kmev

19 minutes ago, trevinator said:

i do have a welder, so it might come to that. probably the least expensive option as well.

When I wanted to install a BMW-type socket in the same location at my K75S, fabricating a bracket was the best solution: 

2 minutes ago, trevinator said:

anyone have ideas on what might work?

Steel, a welder, and ingenuity?

55 minutes ago, keithu said:

Added advantage for commuting: when I arrive at work I can unzip the jacket while I walk from the parking lot to my office. With the one piece I have to keep it zipped up for this walk, so in the summer I arrive at my desk a little sweatier.

I guess it depends on where you work. For my job, I take the one-piece suit off with 1.5 zippers at the bike, slip my Combat Lite boots off in 1.2 seconds, and walk into work in shorts and flip-flops as cool and unsweaty as anything you could imagine exactly 2.7 seconds after setting the kickstand. 

Honestly - you can't go wrong with any of the Aerostich line. Try both on if you can to see what works for you. You won't be disappointed with either.  

That is the perfect color if you ride to your deer stand here in the north! Or love Creamsicles, as mentioned. 

I replaced a 20-year-old classic one piece with a new classic one piece three years ago. The old one made you look like you pissed your pants if you rode in any rainfall (even after pulling up the crotch folds). My new classic, with the new zipper, doesn't let any water through. I have had to replace one or two zipper pulls already. I like the lining on the classic -  in Wisconsin it is more often cold than hot when riding, and it is harder to stay warm than to keep cool. 

I absolutely love the one piece. I considered a two piece as the replacement, but the one piece is so fast and easy - especially important as a commuter suit, IMO. I would never ride with just a top or just a bottom. 

Found a pic of when I was working on the lids - I guess it was purple and silver (not blue). I taped off all the trim and reflectors  - I did not remove anything. I sanded the chrome trim and sprayed it. It's holding up well, and if it doesn't, its just a cheap and quick respray. These bags are big - you will hit and scuff them, so this is a great alternative to a $$$ paint jobs that would get dinged or scratched eventually. 

3 hours ago, MadisonFJ09 said:

Any chance you can post a photo?  Thanks

Sure...One lid was purple, the other blue. 

1 hour ago, MadisonFJ09 said:

  I just found a set of used FJR side cases (wrong color and scuffed up).

Welcome from Madison! I bought crashed FJR lids off Ebay. I sanded, filled scratches, and sprayed with Rustoleum spray can bed liner. Turned out great and the finish and texture is pretty darn close to the OEM Yamaha cases.

54 minutes ago, johnmark101 said:

Wow, 7775 miles in one week is some serious riding.  It's not unusual for me to do 400 ~ 450 mile days when I am on a road trip but only for about five days.  Don't think the wife would like it if I were gone any longer.  

I have only ridden twice since getting my seat and both were local rides of about 150 ~ 175 miles.  Plan on hitting the road for about four or five days in June and that will be the real test of the seat.

The funny thing is that I had 21 days to do that trip, but I was enjoying the riding and the seat wasn't holding me back like the Sargent had previously, so I just kept on riding.  Everybody's seat preference is a bit different, but if you're planning a lot of long days I think Terry's seat is better than the other options. If you're constantly dragging knees through sweepers you'll probably want something narrower.  

My butt was sore for a few days after riding my new seat from Terry - but it was 7,775 miles in 11 days. I had a Sargent prior to that, and I walked with a limp after riding 3,000 miles in five days. Terry's seats are  like Russell Day-Longs but at a lower cost. Highly recommended. 

58 minutes ago, betoney said:

When you finally get out for a ride to test the MCCruise here is a tip. (this might be common knowledge but in case it isn't, here you go)  A quick press on the +/- buttons will change the speed in 1mph increments, a slightly longer press will change in 5mph increments.

I have 16,000 miles with one, and I did  not know about the long press. Thanks!

37 minutes ago, betoney said:

No issues with the EK Screw master link?

I installed an EK screw link with a new chain before I rode from Wisconsin to the Arctic Ocean  last summer. Install was super easy and haven't had a problem - including on the Dempster Highway. I'll buy it again. 

My 2015 does the same thing. It always had a rather loud chatter since new, but last summer when I was headed for the Dempster it became noticeable at speed, so much that I could feel it through the handlebars. It is louder when cold. I am at just over 16,000 miles. When I changed the oil, I didn't see any unusual debris in the oil. I was going to take it it, but figured the dealer would say "that's normal" like they did when it was new. I have the extended warranty until 2023, so figured I had some time. Maybe I'll take it in this summer to see if they will address it. 

I put a couple thousand miles on TKC 80s on the ALCAN and Dempster Highways. I really liked them. They vibrate and howl on asphalt, but I had no concerns even at speeds to 85 mph. They got the job done in dirt and light mud, and I didn't crash when hitting deep, loose gravel at too high of a speed - although I came close a few times. I would expect about 4,000 miles out them based on my experience. 

It will carry 3 dozen ears of corn, though. 

I have the Yamaha 50 liter and love it. It will *maybe* fit two helmets - depending on the size. If you and your other have smaller heads it will work. If you have larger heads, it won't. I cannot fit an X-Large Schuberth and an Large HJC into my 50L at the same time.  

4 hours ago, jeff_s said:

Did the exact same thing.  My Schuberth (C3, but not "Pro") is amazingly quiet and comfy - but HOT in the summers.  The built-in comms option is also something I've really grown to love.  I got both the helmet and comms stuff once the new Pro model came out, so they were 'closeout' and over 50% off.  These things are pricy otherwise.

I got mine on closeout, too. They are nice helmets, but not worth $800. I agree they are hot, and the ventilation is not great. But, I guess that is always a trade off for quiet. The one thing that I hate about the helmet is that for what it costs, you think they would make a visor that will stay up when you want it to - that is my one complaint about Schuberth. 

On 5/22/2019 at 11:02 PM, Cruizin said:

I don't like wearing earplugs on a bike. I like to hear the approaching car behind or beside me, it is part of what my brain uses to calculate whats happening around me. 

My Schuberth helmets are quieter than any other helmet Iv'e owned but still give me the noise of other cars and such.  Earplugs drown out too much. 

Earplugs are essential for serious long-distance riding no matter what helmet you're wearing. Besides protecting hearing, it really cuts down on fatigue - listening to wind blast droning on for hours is fatiguing. 

I have about 50,000 miles on a Schubert C3 Pro. It is a quite helmet in some wind/windshield conditions, but it can also throw a lot of noise with the chin vent open and a cross wind. Do a 700 mile day without earplugs, and then one with - you will notice a big difference. 

I always ran cheap helmets before the C3 Pro, thinking cheap helmets were just as good. Boy, was I wrong. Spend a bit more on a good helmet that fits and is comfortable - especially if you plan long distance riding. 

Mine is the same after this summer's trip. I thought it was because of the Dempster Highway and an anomaly, but it seems not. I'm running a SW Motech skid plate - do have anything under the oil pan?

My plan was to give it a wipe with oil whenever I lubed the chain to keep it from rusting too badly. I think the best solution would be to have the cross bar professionally coated in a truck bed liner like Line-X. You could try using bicycle handlebar wrap - comes in black, easy to apply, and cushions the impacts.

2 hours ago, mellow said:

I have 5500 on my rear PR5 and it might go to 7k.

That's terrible. I got more than that on my OEM Dunlop. 

10 hours ago, Dark&Stormy said:

So what did do with your TKC80s after you swapped them out? Shipped them home?

I told the tire guy to do whatever he wanted with them -  preferably give them to someone else to finish off. I had 1,900 miles on them, and I estimate they were about half finished. I don't ride any dirt back home, and they were weren't worth the hassle to haul back nor the expense to ship. 

That is the SW-Motech skid plate that I am running. I also ground the rib off the oil pan and am using a flat, allen head drain plug. The skid plate will bend if you ground the bike hard, but on more than one occasion I heard a rock banging off of it. When I removed it to change the oil when I got home I was impressed by the number of rock gouges the skid plate sustained and my oil pan / headers did not. It did it's job. To change the oil you just remove six allen head screws and pull the plate off the mounts. I add a dab of blue thread locker when I replace it. Very easy. 

The seat is a Terry Adcox, which I learned about here and gets great reviews. I had a Sergeant seat but hated it. This seat did it's job as well as any seat could have averaging 700 miles a day for 11 days. It felt almost as good as the Russell Daylong I had on my BMW K75. 

I love the Aerostich Roadcrafter one-piece - this is my second. I also love their Combat Touring Lite boots. They don't come cheap, but like their advertising states, you WILL ride more. 

I'll second yocracing.com. I have the same problem with my local dealer, so for the last two years I have ordered all my Yamaha parts through Cucamonga -  I get my parts faster and cheaper (shipping included) than my local dealer. 

Just returned from an excellent ride from southern Wisconsin to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, on the Arctic Ocean and back. I wasn't planning on doing the round trip in 11 days, but I was enjoying the ride and found it hard to stop. I later learned that it if I had taken longer on the Dempster Highway I would have been stuck in snow and mud. I spent a total of three nights on the Dempster. 

The FJ-09 is the perfect compromise between an BMW GS and a FJR1300 - it can eat miles for day after day, yet perform in the dirt with the best of them. The bike was phenomenal on this ride. 

I tented it the whole way. The trip was unseasonably cold - temps from below freezing to low 50s Fahrenheit every day. Lots of rain, but no all-day-long downpours that I often encounter on my trips. The cold temps did keep the mosquitoes at bay. I installed TKC80s in Whitehorse, Yukon, and swapped them back to my Dunlop Roadsmart 3s for the return home. Both tires where flawless. 

Yamaha's traction control saved my ass on the ALCAN. I was running 70 mph when I hit a storm and it started hailing marble-sized hail. All of a sudden there was a LOT of hail and before I knew it I was running 70 mph into 1.5 inches of marble-sized hail covering the roadway. My rear wheel suddenly slid out from under me, but before I could even react the traction control engaged, the bike uprighted itself, and I ran neutral throttle the rest of the way through the ice. If I had been on my K75 I would have crashed. Thank you Yamaha. 

After that random collection of thoughts, here's some random photos: 

I had a Sargent, but it dug into my legs and became unbearable on a multi-day trip. After six days and 3,600 miles I was literally limping. 

I sold that and purchased a Terry Adcox seat. I have not yet been able to test it for more than a few hundred miles at a time, but that will change come Friday. It feels just like the Russell Daylong I had on my K75 and loved, so I am hopeful. I will know be early next week.