PROJECTS | Shut Up And Ride

Current & Upcoming Projects

These are some of the projects that I'm currently working on or plan to work on in the future.

AUXILIARY TANKS FOR KTM 790 AND 890 ADVENTURE PLATFORM

So this idea started during the first Covid lockdown. I've already had my 2019 790 Adventure R and lots of time at home. After watching many rally races, I got to thinking that it would be cool to have additional gas tanks instead of the storage compartments. Just like rally bikes.

I searched online if they existed. At the time no one made anything like that. So I had a wild idea to make them myself.
Started to research materials and slowly re-learning 3d design (did that in college).

GOALS:

Look OEM, as if KTM made them.
Fill with the main tank, as opposed to having separate fillers, mainly because I wanted to use soft luggage.
Keep the original mounting, but that quickly changed. Only the rear hanger is left, the grommets in the front had to be replaced with my own hardware.
Find a way to make them out of Kevlar and Nylon.
At least 2 gallons
Affordable

FIRST PHYSICAL MODEL. JULY 2020

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Physical Model

Surfaces are very ugly. This was just to check what it looked like on the bike. And how it felt against your legs standing and sitting on the bike.
When standing the sharp edges would dig into the leg so the shape had to change.

SECOND PHYSICAL MODEL. NOVEMBER 2020

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks Second Physical Model

Changed the shape a little in the area close to the legs. Didn't feel the sharp edge anymore, but still thought they were butt ugly.

T-SPLINES TO THE RESCUE. APRIL 2021

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks T-Spline Model

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks T-Spline Model 2

Learned how to use T-Splines. And was able to make beautiful surfaces. Smooth transitions. The area by the legs was finally feeling and looking great.

TESTING STRENGTH. NYLON + KEVLAR. JUNE 2022

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks With Kevlar Stress test

IMPACT TEST

ABRASION TEST

So the idea here was to have the outside of the tank protected by Kevlar. It's great for impact, abrasion, and flame retardancy. After figuring out the cost. I started to lean away from this idea because it would become expensive pretty fast. And also in a crash, if the tank is very stiff that means something on the subframe might break. But I haven't ruled it out completely. Thinking maybe it could be an option for someone who can afford it.

FIRE!!!! TEST

THIRD PHYSICAL MODEL. MAY 2022

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks Third Model

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks Third model 2

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks Third Model 3

Very happy with shape and surface quality. Finally figured out how to use the rear hanger and not a through bolt. Doing a comfort test. Accommodates a passenger.

PROTOTYPE 1A (LEFT TANK). WITH KEVLAR. JUNE 2022

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype 2

First functional prototype. Nylon tank with 1mm Kevlar outer shell. Real world testing begins! First fail was that the volume is less than my goal. Only 0.75 of a gallon (2.84 LITERS) per tank.

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype 3

PROTOTYPE 1B (RIGHT TANK). NYLON + HIGH HEAT/HIGH IMPACT RESIN, NO KEVLAR. OCTOBER 2022

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype 4

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype Fuel line

Fitment is good. Looks good. Fuel lines routed and connected.

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype Top View

Wanted to ride like this for as long as possible to see how everything behaves. After almost a full year. I had a list of changes. And began working on 2ND prototype. The fact that it wasn't 2gallons like I planned, was really bugging me. 1290R front fender also fits.

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype side view

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype side view 3 supermoto

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype side view 2

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks First Prototype sideview supermoto 2

PROTOTYPE 2A (LEFT TANK). AUGUST 2023.

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks Second Prototype

Rode with 1st prototype for 10 months. And finally made half of 2nd prototype. 1 gallon per side! Really love the way it looks. No Kevlar on these either. Wanna see how tough they are on their own.

Need to make a few minor changes to the other half.

Ride for a few months and hopefully release them.

KTM 790 Adventure Auxiliary Tanks Second Prototype 2

Fuel lines connected. And a gloss finish applied. Don't like the gloss at all. Matte finish will be on the final part to match the original tank as close as possible.

PROTOTYPE 2B (RIGHT TANK). MARCH 2024.

790 adventure r custom auxiliary gas tanks right view

790 adventure r custom auxiliary gas tanks left view

790 adventure r custom auxiliary gas tanks front view

I hope this is the final prototype. It looks exactly how I pictured in my head. All the plumbing is done. It's little over 2 gallons, but I'll just call it 2. So that's 7.57 liters for everyone using the metric system.

Satin finish on these just to check what it would look like. I like it better than gloss, but matte finish still wins. Matte looks best, and matches original tank much better.
Only thing left is to test it for at least a month.

I also started testing a small transfer pump.
So, I'm an impatient person. And since I started riding with these (from 1st prototype) the time it took to fill the whole system up on some days bugged me. It's not unbearable, but it does take more than 5 minutes (I think it was 7 minutes with 1st prototype, when both left and right are installed, totaling 6.75gal or 25.5l). So my solution was to find a small transfer pump and somehow incorporate it into the setup. So with the help of a bunch of T and Y fittings it's on. Just need to do a comparison of the time it takes now to fill 2 extra gallons without the pump and with.

The pump will be an add on. Separate kit. Not everyone will need it for these tanks.

And also if someone already has auxiliary tanks from someone else (took me so long that there are others brands) they can utilize the transfer pump kit.

790 adventure r custom auxiliary gas tanks transfer pump

790 adventure r custom auxiliary gas tanks transfer pump view

It's a tight fit. When all the plumbing is done, it works. And most importantly clears the exhaust

There are certain things about the tanks and the system I have not shared on purpose. The reason is that I don't want anyone to copy my ideas. When the tanks are ready to be released I will most likely make a long video explaining everything thoroughly.

FINAL PROTOTYPE. AUGUST 2025.

ORDER FORM

It's finally done!!!

First, some changes.

I ditched the Kevlar idea (for now) and set a new goal of finishing a Nylon version fist. Biggest reason for ditching the Kevlar idea, is cost. Tooling, materials, and production time just made it impractical when trying to make something that doesn't cost $900.
Nylon on it's own is a tough material, so no more epoxies (none of any kind).
I would still like, at some point, to make some kind of Kevlar protection skin for the tank. But not now.
Also the little 12 Volt pump is gone and is replaced with a hand bulb pump by your knees plus a shut off valve that makes the whole system work. Much simpler design and cheap enough to make it part of the Ready To Ride Kit. And most importantly all the parts are easily available.

As of today I am really pleased how this final prototype turned out.
This is 5 years in the making and roughly $30,000 of my own money for research and development, equipment, materials, and various tests. And soooo many failures.

The video includes most of the details.

Here is a summary, along with some things I forgot to mention, somethings that I would like to elaborate on and emphasize:

THESE TANKS ARE FOR SOFT LUGGAGE AND WILL NOT WORK WITH LUGGAGE RACKS
ALL TANKS ARE MADE BY ME :) no outsourcing! I am the only person handling them from the beginning to the end. The production times of 2-4 weeks as of August 2025 are limited by my equipment.
WARNING LABEL:
NOT FOR POTABLE WATER ****this is super important, please don't use these tanks for water that you plan on drinking
FOR USE WITH GASOLINE ONLY
FOR OFF-ROAD OR COMPETITION USE ONLY – NOT D.O.T. CERTIFIED
INSTALLATION MUST FOLLOW OEM FUEL ROUTING PRACTICES
THIS IS NOT A PORTABLE CONTAINER, DO NOT FILL DIRECTLY
Each tank is 1 gallon (3.79 liters) for a combined 2 gallons (7.57 liters) of additional fuel capacity.
The entire system fills from the main tank. In the video, I describe the fueling procedure. I forgot to mention one thing, if you wish to keep the tanks on the bike but not fill them. you don't have to do anything just fill the main tank as usual and that's it. The rear tanks fill with gravity whenever the SHUTOFF VALVE is Open, but that takes about 10 minutes. So you can safely just fill the main tank and go. While you ride the fuel from the main tank will just slowly equalize with the rear tanks and that's it.
Whenever tanks are on the bike the SHUTOFF VALVE should always be set to OPEN. That way any pressure building up from fuel vapor always has somewhere to go.
When tanks are off the bike, they should always be empty. Do not use them for fuel storage. I forgot to mention, but I will supply a plug for one of the couplings for each tank (2 plugs altogether) that will need to be pushed into either of the couplings on the tank when off the bike. They will prevent pressure build up from fuel vapors.
Black will be the only color available as of AUGUST 2025. If I will be able to get any other color I will find a way to announce that. But if your thinking of waiting for natural color specifically, I doubt that will ever be available, because natural needs some kind of UV protection and I don't have the Equipment to add that. The only way Natural will be possible if the material manufacturer starts adding UV inhibitors into their nylon. And as of AUGUST 2025, the brand from whom I get my material doesn't have any in their formula.
For those who are planning to get their own couplings, the tanks inlet and outlets are going to have 1/4" NPT Female threads. Do not use Teflon Tape or any tape on threads. If you purchase couplings from me as part of the kit, they will be preinstalled. There will be no tape on the threads on purpose, to avoid lose strands making their way into the fuel system. In the case of metal couplings please be careful screwing in into the plastic tank threads.
The kit is designed to be used with Plastic Couplings. This was a decision made to protect the tank. In the event of an accident, couplings should be the weak point and break. It is much cheaper to replace a coupling than a tank.
Tanks weigh roughly 3.5 lbs. (1.59 kg) each when empty, for a total of 7 lbs. ( 3.18 kg) And when full, you'll have roughly 20 lbs. (9 kg) of extra weight.
The widest point of the tanks is 4.25" (108mm). It's hard to see in the picture.
If you notice in the video, I have the back handles cut off, the tank fits with the original handles.
In the video I talk about the hose clamps and stainless steel wire. For the custom kit you can chose to have a minimum amount of Spring Hose clamps (just in critical connections) or you can chose all connections to have Spring Hose clamps. And I forgot to mention that the Full Ready To Ride kit will have Spring Hose clamps in just critical locations, the rest will be stainless steel wire.

Now that they are finally complete the most valuable part of this project for me was the development of the production process. It is finally consistent and repeatable.
I am planning to apply this process to finally make a bigger tank (5 Gallon) for my wife's Honda Rebel 500. And make a Rally kit for my beloved Kawasaki KLR650, so stay tuned for that.