Show us your TransAlp modifications!

I wired my headlights through 2 relays, one for high and one for low. Maybe over kill, but that way you've got at least one beam if something goes south with the other one and the current doesn't go through the contacts in the headlight switch.

That is probably the better way to do it, I was going to use a diode instead of a second relay but I think I will get another relay and do it that way so I can handle bigger lights down the road and not worry about it. I'm putting an inline fuse in there too.

Thank you thank you!

I used these. You have to cut and splice some of the wires, but it makes it pretty easy. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-2-12V-3...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item334f8cae5b

There is a pair of CDIs on ebay off of a bike that "was totaled in a wicked accident" that I am going to bid on. If anyone else is going to bid we should talk, so as to not be running up the price on each other. At least one has suffered some trama so these should be good candidates for my hard wireing a 6 wire cable directly to the PCB experiment.

Thanks for that.

No problem. But what they certanly DO change is that they are lighter than stock, they have a slightly greater diameter so theres more airflow (wich CAN lead to increased power IF i manage to do some dyno runs AND adjust the carbonation correctly) and they dont rust!

I wanted those because of the looks and the fact that they dont rust.

I did the same on mine. But I installed a dedicated and higher guage wire from the battery, to two 30A relays. Used the one coming from the switch to trigger. I recommend to either put a switch on this trigger wire if you are considering LED running lights. I have a diagram if you wish. Also I made a TA to AT pin conversion on the clocks...need to look around for it...:-/

20 days after ankle fracture. 17 days after surgery. The first "physical therapy" session. In my own garden. : Clap: Clap: Eek1: Eek1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMRs6nLdyK8
Soon I'm going back to the motorcycle Ukraine.

Since the oil pump chain and clutch replacement,
I have been riding the TransHawk every chance.

I'm really enjoying the performance of the Hawk motor.

Getting over 40 mpg with spirited throttle use.

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Today I was testing some new Rox Risers.

I still intend to tidy up the control cables and wires.

When running Bark Busters they hit the wind screen when steering goes lock to lock.

Stock bars are prone to dent the fuel tank when bike is dropped.

(Hard to find a TA Tank without handle bar dents near the gas cap).


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At 6'4" tall, higher mounted bars really help my comfort and ability to ride on the pegs.



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I know the risers look strange, but function rules....

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Future mods:

Bodywork / Paint

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My '89 Transalp on Montezuma's grade that I have owned since new and have had many adventures upon and still have a few left in myself. I have recently completed a major makeover . My goals were to enhance performance and lighten machine. I like to say that the Transalp does everything well, but not exceptionally well. I own a DRZ 400s for dual sport and a TL 1000s street fighter for canyon carving. The Transalp bridges the gaps. I also owned a DL 650 which I have given to my son.
Starting from the front Woodies Wheel front and back stock size super lace with Duro tires. Removed fork boots, powder coated fork legs and Ricor guts. Front brake upgrade consists of Galfer pads ans lines with MAP bracket and Hawk rotor. I can chirp front tire now. I have installed a Hawk 650 engine for more power. Use TA wire harness and swap pickup and rotor to TA components. Hordpower is good source for Hawk parts. I used his exhaust collector and pods and ditched the stock air box . I mated the stock Hawk headers to the collector and KLX 450 silencer. Power is much improved over the 583 cc stock motor. Givi crash guards also mount side fairing mount points. Powder coated Africa Twin engine guard is installed. Ditch stock throttle for quick turn KLX throttle that turns easier and doesn't require two turns for full throttle. Some other lighter or better components off DRZ are passenger pegs, mirrors, and chain guard. IMS foot pegs and MSR aluminum shifter with folding tip. Tidied up the arse by chopping stock mud guard, Cycle Gear LED taillight , and smaller rear signals. Handle bar switches are a problem, spliced in a XL 600 for left side. Battery is a sealed unit from Battery's Plus in hacked battery box. Suzuki 800 coolant recovery bottle replace stocker. White power rear shock I bought a million years ago that is no longer available . I think a +5" Rifle windscreen is coming for fathers day and it's done.

To finish the posts on pages 978 and 986, after a ton of work and mistakes and close calls we had two halves of the fairing molded but there was a lot more to do. The main thing was mounting it. I just used the rubber grommets on the stock tank for attach points and made posts to mate up. For the bottom, I used of all things, toilet bolts that attach a toilet to the sewer pipe on the ground. They have a nice flat tab and we molded Quick-Steel or the equivalent out for a bigger base. We stuck it into the grommet and let it form, after coating the grommet with WD-40 or something so it doesn’t stick. This gave a nice lip for positive attachment. For the top made posts similar to the ones on the stock fairing that just push into the grommets. This took a little trial and error, I had to re-do them several times. We had to move them several times, I accidentally snapped one off…but eventually we got it so it works. But that was the easy part.
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As you can see, the carbon fiber reinforcement didn’t go in perfectly, it is quite the process though.

I also had to fiberglass the two halves together and put some reinforcement in a couple places since it cracked on the edges when I was putting it on and taking it off.

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I had to get some headlights early on to make sure everything would fit but I wasn’t ready to spend the big bucks for HID projectors at that point. Plus from what I saw on the recent Sibiersk Extreme trip a couple bikes had to replace their ballasts so I’m not sure they are bullet proof options. I just found some cheap headlights $35 for the pair on eBay, some China special that looked like they will do. I’m not sure it was a good idea, I should probably roll the bike out and test it now rather than type this. But anyways, the show had to go on so I welded up a bracket.

Before this I hadn’t had much experience welding. I re-built the trailer that my grandpa, a tool and die maker, made a long time ago and got some experience with gas and arc welding. But only enough to know that there was no way I was going to be able to do a project of this magnitude with them. So, my rental needed some steel work done on some steps and I had to get a TIG welder to do it. I found a cheap $400 special at Harbor Freight and dad bought an inert bottle and hose and tips and all that. I’m not positive it was the best choice because it doesn’t come with a foot pedal and so doing a decent job on aluminum is going to be near impossible with it. But it just so happened to be perfect timing for this project, anyways...

In hind sight, practicing welding on my frame after only 20 minutes on the trigger led to a little more excitement than necessary, but that is ok. I got a lot on the bracket and the wires for the plug. Dad did a ton of engineering and tormenting at night on the headlight mount. I bent some “U”s to bring the pivot point up front so they didn’t move so drastically when you go to adjust the height of the beam. I still need to make the adjustment mechanism but haven’t yet made sure they will be good enough and there is a good chance I will re-make it. The assembly with the lights but not the wires and switches and relays weighs about 2.4 lbs or just over a Kg or probably about the same as the stock headlight alone. And this is what it looks like at the moment, minus the water droplets and plus some dust:

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And I wired it up with two 30/40 A 12V relays to make both lights come on at the same time when the high beam is switched on. I put in an inline fuse and hooked in a DC outlet too. I still need weld up a bracket to mount all the stuff and just zip-tied them on for the time being:

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I also had a bunch of body work to do. Perfection is an art, and takes a LONG TIME. I’m not there yet and my dad did a ton of it, but I got it close.

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Then I sprayed it with the expensive high-build primer and put it all together and zip-tied on the ignition switch. I think I will just sell it with the keys since it is heavy and I don’t need the steering lock and just package it with the helmet lock. Then I can get an aftermarket one and hide it in a better place so the extra weight isn’t out front.

I still have a bunch to do with the skid plate, side covers, and steering stop to name a few. But not enough to keep me from loading up the wife and heading up to the hills for a short afternoon ride. We just went up to Rollins Pass and looped back. The wind block was about how I wanted it. No extra but hits me right at my neck and I am still going to make a Plexiglas windshield for longer distance riding eventually.

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Pretty easy stuff all in all, but it does get a little rough in places. I am still blown away with the performance compared to the KLR and the wife thinks it is way smoother too. She wanted to walk for a while so I blasted up to the end and could hit any rock on the trail as hard as I wanted without flinching. Pleased to say the least, I am so happy with it's performance I can't come close to putting it in words!

How many miles are Transalps known to go for before an engine rebuild? Mine's got 36K and will have 52K by July, should I be worried?

(Warning... Massive post ahead. With pictures.)

This is the first time I am actually posting anything on here, but I have been reading for quite a while. I bought myself a 1989 XL600V TransAlp. It is an American bike, having first been registered in Midlothean, Illinoison on April 26, 1991. If anyone can track its American roots after that, I would love that. What I do know is that it has made its way into the Netherlands in 2002 when it was registered as a 1992 TransAlp. Why? That is a tricky question with legislation etc. so ignore it.

Anyway, it has taken me ages to get my license. But watching Long Way Round/Down triggered something in me five years ago and from then I wanted to riding. I hit a lucky break last year so I could afford the $1300 for a Dutch license and got it at the end of October. I got a Yamaha XJ600 that I rode through the winter, then sold to get the Transalp.

So, last week I had to go to London. A great opportunity for my first adventure. But not without tiny modifications. I already had my soft luggage and I wanted to use it on the Alp. But the exhaust on the Alp is up higher than on the XJ, so it needed some changes so it would not melt.


I covered the bag on the outside and on the inside with a small metal plate. Four bolts secure it. It will make sure the heat of the exhaust doesn't melt the bags. I put some silicone on the bolts so they would not scratch if they would accidentally touch anything.


Then I glued on the felt. Nice and soft so it doesn't scratch when it touches the side of the bike.

When I did a test ride with the bags on, I flew over a speedbump with about 45mph and the side panel that also covers the exhaust came loose. So, that meant that it wasn't happy to sit the way I thought it could. Which means I had to make some kind of support for the bag to sit against. The other side was fine, which was nice. I got out some M8 threaded tube, a couple of lock nuts and an old rail and got to work...


I am quite pleased with the end result. I put a couple of simple plastic tubes on to make the whole thing look a bit better.


It now keeps a very nice distance between the bag and the side panel. I might need to make another one for the other side someday. Total cost of the exercise? About 5 bucks.


And as they were ready to load and roll. :) The bags are hanging a bit uneven in this picture. But they are empty still, so that is going to change.

Ok, just a quick roundup of the trip. I got all the luggage on the bike and got going on Tuesday morning. It turned out my tank is just slightly too small to make Calais. I had estimated it would get me there and had not filled up in Belgium, so about 25km outside of Calais I needed to get on the back roads to find myself a petrol station. I then noticed what time it was and had to exceed the speed limit in France to get to the ferry. But, I made it.



In the Netherlands, Belgium and France, I was still wearing the liner in my motorcycle jacket. In the UK that was definitely too hot. But I did not give myself the time to stop and just kept on going until I hit London. What a city, and what a traffic. I talked to a motorbike courier on Friday and he said that if I had managed Central London traffic, I could ride anywhere.
Anyway, that first day, I hit traffic and sat behind all the cars, like I do here in the Netherlands. Then a biker came up and overtook the whole row. And then another, and another and one looked at me like "what on earth are you sitting there for". So I decided to follow them. So, on we went over bus lanes, passing cars in the middle of the road, cutting into rows at traffic lights etcetera. I made pretty good time, then got all sweaty when I passed a police car. After all, I did feel like a hooligan riding like that. The guys didn't even blink, then passed me a little later on. That made me feel approved and the race through London started.

I went over Picadilly Circus and did a quick wave at the Queen. After all, it was the 60th anniversary of her coronation that day. (Not that I knew until that evening.)



Obviously I got lost in London. Then used my Nokia Lumia 920's offline navigation to get me to where I needed to go. While I was setting the navigation, a guy came up to me asking me the road to St. Paul's. I told him I didn't know as I wasn't local. He looked at me strange. Apparently to him people on bikes just belong within their own cities.

In the end I made it and I locked the bike behind a very sturdy fence for two days as I attended the LeWeb conference.


(Shot during the start of the day practice when you are not supposed to be in the plenary room yet...)

It was a great conference and I really enjoyed Thursday afternoon rush hour on the tube...


On Friday morning I go ready to head down to the south coast. Because there were 0 responses to my post to meet up at the Ace Cafe on Friday, I just skipped that part completely as I have been there before and it is more fun with friends than just being there on your own.
When I wanted to leave, I did the single most stupid thing you can do on your bike. For whatever reason, I put the kill switch on off. And forgot about it when I tried to get the bike started on Friday morning. I even made someone push me down the hill. :wallbash: Then someone else noticed and I was back on my way.
As I didn't have a printer at hand, and I do not have a 12v outlet on the bike, I needed to spare the battery on my phone and decided to navigate out of London on my memory of the map. Alas, my memory did not record all the street of London, so when signs ran out, I flipped coins, took turns in directions I hoped they would go and ended up... at a Harley Davidson dealership. On the parking lot behind it, the sole Harley Davidson bike courier was fitting a new tire to his front wheel, so I parked behind him and struck up a conversation. He pointed me in the right direction and we swapped eBay stories on getting parts and bikes for next to nothing. It was a good 15 minutes of swapping stories.
Well, back on the bike on a mission to overtake Mike's van. Not really, but apparently I did. Drove through central London, then down towards Chelsea, then down towards Bromley where I pulled out the phone to set a new course. I asked it to give me the shortest route to Bexhill on Sea while avoiding motorways. And just after I had put my phone in my tank bag and put my gloves back on, a fox appeared in the wild. Just my luck... No picture.

Back on the road, I almost immediately turned out of Bromley and got into the real British country lanes:

This road was about three handlebars wide and I would run into smaller ones as I went along. I even came across my first hairpins. The funniest was a road when I was going downhill and there was a sign saying "Change to a low gear now". As I am a foreigner, I have a tendency to listen to signs and it was a good thing I did. The road did a blind turn to the right then went up almost as steep as the staircase in my house does. Amazing riding. After about six and a half hours of continuous riding, I ended up in Bexhill with a smile that must have been visible from outside my helmet. But it was also good to park up the bike and enjoy the sea.


Spot the bike

I had a great night with friends, a pub and folk music before returning to my hotel. The next morning I lubed the chain in the hotel car park (which is a bit of a challenge without a center stand or something to put the bike onto) and got going. I had a two hour drive to Dover with some nice bendy bits and cars moving over to the left side to let you pass all of them down the middle on a two lane road. Polite British.

But the biggest challenge was still ahead. The little piece of M20 motorway towards Dover. The winds were incredible. Overtaking trucks gave me airplane-like turbulence. The bike was swept along lanes at times and it cost me a lot of my concentration and physical strength to keep it in the middle of the lane where I wanted to be. I wondered whether that would be the same on a more modern motorbike, but I couldn't talk to other bikers, as they were all heading to other ferry's, which means they were not even close to my lane.



I made the ferry and got back on the road through France and Belgium. As that is one long stretch of highway near the coast, the wind kept on going like crazy. And in Belgium I hit my first proper traffic jam because of road works. I decided to try and overtake some cars and it worked. People moved out of the way and soon I had a couple of German bikers follow right behind me. At the end of the 4 mile jam, they thanked me as they passed by and I turned off to get some fuel. (This kind of behavior is forbidden in Germany.) After fueling up I pushed on and made Goes and an anniversary party with a barbecue at about 7pm. It was a great ride and I really enjoyed it. I did 381 miles, but more importantly, I spent 20 hours on the bike over three days of riding. And I can honestly say that I enjoyed it a lot, that my seat is too hard and that I learned a lot about riding a bike as well.

no

Nice work Zach. It's all of the little brackets, fixtures, and details that are the time killers. But it's nice to have your dad to help. Savor the moment, oneday you will look back on this fondly.

our new "mod", thanks to Alain Duclos , I'm never gonna paint this tank now :))


Here are some videos from last week, training with Alain here in Romania

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0ccutYzCHDE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kBvCpUQBzm4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

and one in street clothes, a quick ride in the city of Bucharest, Romania
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Kw2XmzfEpDo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The TA is very durable if cared for.

Since it looks like you'll be doing a lot of miles in a very short time, I'd recommend a strict program of oil and filter changes.

Also if doing lots of miles at higher speed in a day take the time to check oil levels at every other fuel stop. The TA engine generally uses a bit of oil at higher speeds/loads. Letting the oil level fall too low will be what will kill the engine first. I carry a small 500cc bottle of motor oil on long trips so I can top up when necessary.

Also keep up with air filter maintenance if riding in dusty areas.

Personally, I've got over 70K on my TA.

I'm not starting an oil/filter debate (again) but I use:

Rotella T6 synthetic
Purolator Pure One 14610 filter
Uni foam air filter (with a DIY foam circle that seals between the filter and the right side of the airbox). Carry a spare filter foam that is clean and oiled in a baggie. Change when necessary and clean the spare when convenient.
Maxima Chain Wax (since it's the only one I've found that actually stays on the chain and not on your rear wheel/fender). Lube every 3rd fuel stop.

I'd also do the following before burning all those miles:

Replace coolant
Check and adjust valves
Make certain to start with new sprockets (Honda OEM CS sprocket recommended...maybe try a 16T) and chain.
Carry at least one spare CDI unit.

I've got over 85K miles on mine with no engine work. My second trip to Alaska started well into the high 60K range and when I got back it was into the 70s. It doesn't seem to have the power or get the mileage I used to though, so I'm probably getting due for some kind of work though.

Pretty regular on the oil changes, but just use the cheap Rotella and oil filter from Walmart and it hasn't been a problem.

Getting stock sprockets couldn't be that hard but after getting (what I was told was) the last stock rear 47t in Canada, there was nobody that had the front.
A friend mentioned SuperSprox and so I ordered a kit from them. I could even choose color for the cool rear so this is what I received a week later.




Much excitement on my part until I realized that the CS sprocket was incorrect for my '87 (Canadian) TA. A quick check with SuperSprox confirmed t
hat they had shipped exactly what I had ordered...an '89 kit. There was no '87 kit (or CS) available from them.
Now deflated but enlightened, I used the advice of a kind member of this forum to check out David Silver Spares in the UK.
They had a few '87 CSs, so I ordered some and some other stuff.
A week later, this package arrived in the mail.



The sprocket differences are major and the later ones have more engagement from the numerous splines.




Stock '87 CS on right. Three will keep me going for a while.

Also got these brake pads. For the price seemed like a good back-up set.



Anyway, the project continues and I can't wait to start riding it again.

Have more stuff to post but wanted to get this up to save anyone out there from making my mistake.

Thanks again to the generous and helpful members of this forum!
>> TA for LIFE

Do as Dr. Ray says.

Check the clutch and cable. Its a long lasting motor if you take care!