talk to my MG dealer, gave me the part # said and Mandello del Lario factory still had some in stock.
So I looked up the part number, the approx tax and S&H and it came to almost $2k US! And as the Hall & Oats song goes "No can do"
There are some used tanks online in Germany, but every time I write and ask about deformation or leaching, nobody responds. So, I’m reluctant to lat down $4 or $500 to get a tank that may be in as bad or worst shape than mine.
Meanwhile, my friend Jason (Formally or Moto Int, in Seattle) told me that several people thoroughly emptied and washed their tanks and then left them out in the sun to warm up. Its gotta get really hot (like 90’s) and then while the tanks are still hot and pliable, you slap back on the frame manipulate them back into all the correct hole alignments and drop the bolt in. Then ya hit it with the cold water and let in contract and sit there till sundown. If, at that point, it's aligned with the OEM spacing and holes, pull the tank and start sealing it with the Coswell or anything else you like.
Will it work? I don't know but idf it does, I’ll post it here. But if it doesn’t, I’m callin Gibbs and asking them how to go about getting restitution via Class Action.
All I know is I coulda be out enjoying my goose all day on the road…and worked instead. I want my bike repaired by the company who made the mistake. Their negligence is why some of us can’t get the tanks back on our bike and that’s not fair!
Manufactures who went to the plastic tanks (Harley and Ducati to mention a few) back in the late 90's did not figure on the leaching effect of Ethanol fuel. If you've stored your bike with a little gas in the tank and pulled the cover to find hundreds of hive like blisters under the clear coat, that’s the leaching ethanol gas that did it.
You may have also detected the stench of gas while riding and thought you had a fuel line leak or a weepy injector? Nope, it’s those little gas bubbles emitting that smell. And the same thing that caused the blistering is what deformed your (And my) gas tank. Why? Because these guys didn’t spend an additional $4 and coat each tank with Caswell or Red-Kote or some kind of epoxy sealer which woulda prevented all the leaching, blistering and deformation.
Now, there is precedence for action for all who are interested because in 2012, Ducati owners retained Gibbs Legal Services, filed a class action suit and won! I'm not sure how the settlement unfolded but I’m gonna imagine that there were a bunch of new coated tanks on every Monster that was part of that suit.
As for Piaggio? I spoke with Scott at the USA headquarters and he was very responsive and supportive, but had no real answers. When I asked if the tanks were still available and if they’d either give me or sell me a new Breva tank, he said word came back that I needed to talk to my MG dealer, gave me the part # said and Mandello del Lario factory still had some in stock.
So I looked up the part number, the approx tax and S&H and it came to almost $2k US! And as the Hall & Oats song goes "No can do"
There are some used tanks online in Germany, but every time I write and ask about deformation or leaching, nobody responds. So, I’m reluctant to lat down $4 or $500 to get a tank that may be in as bad or worst shape than mine.
Meanwhile, my friend Jason (Formally or Moto Int, in Seattle) told me that several people thoroughly emptied and washed their tanks and then left them out in the sun to warm up. Its gotta get really hot (like 90’s) and then while the tanks are still hot and pliable, you slap back on the frame manipulate them back into all the correct hole alignments and drop the bolt in. Then ya hit it with the cold water and let in contract and sit there till sundown. If, at that point, it's aligned with the OEM spacing and holes, pull the tank and start sealing it with the Coswell or anything else you like.
Will it work? I don't know but idf it does, I’ll post it here. But if it doesn’t, I’m callin Gibbs and asking them how to go about getting restitution via Class Action.
All I know is I coulda be out enjoying my goose all day on the road…and worked instead. I want my bike repaired by the company who made the mistake. Their negligence is why some of us can’t get the tanks back on our bike and that’s not fair!
-- pressure, Not talking about pinpoint, pressure-washer stream that could take chrome off a trailer hitch, but a fire-hose flooding torrent in a hard-to-hold-onto-the-tank sort of way.
-- tho I am struggling to replace the covering shroud -- which should make it lots easier to seat the bead on tires. Good timing, too, as the Griso has a flat in its rear Michelin Power. I squared it off on the way back from muttoning in Kentucky last month. I knew I had to R&R it, but hoped to get a few more local miles in. Revzilla says a new Road 4 GT is inbound.
), plus the difficulty getting the aft tank-mount to line up.