Wintersdark

What you want to avoid are old school manual battery chargers (the ones that can overcharge a battery). A battery tender/maintainer will not do this - they're designed to top up and maintain the battery. Optimate, Battery Tender, etc - they're very inexpensive and can be connected via a SAE pigtail. You *should* be using one of these particularly if you're leaving the bike parked for an extended period.

Oh my god! But then it'll no longer be a security bit and it'll be marginally easier for someone to steal... uhhh, just that little piece of metal. When the cases are already off your bike. And open. Stupid security screws are stupid.

Took my local shop about 2 weeks to get the part in, but installing it just took 15 minutes while I wandered across the street for a cup of coffee.

The stock Dunlops are hot garbage IMHO. Dunlops are fine overall (though I don't like how they feel personally, that's just my preference), but the stock ones on the bike are just bad. I have this one in the mail right now 😃 @texscottyd I got that same one on the way, it's a cheap one too, but TBH I've never had one of these things fail. I plop some dielectric grease into the outlets, though; helps to waterproof them and prevent corrosion (the big cause of failure IMHO). It was $5; if it fails, I'll just replace it. I've got the existing automotive 12v port and a little car charger as a backup anyways.

Ah so it's your fault I've got to wait an absurd amount of time to get a replacement kickstand! Jerk!

Absolutely. I've found I never manage to mess up a trip more than by having planned it. Now, I feel a lot of that is because I'm just bad at planning - set goals that seem reasonable but in practice aren't fun, for example, or feel like I need to follow a given route simply because all my timing is predicated on This Thing taking This Long. So much better to have very loose goals - I need to get to <town>ish by <day>ish. Then I can stop somewhere just because it looks interesting without feeling like I Need To Be Somewhere. This does, however, have the effect of requiring my loose goals to have very loose timing requirements. I basically plan for around 500-750kms per day and that's about how far it goes. But I like to not feel bad about "Oh, god, this breakfast and coffee is amazing, I'm going just sit here in the sun for a while."

It finally happened! Some 10,000kms with the Tutoro autooiler attached, and it plugged up - noticed the chain was suspiciously dry and the oiler suspiciously full, and sure enough the hose was almost completely empty too. The Tutoro "workshop manual" is incredibly annoying in this regard. To be fair, it's pretty verbose and informative, and way more than most manufacturers do, but there's such a heavy feeling of - I assume - "cover our asses." "If you use any oil other than ours, we won't repair your unit. We'll know if there's any contamination with any other kind of oil, and ship it back unrepaired at your expense." Uhhh, ok. Whatever. I wasn't going to send it to the UK to get it unclogged anyways, particularly given the cost of shipping it two ways (plus I'd assume an out-of-warranty repair fee) is pretty close to just replacing it. I'm definitely not importing the oil I'm using to lube my chain from the UK. Troubleshooting section: "Oil not flowing? Pour the oil out, add more oil, pour it out. Do not add any kind of solvents. Do not use anything but our oil. Do not take it apart." Nothing else to try, just a surprisingly huge list of things NOT to try. Ok, whatever. Did the oil swishy thing, that didn't work. Looked back at the manual, threw it in the trash. Grabbed spray can of WD40, sprayed in through the outlet. Rinsed that out with the very hydraulic oil they recommend as an alternative to their oil (but that they still consider a foreign contaminant voiding their warranty/etc). Aaaaand, done, good as new. I'm pretty sure that there's nothing inside there made of a material that's going to be substantially harmed by 30 seconds of contact with WD40. I just feel the very narrow aperture in the valve getting plugged is probably the single most likely thing to go wrong with the unit, and that "add oil, swish, and pour oil out" is rarely going to be particularly successful in resolving that.

I've never seen (or, honestly, even heard of) a TDM, but the FJR is a fantastic machine, shockingly different from the Tracer. I strongly prefer the Tracer, but I totally get the FJR appeal for long highway cruises. @texscottyd puts it perfectly: I absolutely *love* screaming through bendy roads at unsafe speeds on the Tracer. It's so very happy at lean, and is super easy to flick from side to side. And that down low torque makes accelerating hard out of super tight corners an absolute joy.

Yeah. I dunno - and I get the whole murphy's law thing here - I've heard a lot of people really worried about stuff being stolen off bikes, but it's not something I can ever really recall at all. I mean, I've had people say you shouldn't use a helmet lock on your bike to hold your helmet there because people will just cut the strap... but who's going to cut a helmet strap just to get a helmet? Helmets can be had used super-cheap, so there's very little resale value for an intact helmet. One with a cut strap?! It's just not something that happens much at all, at least in my experience. Never had a farkle stolen, never had a bag opened, basically, nobody touches people's bikes much at all. Of course, that's with the caveat that I'm not parking it downtown in a city almost ever, so YMMV there. But mine's parked on the street in an industrial area of Calgary for 12 hours a day/night (yay shift work), and I've been doing that with bikes continuously for nearly a decade so people have had lots of time to adapt to schedules. Of course, it's all well insured, too, so it's pretty easy to be relaxed about it. And my tailbag has nothing of real value in it - some snacks, some oil for the autooiler, helmet cleaning stuff, charging cables, bungies, and my tool roll which is arguably the most expensive to replace, but ultimately not worth anything at all. But all that said, I totally get people being cautious about it. I don't know anyone else's circumstances, or their ability to replace stuff, so everyone's got their own tolerance for risk. To each their own. For me, though, like I said a small super cheap luggage lock (which conveniently has a very tiny key that doesn't clutter my bike's keychain) is deterrent from potential opportunistic thieves and much more likely pranky feeling fellow riders.

It's not only Givi. Kappa is a reseller that sells unbranded Givi gear - same part numbers, even, though the first two letters are different. The Kappa bars are like half the price of the Givi bars, are identical, and I have personal experience (as of just a couple days ago, see thread about kickstand strength!) that they work quite well.

Holy crap, that's a heck of a hike. Must have been quite the adventure! Curiously, after a life of riding around here, I've actually never been to Jasper. Keep meaning to do the icefields, but every time a local group of people are doing it I'm busy somehow. Pretty resolved to do it this summer, even if I'm just going myself.

No, there's no check engine light issues for this. With that said, you can get an ODB2 reader and adapter from eBay for about $50 IIRC; if you've already got a reader (handheld, or one of the bluetooth ones) then you can just get the adapter for $20 IIRC. An example: Yamaha FI, OBD2 fault code scanner diagnostic tool MT10 MT09 XSR900 R1 R6 MT07 For certain Yamaha motorbikes motorcycle ATV or similar... It's worth having, because there are things that can cause fault codes and you really want to be able to clear them. I personally use a ScanTool ODB2 module connected to the adapter shown above that's always connected so I can pull up live engine data on my phone while riding if I feel so inclined. For example, if you run the bike in gear on the centerstand, you'll trigger a fault code. Once there's a fault code present, you'll be unable to enter the TFT display's configuration menu's until it's cleared. Buy one of these and use it *one time* and it's cheaper than most dealerships clearing fault codes in my experience (often charging $100 for the "service")

I also have a serious issue with visor fogging, and that's a big part of why I went with my gmax MD01S: FortNine | Verifying Browser... It *never* fogs, even in a rainstorm or -30C riding. And having a heated, dual pane face shield is simply wonderful anytime its even cool out. Feels like sunshine on your face. I keep the power connected unless it's over 13Cish; and because it's dual pane you get the pinlock benefits the rest of the time too. I always had a huge amount of trouble with my visor fogging - to the point I typically just rode with it up - but I get tired of bees in my helmet and rocks in my face.

Yep; I'm from Vancouver Island (and later Vancouver itself) and am very familiar with Wet Coast life 😃 It's amusing here that winter riding is often simpler here than in BC during the winter, as dealing with -20C temps is just a matter of heated gear, whereas riding in BC... well, anyone riding in a temperate rainforest learns that "waterproof gear" often... isn't. And once you get wet, you're gonna be miserable. Signed: someone who's intimately familiar with wrapping his feet in bread bags before putting on boots. Will say: Kaslo/New Denver area of the Kootenays is probably my favourite riding so far in North America. Absolutely stunning area.

Yeah, fortnine's video about these covered the "accidental activation" thing too - said they require really substantial force to activate. I'm kind of curious about that, though, with regards to what happens when you just walk away. It stays attached to the bike and you just get embarrassingly jerked back(still less embarrassing than having the vest suddenly inflate as you walk away) is what I'd assume, but? Even so, just needing CO2 cannisters, it's not really a big deal. They're super cheap. I definitely think the manual CO2 style is 100% the right way to go with these. As to weight/bulk, my point is more that it's yet another layer to put on. I realize that my experience is probably more unique, but I ride every single day, often multiple times a day, and often with just very short trips. I get the "most accidents happen near home" and all that, but it's a huge pain in the ass to get massively geared up to take a trip to the local grocery store. I'd sincerely rather take the risk of injury and I've been in multiple major accidents over my riding life, so I can make that decision from experience. This is *not* a criticism of the device: I think it's fantastic, an excellent safety device. Arguably #2 after a helmet. I just already struggle with the amount of gear I'm wearing. It's kind of insane, particularly as a really big dude. But I'm Canadian. A trip to the ER has no cost for me Obviously having say a broken spine would indeed have a serious cost, I do wear CE2 back protectors on any trip. I definitely hear the slower healing and loss of damage resistance in general, though - I found even back in my mid-thirties it was shocking how much shittier it was getting hurt, let alone now staring down 50. Anyways, I'm definitely not arguing against them. More just that I wish they weren't so ridiculously expensive ($750-900cdn, depending on make/model of the manual sorts). That's two of my heated, modular, ECE rated helmets right there. If I had to choose today between, say, 4 broken ribs and losing $750, I'd take the ribs. I'd absolutely be springing for one if I was doing lots of long solo trips (reasoning above), but it's - for me anyways - a huge expense. And if I had one, I'd definitely wear it 90% of the time. I really hope they get more popular, more entrants come onto the market, and they come down in cost. If this was 200, 300$? I'd be all over that.

Well, that's not very helpful at all

YMMV, but I've literally never - in 25+ years of riding - had anyone poke through my bags when stopped for lunch etc. I wouldn't leave them overnight unsecured, though. That said, we all live in different places, different situations, right? Anyways, my method of dealing with this has always been really simple: It's just a crappy little luggage lock that could be defeated by anyone with, well, anything really. But it's enough of a deterrent that someone has to really *want* to get in there (at which point a pocket knife would work on the bag itself anyways). The point is to be a deterrent for those opportunistic sketchy folks. That's worked for me for hundreds of thousands of kilometers over decades on all sorts of bags, all over North America.

Man, I wish the borders where open. I desperate want to get out on a longer ride, and I'd love to head south where it's less freezing cold. So jealous! Have a great ride!

Do you have trouble with visors fogging up? I've not needed to go to that extent (I just occassionally wash my helmet pads) but I'd probably take the pads out, wash them, spray the foam with some febreeze, give it a couple minutes, then rinse the helmet with a copious amount of water. I mean a LOT. Close the visor, fill the helmet if you can, agitate it a lot. That'll help the antimicrobial stuff do it's work and get into all the nooks and crannies, and also just to flush it out.

Guy I ride with has an old (and prior to him, pretty badly treated) GSXR750. Had a fuel connection (under pressure) fall off at highway speed. Ended up spraying fuel all over the engine and him, continuously spraying fuel while the pump was active. No ignition, but definitely a terrifying (and just generally gross) thing to have happen.

I definitely see the value for solo trips in particular. I'm already wearing so much I'm really reluctant to add *another* layer, but my tolerance for personal injury is way lower when I'm alone. It's one thing when people can go get help, another when you might be stuck in a ditch and unable to get out, out of eyesight of passerbys.

Of course gas tanks and fill caps are designed and tested to be crashworthy. So are fuel bottles and rotopax fuel cells. But crashes are crashes, of course. I've personally had a steel fuel tank fail in a crash (ruptured seam), though, and dump gas everywhere. Spilled fuel not igniting: I didn't say it couldn't, just that it's not as easy to ignite as people think - and higher octane gas is actually *harder* to ignite than lower as that's the whole point, it prevents knock via premature ignition from heat and pressure. Anecdotally, I've been in 4 major motorbike crashes, all four involved spilled fuel (all gas tanks will spill fuel when full and laid on their sides, through the venting if nothing else), and none of them ignited. I've seen countless youtube videos of crashes, as well as motogp crashes, and while fires do happen, they're extremely rare. I'd way WAY more concerned, honestly, about a fuel bottle becoming a missile during a crash (a'la @keithu's comments above) because it'd be a couple points of steel bottle flying at speed than about it leaking, that leak getting on me in sufficient volume to matter, AND that leak fuel igniting.

What I find interesting is that I absolutely hate the look of the BMW engines, but I love motoguzzi's. Where the BMW engines have this "You know you're gonna destroy this engine one day in a stupid crash" thing going on, and often just look like a refrigerator with weird nodules poking out the sides, the Motoguzzies have this Old School Engine look to them (and the transmission/drivetrain as well).

Just got my new Rev'it! Sand 4. Pretty excited to take it on my first ride; it's easily the most expensive MC jacket I've bought, and the differences are pretty stark compared to my Joe Rocket 67. Both have full sets of armor, but the Sand's textile portions are very obviously much stronger, the ventilation options are enormously better, it's got attachment points for Stuff (really handly for running my helmet's wiring), shockingly huge pockets, better zippers, waterproof and insulating liners, etc. All in all, it cost twice as much but it's readily obvious *why* it did. Still, I love that the 67 is so close to a "regular" jacket in feel, though I do wonder how much that disparity will change as the Sand "breaks in" (I've got some 60k on that 67, so it's leather panels are super soft and supple now).

Just did this myself, for Science. It's -5C right now; below freezing, and I've got 5-40w synthetic in there. When I start my bike on the centerstand, it'll run the rear tire at about 10kph in neutral until the oil warms up and there's actually noted resistance to stopping the tire by hand (though you can, it just kinda hurts because the winters are very bitey). Pushing the bike as per OP directions, there's a noticeable resistance to the first motion, but once the bike is moving it's there but very minimal. All that said: This is normal and as expected. Cold oil makes the clutch way less slippy, and as everything sits cold and motionless together it sticks a bit requiring a bit more force to get stuff slipping.