70 years old and 700,000 m/c miles

[Joe Percival]

I just tried it. After playing around with the techniques described, I went back to using the marks provided. Maybe it would work better with a center stand. Not having one I had the bike up on a pedestal under the bashplate. I found that very slight moves in the front end resulted in big differences in the back end rendering the technique described totally inaccurate. I also found that the knobby tires (compared to the nearly slick street tires shown in the article) got in the way of sighting and measuring as described. I think that if I had taken time to secure the bike and front wheel then maybe it would have worked better. I decided I'd sweated enough buckets and went back to standard settings for now. Maybe another time... joe -----Original Message----- From: Brad Davis [SMTP:bradcdavis@...] Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2000 4:13 PM To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com Subject: [DSN_klr650] Wheel Alignment Article I placed an article from Motorcyclist magazine about how to adjust/check your rear wheel alignment. It's located under "files/maintenance" at DSN_klr650. I'll be interested in hearing what the community thinks about it. If others have good articles/info pertaining to maintenance issues why don't you share them with the rest of us? Thanks, Brad Davis ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vegas, Baby! Great deals on airfare, hotels and car rentals from Expedia.com! http://click.egroups.com/1/5206/6/_/911801/_/961715565/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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

[Jeff Walker]

I just tried it. After playing around with the techniques described, I

> went back to using the marks provided. Maybe it would work better with a > center stand. Not having one I had the bike up on a pedestal under the > bashplate. I found that very slight moves in the front end resulted in

big

> differences in the back end rendering the technique described totally > inaccurate. I also found that the knobby tires (compared to the nearly > slick street tires shown in the article) got in the way of sighting and > measuring as described. > > I think that if I had taken time to secure the bike and front wheel then > maybe it would have worked better. I decided I'd sweated enough buckets > and went back to standard settings for now. Maybe another time... > > joe >

I think that the best method is to use a tape measure from the swing arm pivot bolt to the axle bolt. My indicators have a bit of slop in them, as well as not having enough graduated marks to be very accurate. Jeff

[Joe Percival]

Is there good reason to believe that the allignment of the swingarm bolt with the frame is sufficiently accurate? Is this dimension more controlled than the markings on the swing arm apparently are? Thanks, joe -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Walker [SMTP:jlwalk@...] Sent: Saturday, June 24, 2000 12:56 PM To: djpercival@...; 'Brad Davis'; DSN_klr650@egroups.com Subject: Re: [DSN_klr650] Wheel Alignment Article I just tried it. After playing around with the techniques described, I

> went back to using the marks provided. Maybe it would work better with a > center stand. Not having one I had the bike up on a pedestal under the > bashplate. I found that very slight moves in the front end resulted in

big

> differences in the back end rendering the technique described totally > inaccurate. I also found that the knobby tires (compared to the nearly > slick street tires shown in the article) got in the way of sighting and > measuring as described. > > I think that if I had taken time to secure the bike and front wheel then > maybe it would have worked better. I decided I'd sweated enough buckets > and went back to standard settings for now. Maybe another time... > > joe >

I think that the best method is to use a tape measure from the swing arm pivot bolt to the axle bolt. My indicators have a bit of slop in them, as well as not having enough graduated marks to be very accurate. Jeff

[Thomas Keener]

> Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 01:10:46 EDT > From: mrob1515@... >My first night in Moab this year I met an older gentleman in front of the >store at Canyonlands Camp ground who was riding a 1998 KLR with 46,000 miles >on it. >...We compared notes abut our >KLRs and had a wonderful conversation about touring. The furthermost I have >ever ridden in one day is 350 miles, and I have no long distance touring >experience, so the old man was a real inspiration to me.

A few years ago, I was on a ride and stopped in at the Honda shop in Prescott, Arizona. By chance, there was another guy in there. I think his home is in Prescott. He had just finished doing the 4-Corners Ride. He did it both directions in 18 days. Az to San Diego to Wash. to Maine to Fla to Maine to Wash to San Diego to Arizona. He did it on a Suzuki 250DP ( is that a DR250?) He was a retired cop, kinda on the hefty side and had made some custom changes to the bike. One mod was a Harley solo saddle that was attached to the bike via a 2"x4" piece of wood. The tailpiece was looking sorta wierd where his duffle bag had laid on the muffler, caught fire and melted the plastic. Tomk

[Jeff Walker]

> Is there good reason to believe that the allignment of the swingarm bolt > with the frame is sufficiently accurate? Is this dimension more

controlled

> than the markings on the swing arm apparently are? >

Yes there is, considering that the swingarm bolt is really part of the frame. The question you are asking is whether the swingarm frame is square to the bolt and frame, and the answer is?????? Regardless, if you have the same distance between the axle bolt and the swing arm bolt on each side, your tire will be in line at least, even if it is off to one side or the other. Also, considering the graduations on my tape measure are in 1/32 inches, it is definately going to be more accurate than the marks on the swing arm. Jeff