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Fuel Bladders instead of MSR bottles?

I guess it depends on the kind of trip that you need the extra fuel for. A week in Alaska up the Dalton and we just carried these (the company we rented the bikes from provided them):

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How about both a pair of MSR bottles always filled and a collapsible fuel bladder to to fill up for long stretches.
I took a ride involving the Dempster highway to the Arctic ocean for 2019. My MSR fuel bottles were always in use for either extra motorcycle fuel and for my multi-fuel MSR stove for cooking. The fuel bladder was filled in Dawson City Yukon in case I needed it on the Dempster.
As it turned out there was so much tundra fire and smoke I decided to bail out and headed back South to pavement and clearer air.
At least I did my trip planning, but I did not do tundra fire planning.
 
For that Dempster Highway tour in Yukon and Northwest Territories, consider this.
Roughly 500 miles from Dawson to Inuvik with only one fuel station roughly half way. Average adventure bike can do something over 250 miles but nowhere near 500 on mud and gravel. Then there are road washouts, fires, other unforseen things that may necessitate turning back at the 200 to 220 mile mark. You run out of gas on the return. I am being rough about actual miles, but I hope you get the idea. Out in the boonies you need enough fuel to get there and back just in case.
It is always a good idea to plan for these contingencies before you depart.
At least bring a syphon hose so you can beg fuel from a passing motorist.
 
I've never used the fuel bladders, but experience with filling flexible camping water bottles, camelback packs, wine storage bags, etc. makes me skeptical of the ease with which fuel can be filled and emptied from these bladders vs a rigid can. I'm not saying the bladder can't work, but I can picture a clumsy moment resulting in a fuel spill mess.
I have a special hose attachment for my fuel bladder.
 
For that Dempster Highway tour in Yukon and Northwest Territories, consider this.
Roughly 500 miles from Dawson to Inuvik with only one fuel station roughly half way. Average adventure bike can do something over 250 miles but nowhere near 500 on mud and gravel. Then there are road washouts, fires, other unforseen things that may necessitate turning back at the 200 to 220 mile mark. You run out of gas on the return. I am being rough about actual miles, but I hope you get the idea. Out in the boonies you need enough fuel to get there and back just in case.
It is always a good idea to plan for these contingencies before you depart.
At least bring a syphon hose so you can beg fuel from a passing motorist.
Wise words there Mud!!

I've run into folks in the "not so" back woods of ID that run out gas and they are only a few miles off the highway. I suppose 50+years as a pilot force me into the need for gas to cover the trip out and back plus some. I have a few thousand hours of charter pilot and SAR experience in AK and there are no shortage of stories of pilots who didn't make it back due to fuel starvation. Learn from the mistakes of others and get home safe.
 
Do your own research, but PET and HDPE bottles can hold gas for a few months without collapsing. Use temporarily for those occasional long legs without fuel and discard once you're done.

Petrol in glass and plastic bottles is a ubiquitous sight in Bali, thailand, etc.

The other alternative is trip planning. Instead of the dozens of hours spent researching, saving up, buying, installing, and fiddling with an aux fuel setup, you could just take that leg of your trip at 50 mph instead of 80 mph - with panniers on, that works out to 2.9L/100km vs 4.5L/100km, or 480km range instead of 310km range.
 

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I think I remember gasoline in glass bottles in Cambodia too. But, they had a flaming rag in the top of the bottle...different use though.

You folks downunder are headed for Fall I suppose...such as it is.
Ride safe!!!
 
Do your own research, but PET and HDPE bottles can hold gas for a few months without collapsing. Use temporarily for those occasional long legs without fuel and discard once you're done.

Petrol in glass and plastic bottles is a ubiquitous sight in Bali, thailand, etc.


The other alternative is trip planning. Instead of the dozens of hours spent researching, saving up, buying, installing, and fiddling with an aux fuel setup, you could just take that leg of your trip at 50 mph instead of 80 mph - with panniers on, that works out to 2.9L/100km vs 4.5L/100km, or 480km range instead of 310km range.
But perhaps not road legal in many civilized areas of the world.

I agree with your point about the trip planning, in fact while we were transiting the Trans-Canadian HWY we did some stretches a bit slower and made all of our pre-planned fuel stops. We even found a fuel stop or two that we didn't have on our map. Ended up not actually needing the fuel bladders but glad to have them with us for a couple of those days. One was never filled.

Nice thing about a fuel bladder is that it can be filled on days when you think you might need one, but when its empty it can be stowed in the bottom of a side case out of the way, or sit on the pillion seat under your gear, or, in my case, it was simply strapped down to my Dale's rack under my dry bag & tent.
 
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