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Hopefully back to normal

I wish I could figure out why assholes keep hacking my sites. It’s not like I get a lot of traffic anyway, it’s not like I post offensive content, it’s not even like the hacks redirect to spammer sites – all they do is disable my sites – so the hacker gets NO benefit. Sometimes I just REALLY hate certain people.

So after being down for a couple moths and dealing with family health issues, I finally got around to calling my hosting company and asking for help. Of course their response was “WHAT??? You don’t have a ($400) firewall installed? No wonder you got hacked.” So I guess 2 part authentication to even be able to log into my account, changing my WP passwords regularly religiously, not accepting comments, etc., don’t do anything to keep from getting hacked. Gotta pony up that extra money… but back to bikes

SWM RS500R

Something I’ve been wanting to do since I got it was to get a bigger gas tank for my RS500R. I ordered it last July, but it took a few months to get here from Australia, then my mom fell and broke her hip so I had to take care of her for about a month, then some other family stuff came up at home, so I wasn’t able to get it installed until a couple weeks ago. The thing is a monster (huge!!!) and it doesn’t line up all that great with the seat and plastics, but it’s necessary on the RS500 in my opinion. On a bike that’s going to be used for long range desert rides, a 2 gallon tank and 70 mile range doesn’t cut it. I’m really glad to finally get it done.

DR-Z400E

Another thing I’ve been wanting to get done is have the fork seals replaced on my DR-Z400E. They were leaking when I got it, and changing them myself is beyond my skill set (plus I don’t have the right tools and my workshop is a mess). It came with some oddball after market headlight that pointed right about at the top of the front fender and was about as useful for riding at night as a pair of sunglasses. It had to go. I took a chance and ordered a set of DR-Z400SM headlight brackets and a nice bright LED headlight from Thumpertalk. When I took the bike down to have the fork seals replaced, I asked them to try fitting the headlight brackets for me. The RMZ450 forks are 1mm bigger than SM forks, but they the brackets up a little and they fit beautifully. The Thumpertalk headlight fits the brackets and is adjustable for aiming, so it should work perfectly. Now if only I hadn’t forgotten to order the spacers when I ordered the brackets…

A lot more going on too, but I’m burned out from trying to get my hacked sites back online.

Until next time, peace out.

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Update on my 2003E

Well, my E is still dead. After getting my other 3 bikes going by charging the battery, I tried putting the battery from my 2003 DRZ-E on the charger. Turns out the battery was totally dead – my charger wouldn’t even try to put a charge on it. So I went down and got a new battery, installed it, and the bike fired right up. Woo-hoo!!! Well, not so fast… I took it on a short ride just b/c it’s so much fun, shut it down, and then tried to start it again “just to be sure”. Dead as a doornail again. I know it sounds like an amazing coincidence, but I guess my old battery went dead at almost the exact same time it developed a wiring problem. So the E still isn’t running. I finally made room in the garage for it, so at least it won’t get rained or snowed on until I can get it figured out. I almost have the new graphics ready to put on, which I’ll do as soon as I take it down and get the for seals replaced. Also, tonight I ordered a set of DRZ-SM headlight brackets. I hope they work or can be made to work. Supposedly the DRZ-SM forks are the same diameter as the RMZ450 forks I’m running, but when I measured the forks on both bikes to compare, the ones on my SM are 1mm less in diameter. Oh well, I’m rambling b/c I’m pissed b/c ALL of my WordPress sites got hacked this week. Don’t know how, don’t know why, and don’t know how to prevent it from happening again. GoDaddy CS isn’t being much help either.

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Final battery charged

Got the Beta going today. Just like the RS500, it didn’t want to start right away. In fact, trying to get it started ran the battery down again, so I quit while there was still a little charge (hopefully enough to try again later) left. Looked up the factory manual to make sure I was doing it right (I was) and kind of sat there scratching my head. The only thing I could figure is that it was kind of cold. If it wasn’t the temp, then either my brand new bike was already screwed up, or the gas had gone bad after sitting for a couple months. Both options seemed really crappy…

Anyway, waited a couple hours for the battery to recover from the first try. The starter turned over nice and fast on the first few tries, but still no start. On the fourth try it was cranking kind of slow. Uh-oh… so I resigned myself to a non-running bike that I would need help with to get running (i.e. it’s gonna cost some money), waited a couple minutes, and tried one last time. And… it started!!! I was fricken’ ECSTATIC. No money to spend, no excuses to the wife, it is OKAY. Let it idle a few minutes to warm up, then shut it down and started it again to make sure. Then a second time to make really sure.

My theory (which I’m not gonna test, so I guess it will remain a hypothesis) is that after sitting for a few months, all the gas evaporated or drained out of the line from the tank to the carb, and it just took quite a bit of engine sucking to pull it back into the carb. Once it started, it ran fine so I don’t think I’m suffering any of the alleged long term effects of letting methanol mixed gasoline sit too long.

Anyway, this whole sh1tshow was a pretty painless reminder that I need to run my bikes once in awhile (at least once a week) instead of just letting them sit. Also a reminder to get insurance on my XTrainer so I can take it to DMV and get plates for it. then once it’s street legal put a really LOUD muffler on it, but that’s for another post.

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When it rains, it pours…

One thing I didn’t mention last time is that my Mom fell and broke her hip 2 days before Halloween. She was in the hospital at the time and since they had really restricted visiting hours thanks to the Chy-Na virus it didn’t really affect my home time.

She came home about a week ago though, so I’ve been her live-in caretaker since, which means no time at home or to work on bikes. So…  last Sunday I had a little break and decided to bring my SM over here to work on. Guess what? Dead battery. Tried the SWM – same thing. Beta XTrainer? THREE dead batteries (plus the E being down).

Luckily I have a 12 volt charger that will go as low as 2 amps charging current. Plugged it in and the meter was registering 3 amps, which is overcharging according to the print on the side of the battery. well, i didn’t really have a choice so i let it go for an hour. thankfully, no exploding battery (it didn’t even get warm) so I took it home and put it back in the bike and now the SM is back on the road. Whew…

I ordered a battery charger/tender that’s designed for motorcycle batteries and hooked up the SWM battery last night. Really weird thing is it was acting almost completely dead, but it only took about 90 minutes to reach full charge. According to the instructions that came with the charger, it should have taken more like 3 or 4 hours. idk… will put it in tomorrow and we’ll see. The XTrainer will have to wait until next week, and due to my Mom’s health issues, it will probably be awhile before I can dig into the 400E and figure out what’s wrong with it.

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My E is dead, so “back at it”…

Well, I took the month of October off to… go back to work. Got a temp job driving a tractor on a farm for five weeks, four days a week. Because of that, didn’t have time to do any riding or work on the bikes. In the mean time, my DRZ-400 E got rained on for about 20 hours straight (no room in the garage). Went out to take it for a ride yesterday and it won’t start. I think the problem is an electrical connection (it happened once before) so hopefully I’ll have some time this week to chase it down and get it running again. Then take it down and get the fork seals replaced, then I can throw on the new tank, new plastics, and put on my new seat cover.

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More progress on the 400E, sort of…

I’m rethinking my handlebar cleanup. I thought I could get away without ordering any new parts. Not just to save money, but I also really liked the “beater bike” vibe. I care about looks, but how well it works is a lot more important. The issue I’m running into is being able to access some of the controls with my hands on the grips. Like the start button…

I’ve found that starting this bike requires 3 things to happen, all at the same time: keep the choke pulled out about half way, press the starter button, and as soon as it fires twist the throttle to keep it going. Otherwise, NO START and no bueno. OK, so my left hand runs the choke, no problem there. My right hand runs the start button and throttle. Also no problem, except… the start switch sits just inboard of the right grip. Which works great, but it puts the front master cylinder (FMC) along with the front brake lever further in on the handle bar. It works for now, but the brake lever is about at the limit of how much farther in I can put it and still be able to use it. Which brings us to mirrors. If the right side mirror is mounted inboard of the FMC, it’s too far in to be useful. If I mount the mirror first with the FMC inboard of that, I can’t reach the front brake lever (at least not with my hand on the grip). You may disagree, but i.m.o. not being able to use the front brake without taking your hand off the grip is a really, REALLY bad idea. But then, so is riding in traffic without useable mirrors. What to do?

OK, I caved… I bought a Suzuki OEM FMC for a DRZ S model. This solves the problem nicely by having the mirror mount built into the FMC assembly. It was spendy, I’m not gonna lie about that. It also kind of wrecks the retro vibe of the bike. Well, maybe just a little but still… but with the new parts in place I’ll be able to get the thing started AND ride it safely.

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A little progress on my DRZ400E

I made a little progress with cleaning up the handlebar setup on my DRZ400E. I got my Doubletake Adventure mirrors mounted and got rid of the cell phone holder. The new mirrors actually make the bike safe to ride on the street and the phone holder was wasted space. The mirrors did cause a new worry that I didn’t think about when I installed them though. I have an idea on how to address that, but not 100% sure if it will work…

New Mirrors

When I bought this bike, it had a miss-matched pair of cheap “enduro mirrors” on it. You know, the crappy little ones that come on “street legal kits” you can buy to make a dirt bike street legal so you can put a plate on it. One was an Acerbis and the other was some off brand I’d never heard of. The problem with both of them is they weren’t rigid enough – they both shook so bad that I could barely see out of them when the bike was running. Besides that, whoever installed then put the to far in AND backwards, so even if I could use them, all I’d see was my shoulders – not the traffic behind me. When I tried to reposition them, the first one broke while I was tightening it to the handlebars. No worries, just meant it was time to get a decent set of mirrors.

Doubletake Enduro Mirrors

I decided to go with a set of Doubletake Enduro mirrors. I’ve read good things about them online, so I figured the expense might be worth the price. They definitely are, at least imo. They mount really solid to the handlebar and the RAM leg and mirror are also really solid, so there is almost no shake when the bike is running. Besides that, the reach (???) is longer so they sit closer to the ends of the bar. Now I can actually use them to check traffic around and behind me – a HUGE safety improvement when I’m riding. They install with just a common wrench which is nice, but can also be a problem if you park in a bike where shitty people can access it…

Like last Saturday. A friend was having a get together at a downtown bar and I decided to ride the DRZ (perfect excuse to not drink). It’s in kind of a sketchy neighborhood, so I parked near a window so I could keep an eye on the bike. Sure enough, about a half hour after dark I noticed a car parked behind my bike with the headlights on and passenger door open. Didn’t see anyone standing next to the bike, but I decided to walk outside and check it out. Decided to stand about 15 feet away and pretend to not notice the car. The two occupants watched me (it was pretty obvious) for about 5 minutes before the passenger closed his door and they drove away. Didn’t think too much about it until I started riding home…

I got about a block when the mirrors started moving around. I KNOW they were tight because (1) I’d installed them myself and (2) I’d ridden a few times with no loosening issues. My theory is the two dudes in the car were messing with the mirrors. My quick fix will be to put Loctite on the mounts. That won’t stop someone from taking off the RAM mounts and mirrors, but replacing just the RAMs and mirrors is cheaper than replacing everything. Or maybe just not take my bike to sketchy areas, but I can’t always avoid that.

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Cleaning up the controls on my DRZ400E

So this is my beater bike – a 2003 DRZ400E. I think I mentioned it an earlier post. My adventure bike build is on hold while I get the tools and parts for it, so this will be my current project bike. It’s also my daily rider, so I’m not getting too crazy with stuff that will take it out of action for more than a day or so. Even though it runs, it does need a lot of work. It’s an E model, so it had to be converted to street legal status in order to get a street title and license plates. Unfortunately, whoever did the conversion kind of half-assed it, at least in my opinion.

Here is a full pic of the handlebars. How many things do you see that need to be fixed? There is a lot… from left to right, I’ve got a headlight/turn signal control, left side mirror, kill switch, bracket (or whatever) that serves no apparent purpose, cell phone mount, key switch, key switch, USB/power port (just to the right of the handlebar clamp – sorry for the blurry photo), right side mirror, another unused bracket, and starter button. Tucked under the headlight shroud (not visible in the photo) is a turn signal/headlight indicator. The handguards attach at the clutch and front brake pivots. Way too much junk, and it’s a mess. Looks even worse in real life than it does in the photo.

I’ll start with the worst thing – the mirrors. They’re mounted too far in, so they’re completely useless. The only thing I can see with them when I’m riding is my shoulders or my face. From the way I understand folding mirrors to work, I also think they’re mounted wrong. I could just switch sides and mount them further out, but I decided to splurge and get a pair of Double Take Adventure mirrors. With those, I’ll be able to check my backside, and lane changes will once again be safe.

The second thing I’m changing is the headlight/turn signal control. The one on the bike right now is cheap and doesn’t reliably turn off the blinkers once they’re on. Plus it’s a major distraction trying to see the indicator hidden under the headlight shroud. So I’m replacing it with a control unit from Sicass Racing. The Sicass controller has actual push buttons, and the indicator lights for high beam and turn signals are on the control unit where they’re easy to see.

Next, I’m replacing the separate kill switch and starter buttons with a single controller. The one I bought is for a KTM, but it should work fine on my DRZ and free up some space on the handlebar. And finally I’m getting rid of the USB thingy, the cell phone mount, and the two unused brackets. This will drop the number of things mounted on the handlebar from 9 to 4. The free space is what will let me move the mirrors to where they’re actually useful, and also make room to mount a pair of Cycra Pro Curve hand guards.

Some of the parts might not make sense for a beater bike (the pricey mirrors and hand guards), but I have Cycra hand guards on my SWM and I really like them. Also, I’m planning on running Double Take mirrors on my adventure bike, so I wanted to try a pair before committing to them on that build. There’s a lot more to do on this bike, but this should keep me busy (and broke) for now.

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DR-Z400 as an Adventure Bike? (part 1)

You’ve probably heard about the next big thing in motorcycling – the Adventure Bike. In fact, if you haven’t heard of adventure bikes you might have been living under a rock. They’re everywhere, and if you’re one of the cool guy bikers, you almost HAVE to have one. Honda Africa Twin, Yamaha Tenere 700 and Super Tenere, KTM Adventure 890 (and a few other flavors), ad nauseum… who could disagree? I mean, all motorcycling is an adventure in a way, right? And some of these bikes are down right badass. Who could NOT like the Africa Twin or its cousins? Well, it depends…

What is an Adventure Bike?

If you look at the marketing hype, an adventure bike is big, powerful, and expensive. The Africa Twin puts out 94 h.p., the smaller Tenere 700 puts out about 72, and the Super Tenere puts out a whopping 108 h.p. Pretty impressive. The Africa Twin weighs in at 500 to 550 lbs. depending on trim, with the Super Tenere weighing in at 584, and the Tenere 700 is the lightweight at “only” 452 lbs. MSRP is $14,399 for the Honda and $16,299 for the big Yamaha, and $9,999 for the Tenere 700.

So you kind of get the idea… big and powerful. But really? These bikes are all “dirt capable” and you can find lots of (marketing) videos online showing (expert) riders doing stuff off road that I’d be afraid to try on my KTM 250 XC. Just how dirt capable are they really? I’m talking average rider here – middle aged, likes to ride dirt and pavement, maybe going through a midlife crisis (did I really just say that?), and is the obvious target market for these bikes.

OK, reality check… if you think a DR-650 is too portly at 360 lbs. to be a decent dirt bike, in what reality system is a 452 – 584 lb. bike going to be a legit dirt bike? How hard will it be to pick up if (when) you lay it down on a steep hill? I’m not saying these bikes suck, just that “maybe” for most of us they don’t quite live up to the marketing, at least when it comes to “dirt capable.” There’s no doubt these are awesome bikes, especially if your skills are awesome, but what about the rest of us?

An Adventure Bike for mere mortals…

I love the idea of an adventure motorcycle, but I don’t really love the idea of trying to take a 452 lb. motorcycle (let alone 584) on rough trails. I’ve been kicking around the idea of a DR-650, but then I started reading about people taking small bikes all over the world. Like… a Royal Enfield Himalayan. Heavy, underpowered, weak suspension… and it got me thinking. If people can travel the world on a Himalayan, why not on a DR-Z400? More (lots more) power, lighter (a lot lighter), better suspension…? So I started looking around online, and a lot of people do build the DR-Z into a light adventure bike. Hell, I don’t even need to reinvent the wheel…

My DR-Z400 Adventure Bike

I found this nice, clean DRZ with only 3600 miles on it, so I snagged it. This will be my adventure bike. It has SM wheels on it now, but it came with the stock 18/21″ dirt rims which will be going back on. Most of my ideas are coming from here, but the list will be modified to meet my needs. It will be a fun build, and even more fun going places on it. I can hardly wait to get started.

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Night and day…

I love my SWM RS-500R, but with the stock tires anything over 55 mph on pavement was kind of sketchy. Not really a shock since it came with full knobbies that are barely DOT approved. The stock tires work great on dirt, the problem is I spend at least 50% of my time on pavement. After doing a lot of looking around, I decided to try a pair of Continental TKC80 Twinduro’s. The shop that installed them also balanced both wheels. I had the chance to rode it the first time today and it’s like a completely different bike. Before, the wobble started at around 50 mph and by 55, it was time to back off or start worrying. With the TKC’s, I got it up to 75 mph (indicated) and the bike was still smooth as silk. Well maybe not quite as smooth as actual silk, but still really smooth and confidence inspiring. I haven’t had a chance to try them on dirt yet, but so far I love them.