preload setting hunch

[run2hills@aol.com]

Hello Group, I had a great time in Moab, my first bike and my first rally. I want to thank all involved. A newcomer (me) was treated like family, and I appreciate that greatly. I have a hunch that the preload should be set without any weight on the spring. When I tried to adjust it with the bike on it's sidestand, I felt one big spring loaded "click," about a 90 degree turn. Factory setting was 1, after the big click it read "dash," and after the second (and last) move it read "5." If the swingarm were totally unweighted, should I get more "stops" or settings besides three? Also, there is a circlip behind the bolthead. Does it need to be removed to do the adjustment? I didn't think so. Thanks for everything past, present, and future, Eric Colorado Springs A13L "Therapist"?

[Mike Hutsal]

I'm one of those serious LD guys. I wasn't in Alberta because I did 3131 miles over the weekend in a pending BBG 3000 ride with another ST1100 rider, Lee Myrah. I have a 99 KLR that will be really ready to go next week, and I intend to do some long rides on it. You will find that there are some pretty serious ld guys that have KLR's. A good many guys on the ST list have them, and I daresay that there are some Beemer guys that have them as well. Tim Bernard has shipped me the rest of the "farkles (that's what the ST guys call all the fiddles we do to our bikes) that I'm going to add. I like this bike but have not had as much chance to ride it as I'd have liked so far. That will change this week. I am not surprised at all that you could do this rally on the KLR. I also think that there are many ld guys that really don't know what is really necessary for ld riding. If you look at Leon Begeman's accomplishments on his 250 "John Deere" Ninja, you get my drift. An ld bike is one that will do the miles, safely, reliably, and let you enjoy the experience. In my relatively short time I've learned that it is the rider and the bike that matter, not just the bike. A lot of us use the big litre class bikes like the ST because of the easy power. That shows through in a number of ways. Big horsepower and torque, big electrical capacity, good comfort. When you ride all night, (I've ridden mine all night 6 times this spring alone) with the loads and extra equipment we carry, its just nice to have the bigger bike. (I run 2 110 watt PIAAs, heated vests, GPS, radio and CB, and V1) However, I will do an IB ride on my KLR soon, and I know of others that have in the past. In fact I'd have loved to have seen the looks on some of those faces in Alberta. If I had gone, I'd have felt guilty as soon as I saw you, because I'd have regretted not taking the KLR. While I think that for the most extreme of the rides, 1500 miles in a day, the KLR would be straining, for nearly everything else I think it would be dandy! People laughed at Ed Otto on his Helix in the 1995 Iron Butt. They don't now! I have an Elite 250 that my wife uses, and I know that it could do the base route in almost any rally. It would be work, but sometimes it is more fun to show up on something different and play around with the "big boy's heads". I got my ST this winter, because I go after the ld stuff fairly seriously. I hardly ride it unless I go 1000 miles. The KLR is a blast to ride, and I also keep my speed in better control. Different bikes, both do what they do very well. Anyway, congratulations on a good effort. It shows again that the KLR is the Swiss Army knife of bikes, and perhaps one of the best all round values to be had. I know that mine's a keeper. Mike Hutsal Winnipeg Manitoba 2000 ST1100 1999 KLR 650 1990 K100 RS 1979 R65 1985 Elite 250 (my wife's potential IB bike)

----- Original Message ----- From: To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com> Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 11:05 PM Subject: [DSN_klr650] nklr: endurance riding > I have just done the Alberta 2000 ride this last weekend on my A13. I > got some looks from the serious guys on their ST1100/R1100RT/Trophy > etc, but what the hey. > > The bike is bog stock (have not had a chance to get stuff yet since I > only got it on the 1st of this month) with an Avon Gripster on the > back. > > I covered 2162.1 km in 25:16 on a ride which criss crossed central > Alberta. Absolutely no problems with the bike during the event and on > the 800+km ride there and back. Gas consumption varied depending on > how the right wrist was orientated, but averaged 20km/litre (56mpg). > > I found that it was possible to move all over the place on the bike > so did not suffer any long term discomforts. It never ceases to amaze > me. > > A question: the gas tank is listed as 23litres with 2.9litres of > reserve. I found myself going on reserve consistently at 360km and > then only needing 18/19 litres to fill the tank, with fill ups > happening pretty well straight away. SO, is the reserve bigger than > listed or is this a case of fuel needing to be sloshed over from one > side to the other to get a true idea of where reserve should be > needed? Comments welcome. > > Nick > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Old school buds here: > http://click.egroups.com/1/5545/5/_/911801/_/961473945/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Visit the KLR650 archives at > http://www.listquest.com/lq/search.html?ln=klr650 > Support Dual Sport News... dsneditor@... > Let's keep this list SPAM free! > > Visit our site at http://www.egroups.com/group/DSN_klr650 > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@egroups.com > > >