I left a small hole for draining water though. It’s tied in at the bottom, to prevent crud flying up into it. I protected the the fuel tank quick release with a section of MTB inner tube. If it gets too dry, the female connector will potentially catch on the O-ring an tear it, resulting in a fuel leak. Every time the quick release is opened, the O-ring should be lubed with silicone grease before closing. Instead, I’ll keep an eye on the in-tank filter and do frequent changes of the micro filter. I didn’t bother with putting an extra fuel filter or replacing the standard micro filter with a Golan or equivalent. So I suppose I will work on some way of protecting the most damage prone sections of the tank instead for now.
So I’d prefer the fuel load spread into at least two tanks, but have yet to find a system that is solid in terms of design and within my budget. Having a single tank has its risks though, and destroying it somewhere far off would potentially have catastrophic consequences. It’s large enough for most of the time, but for sections where fuel is scarce, I’ll carry a collapsible bladder for the extra fuel. The bike has a single 19 litre KTM Powerparts fuel tank. The bikes with linkage suspension have many more bearings prone to dirt and water, which results in more maintenance and more spare parts to carry. The PDS design is very simple and has a minimal amount of bearings down low in harms way. It needs very little modification to work well in adventure enduro. The 500 EXC has great suspension already in stock form. The stock 500 EXC weighs around 112 kg without fuel, which is around 27 kg less than the 690. I felt utterly helpless and embarrassed having to be helped with my “light bike”. I was tired and could find no purchase for my MX boots on the slippery surface. All cases involved the bike being on a muddy trail.
Even with the 690, there were two or three instances, when I couldn’t pick up the bike by myself after a spill. The weight of the bike similarly affects the probability of spills and the energy spent on recovering from them and continuing the journey. The energy a rider spends on a difficult trail is directly proportional to the weight of the bike.
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