Took the plunge a while ago when the proalloy replacement 916 alloy header tank was announced. It took a while for it to be made as they wanted enough orders to make production worthwhile. It’s just arrived & looks lovely , too nice to hide under the tank ? Anyways hope to fit this weekend as last time I rode my 916 it was doing an impression of a steam kettle from the original header tank
@Macca Very nice! I am surprised you had this issue on a 916 though. I thought this was a 996 problem only. I rode my previous 916 to 40.000 miles with its original expansion plastic tank. I once road tested the 996 of a friend and ended up lightly sprayed with coolant in front. He told that was kinda usual. Plastic seam was poor quality… Quite interested to get your feedback (mounting, hot weather rides, etc.) for my 996 friends out there.
I went through 2 tanks on my 916. I got the original proalloy tank and it's a lovely bit of kit, I'm glad they managed to get enough interest to do a run and make there work worthwhile
Very nice. After a spate of 3 tank failures in quick succession (one failing 12 miles into the first ride). I bought an alloy tank from the USA. It works perfectly so I'm happy with it but it could only be described as 'functional' in comparison to that which is, indeed a work of art.
In the middle of fitting the tank . To get the old one out you need to remove seat, tank, airbox & I removed the ignition switch. To fit the proalloy the air filter pipes also need to be removed to get access to the RHS hose and clamp. It’s also a bit fiddly getting the tank in and takes a bit of twiddling the position to get in, mine was tight getting past the lower frame brace and needed a gentle tap with my hand , you also need to swap over the air temp sensor & filler neck before attempting to fit & place tank mounting P-clips on frame rails in advance as you won’t get them in easily after proalloy tank is in place. I’ve hit two snag’s sofar 1st is the air temp sensor was very tight going over the tank studs , so doesn’t need nuts to hold in place & the front most stud fowled the frame rail, destructions say leave this one’s nut off until fitted. As my temp sensor is now a press fit I shortened that stud to clear rail, & will fit nuts to the two other studs in case vibes walk the sensor of the studs. 2nd is the rear cylinder hose to the front of tank is too short on mine to go on the pipe on proalloy tank as it faces forward instead of sideways. As my overflow pipe is longer im going to try swapping these over for now. Onward & upwards. My pipe swap seems to have worked & I wonder if PO had fitted these in wrong locations when they rebuilt this 916 ( it had been apart & a few issues with reassembly were found by me not long after purchase) Final leg found another couple of snags. Clearance around the tank is tight, so water pipe jubilee clamps have to be oriented in specific ways to avoid fouling frame etc & be able to tighten/release. RHS hose to radiator became crushed when refitting the air filter conveyor, it looks like the proalloy tank pushes that hose further out to the right. I fixed it by shortening it 1/2” at the end for the tank fitting. This one is awkward to tighten the Jubilee clamps& I arranged it so I could tighten from front of radiator . So now all fitted & ready to button up until I spotted a snagged o-ring on my fuel tank fittings which has paused proceedings until I get a couple of new ones :/
Prices were discounted when I purchased so you would have to check in with proalloy themselves for current charges
Sorry, didn’t realise they had a website and set prices, as metal fab shops don’t always. Looks around £375 depending on discount. Not that bad tbf.
I’ve got one waiting for me when I get back from the Manx GP/ Classic TT. I ordered it months ago and it’s just now arrived while I’m away!
I did want one. They look to be really well made and follow the originals design rather than the solid box bunkers
I did exactly the same, again after a quick failure (not as bad as 12miles, though!).And I don't regret that I got a pro to fit it for me,cos it seems a right faff!
I think it probably leaked from the outset, it's just I stopped for petrol 12 miles from home and watched the bike pissing itself whilst I was paying for the fuel. At least that time the dealer replaced it, whereas with the previous tank that only lasted a few months, the dealer (a different one) told me 'no warranty'. It was after that, that I bought the ally tank,. I've still got the last replacement plastic one that survived until I fitted the new one. It makes me wonder if they got worse or if it was just bad luck because my original tank lasted years before failing whereas the next 2 were very short term. Here's a pic of mine fitted, actually it went in OK though I replaced the hoses on the left as they needed to be longer/bent differently and had to modify the hose linking to the radiator on the RH side, plus there is nowhere to fit the air pressure sensor so I moved it to the headlight fairing. It's not as pretty as the one above and there's no means of checking the level without removing the cap but I'm pretty certain it'll outlast the bike.
I think they got worse. My first 748 (bought brand-new), the original lasted ages. But more recently,they seemed to fail more often, and it got to the point where I thought, I'm not going to replace rubbish with rubbish.
