Rotopax Mount Questions

[imacbo]

I currently have a 1gal Rotopax fuel can that I would like to mount on my new Trail. I dont want to put it on the top of the rack. I would like to mount on the side of the bike. Which mount do you recommend? I noticed most mount to the rear tail light. If you lay the bike down does this break the light or is this mounting point secure?

 

[SneakyDingo]

I currently have a 1gal Rotopax fuel can that I would like to mount on my new Trail. I dont want to put it on the top of the rack. I would like to mount on the side of the bike. Which mount do you recommend? I noticed most mount to the rear tail light. If you lay the bike down does this break the light or is this mounting point secure?

There's a few options. Hopefully this gives you a few search terms to use on Webike, Google and this forum.

First off, acknowledge what you're dealing with: It's a 1.1 gallon can with about 6 lbs of liquid in it, plus the weight of the mount (~1.2 lbs per Amazon spec), thing it's mounted to and any supporting hardware. That all adds up to around 10-15 lbs hanging off the side.

On the right side, the only good mount I've seen is this one. For a few reasons I'm not a fan of bolting **checks notes** a can of flammable liquid next to the exhaust pipe but I'm sure it's fine. We'll talk specifics on the left side of how to do this, but that's roughly what you're dealing with.

On the left side you have some more options. There's a fuel can mount from G-Craft that you can use (example thread where someone uses it), which bolts to the tool kit holder mount. There's the DRC Side bag support linked earlier, plus something to connect the Rotopax mount to your side bag support. Rotopax sells a single mount plate for this but IIRC you don't need it for something like the G-Craft mount. There's another mount that I can't find right now (@G19Tony or @dmonkey might know what it is) where it bolts to the upper of the rear carrier, as opposed to the tool box mount. The better mounts that I've seen integrate with the rear carrier, the tool kit mount and the side reflector on the left side.

The biggest problem so far has been vibrations + heavy weight + thin tool kit mount has not been kind to every person on the forum. The tool kit mount is notoriously thin and an integrated part with the rear carrier rack (P/N 81200-K2E-T00ZA, replacement is approx ~USD$275), with a tendency to crack along the weld. Ang from SomeGuyRides broke his and ended up having a thicker bracket welded over the top so he could use it with confidence. A better design from Honda would have been to have a bolted bracket for this part but they went with welds so here we are.

Personally for me, I think I'm going to do what @G19Tony did with his bike and buy an Apache 4800 case, pimp that out for longer riding, and mount the Rotopax mount to the top of that. His thread on mods for his bike is awesome. You can check it out here.

EDIT: Check out the for sale section of this forum before buying a mount too. They come up in the for sale section with somewhat regular cadence.

 

[dmonkey]

Here's the one that mounts with more attachment points: https://japan.webike.net/products/24294489.html
Haven't seen a RotopaX paired with it, but they're pretty easy to mount to just about any bracket that's the right size and has room around it. Mine has a 0.5 gal fuel bottle on it: https://hondatrail125.com/index.php...-tank-kit-on-takegawa-helmet-holder-rack.591/

Another consideration is that adding an auxiliary fuel tank adds to your maintenance responsibilities on the bike. Most containers will need to be burped regularly, and if you fill it with an ethanol-gasoline blend the fuel starts to go bad in a few months so you would need to regularly rotate through the gas.

 

[mcmd]

Here's the one that mounts with more attachment points: https://japan.webike.net/products/24294489.html
Haven't seen a RotopaX paired with it, but they're pretty easy to mount to just about any bracket that's the right size and has room around it. Mine has a 0.5 gal fuel bottle on it: https://hondatrail125.com/index.php...-tank-kit-on-takegawa-helmet-holder-rack.591/

Another consideration is that adding an auxiliary fuel tank adds to your maintenance responsibilities on the bike. Most containers will need to be burped regularly, and if you fill it with an ethanol-gasoline blend the fuel starts to go bad in a few months so you would need to regularly rotate through the gas.

I would think that you could do the rotation by filling up your gas tank from the auxiliary tank frequently. Then, refill the auxiliary.

 

[dmonkey]

You certainly can if you're riding regularly. Or if you know that you won't be, fill another vehicle from the aux tank and leave it empty until you might be in need of it again. I store my bike with the 0.5 gal tank empty when I won't be riding it frequently.

 

[imacbo]

Here's the one that mounts with more attachment points: https://japan.webike.net/products/24294489.html
Haven't seen a RotopaX paired with it, but they're pretty easy to mount to just about any bracket that's the right size and has room around it. Mine has a 0.5 gal fuel bottle on it: https://hondatrail125.com/index.php...-tank-kit-on-takegawa-helmet-holder-rack.591/

Another consideration is that adding an auxiliary fuel tank adds to your maintenance responsibilities on the bike. Most containers will need to be burped regularly, and if you fill it with an ethanol-gasoline blend the fuel starts to go bad in a few months so you would need to regularly rotate through the gas.

If it wasnt for the price I would jump all over that set-up. I like how clean it looks.