As you may well know, I built a Pantah on a Radical design last year. What you won't know is the issues I've had with the tank. From the off it didn't fit the frame rails properly. So I emailed Pepo who said it would be ok and to grind the frame tubes flat in that area. Although not keen in that idea I did take off the weld ridges to help it sit better onto the frame. I then had it painted along with the other bodywork and fitted it. It leaked fuel all over the motor from the tap area where the thread had been bonded into the tank. This stripped off the paint from the motor. Another email to Pepo and he said to add some fibreglass resin to the area, which I did and it fixed it. A few weeks later and as I'm cleaning it I notice a bulge in the paint at the front, about 20mm x 30mm. So out with the Stanley knife to slice it off and have a look. It was full of fuel, yep, the tank it leaking at the front seam. So I email Pepo with my complaints. He told me to send it back and he will address all the issues, re-paint it, and re-reimburse my postage costs. So this I do once it's been in the BSMC show (with an empty tank). The tank comes back to me a few weeks later and I try it on the bike, the fit is WORSE than before, and it now has a nice scratch on the top. I also don't get my £60 it cost me to post it. So, yesterday I fit it and fill it with Super unleaded. Off to the MOT, which it passes, and a little trundle around the Kent Countryside. As it's a lovely day, I fancy more of the same. So I get kitted up, all excited to be back on the bike after a crappy winter. As I approach my workshop I can smell petrol, and as I open the door the fumes are such that I can't enter. I leave it a few minutes and have a look, the tank has pissed the fuel out of the same place it leaked before, stripping the paint off the tank and frame, soaking into my workshop floor tiles, and into my front tyre. It's also still leaking from the tap area, where they removed my fix and added their own!!! To say I'M PISSED OFF would be the fucking understatement of the year. So, if you have anything made by Radical Spain and Pepo, especially a tank, give it a very, very careful look over. I couldn't begin to comprehend a fire in my workshop, let alone if someones is attached to the house. So I'm down to the tune of £1,000 for the tank, paint, and other costs. I'm hoping Radical France have a different tank builder. I'm not suggesting Radical France will have the same issues, but please check your older stuff for safety.
Radical is closing shop... that won't have helped solving issues... or how to ruin an otherwise healthy reputation overnight..... sad really...
That's really shit Nuttynick. I'm having issues with my tank also. Fixed the fuel pump leek but I still smell fuel big time in my garage and also my bedroom which is above. I'll be taking a closer look this evening to see what's happening. So are you going to coat the inside?
That looks shocking mate ,I have. A friend who. Makes bespoke tanks was approached by Norton to make tanks for the new bikes makes lots of 1off stuff His name is Andrew sharp No is 07836 595804 called Ali-fab also makes rads good luck
I'm more worried about all those other tanks that people on here have got. A fire doesn't bear thinking about. A duff tank is one thing, but injury or worse is another. I have no faith in this tank at all, I wish I'd never purchased it. I've already found a stock steel Pantah tank which I'll have painted. I now have a very expensive workshop ornament
Koën, Radical Spain, ie Pepo,shut shop and sold the rights etc to the French Radical importer. This issue has nothing at all to do with the current company, Radical France, and I wish them well. However, it has all to do with the potential failure of tanks previously sold from Spain.
I'm sure this is going to cause a whole load of egg-sucking, apologies for that, but the leakage is possibly down to the fact that all UK forecourt fuel now contains ethanol at somewhere between 5 and 10% (depending who you talk to). Ethanol eats the resin in fibreglass and carbonfibre tanks. I had to have the carbon tank on my 851 sealed to protect it against this. Of course, that's no excuse for the poor tank fitment....
I filled the repaired tank yesterday for the first time, with Super unleaded. It looks to be leaking from the same seam as before. A shit, untested repair, no more, no less. If they were in the UK I'd be driving there tomorrow to get it sorted or my money back. But as Radical Spain is no more I can kiss my grand goodbye.
thats bad shit mate,when i put fuel in my flattrack tank for the first time i started turning the resin to jelly so i had to seal it with caswell, that did the trick,are you going to have a go a repairing it? fibreglass is fairly easy to work with.
Now I've slept on it and calmed down I may repair it myself. A bit of research shows Caswell to be the best stuff out there, as you've suggested. It's had over a decade's use in the USA where they've had Ethanol in larges percentages in the fuel. It's also transparent so I can keep the fuel window. Has anyone got any tips to lining the tank?
firstly i would cover the tank in cling film to protect the paint,clean the inside of the tank with ascetone,if your worried with the joints on the seam you could pour sum fibreglass resin in there and run it round the full joint,when you use the caswell you have to keep rotating the tank in all directions to stop it pooling,i think setting time was 1/2 a hour but mine took closer to 2 hours.
Amazing how one thread like this can change your perception of something. I've loved the look of Radical stuff from the first time I saw it. This makes you think twice. Hope it all works out.
radical didn't go bust,they simply decided to stop selling....surely this doesn't remove responsibility for their products.
