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Comment by silisili | Hacker News Reader

Not a moto rider, but wouldn't that be really hard to drive? It feels like sloshing would cause significant balance issues.

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From the article:

> After a grueling 304-lap test, Acerbis found they needed to use sponges to combat the sloshing inside the tank at the expense of losing some volume. The final tank weighed 15.2 kg (33.5 lbs) and could hold 108 liters.

It's also common for the track bikes to reduce sloshing

> to combat sloshing, add sponges

I love this sort of simple yet effective solution.

It is commonly used in racing and off road applications to prevent sudden starvation of the fuel pump in rough situations.

Why not use baffles?

The porous structure of sponges effectively acts like a baffle.

Basically, this. ^

I fitted an off road style fuel tank on a truck I had, but I opted for the version without sponges/baffles. It would try to stall when stopping on a low tank.

I'm guessing they've probably implemented baffles within the tank, but even if there wasn't it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Once they are able to get going and are not stopping quickly for emergencies, they should be as stable, if not more stable, compared to a regular bike.

Guessed wrong, they definitely found it to be an issue: "After a grueling 304-lap test, Acerbis found they needed to use sponges to combat the sloshing inside the tank at the expense of losing some volume. The final tank weighed 15.2 kg (33.5 lbs) and could hold 108 liters."

In the article, it says they added sponges in the tank for that exact reason after they had a lot of sloshing during testing.

It shouldn’t be a big issue, fuel tanks of that size aren’t just empty spaces. They have baffles inside to prevent sloshing.

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