Clarke tank will not fit

S

southbound

New member
The 3.2 gallon Clarke tank I bought does not fit my 2011 ec250r. The shrouds are two inches away from the radiators on the top and half a inch away on the bottom.

Did I get the wrong tank from Clarke? I have not called them yet, but will in the morning. Has anyone had a Clarke tank fit their 2011 bike?

Who else makes desert tanks for a newer model GasGas?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.
 
That is the biggest problem with the Clarke tank. You have to zip ty the shrouds at the top and they still look a little funky. I am taking my Clarke off of my bike. I can run a 2hour hare scramble and still have over a gallon left. I figure the stock tank should be just fine.
 
I'm racing Baja, solo. I'll finish with zip ties and duct tape if I have to, but I sure don't want to start that way.
 
The Clarke tank is a poor design. Maybe it fit an older bike? It's not even remotely close on the new bikes. The designer must have been on drugs as the area around the filler neck is not symmetrical and there is no way the shrouds will fit properly. Looks really goofy at the rad cap. You can sort of make the shrouds work, but they will never be pretty.

I knew this when I bought mine, but I don't run shrouds. I made up some small filler panels to go below the tank. Keeps my knees from going in below the tank (prevents hitting the coil). I don't use the mounting brackets that came with the tank. I added a foam block in front and extra foam on the inner sides of the frame. Also more at the rear. The tank now just settles into the foam and stays in place. Much faster to remove and replace.
 
southbound,if your racing baja solo no less,don't worry about the GG shrouds! any sane man would not dream of racing a modern baja race with a 2 smoke. get yourself a big fast stable 4 stroke or prepare to get your arse whipped big time! hire baja pits or mag 7 pits and get fuel every 50 miles along the course.spend your money on suspension and lighting,you'll need both of those more than anything else!
 
CACTUSREID - I'd love to get myself three fast four strokes. One to practice on, one to take for spares, and one to race.

I must, however, remember the future, and the future holds an outdoor season in the woods.

Lights? Yes, those will be returned, too. The one recommended by the manufacturer (X2) is dim and yellow. Suggestions?

First day out with the Clarke tank the vent stem inside the cap snapped off.

Oh, and the Scorpion radiator guards don't line up, either.

While I'm at it, the Cycra hand guard mounts force me to drop my forks down, way down, which is okay for Baja, but not so much for the woods, and they won't allow me to bleed the forks.

My brand new bike is held together by zip ties and duct tape (The duct tape is keeping the water out of my tank while I figure out a new cap).

Finally, first ride out I came home early after I had to abort a couple of hill climbs ? no power. I pulled the carb to check the floats so I could start on the jetting and found the carb to cylinder boot has a tear.

Just a few bumps, all minor.
 
southbound- if your really going to do the baja 1000,i hope i can be of some help. i raced it with 3 buddies from kamloops bc in 08 ( northern loop race-think whoops,lots and lots of frikkin whoops) and we came in 4th on our first attempt in +50 class. best bang for your buck is a trail tech mr16 helmet light with a hard wire to your battery and a couple of back up batteries. go as fast as you can during daylight hours for your position, and then hold your lead when it gets dark. but seriously you need a 4 stroke to race baja these days. rent,borrow ,anything,just get a 4 stroke. they are so much more planted and stable in the sand and the race course whoops. is this your 1st try at the race or am i giving advice to a multi time baja winner, with a vision of doing it "differently"?
 
First timer, and I appreciate all the expienced help I can get.

I love my mr16 helmet light. It is three times the light the X2 is.

It was recommended that I use halogen for a bike light because it will reflect less dust. What are you thoughts on that?
 
southbound,if you have a mr 16 already,put what ever you can afford on your bike,also what ever your stator can handle. i rode the first half of the night section in 08-approx 41/2 hours inc a 35 miles section of complete soupy fog up the west coast.by the time you need your lights you wont have to worry about dust, as racers get pretty spread out by night fall. we ran a ktm 525 xc-w with a big stator on it. we had a pair of 4 inch baja designs HID's on the bike one spot, one flood,and i had my mr 16 (spot not flood) wired straight to the battery. the bike would produce about 13.8 volts at idle with all the lights blazing. with this setup i managed to complete my section during the race at the same pace /elapsed time that i could prerunning during the daylight. that being said i raced for approx 4 1/2 -5 hours total,you will be on your bike for the best part of 24 hr's almost non stop if you solo it! go fast but careful during the first couple of hours of the race as that's were the locals put most of the booby traps. as the saying goes yah can't win but you sure can loose this race in the first 100 miles! never let your guard down, as i still was running into boobytraps after dark out on the west coast (figure 8 loop race just like this years will be). if you see a group of people or fires beside the course at night -slow down a bit and be careful!! are you sponsored, or are you paying the whole she-bang yourself? Did i tell you to get a big 4 stroke yet?? the last thing you will want to have happen is to have your 2 stroke grenade on you an hour or so into the race,ending your dreams investment and hope for a finishing pin. still not sure about the 4 stroke- take your gasser out on the biggest fastest longest section of gravel road you can find,and run it wide open for 20 minutes at a time. you will be doing 65-70 mph max and killing it fast. all this time envision the honda's and ktm's coming by you like your standing still,and dusting you out unmercifully!No one runs a 2 stroke in a baja race these day's- there are a lot of very good reasons.
 
for high speed baja night riding you want mostly spot/distance type lighting,so you don't over ride your lighting capabilities.
 
Thank you for the advice. I know a 2T is not the way to go, and a woods 2T at that. I am not sponsored, but I did send letters to all the aftermarket suppliers, The only response I got back was from Twin Air - 35% off. It's better than nothing, I suppose.

The X2 is going back in exchange for an 8 inch HID.
 
if my only choice for a 700 mile open high speed race was a 2 stroke bush bike- i'd save my entry/travel/pre-running costs, and come back when i could show up with a gun for a gun fight. embarrassing yourself is one thing, doing it in front of a large crowd-priceless!
 
A 2T is not out of the question; didn't KX500's have great success in desert racing?

The big problem is the close ratio gearbox with less than 1L capacity. The only way I could see this working is to gear it ridiculously tall and put in an auto clutch to make any slow speed sections more manageable. The controlled slippage of the auto clutch could offset the struggle of a first gear that's way too tall.
 
neil:no offense here,but have you ridden or raced baja recently? i have been down there every winter with a group of very fast/good canadian riders for a totally unsupported 2 week ride every year since 2001. we usually knock off approx. 2500 km of single track/toughest stuff we can find riding with no support what so ever. racing the 1000 or 500 or san felipe 250 is a totally different ball game. the 1000 is the easiest by far-as far as terrain is concerned. people that haven't done a desert race that the whoops are produced by 800 hp trophy trucks and buggies have no friggen clue,as to what it's actually like. people think of whoops as a set of bumps on a race track,all of them about 18 inches deep and once you've done the 9 whoops in a row your good for a long time. enter baja- try 40 miles (yes 40,it's not a misprint) of whoops at a pop! these suckers are anywhere from 18 inches to 4 feet deep! oh and they are not equally spaced like they are on an mx track. a bike is about 5 ft in length, a truck or buggy is about 17 ft.so every 3rd whoop is either way to close or just far enough out of reach that most guy's can't keep a good smooth rhythm through them. you need lots of skill and balls to make time on this type of terrain! Also a 2 stroke is no where even close to being the right weapon for this job. if you don't believe me ,go ahead and spend thousands of dollars getting prepped,entry fees,prerunning expences,etc,etc,etc,and give it your best shot on your 2 stroke. i'll keep an eye on how it plays out for you. please post up your race number and class,as that makes it easiest to follow. sorry a little off track there, the last bit was hoping to help southbound a little.
Ps: yes I do own a 2 stroke-a GG ec 300, but I also have a ktm 525 4 stroke for baja/dualsporting duties.
 
the last 10 year's or so,has seen the baja races skewed vastly in favor of the trucks over the bike classes. wide open fast,deep never ending whoop sections,silt beds,and high speed ( 120-150 mph dry lake sections) are now the norm. fat sweat hogs in million dollar trucks getting their arse handed to them by a kid on an $8000.00 bike just was not cutting it with the sponsors! so lets change up the course so the big guy's in the trucks can maybe win this thing. that's what the baja desert races have become. like it or not,that's the way it is today.
 
Cactus,
I had no idea the speeds were that high! I think trophy trucks are a step backwards and put other competitors in danger. When I think of desert racing the old Barstow to Vegas run is what comes to mind.
 
Neil: Yes the trophy trucks are fast and dangerous! They can and will do 120 + mph on the open sections! Not many bikes can or will pull 100 mph top speed. the pro bikes will be a little over 100mph tops. I was the one in our group,that got to deal with the trophy trucks. exciting,to say the least! getting passed on the inside of a corner by an 800 hp truck doing 70 mph when your doing 30mph trying to stay uprite and safe is quite the experience. the first 5 or so trophy trucks and a couple of high powered buggies past me on my night section in the 1000. your best bet is when you hear(they all have firehouse type sirens on them) or see( the hills in front of you light up like someone just turned the sun back on) is pull over and let them by and let the dust settle . They start the trucks 3 or 4 hr's after the last bike is off the line,and it's only the pro bikes that finish ahead of them. the rest of us get run down and past by these guys.
 
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