Spare oil in aluminium drinks bottle?

Dr Bones

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I've had a couple of 1 litre aluminium drinks bottles with oil in them in action for quite a few years.....Never had a problem with the seal, or the inside lining (or at least, not visibly...it looks intact and the oil still looks totally clean)

Of course, without having some sort of spectrum analysis of the oil done, it's impossible to say if it has absorbed anything from the lining material, but frankly, life's too short and I can't be arsed.....if it looks good, smells good and I need it, I'd rather have fractionally contaminated oil to put in thatn no oil at all to top up with

For lashing to the bike, make 100% there is ZERO movement on any hard surface...the bottles are thin aluminium and if they touch on anything hard, over a couple of hundred miles off-road, they WILL wear through and leak all over the inside of your pannier or all down your rear tyre...DAMHIK :blast

Allow an inch of heat expansion room and mount upright, but yes, go for it :thumb2
 
Fanum said:
Allow an inch of heat expansion room and mount upright, but yes, go for it :thumb2
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I'd not thought of that, thanks. I've got a plastic bottle carrier (mountain bike type), I'm going to try and mount it in so hopefully it won't wear through.

:thumb2
 
Dr Bones said:
I'm off on a road trip in a weeks time. My bike doesn't seem to use much oil, but I want to take a small amount with me anyway.
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Petrol stations sell oil in one litre bottles. As do car spares shops all over europe :D
 
how many miles do you intend to do and how much oil does the bike use?
Top up the bike to the max level and it should give you a good range before you get to "min".
Why not use something like an old washing up liquid bottle? Costs nothing, wont break easily and will hold about the same quantity of oil!
 
Steptoe said:
Petrol stations sell oil in one litre bottles. As do car spares shops all over europe :D
Click to expand...

:D I know. I've bought them before, problem is you end up with a half empty litre bottle you need to put somewhere. Taking a small bottle seemed the sensible answer. To be honest the bike probably won't use a huge amount in 1800 miles. But I've found if I top it up to the top of the circle in the sight glass, it all ends up in the airbox. Middle of the sight glass works best for me.
 
You ought to be able to get an aluminium bottle from a supermarket camping section that will do thje job :rob
 
Steptoe said:
Petrol stations sell oil in one litre bottles. As do car spares shops all over europe :D
Click to expand...


They do, but we both know that at the point when you decide you need some oil, you then start worrying about it....."will I get some, will I cause any damage, what grade will it be" and all that other sort of oil crap that comes with being a bit low on the level.

For the sakes of carrying a litre or half litre bottle strapped to the bike, it's just something you can knock off the 'fret list'......and if it brings peace of mind, no matter if it's not entirely necessary, it's worth it :comfort

once in a hundred times, you might also NEED some......that o ring starts to leak, or you are out in the boonies and find you're low because the roads out there have encouraged some unusually spirited riding.....

No harm in carrying a bit :thumb2
 
You never know when you will need some lubrication, especially in them big German 'rest areas'.
 
Steptoe said:
Petrol stations sell oil in one litre bottles. As do car spares shops all over europe :D
Click to expand...
What and mix oil? some of it has red dye in, imagine the damage to a boxer engine, and the ensuing threads it would cause!!!!
Just a thought if you are with other GSERS then finding a home for the remaining contents shouldnt be hard, or just bin it :D
 
Dr Bones said:
:. But I've found if I top it up to the top of the circle in the sight glass, it all ends up in the airbox. Middle of the sight glass works best for me.
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If you measure out the exact amount of oil specified for the bike it'll fill just over the top of the oil sight glass.

This lasts me for more than 5k miles before i need to have a look again or top it up. And by then it's just above the bottom of the sight glass.
 
Always taken spare oil for both our bikes in wait for it, fruitshoot bottles. Fairly robust, packwell. Always put a sealed freezer bag on them and store upright. When it needs topping up no need for funnel. Works a treat.:thumb
 
Dr Bones said:
:D I know. I've bought them before, problem is you end up with a half empty litre bottle you need to put somewhere. Taking a small bottle seemed the sensible answer. To be honest the bike probably won't use a huge amount in 1800 miles. But I've found if I top it up to the top of the circle in the sight glass, it all ends up in the airbox. Middle of the sight glass works best for me.
Click to expand...

but you've only bought a 500ml container and you are only filling up to the red dot,,, what if you require more then 500mls?? you will end up at the petrol station and have 1 empty 500ml container and a 1ltr bottle of oil taking up room in the pannier :eek:
 
Uh Oh, can of worms. So let me give you some background. My other bike is a MK1 Yamaha TDM 850. Great bike but a small design flaw by Yamaha (fixed with Nicasil coating on the bores in the TDM 900), means it'll quite happily drink it's way through a litre of oil in 1000 miles at motorway speeds. Min to Max on the dipstick is 400ml, so on a long distance run I'm constantly worrying about how much oil I've used. Now the R1100GS seems to use very little oil, but the paranoia remains, taking a small quantity of oil with me keeps my mind at rest.

:hide

Google TDM 850 oil consumption, makes the figures talked about on BMW forums pale into insignificance. I know of one TDM rider who used 6 litres on a european tour. They really do joke about there being a constant oil change going on.
 
andybharris said:
but you've only bought a 500ml container and you are only filling up to the red dot,,, what if you require more then 500mls?? you will end up at the petrol station and have 1 empty 500ml container and a 1ltr bottle of oil taking up room in the pannier :eek:
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empty coke bottles are handy and normaly found at most places:thumb2
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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