Carrying Extra Fuel Or Water On Your Dirt Bike

Updated Jan 2023.

No matter how large your fuel tank is, there may be times when you need to carry a little extra fuel.  Or perhaps you need to carry water for camping in the desert.  If your dirt bike has metal racks, you may be able to use something like a Rotopax canister.  But if you don’t have a rack, it is a little more challenging.  This report talks about a few approaches that have worked well for me.  Perhaps you can use similar approaches with your bike.

I previously wrote a report about a 2 liter canister holster made by Mike at OBR ADV Gear.  This holster works great for the Tour-A-Tech 2 liter fuel canister or a 2 liter water bottle.

2 liter water bottle and holster

2 liter fuel canister

Another common solution is to use 1 or 1.5 L metal canisters.  Several vendors make holsters to hold these bottles so you don’t have to put them inside your luggage.  Here are some made by Mike.

Adjustable bottle wrap

Most people mount the holsters to their luggage on the rear of the bike, but you can also attach them to your fuel tank.  They even provide a little protection for the weather and branches for your knees.

This setup works well and gives me room for my knees.

Some people use the MSR Dromedary bags to carry fuel, but I have chosen not to.  They are not legally approved fuel containers in the USA, and they out-gas, causing anything near them to smell of fuel.  But they do work great for carrying water.  I found that the 6L bag fits nicely on top of my luggage.  Once I empty the bag, I can roll it up and store it inside my luggage.  The valves on these bags can easily pop open, so again, I would not recommend them for fuel.

6L of water in an MSR Dromedary bag

2 more liters of water

If you need to carry more than a few liters of fuel, I would suggest some bags similar to the Dromedary that are actually made for fuel.  The US has very strict rules about fuel containers, and these containers are not strictly legal, but I think they would be a much better option than a Dromedary bag.

Giant Loop sells the Armadillo bag in a variety of sizes.

Desert Fox makes something similar, and there are a few dealers in the US that sell them.

This photo shows a size comparison of some of these options.

1L water bottles, 1.5L water and fuel bottles, the adapter patch, a 4L and 6L Dromedary