what did u do to your bike today?

[v65infla]

bikes looks better in person  good meeting u today   now its time to ride

Absolutely!  My pleasure Matt!! 

[Zarticus]

Since my ST is a week old yesterday there is no sense in wasting time. 

Friday night I wired in Red LED engine lights.





And yesterday I put these seat beads on and wired in a Cobra radar detector.  I have a feeling I am going to need it with this bike.  (I'll get a pic today)



Love the seat beads!!!

Late last night, I did the 600 mile break in service with 599 miles on the ODO.

Don't forget your gay black tape mod

[v65infla]

[/quote]
Don't forget your gay black tape mod
[/quote]

I took a 2nd look and realized I didn't follow it correctly.  It has been removed for now.  Beats the hell out of scratched sub-frame.   

[dt]

I changed the jetting on my KL250’s mikuni yesterday (main and pilot) and tinkered around with the fuel/air screw setting a little. It was running lean and I got some jetting specs in the Yahoo Super Sherpa Group on correcting that. I also landed on a tail rack and got that installed, too. Been doing a lot of riding in the Richloam and Croom forests…fun little bike. Getting about 65-66 mpg so far.



Next item is higher bars or risers.

[v65infla]

DUDE!!!  Welcome back!! 

[dt]

Hit 600 miles today on the KL250 and did the running in maintenance this afternoon. It has a decent two year warranty so I need to document all this stuff…receipts and photos. Changed it over to full synthetic. I got hooked on Castrol Racing 4T Synthetic 10w-50 when I had the BMW 450G so I went with that. I used to use Mobil 1 4Stroke 10w-40 in the Yamahas and still use Mobil 1 V-Twin 20w-50 in the Harley.

Bikes running great with the new jetting. Faster warm up and not a pop. Maybe could have gone another size up on the main jet. 

[v65infla]

I installed my Heli Bar risers which arrived yesterday.  Of course they come while I am out in the middle of a 450 mile day.   

ST is pretty much completed!!

[dt]

Ordered some one-inch risers and barkbusters (hand guards) from Twisted Throttle for the KL today. Check out Twisted Throttle…really good outfit. I’ll post up on the install when they get here.

[dt]

I used the rainy afternoon to install the risers and hand guards on the Super Sherpa. The risers are SW-Motech 1 inch risers that also add 1 inch to the pull if installed correctly. The last thing anyone wants with this bike is more pull because the current cradle angles so far back already, so someone figured that if you flip the Motechs backward, you just get exactly a 1 inch rise. Cables couldn’t have handled another centimeter of rise and even at that I had to relocate the start/kill switch which I didn’t know I was going to have to do.



Before…

After…


The other thing I installed was some Barkbuster VPS hand guards. These are kind of easy to install, but the throttle side takes a little patience.






Lastly, I picked up one of those red light magnet gizmos down at Cycle Gear earlier this week and strapped it on the frame behind the bash plate. I’ve had no problems on my Harley but the lights with those devices in the intersection don’t seem to see this motorcycle. I’ll get back on whether I think it works or not.

[v65infla]

I always wondered if those stop light magnets worked or not.  I rarely had a problem on the big Magna and so far never have a problem with the ST.  

I did some inspections and rode while doing them today.   

[dt]

Okay, this is it on this motorcycle, I promise. I picked up one of those el cheapo $25 raised universal supermoto fenders (shortback type) and tried it on for size this afternoon. The low fender is part of the look for this bike, but think a shorty high fender looks pretty good. What do you think?

[magnaone]

nice you should have a lot of clearance now whereever you go

[mrbones]

The raised fender looks good. My KLX had a stock raised green one that was huge. It flopped around like crazy on the highway. I put on a shorty black one and have been happy with it.

[dt]

The raised fender looks good. My KLX had a stock raised green one that was huge. It flopped around like crazy on the highway. I put on a shorty black one and have been happy with it.

Oh yeah, forgot you had one of those too. I could post some photos of other people’s sherpas with those regular sized front fenders. Aside from flopping around they don’t look good on this particular model.

[danh600]

I like the looks of the raised one too.

Question - Do either one really keep much mud off of you? Is one really much more functional then the other? To me it looks like the low one might be better protection but not being a dirt guy I really don't know.

[dt]

Question - Do either one really keep much mud off of you? Is one really much more functional then the other? To me it looks like the low one might be better protection but not being a dirt guy I really don't know.

I don’t think low versus high has much to do with actually blocking the rider from mud and dirt although the actual size of the fender certainly contributes. Most dirt bikes have high front fenders to let mud, heavy stuff like clay and stones that churn up by the knobby tires clear the front wheel. If that stuff gets caught between the fender and tire it’ll lock up the wheel.

I think low front fenders on dirt bikes were probably something that got started on early enduros, like the old Yamaha DTs. The manufacturers were probably copying the European observed trials bikes which all had low front fenders, or maybe they were just developing their street bikes into something different and the low carried over. Anyway, now days a low front fender is considered kind of retro. You don’t actually see them on a lot of dual sports.

What mrbones and I got for our Kawasakis was actually something a little different than traditional dirt bike front fenders. We got shorties. They don’t stick out very far in the front and are cut off and slope down in the back. They’re actually supermotard fenders. I saw a photo with one on a KL250 and thought it looked really good, and a lot better than a traditional dirt bike front fender. Below is a photo I swiped off AdvRider of a KL250 with a regular front fender and mine below. Now that big sucker in the first photo will probably keep the mud off ya.

[danh600]

The big one looks like something waiting to be broken off.

I like your better.

[dt]

Pulled off the first maintenance on the new XT today at 300 miles. Just the oil, filter and the final drive oil. Another round between 600-700 and then the manual says every 4,000 miles. Also checked torques again…someone reported that their front caliper fell off.  

I’ve never had a shaft drive before. Easy and convenient to change the gear oil, but a lot of nasty stuff came out of there. I’d be freaking except everyone else that has one of these is experiencing the same thing.




^^ That's magnetized bolt tip.

[v65infla]

Looks about right.  Lot's of meshing of new metal.

[dt]

I got my Givi crash bars last night. Excellent! Up until now I've been avoiding crashing.

[dt]

Crash bars are installed. The only other items I have planned are a simple brake pedal extender and the dual sport tires, both are on back order. No boxes, pipes or other crazy stuff. I just want to accumulate miles. 

[dt]

The only other items I have planned are a simple brake pedal extender and the dual sport tires, both are on back order. No boxes, pipes or other crazy stuff.

...and a new horn, and this time dammit, I'm gonna get one. 

Looking at this one. It's not air and would be plug and play with my wiring ... and cheap!

http://www.amazon.com/FIAMM-72112-Freeway-Blaster-Horn/dp/B000DINKPQ

[bagobones]

I have FIamm horns on my GL1100 and THEY ARE REALLY REALLY LOUD. 

DO IT!

[dt]

I have FIamm horns on my GL1100 and THEY ARE REALLY REALLY LOUD. 

Did you get the high or low tone, or one of each and put them together on a relay?

They have both at Pep Boyz down here.

[hdmatt29]

hey yall been MIA for a lil will have picks up of the bike in a week when the new bars come in... doing 16inch ape hangers, also lowerd the bike 2 inches front and rear