Padded Tank Cover

The tank pads illustrated here make a huge improvement in rider comfort on a VFR800. A similar installation works equally well on my SV650S. I'm reasonably sure they'd have same effect on any motorcycle with similar tank and seat layout. Why these things aren't commercially available is a puzzle. They make it easy to stay light on the bars, even with a passenger.

   

The pad placement and design were arrived at by very simple experimentation: A piece of thin polyethylene foam wrapping material was rolled up into a tight cylinder about an inch and a quarter in diameter, bent into a U shape and stuffed under the tank cover, open end up. The seat was then forced back on, trapping the bottom of the U under the seat and holding things (more or less) in place. The bottom of the U had to be trimmed considerably, to about 3/4" diameter, to fit 'tween seat and tank.

This setup worked well enough to make permanent pockets seem worthwhile. A short cylinder of the same foam provided a model for the upholsterer, who added pockets to the existing tank cover in less than an hour at a cost of $40. The work was done at:

Hank's Auto Trim
2406 Eagle Ave
Alameda, CA 94501
(510) 523-7550

In retrospect the pockets should probably be closer together, though they work decently as illustrated. Obviously pad size and spacing depend on rider dimensions.

The pockets shown here are a later implementation on an sv650s and somewhat more comfortable. The seat has been lowered also, effectively raising the handlebars, and a backstop has been added in the figure.

The pockets extend about an inch below the seat and are open at the bottom so the pads can be slipped into place and then trapped by the seat. The pads work best when they're a relatively close fit in the pockets.

Finding suitable padding is difficult; thin polyethylene foam packing material was really too soft, though easy to experiment with. Common solid packing foams tend to crush over a few month's time. Even high-quality closed-cell upholstery foam flattens in a few thousand miles of riding.

A promising alternative to foam is a smallish (sixteen inch) bicycle inner tube. Folded double with the valve stem in the center and filament-taped to within about 3 inches of the ends it makes a decent cushion. The taped up part in the middle is thin enough to fit under the rear of the tank mounting flange. This forms a "leash" that keeps the pads from shifting up the tank.  

In the case of the sv650s there wasn't enough clearance between the seat and tank to accomdate a doubled-up innertube, but it's relatively easy to cut the innertube and seal the ends with a little tire-patch cement or contact cement and a soft metal wire used as a tie. The ends of the tube are doubled or tripled over, to give appropriate volume with minimal stretch in the rubber.

More air pressure is required to make the pads usefully firm than the pocket can withstand. Filament tape "sausage casings" enclose the tube ends to define the pad shape and prevent stretching the pocket. The casing is formed by wrapping thin plastic over a form, binding the plastic with filament tape and slipping the form out. The tube can be slipped in, the casing closed with more tape and the whole thing pumped up to working pressure.