nklr: messy chain lube

[heeltoetoe@aol.com]

I bought a used A6 three summers ago, and after returning from a tour involving a lot of night riding, I realized that the KLR's lighting needed attention. Consequently, I mounted a set of Hella 500 driving lamps, and they are wonderful. In three years there have been no electrical problems caused by the addition of the lights. The bike starts right up the next day after night use; the lamps have not failed from vibration; etc. If any of you were to ride my KLR at night, I believe that the next day you would be dropping by your local Pep Boys for lights, relays, fuses, and wiring. These lights have 55 watt halogen lamps, and the light beam is conical, piercing the road ahead in a bright even glow. The amount of light is a significant increase over the stock headlight, even when running just one of the two auxillary lights, which I often do to conserve electrical draw. I spent an entire day bending and fabricating a bracket made from 1/4 x 1 inch aluminum bar stock which is attached to the faring side mounts and goes in front of the faring above the headlight. The Hella lights are mounted above and to the left and right of the headlight. The bar stock has a couple compound bends in it to match the contours of the faring. I also made two struts from 3/8 inch diameter round stock which are attached to the bar stock above the headlight and to the outer windshield mounting screws. These keep the bar stock aligned. In three seasons of riding there have been no mounting problems. Everything is tight and secure. As we all know, the KLR650 is not an artistic tour de force in the conventional sense. That is why is it so amenable to modification. On a Ducati 900SS these would look horrible, but on the KLR the auxillary lights look functional and appropriate. I've gotten a lot of positive comments about them, and the whole package elicites a lot of questions from other motorcyclists and the general public for that matter. But the acid test is that they work very well. I wanted to activate the auxillary lights from the high-low beam switch; therefore the primary windings of the relays are connected to the positive leads on the headlight. There are switches in series between the headlight positive voltage and the primary windings of the relays. Therefore, when I do not want to use the auxillary lights, these switches are off. I run the lights judiciously so as to not overwork the stator. But as I mentioned above, I have not had any battery drain problems so far. However, when a new stator is eventually needed for my KLR, I'll get one of the higher output kind. Oh yes, I use four relays so that I can control each auxillary light separately on either high or low beam. In other words, the low beam activates two relays, one for each auxillary light. The high beam activates two relays also, one for each auxillary light. Each relay has its own switch. The relays are mounted to the nacelle behind the headlamp. There is sufficient room for the relays and wiring there. The four switches which are wired to the relays' primary windings are mounted to a bracket at the junction of the faring and windscreen above the speedometer. These four switches are in easy reach, too. I've found that the auxillary lights have been a benefical addition to my KLR. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Tengai650]

At 3:21 PM -0400 8/18/01, heeltoetoe@... wrote:

> As we all know, the KLR650 is not an artistic tour de force in the >conventional sense. That is why is it so amenable to modification. On a >Ducati 900SS these would look horrible, but on the KLR the auxillary lights >look functional and appropriate. I've gotten a lot of positive comments >about them, and the whole package elicites a lot of questions from other >motorcyclists and the general public for that matter. But the acid test is >that they work very well.

Show us some pix if you can! Mark B2 A2 A3

[Jim Keal]

How about a photo or three??

>From: heeltoetoe@... >To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com >Subject: [DSN_klr650] Hella 500 Auxillary Lights! >Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2001 15:21:17 EDT > > I bought a used A6 three summers ago, and after returning from a tour >involving a lot of night riding, I realized that the KLR's lighting needed >attention. Consequently, I mounted a set of Hella 500 driving lamps, and >they are wonderful.....

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[PhantomRider3@aol.com]

Post photos and diagrams please - sounds like it looks cool and works great. Phantom Rider Beverly, MA (about 25 miles north of Boston, on the coast) 1985 K100 RS (80,000 miles) 1972 Yamaha CT1 175 (3,000+ miles, currently with some "issues") 2000 Kawasaki KLR 650 (more fun than I probably should be having) If you want to purchase the soon to famous KLR vavle adjustment VIDEO send me a check for 24.00. Ah bahgin (MA speak for a great deal) shipping is included and a portion of the proceeds go towards the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foudation. Drop me an email and you'll get my address. You can see stills from the actual video at: http://www.angelfire.com/mo/motormark/PhantomRiderValveCheckVideo.html To see all my nutty crazy mods go to: http://www.angelfire.com/mo/motormark/PhantomRider.html Thanks again MotoMark for listing my junk!

[k650dsn@aol.com]

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., "Jim Keal" wrote:

> How about a photo or three?? >

I have Hella 500's on my KLR. I'm not sure if they are mounted the same as the other lister. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DSN_klr65 ... 20Bikes%2C% 20Websites%2C%20Pics/Member%27s%20Bikes/Gino%27s%20Pics/leftfront.jpg Gino

[heeltoetoe@aol.com]

A number of members have emailed me about my auxillary lights. Mark has kindly offered to post photos, since I do not have a scanner nor digital camera. So I'll be taking some photos and forwarding them very soon. Nick Newark, DE [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[squidwannabe@hotmail.com]

M-I-C-K-E-Y , M-O-U-S-E ..... MICKEY MOUSE !

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., k650dsn@a... wrote: > --- In DSN_klr650@y..., "Jim Keal" wrote: > > How about a photo or three?? > > > > I have Hella 500's on my KLR. I'm not sure if they are mounted the > same as the other lister. > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DSN_klr65 ... 7s%20Bikes% 2C% > 20Websites%2C%20Pics/Member%27s%20Bikes/Gino%27s% 20Pics/leftfront.jpg > > Gino

[IronJungle@Hotmail.com]

I remember now, the "Mickey Mouse" look Hella configuration....

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., k650dsn@a... wrote: > I have Hella 500's on my KLR. I'm not sure if they are mounted the > same as the other lister. > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DSN_klr65 ... 7s%20Bikes% 2C% > 20Websites%2C%20Pics/Member%27s%20Bikes/Gino%27s% 20Pics/leftfront.jpg

[Tengai650]

At 10:18 AM -0400 8/19/01, heeltoetoe@... wrote:

> A number of members have emailed me about my auxillary lights. Mark has >kindly offered to post photos, since I do not have a scanner nor digital >camera. So I'll be taking some photos and forwarding them very soon. > >Nick >Newark, DE

I finally got these babies scanned in. You can see them at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/mjv2/nick1.jpg http://www.personal.psu.edu/mjv2/nick2.jpg http://www.personal.psu.edu/mjv2/nick3.jpg Nick has also included pix of his fuel filter and chain oiler system. Mark B2 A2 A3

[Brad Davis]

> > What do the "chain gurus" think of this? > > > > Steve Viertell, Chico, CA

Steve - check out the polls section to see what 100+ listers think about chain lube. Brad