Ali Tank Maker.

Here’s his full email fir reference.

Hi Geoff,
Thank you for what you have done, yes in recent months several people have contacted me but unfortunately I am working a lot for Gordon Murray I am doing the gas and water tanks for the T-50 and the T-33 and I cannot do other jobs because in these months we have made several prototypes for them and now production has started.
Probably I have not replied to the contacts because I have forgotten and do not want to accept orders and then make people wait a long time.
if you want you can tell them to try to contact me in a couple of months, to see if I am a little free.
Thank you so much.
Regards Manuel

 

Since you mentioned a s4rs here’s one of his tanks fitted to a s4rs

 

I have the same issue with my S2r, I contacted tecknorace and l was told to call Back
in June he is so busy. I will order as soon as he is able to manufacture,

 

Thinking I may get in the queue..

 

I have wondered whether you could cut out the plastic one for look like the tank and fit and smaller one under, like the later monsters.

 

I spent literally years trying to convince uk based tank manufacturers to invest in tooling for various monster tanks. One guy wanted to tool up to
Make a pressed tank with a minimum Of twenty tanks. His estimate of cost was around £3.5k. Tried to raise interest on the U.K. monster forum but zero interest. The other guy was the tank man with a little bit of interest but from experience it can take him three years to deliver and it doesn’t fit properly to a Ducati RT450.
There are several uk manufacturers of alloy tanks like tab, holt and others that produce some stunning tanks but mainly for the classic dukes and British bikes. Internal fuel
Pumps which require a manifold and the petrol filler area require welding of thin 1.5mm to cnc machined alloy parts.
Note: one guy on the Ducatims criticised TECKNORACE after he tried to polish the tank and ran into problems. If you require the tank polished then stipulate that at time of ordering as he uses 2mm alloy. He also offers a polishing service .

 

Having done the rounds on this myself, it's a highly skilled task to create the curves of the Ducati tanks and the few people capable tend to be busy making race tanks or production parts already.

One option is to get a simple box tank and get that located inside the shell, but of course that would have less capacity.

Another would be to go the route of getting a moulded plastic tank made and then an aluminium shell to cover that.

If there is enough of you then you could split the tooling costs and a carbon tank would become viable.

 

Wonder if carbon would be easier to find a maker for and cheaper

 

Cheaper if you can manage a group buy, I enquired and it was between 4 - 6k to make a one off tank. But if 10 people were interested then it becomes much more viable.

This was the guy: https://www.facebook.com/p3aprilia/

 

Just for reference all the companies I contacted required a tank to make the tooling with the exception of TECKNORACE. Problem is a large number of tanks have expanded including my own so no point in using it as reference. A group buy would need to cost in a new tank for each model eg monster air and water cooled , Streetfighter, sport classic etc.

 

Well , I can only give a ten out of ten for Manuel.although I had to wait for his workload to become manageable ,he contacted me and said he had the time to undertake the fabrication.

I paid my deposit on 12th July and the tank arrived with me 28th July. Very pleased, not sure if I should just put it in a glass case, it’s art! Very very pleased ,can’t recommend the guy highly enough. Import duty a bit of a bummer but I am still over the moon.

 

It looks great, and I agree it's a work of art.
On the matter of duty, if the value of an item from Europe exceeds £135 then vat is not paid in the country of origin, but on import to UK as "import VAT" at 20%. The following is a related extract from a previous post:
"If you buy direct from Italy, ask them to deduct local VAT and include a statement on the invoice that the items are made in the EU; which should be routine. That will ensure that you are not charged VAT twice and only pay UK import VAT, and there should be no import duty under the "rules of origin" agreement between the UK and the EU. This means that orders are UK customs duty exempt if products have been largely produced and manufactured in the EU. There will also be a brokerage fee applied by the shipping company, who frequently get the charges wrong, so be prepared to check."
This related forum link on importing stands may help:
https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/gee-tech-paddock-stands.87584/page-2#post-1978099 .
I apologise in advance if you already know most of this.
However, its a great looking tank, well done.
Tom.

 

Hi Tom, no need to apologise, I didn’t know that, so it cost a whopping £329 in duty/ Vat.it appears from the invoice I have not been charged twice,there is no entry adjacent to the tax section on his paperwork so all good thanks.

 

Now you tell me, you could have had a go,there is a market for replacement tanks!

 

Hi All, sorry for reviving an old thread but looking for an ali tank for my streetfighter, I've emailed Tecknorace today, hopefully he's not too busy and can get a tank produced in a few months. If I do get a response, is there anyone else that would want one?

I've emailed a few uk companies, Etto said around £3k for one but would need a scraficial tank.

Thanks in advance.

 

Did you have any luck with UK ones?

 

I know a bloke who has made his own alloy tanks for his cafe racers although I’m not sure he’d be the one to use to replicate a stock tank, although I could ask him if your interested.

 

Hi mate, yes please, it's always good to get info. I think for mine it's a worth while expense as the bike is fantastic.