Heinrich Tank VS /6 Cop Tank

Birds eye view of the Heinrich Tool Box Tank and Solo Seats

Mounted the smaller spare /6 Police tank for this trip. This tank will go on the R100S eventually as will this reconditioned 1000 mile solo seat. Wanted to try out this "new"seat on this trip. It has a little more padding than the other 1000 mile solo seat I've been running. The /6 tank toolbox is quite a bit smaller than the Heinrich tank toolbox. The BMW toolkit fit in just fine but I can't carry any additional junk in it like the Heinrich. The stock BMW Touring Tanks are 6.2 gallon capacity so I imagine this one will only hold 5.5 gallons or so with the tool box area volume loss.

Got the bike ready....checked fluid levels, air pressure and charged the battery up. Swapped out mufflers for a bit of peace and quiet. Had most of the gear loaded up Friday night and then a big ugly storm was heading our way so I threw all the gear into the trailer. No sense in things getting wet just sitting there! It poured rain for two hours in the night.

We've been in a hot weather streak for the past 6 weeks. Just the typical evening storms.

Saturday morning dawned and the sky was clouded up. First cloudy morning for 6 weeks. We got the bike loaded up as the sun was peeking through the clouds. I'm on board, the navigator is in position.......turn ignition on......hit starter and .........rattle.....rattle......rattle...........shit.

I'd charged the battery the day before but didn't double check the battery H2o level.......
sure as shit.....water is somewhat low........Off goes our gear....the navigator told me to give her a call when we're really ready to go..............I topped off the battery cells and hooked up the charger again. I cheated and boosted the charge amperage up and had the battery up enough to go in a half hour. Finally away we go..................10:30 AM.