Handy mods. - Arches National Park, UT
Arches National Park, UT
Handy mods.
I'm not one for buying a bike and then replace half of it's components with after market stuff to make it 'better'. Motorcycle manufacturers should be able, with their extensive R&D departments, to make a proper motorcycle. In my view most of them do a better job than the aftermarket bunch, but there are a few exceptions. There are also a few trip specific changes I made to the bikes. Not massive re-designs, because if that's needed I would buy another bike, just things to make it more suitable for what we wanted to do.
Crashbars from Triumph
You hope you never need them but it's always better to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Triumph has crash bars in their accessory range and I expected them to be well made.They aren't. They are flimsy, don't fit very well and wouldn't survive a simple fall, so I returned them.
Renntec crashbars
Very heavy duty, well thought out and properly designed crash bars. I fitted them to both our Bonnevilles and they certainly saved Jeanette's leg, engine casing and exhaust when she fell in New Zealand. I bought two, one of the two was only half painted… being in Tasmania made returning them to England more expensive than repainting them myself. Like I said they are well designed and made… apart from using 12mm holes for 8mm bolts! I found the only thing missing is a bracket to the head steady at the rear. The result was that the bar that runs around the cylinder becomes a tuning fork amplifying vibration. The bike vibrated more than before fitting the Renntec bars, so I made a bracket from the rear join to the head steady to stop it.
The Yamaha XT660R came with a very sturdy bash plate and Barkbusters. As the engine is much narrower than the Triumph, being a single, we can't see the need for a crash bar on the XT. We dropped the bike on the ground and it simply laid on the bash plate and Barkbusters; the radiator, water pump, crankcase etc where well out of the danger zone.
Centre stands
What can I say? It's criminal that centre stands have now become an expensive accessory with so many manufactures. I bought them for the Bonnevilles. Chain maintenance, changing tyres etc. is so much easier with them. Yamaha doesn't even have them as an accessory… As Mike's XT660R has a very sturdy bash plate we use that to 'jack' the wheel off the ground.To lube the chain on the XT we use a shortened ex-tentpole under the swing arm to lift the rear wheel off the ground, lightweight and easy to carry.
Crampbuster
Possibly the best 9 dollars ever spend! Long distances can give cramped fingers from squeezing the throttle for prolonged periods.A simple plastic clamp that slides around the throttle grip takes care of it by falling into the palm of your hand. If you don't need it for whatever reason, simply rotate it away. Brilliant idea!
Shockabsorbers Triumph
Triumph Bonneville rear shock absorbers are criminally bad. Have been for years and Triumph doesn't do anything about it. If you want to keep your back alive then change them asap. Shockabsorber manufacturers know and several options are available from people like Hagon, YSS and Ikon for instance. Being in Australia Ikon was an obvious choice as they are made in Oz. Geoff from Ikon is a very helpful guy who not only makes good shockies for a good price, he can also modify them for your specific needs or request. They come with a four-way dampening setting and three-way pre-load. I found the standard damping to stiff for my liking so Geoff made some changes. He also suggested a lighter spring with more pre-load, which I did by turning down the Ikon adjuster and combining it with the original Kayaba ring, giving me not only more pre-load but also a 5-way pre-load setting. My Ikons thus have 4-way damping and 5-way pre-load. Jeanette likes her suspension a bit stiffer and opted for the standard damping, I still modified the Kayaba adjuster to fit the Ikon so that she too has 5-way pre-load. The Kayaba adjuster works really well as it offers smaller pre-load steps giving finer tuning options.Ikon shocks are very similar to the old Dutch Koni, who are no longer in business. Geoff used to sell them in Oz and when Koni went belly-up started manufacturing himself. They have been fitted to my Bonneville since 2009, have been halfway around the world and had to operate under very difficult circumstances. You won't believe how hard they have had to work on roads like the Dalton in Alaska, or even the Cassiar Highway in Canada which is riddled with potholes, cracks and frost damage. For hours and hours they are continuously being hammered and yet just do it it without failing. I've truly come to appreciate their quality and their looking after our bikes and backs! Ikon shock absorbers are available worldwide, or contact Geoff at www.ikonsuspension.com
Shock absorbers Yamaha
We haven't changed anything to the Yamaha, suspension wise. It's suspension is absolutely brilliant, straight from the factory! The only thing we'd might do in the future is fit spacers on top of the fork springs, putting a bit more pre-load on them to cure a cupping issue we seem to have. We've raised the tyre pressure by 3psi and see what happens first. Apart from that it's a true gem. Triumph should have a real hard look at the XT660R, it's so much better than the Tiger.
The Kev Mod for the Yamaha XT660R
There is a debate on the net about the XT660R surging, especially the 2008 model Mike has. The solution presented is what's called the Kev Mod. Simply put it's a resistor fitted between the temperature sensor and the computer, fooling the computer into 'thinking' the engine is colder than it is. The result is that the computer will give the engine a richer mixture which would eliminate the surging. First of all I personally think the people complaining about surging are a bunch of *******. Yes there is a slight surging but you have to be a neurotic to find it a problem. It's only under certain conditions and at certain revs/throttle combinations; and it's simple to ride around the 'problem'. The so called Kev Mod has one very big problem. The computer uses the data coming off the temp sensor not only to set the mixture but also to determine when the fan needs to be switched on. If you fool the computer into thinking it's running cooler than it is then it will also not switch on the fan when it's overheating… A very dumb mod in my view.
The Mike Mod
We found the XT660R's computer already turns the fan on rather late (just imagine what happens when using the Kev Mod…). The engine is probably fine with temperatures over 100°C but it get's rather hot for the rider's legs when stuck in traffic. To combat the problem we've done two things: attach a temperature switch, like fitted to computer power supplies for instance, to the top radiator hose with simple zippy ties. This will switch the fan on when the water temperature reaches 90°C making life for the rider's legs much less 'cooked'. We've also fitted a manual switch to turn the fan on. In hot weather and slow moving heavy traffic this will keep temperatures at bay. Theses mods will not affect the computer, fuelling or anything like that as the only thing it does is generate more airflow through the radiator. The computer is unaffected and the engine temperature still regulated by the thermostat. The manual switch is also handy in very muddy conditions where still standing fans would clog up with mud, like the BMW 800GSs do for instance. Simply turn the fan on manually and the liquid mud will be blown out of the fan.
Rokstraps
Bungy cords are dangerous things. The hooks come off, they come off unexpectedly and many an eye has been hit by them. Still, the idea of spring tension is a good one. Rokstraps have taken that idea a step further, eliminated the dangerous bits and come up with something that's brilliantly simple and works a treat. They are well made too. We've used them on all three bikes every day for almost a year and haven't found anything that can be improved upon. Well worth the, small, investment.
Cable locks and dog clips
We fitted dog clips to our bikes to quickly hang the helmets on by the double-D ring. It's simple and works well. If we want to lave the bikes and go for a walk we don't want to take our helmets and jackets as well. We leave them on the bikes locked with a spiral type long cable through the sleeves. A $10,- investment that works well.When we park the bikes overnight on the campgrounds we lock them together through wheels and crash bars. This makes wheeling them away impossible.
Charging batteries
Triumph has incorporated a charging point in it's wiring harness, but I wouldn't use it. It's ON all the time, so if you leave you laptop connected to it it will certainly drain the battery. What I've done is make a charging point that's only ON when the ignition is on. Simply locate the wire that goes to the rear light and connect the activation wire of a standard 30A relay to it. Connect the main feed to the relay directly to the battery terminal via a fuse. The relay can be fitted under the seat and thus out of sight and out of the weather. From the relay I've run a wire to my pannier. This means my iPod and notebook are locked inside the pannier and are being charged while I ride.
MacBook charger
Apple makes great laptops and notebooks. I won't go in a discussion on Apple versus Windows other than saying I've tried Windows and won't do it again. Apple has a great magnetic connector, on which it has a patent. Legally nobody can make that connector and therefore you can't buy a 12V laptop charger with an Apple connector. There is a way around this. Every Apple laptop and Notebook comes with a mains charger with that magnetic connector. Cut the cable and find there are two wires inside, the central insulated positive (+) and the outer negative (-). Buy sturdy male and female connectors like the ones in the photo and solder them on the ends of the cut cables. The mains charger will now work again. Get another female connector and solder that onto the cable of a universal 12V laptop charger. These are mostly multi volt and 90W, which is plenty for an Apple laptop or notebook. I've used this setup in the pannier of my Triumph and it has worked perfectly. Everything works as per standard, including the little LED in the connector showing green and orange depending on charging or full.
Chain links
Chain manufacturers will tell you to fit soft-links to their chains. They claim they are much stronger than clip links. I'm not going to argue as they have the R&D department and facilities to test these things and I'm not one to claim I know better than the experts. All I can say is that I'm old school, from before soft-links became the norm, and have used clip-links all my life. They have never come undone and they never showed me any signs of wearing quicker than the rest of the chain. Even the last chains I fitted, the JT Sprockets heavy duty X-ring, I fitted with clip-links. Make sure the links are very well greased, that the clip is facing the right way (the closed end in the direction of travel) and that they close well. One little thing I've done the last couple of years is adding a small zippy-tie over the clip, a trick I learned from a motocross mechanic. So why clip links over soft-links? Easy to fit, easy to remove and no special tools needed.