re. rear spring rate

[Michael Silverstein]

> From: matteeanne@... [mailto:matteeanne@...] > And most important, go to the bike as soon as > possible, wrenchs screwdrivers allen wrenches in hand > and tighten every nut bolt and screw on the bike.

I second that. After taking delivery of my A18 with 1200 miles on it and driving 200 miles directly home, some of which was at I95 highway speeds I discovered two loose and one missing bolts holding (or not holding) the fork stanchions. This is the bike that locktite was invented for. Mike A18

[Bill Watson]

Dave wrote: I have another question. I let the bike fully Warm up before riding, however do to the outdoor temp 35 degree range the Temp dropped way off on the gauge. Is this a problem ? When I came to a stop at a light it wold climb back up. I let the bile idle and it gets to middle and the fan kicks off. -------------------------REPLY------------------------ Dave, I've calibrated my gauge and have been watching it for a while. The KLR has a thermostat that tends to keep water temps around 175 F most all the time. However if you're not moving, the temp will continue to climb until the gauge points straight up at around 205-210 F, and the electric fan comes on to keep it from climbing higher. So; "letting the bike fully warm up before riding" tells me that you're sitting around in the driveway until water is 200 plus, then you go riding and thanks to the airflow the bike settles in on the thermostat and the gauge reads lower. When you come to a stop light, airflow stops and temps climb... I think you can see what's happening. Bottom line: all normal. Recommendation: Start the bike and just ride it gently for the first mile. It will warm up even faster that way, get better gas mileage, and get less condensation and raw gasoline in the oil. Bill Watson --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Doug Herr]

On Fri, 4 Feb 2005, Bill Watson wrote:

> Recommendation: Start the bike and just ride it gently for the > first mile. It will warm up even faster that way, get better > gas mileage, and get less condensation and raw gasoline in the > oil.

This is a really good recommendation. On anything with a choke, you want to get it off the choke as soon as your can. Once started I always drop the choke step by step, never letting it idle above 1500rpm and drop it all the way off as soon as it can handle it. If I am ready to ride before then I will take it off anyway and just baby the throttle to keep it running. -- Doug Herr doug@...

[Keith Saltzer]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "biggbikerklr" wrote:

> > I have 2 KLRs 1 off-road with 500/560 progressive spring and one > stock. The diffeance is unbelivable. I am now putting a 475# eshock > spring on a new take off shock from f-1. for the stocker. I weight > 450# for referance. > > Brian > biggbiker@s... > A-4 > A-6

Since we are all telling about our current shock mods, I will too. Just to get me by, I rebuilt mine a year ago (after it blew most of the oil out) with a new seal head, 130cc's of fresh 10 weight Amsoil suspension fluid, and a 175 psi Nitrogen charge per Racetech's spec sheet. Boy what a difference. I can see why a lot of you guys just do a little this and that too it and are happy. The only thing that I really hate now is that the stock spring is still too light for me. With no gear on it, it's only moderately bad. When I load up for a trip, the sag is rediculous. But at least it does work well for soaking up street bumps and gives better support overall. The heavier weight oil, higher psi nitro charge, and preload on 5, all help out with that part of it quite a bit. I thought long and hard about spending money for a spring and just couldn't do it becuase I know that I am going to get a nice aftermarket shock with all the bells and whistles. I'll pick that up in a few months with my settlement check. Since I know that I will have many more KLR's in my lifetime, I will be able to take it with me from bike to bike, rebuild it, adjust everything on it, and it will last longer than the stocker type shock body. The shock, and extra set of wheels for my KLR are the last two "big ticket" items that I need, and then I'm just about done with it. MrMoose A8 (Barbie and Ken special)