Dirty Boy
Race Dog
So my 2004 Fugly is getting on a bit, about to clock over 70k km. The PO put on the first 50k km which I consider running it in. You see he never went off road and commuted to work 70km each day on the motorway, so it has an easy life. I have done the last 20k km and it has served me well, been extremely reliable and put a big smile on my face. Time for some pay back.
Two things happened that made me decide to spend some money and do some farkling.
1. Something inside the stock exhaust broke and dislodged, as a result the 'tweety bird' noise that these exhausts are know for went away :thumleft: The downside was a rattling noise and the hot fumes coming out at an angle that started burning the plastics
2. The stock rear shock (which are known to be a soft) was really soft now and would bottom out on not so bad dirt roads when two up. Not good.
So here is what I have done recently
1. Sent Rear shock to Doc KLR for a shock rebuild and a new spring. The fact it was colour coded to the bike was just a bonus.
2. Took exhaust to PowerFlow - Bluff. Krish the owner is brilliant. This particular branch only does Motorbike stuff (I will explain later) He cut the end of the can off, removed all the loose bits and welded on this neat tailpiece all for R250 :thumleft: The exhaust now has a deeper thump yet is quiet at cruising speed and the bike is more responsive when accelerating.
3. Krish also told me that he a jig to bend up and weld some KLR crashbars. They are similar to another well known brand however Krish made a slight adjustment to mine so that they wouldnt clash with the non std bashplate that I have. I am providing Krish's number for any guys that need a special exhaust or welding done - 0832268503
4. Steel Bash plate from DocKLR
5. I got these Pannier frames from a guy in PE who advertises on GomBoom. He makes them for both old and new shape KLR's. They are made for Oxford bags but would be good for any soft luggage. Well made, came with all the fitting and fits well. Great service from Errol - 0729599138
6. I wanted a smallish TopBox that was lockable, weatherproof and didnt make my bike look like a Pharmacy delivery bike. This is a locally sold copy of a Pelican case. It has the O ring seal around the lip and the purge valve. I have however bolted through the bottom to my luggage plate, so added some silicone sealer at the bolt so it should still be dust proof.
7 Tool tubes. I have been looking for ages at how people mount tool tubes and I haven't seen many that I like. They are big so hiding them is difficult so I decided to use two to make things look balanced and go for the 'Rocket Launcher' Zombie Apocalypse look. How will I secure my tools you ask ? Well you will notice that they are snug up against the case. The plan is to drill a hole through the side of the case and into the tool tube at the threaded part ie through the cup into the tube. Therefore locking the tool tubes will be a case of screwing on the 'coffee mug' lid until the holes align, then from inside the case, a stainless pin will be slide across into the tube, thereby locking the tubes.
8. I finished of by taking the front shocks off, draining them and refilling with new fork oil. I have never done this before and have read of thick, smelly, gloopy stuff coming out. I think the PO must have serviced them because it was relatively clean, red (ATF) and didn't smell.
And there she is looking wonderful, waiting to get dirty again.
Thanks for reading.
Two things happened that made me decide to spend some money and do some farkling.
1. Something inside the stock exhaust broke and dislodged, as a result the 'tweety bird' noise that these exhausts are know for went away :thumleft: The downside was a rattling noise and the hot fumes coming out at an angle that started burning the plastics
2. The stock rear shock (which are known to be a soft) was really soft now and would bottom out on not so bad dirt roads when two up. Not good.
So here is what I have done recently
1. Sent Rear shock to Doc KLR for a shock rebuild and a new spring. The fact it was colour coded to the bike was just a bonus.
2. Took exhaust to PowerFlow - Bluff. Krish the owner is brilliant. This particular branch only does Motorbike stuff (I will explain later) He cut the end of the can off, removed all the loose bits and welded on this neat tailpiece all for R250 :thumleft: The exhaust now has a deeper thump yet is quiet at cruising speed and the bike is more responsive when accelerating.
3. Krish also told me that he a jig to bend up and weld some KLR crashbars. They are similar to another well known brand however Krish made a slight adjustment to mine so that they wouldnt clash with the non std bashplate that I have. I am providing Krish's number for any guys that need a special exhaust or welding done - 0832268503
4. Steel Bash plate from DocKLR
5. I got these Pannier frames from a guy in PE who advertises on GomBoom. He makes them for both old and new shape KLR's. They are made for Oxford bags but would be good for any soft luggage. Well made, came with all the fitting and fits well. Great service from Errol - 0729599138
6. I wanted a smallish TopBox that was lockable, weatherproof and didnt make my bike look like a Pharmacy delivery bike. This is a locally sold copy of a Pelican case. It has the O ring seal around the lip and the purge valve. I have however bolted through the bottom to my luggage plate, so added some silicone sealer at the bolt so it should still be dust proof.
7 Tool tubes. I have been looking for ages at how people mount tool tubes and I haven't seen many that I like. They are big so hiding them is difficult so I decided to use two to make things look balanced and go for the 'Rocket Launcher' Zombie Apocalypse look. How will I secure my tools you ask ? Well you will notice that they are snug up against the case. The plan is to drill a hole through the side of the case and into the tool tube at the threaded part ie through the cup into the tube. Therefore locking the tool tubes will be a case of screwing on the 'coffee mug' lid until the holes align, then from inside the case, a stainless pin will be slide across into the tube, thereby locking the tubes.
8. I finished of by taking the front shocks off, draining them and refilling with new fork oil. I have never done this before and have read of thick, smelly, gloopy stuff coming out. I think the PO must have serviced them because it was relatively clean, red (ATF) and didn't smell.
And there she is looking wonderful, waiting to get dirty again.
Thanks for reading.
