The guy I met here (Jim) from Canada riding the KLR is really a nice person and seems to really have his priorities in order especially in respect of his bike. He has been using it as his primary transportation for several years and has it set up accordingly. What amazed me the most was when he said he one time rode it 30 miles (could have been kilometers) when it was 40 below zero. Forty below is the same in either centigrade or Fahrenheit. I told him I had a friend in Colorado that likes to ride in the cold, or at least likes to test the limits of what he can ride in but found that his KLR wouldn’t start when he had it at 26 below and had to finally get it started at 18 below with the use of either. Jim said that he has a couple of tricks to get his started so I thought I would pass them along for my KLR buddies as well as any other bike as I think it would work on any just as well, but the KLR guys are more crazy than most (smile). Not that Roger,Ken,ect. are crazy you understand, just different…..
Jim uses a small electric block type heater that he glued to the bottom of his engine case. It is one he says that they use to put on equipment in the far north like hydraulic cylinders and small motors. He used some gasket cement (he couldn’t remember if it was the stuff that gets hard or not) to glue it on and then put some insulation under that before putting on the aluminum crash protection that goes under the engine. He then had a woman sew up a bra to go under the motor and up the sides of the bike that sort of enclose the motor and keep the heat in. He has a three prong plug mounted right on the handlebars for the block heater. Next to that plug is a BMW female plug that is connected to the battery. Into this he plugs a small battery charger so his battery is always at full charge even when it is very cold. A lead acid battery looses quite a bit of starting power as the temperature drops below zero. I am not sure what the loss is on one of the sealed batteries so that might not be an issue. He says it is not a problem starting the bike when so equipped.
Some of the other improvements or modifications;
He moved all the fuse connections that are under the seat and hard to get to out to the side below the seat. He used the plastic fuses too as he said they were easier to see and replace.
He drilled new holes and placed additional vent holes in his air intake filter box.
He has some sort of a locking mechanism to keep his tire from spinning on the rim if he is running low pressure in the tire. This keeps the tube from getting the stem ripped off at low pressure and high torque. (rim lock)
He added a PIAA fog light just under his headlight. This morning he was going to try to fix a bad connection that was in the light bulb mount when the Colombian guys pushed him aside and said that they would fix it for him. Well, one is a mechanical engineer and the other an electrical engineer so he stepped aside and they really did a first class job on it. These Colombians are really so friendly and helpful.
Jim said that he has heated grips, heated vest and heated sox that he plugs into that BMW socket that he uses to plug in the charger. He bought an upgrade for the alternator. He has a center stand which makes it much easier for tire changing and a really better way to park the bike and maybe necessary for shipping by airfreight. He said he and the other guys that shipped their bikes to Quito had to siphon all the gas out of their bikes before shipping. He had taken his fuel petcock off a few years ago and taken the thing apart when he thought he had a problem with it but it was really the small hose on the back that he had not hooked back up. By taking the valve apart he had disabled the safety mechanism that keeps you from draining the gas if you take off the gas line to the carburetor. All he had to do at the airport was take off a line and drain the gas. I was supposed to get the gas level way down on my bike when I took my bike in to air cargo I had heard but I never was able to get the gas out so it was shipped with about ¾ tank of gas. Nobody asked and there was no problem and nobody even looked in the saddle bags where I had a fuel cylinder for my cooking stove. I had drained that just in case a few days before. I guess if makes a lot of difference which shipper you use.
Has a after market shift lever with a plate on the back that will keep the lever from poking a hole in the case if the bike tips over on the left side.
He replaced the mechanical foot brake switch with a hydraulic one after he smoked his tail light that was equipped with hyper lights like I have on my bike. He had the hyper lights mounted inside the tail light lens and a high output tail light bulb. He now has a big led array in a x shape that fits right in the original light mount. It has the blinking that I like so much as it really gets you attention when he starts to brake. I learned how effective that is when I rode last year with Bill Shockley who had then on his bike. I got a set when we stopped at Riders Warehouse in Duluth, MN. Dang I sure spent a lot of money when we stopped there but I love everything I got there and I am very glad I had that Aeorstitch coat on when I had my accident. I think those lights have saved my butt a time or two already. Oh, I don’t remember if I wrote that I got hit in the rear by a cabbie when riding in town one time. It turned out to be just a gentle push and his bumper had just hit the tire and no damage done. I cant blame the hyper lights from keeping me from getting hit as I was stopped and probably didn’t have my brake on. I really like the coat and pants as Shockley said I would. When riding along with someone and it starts to rain, they always have to stop and put on rain gear over their riding suits. With my coat all I have to do is zip it all the way up to the neck and make sure the flap is Velcro-ed shut.
Jim just came by and I read this to him and got his OK on all the info. I asked him what else he had and he said he had almost everything Dual Star have in the mechanical upgrade stuff and not the comfort and cool looking. The most important thing is that he has done he said was put in the frame connection kit. That is where the frame comes together at the top and is held together with two small screws. The kit has you drill a hole all the way through and uses a large grade eight bolt to hold everything together. He does have the Corbin seat that is almost a necessity as the stock seat is horrible for a long distance rider.
I think he said that his bike had about 85,000 kilometers or somewhere around 55,000 miles in four years. When he rode at –40 the speedometer blew out as well as the front fork seals.
1-1-06
it was a good new years. We all stayed at the hotel and had a fire outside on the terrace. There was some alcohol drunk out there but I only had a little and feel fine this morning. I love these Colombian guys. I am almost twice their age but I feel like brothers with them. It got a little emotional last night when they gave us foreigners a gift. I got one of their moto club hats. One really neat thing was that everyone wrote down on a little piece of paper what they didn’t like about themselves and at midnight we all threw our little pieces of paper in the fire. We all started out the new year without all that bad baggage and it feels great. It is sort of like a new years resolution but I think I like this way of getting rid of the bad rather then making yourself a promise.