Honda XBR alternative tanks

[JOOLZ]

Heres a question, anyone know of alternative petrol tanks that will fit the XBR500. I have heard that a cb500 and a cb750 will fit but cant confirm that. Anyone have any other ideas ?

[tommy]

hi joolz
I seen a xbr with a cb360 tank on it  it looked good ,but im not sure how easy it was to fit
tommy

[JOOLZ]

Thanks Tommy, thats one I hadnt thought of.  Im interested in finding out as I may exchange the standard tank to something a little more retro, to suit the cafe racer styling. I would love to get a Norton style cafe racer tank for it but cant afford the £400 price tag. I have seen universal fitting cafe racer tanks on ebay but the price puts me off.

[JOOLZ]

I think I have found the tank I am going to fit to the XBR, I offered up a CB250 RS tank to the frame today, and other than shortening the front tank mounts, the front peak on the seat, and a little bashing on the underside of the tank to clear the frame rails in 2 places it will fit and bolt up with the rear mount. The style is similar to the XBR tank but obviously less bulbous looking.
The XBR looks a lot leaner with the CB tank fitted, and more suits the cafe racer styling

[guest564]

Please post pics of the work needed to adapt the tank.

[JOOLZ]

Please post pics of the work needed to adapt the tank.

Will do, this is how it sits on the frame now, it will have to go down another inch

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[guest564]

That looks like it could work quite well, the XBR tank looks huge with the stock seat removed.

[themoudie]

Without causing to much ire, I hope, a bit of a Camelus dromedarius! In appearance. 

Nice motor.

My regards, Bill.

[JOOLZ]

I have made a start on the tank. I marked the line of the frame on the tank to get the angle to work from, and applied heat to the tank and beat some clearance into it at the rear.
I decided I wanted to keep the front tank mounts stock, as I may want to use the original tank for longer rides. This meant that I couldnt get the front to sit right, I tried heat and hammering, but couldnt get enough swing, so I stretched the front tunnel using a scissors jack, this gave me the 1/4" extra that I needed to fit over the front mounts, although i will have to use narrower mounting rubbers (I will probably just cut one in half).
A little more work just to finish off, then I will strip clean and give it a respray.

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[JOOLZ]

And here is the front of the tank

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[JOOLZ]

Sits in the right place now, I will make an infill between the tank and the seat to tidy that up, and I will see if I can modify the seat so the peak can blend with the tank

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[Oldtimer]

Looking well, just get the seat sorted. Is there another seat you could fit? I noticed you have the clip-on's below the top yoke, is there enough clearance to do this with the standard tank?

[Moto63]

Hi old timer, yes there is enough clearance to drop the standard bars below the yoke with the original tank still fitted, you will just have to have them at a shallower angle other wise the switch gear will foul the tank. Also bear in mind that the clutch cable becomes slightly to long so best to custom make one up, venhill offer a good service.  I,ve built my xbr cafe racer doing exactly that and ran it for a year with no problems wot so ever.  Regards moto63

[JOOLZ]

The clipon question has already been answered, as to the seat, no I dont think anything else will do, I thought about fitting the CB250 seat but decided against it. I still want to keep the standard seat with its single seat cover, and it looks pretty easy to modify.

[guest1640]

Joolz. Very happy to see this done. Ive been thinking down the same line for ages but the tanks are hard to find in OZ. Looks bloody great. The search is on....