I ordered a bare steel tank from India before COVID and it arrived this week. My expectations were that I would have to finesse the tank to fit in someway, but at the price point it was a risk I was willing to take.
The tank arrived and very impressed right out of the box with how well it was made - new clean metal, shaped properly, good looking welds. It is made from only a few properly shaped panels so the inside was very clean. It even had bottom panels with similar pressings as the original., albeit hand hammered.
I immediately offered it up my Rapide and was surprised at how perfectly it fit straight off. Installed the front rubber buffers and bolts, the rear bracket is spot on, the oil tank filler central. Wow..
I asked a few of the local lads (Dan S/Robert W) about the rear bracket - the welds on the underside look clean and strong, but it is missing the 1" stitch weld on the top, which will be an easy fix.
My original tank was really in a sorry state - a failed liner and 2 really big previous repairs with about 2 pounds of added bronze weld and a full 1/8" layer of polyfibre filler over the whole tank. Not knowing if I could source a reasonable replacement tank after enquires on this forum and no stock at VOC, I opened the bottom up (for its 3rd time), removed the liner by hand, bronze welded up, pressure tested and Redkoted the inside. The outside has now received a proper HRD paint job with 22K gold leaf lines and it looks pretty swish right now. I will use it initially, but becasue of the amount of repair I am less comfortable keeping it in full time service.
I sourced my tank from well known Royal Choppers <
royalchoppers1@gmail.com> from ebay seller "vintage24x7". I have advised them of the missing weld and they are looking at that for future tanks. I would not get a painted tank, better to work from a bare steel base.
View attachment 35100View attachment 35101View attachment 35102View attachment 35103View attachment 35104