Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

Yep, I know Paul. Met him on my first long distance rally in 2013. He was a bonus. Autographed a beer mug for me at Fort Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. Hung out with him at an IMS bike show in Carlisle, PA in 2020. His first Super Tenere is in Barber Motorsports Museum in AL.

 

You went with road 6's yeah?

My Continental trail attack in the rear is nearing end of life, (tho front has lots of life)... Planning next tire purchase, thinking I might just do another trail attack then when that wears out it will be time for a front as well. I have used the roads before (road 2s) on the 919 and they were a great tire but $$$$

 

FINALLY got on a lil ride today right after rains stopped. Pulled out the xt225 for a little sight seeing nearby (less than 5mi away).

What a beautiful Friday. (Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands off in the distance).



Then on the way back I told myself... Oh it won't be muddy through the farmland route "long way" home.

*Announcer voice* he was indeed wrong

This is after 6mi or wetish road home which cleaned off a good chunk of the mud lol.



In my nicer day to day shoes and better pair of work jeans none the less .... Oops



The cheapie IRC GP1 tires (I got both for like 58$) blew my mind with how well they did in the slick mud all things considered... The Grom would of been dead in the water had I done the same route on it... Groms days are looking more and more numbered.

 

Yep, Road 6's. They weren't too expensive ($450 for the pair), and actually a little cheaper than equivalent tires for the Versys. I went cheap on the Versys with some Metzlers, saved about $120 vs Road 6's and ended up only getting about 6k miles out of the rear tire. The front still looks fine with 16k on it but I'm hoping for about 10k out of the rear tire of this Road 6 and hopefully 20k out of the front.

 

I vote you do an "Africa Grom" build and huck the Grom off some sweet jumps.

 

Lol 20k miles outta a motorcycle tire... I want what you are smoking cus it must be good! I haven't ever got more than 8k miles out of a tire on the 919 or the super tenere... Hell I averaged like 2k on the 919 rears (Tho I get my riding is very much different that most... Slinging a 600lb beast in the Twisties almost exclusively rather aggressively does not bode well for tire life)

Lol... Naw I have some mechanical sympathy and would rather not break it (or myself) by jumping a Grom... Poor thing has seen enough off road places most other groms, actually I'll bet maybe only a handful if none other, have seen.

 

20k out of a front is pretty reasonable, IMO. Like I said, the front tire on the Versys has 16k and plenty of life left. The rears usually only last 6-8k.

I'm thinking 10k out of a rear on the Super Tenere might be optimistic but I'd be happy with 8k. Then again, a small 150 width tire under a 600+ lb bike with luggage and a very torquey twin is probably recipe for torture.

 

Decided to get a jump on getting the Klx taken apart for parts arriving soon.
Broke down and order the larger 2.7 gallon tank to extend the range a bit.
Got all the pair valve junk out along with the emissions crap. Removed the secondary throttle plate and got the stock exhaust removed.

 

I DREAM of half those miles out of tires regardless of what street motorcycle they are on. Looking at my maintenance logs of my late honda 919 id get ~ 2.5k miles out of a rear Pilot Power 2ct, paired with ~3.5k miles on a rear pilot power road, to match the 6k total miles id get out of a front power 2ct.

The tenere is looking like it will go through the rear tire around 5-6k miles and front around the 8-10k mile mark... so better than the 919 canyon carver ("old" age has made me ride more mellow miles....) but still no way in hell id ever even consider 20k out of a front or 10k out of a rear.

I like the way you operate! Get something new, tear it down! Extra range is nice, im doing the math on the XT225 and im expecting around 300-350mi A TANK thank to its aftermarket 5gal tank. Its bonkers.

What Kinda MPG's does the KLX get?

 

My friend got 20k out of his old Pilot Road 4 from just commuting but the rear looked like a block with how much it had squared off.

 

I don’t know exactly but I think it was around 70 mpg

 

My first gear review video! I think it turned out OK.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1AzD7kCD6Q

 

modern 300cc single fuel injected dual sport if kept 65mph and under, 70ish mpg sounds about right. 60-70mpg seems to be what most people are getting on the xt225 and thats carbureted and air cooled. That KLX300 is a seriously neat bike, a motor thats built for the road with longer maintenance intervals but suspension, size and weight that will dang near get you anywhere at any speed you could imagine right there with the full on stripped dirtbikes.

Dont get my wrong, I LOVE my 2014 WR450 thats street plated, but its nothing more than a full on fuel injected mild race dirtbike with some "blinkers". Its road manners are not good with only 5 gears and a seat height that makes my 5ft 10 self come to a stop with only one foot on the ground... and the fact it has 12in of suspension and 55hp lends to lots of hooligan degenerate activities on the street.... which does not bode well for my interactions with the law. The more tame, more realistic around town dual sport that is my xt225 allows me to explore but not cause havock. And we wont even get into maintenance. The WR450 is like a high maintenance gal from the city, the xt225 is a beautiful but doesnt know it down home country girl.

The more I look around, IF I didnt already have an XT225 and WR450 at my disposal to serve similar but different purposes, and wanted to get out in the dirt in a legit capacity but also wanted something around town that was easy to use, that KLX300 is checking damn near all the boxes.


TLDR: I like your KLX300 and wanna ride it.

 

Funny short comic

https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycle/s/DBDKqlFRQF

 

Nice vid. My take away was the, Used pair of underwear. I cannot get that outta my head.

 

Maybe I shouldn’t make up things on the spot anymore and have a script.

 

Or... you know... wash your underwear.

 

Some parts showed up today so I installed them. Bar risers , mirror , levers and a 15t front sprocket.

 

@Hafaday @Modern.Hermit

Here's mods for ya

 

Not sure if I posted this before but I use small "irrigation" syringes with various greases in them to apply in all sorts of ways. Works awesome to apply grease in tight spots with precision as well as simply being more right sized for motorcycle stuff.

Fill with the full size grease gun, insert small zip tie along the edge so plunger can be put back in without any air bubble up top, then pull zip tie.