Seriously, though, where's the static coming from? You touch metal to ground yourself. Ummm.... Hellooooooo! Gas tank is ALLLLLLL metal. If you're sitting in the seat, filling up, then your legs are touching the tank (grounding you) and you SHOULD have the fill nozzle touching the edge of the tank, too (grounding it). Now... If you're all wearing your leather gear like good little boys and girls then leather isn't very good at creating static electricity. Neither is vinyl (which is what your seat is covered with). So even if you were to be wearing jeans, you're still rather safe. Now. Onto the next problem with this idea. Static electricity ignited fires at gas pumps are caused by people starting the pump, going and getting back in the car, sliding out of their CLOTH seats, and grabbing the METAL handle on the pump. Thereby grounding themselves again, creating a spark and igniting the fumes coming from the tank. SO! If you STAY on the bike (like everyone who sits on the bike while filling up would be) then you never let go of the handle during fill-up, thereby never losing your ground (if by some chance you lost the one you were getting from the tank) eliminating the issue at hand. If you were going to create a spark at all, it would be when you first grabbed the handle before you ever started filling up, and if it's going to spark there while sitting on the bike, then it's going to spark there even if you're not on the bike...... Sorry, but I'm calling BS on this idea. I'm sure SOMEBODY could do some study and make it actually happen, but the odds of that happening in every day life.... Highly doubtful.
Sometimes when I fill up on a cold ride I splash some gas all over the tank and light it on fire to warm up my hands (not fun ridding with cold hands). So are you saying I shouldn't warm up my hands at the gas station? Whats a guy supposed to do? I just really don't see what the problem is.
