Trying a Tankbag on Scarlett

As most motorcycle riders have done, I've tried various options on various motorcycles, to carry more gear securely or perhaps carry gear more conveniently.  In my case, it's been the ability to easily access my camera, yet carry it securely and safely.

Today, I took a tank bag that had sat on the shelf in the garage for a couple of years or more.  It had started with me as a tank bag for Brigitta, my '87 R80 Airhead Beemer but the risk of dust getting under the tank bag and eventually scratching the paint on the fuel tank kept me from using it for long.

So, after staring at things for a bit, I noted that on Scarlett's fuel tank, the angles were slightly different than on the fuel tank for Brigitta.  The tank bag, while resting atop the fuel cap (which sticks up higher than the Beemer's fuel cap), only touched the fuel tank on Scarlett at three points; basically where the mounting straps are used and perhaps an inch or so of surrounding tank bag material.

Some more thinking, I next used a leftover piece of plexiglas and cut a suitable hole in it so that it could be used as a support and in conjunction with the gas cap on Scarlett.

Here's the results:

It's a loose fit, to make sure it doesn't interfere with the 

rubber ring seal of the gas cap.

The gas cap secures the plexiglas support shelf 

A bit hard to see, but now the only contact points are 

the mounting points for the bag itself.

To fill up, I just unclip the left forward tank bag buckle, slid the tank bag to the right and fill up.

Now to do some riding with the bag in place, see how it works while moving; how it works as a ready access point for my camera gear; and perhaps even a place to put my iPhone when using it as a GPS.  (Yes, I know the things overheat easy under the sun).

Update: September 6, 2015

So, less than a month of usage and the plexiglass sheet proved a bit unsupportive near where it was located aft of the gas tank's fill hole.  It caused some scratches/wear on the paint.

So, yesterday I used some touch-up paint and thought about how to gain a bit more standoff distance.

I was going to go to the hardware store and get something similar to this:

The idea was to put two together, opossite each other, to gain some standoff distance between the bracket and the fuel tank.

Prior to going to the hardware store though, I rummaged my box of old parts/hardware (I tend to not throw away used items) and found me these two items:

rubber collar and oil seal case, I think leftover

from when I replaced seals on the final drive rebuild

for Natasha, my '96 URAL

 a look at the two items put together

 plexiglass support panel in place

 Plexiglass support panel now has zero contact

with the fuel tank!

Let's see how this works out now.....