Water Bottle for the FJR1300

I wanted a semi-large capacity water source on my Yamaha FJR1300 that I could use to keep hydrated on long rides in hot temperatures. I'd tried the CamelBak that I use on my dirtbikes, but it is more of a hassle than I wanted to deal with, particularly when wearing an Aerostitch.

So I bought a 2 liter Coleman insulated thermos jug. After spending some time trying out different mounting locations, I settled on using the right passenger peg.

I had this neat mount made out of stainless steel. It's designed to exactly fit the bottom of the Coleman thermos. It's a little heavy, but for sure isn't going to break, and will never rust. It's also pretty easy to remove and reattach the passenger footpeg, if desired.

Here are the parts I started with. I ended up using a much smaller bungie cord to hold the bottle in the carrier, and bent one end's wire hook so as to make it permanently attached on one end. The bottle actually fit snugly enough that it probably wouldn't bounce out, but the bungie cord provided a guarantee that it would stay put.

I added some insulation to the bottom of the jug, fearing it would get hot being right over the exhaust can. However, even in 114 degree temps near Death Valley the water stayed cold all day! Provided I put ice in it in the morning, of course.

Here's the mount, attached. I wedged a thin piece of plastic into the footpeg mount to "lock" the mount in place. It doesn't move at all. Looks pretty good, too, eh?

Borrowing an idea from Onethumb (Mark Johnson) I used some fairly stiff plastic tubing designed for plumbing water to a refrigerator. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the top, just below the lid, and ran the tubing down to the bottom of the thermos inside. I left about 1.5" protruding. Onto that I attached a spare hose from my CamelBak, and put a couple cable ties on it to hold it in place.

I attached a spare ID badge retractor I got from work to my tankbag, and hooked it to the business end of the drinking tube. After a day of use, I moved the hose to the right rear corner of the tankbag instead of the left rear, as shown above.

The end result was an ideal drinking system for me. Normally, I don't drink much anyway, and I found that making sure I needed to refill the thermos at least once a day meant I was taking in at least 2 liters of water per day. Many LD riders use 1 gallon containers, but for me, 1/2 gallon was more than sufficient.

P.S. I overfilled it once (with free ice from the motel's dispenser), and didn't get the lid on tight. Next stop I noticed the lid was missing. I fixed it with a plastic bag and some duct tape, and looked for a replacement. Strangely, I could find lots of similar sized units, but not another Coleman. If you implement this idea yourself, I suggest you buy two of them, and carry the 2nd lid with you as a spare.