Basic Basil"s corner

hey Alex, is that zanders rd, did it go right through?

No, that's the end of Rapson Rd. Zanders road ended in someone's backyard. I had to ride out their drive, while they weren't looking .

I went to the Waitemata MC Family trail ride this morning. Since it's only a few km away from the house, I was back for lunch. It's $35 for non-members. The beginners loop was just about right for me.

Two steep down hills kept me on my toes, once I even had to accelerate down hill, has the front started ploughing in the sand. I did only two loops, but it was still worth it. I have a couple of things to do this afternoon, but it would have been easy to make a day of it. So if you live in Auckland, it's definitely an option for adventure riders.

I would have been even more adventurous, had I not been on my own . On the other hand, I only got passed by an 80 year old and a few girls.














It's a good way to work up a sweat. I have to put in another plug for the front suspension, it works great. No clunking of the main stand, but I must have ploughed some ruts with the front of the engine. What I need is more ground clearance. I know the Basic came with a shorter shock to reduce the angle of the drive shaft, at the expense of ground clearance. Maybe I should fit a longer shock, or maybe it's possible to make my WP a little longer?

I'm pretty sure that your Basic has the same WP shock as mine and its the longest you can get.

I c in the 1st pic they must of thought some Wellington riders were gunna show up that's probably cause the steep bank u rode down they would of rode up

Apparently it's 490mm long, 10mm shorter than the standard GS, according to this website.

How much this translates into more ride height, I don't know. But just looking at it, I can see that the Basic seems to squat in the rear.

Probably not worth the effort. On sand it's no big deal to bottom out a little.

*Edit* I went and read the whole page. Everything has been explained in detail. The extra 10mm are good for a 15-30mm lift, depending on preload. There are people who can extend the shock, not sure who would do this in NZ, maybe Djebbe Bruin? Another bonus of this is that the bike will be easier to put on the main stand. At the moment it's a pita.

Mine is 498mm as best as I can measure it. I have an older Ohlins catalogue that shows a BM836 as 495. I have a new catalogue around somewhere that shows the newer Ohlins with the reservoir and I think that is 498mm as well. If I find it I will edit this. I reckon there is about another 8mm I could gain in shock length before the u joints start to bind but I don't think I will go there.
Tjebbe would be a good one to look at it. It may be as simple as removing a spacer as they may make all the shocks the same and just use a spacer to shorten it. Worst case is it gets an oil change !
Cheers Phil

Thanks for that. I had visions of having to weld an extension in. I wouldn't have been comfortable with that.

Plus an oil change is probably not a bad idea anyhow. I just remembered that I have Watson Racing in Kumeu. They do KTM and suspension work. I'll have pop in and ask them.

I can't get my head around how removing a spacer would make the shock longer, but I really hope that's all it takes.

Looks like you had a fun morning there. I gather its mostly sand based, so limited mud.

You could drop the centre stand to get more clearance, but at the potential expense of your mid pipe.

Those kids zipping past would have had more suitable tyres too. I'd love to try Gus with proper knobbies one day.

If its like my forks, the spacers stop the damper assembly fully extending. You'd likely need a longer spring, or a spacer on that to fully extend the shock though.

Ah, thanks, that make sense. If it's cheaper than buying a new shock, I am all for it.

Yeah, it's all sand. It's been raining all night, too, so it was easy to ride on.

Good stuff, & to think people look at me funny when I rock up to trail rides on something as big & unwieldy as the 640

Cheers
Clint

what makes you think its because of the bike?

people can look a bit funny when they're envious.

Be very careful. A very few mm over standard length and heads of the bolts on the gearbox outlet flange will begin fouling on the nose of the shaft tube on full extension. Somewhere on the GS thread (KiwiBiker I think...) in the last 12 months I document how critical this dimension is, having been caught out by a previous owner having taken the damper apart for some reason and reassembling it so it was a fraction longer than stock. Problem fixed instantly with a loaned un-bodged OEM and I now have a new Ohlins to get me back to OEM length.

Added
April 2012 KiwiBiker. 8 mm over length = dangerous binding.

Regards,

Michael

Thanks for that. I just want to go up to standard length, in this case 498mm

Found my latest Ohlins catalogue. BM836 495mm long 80mm stroke. BM 541 498.5mm long 78.5mm stroke.
The BM541 has the reservoir but has a fractionally shorter stroke which would equate to 4mm less travel.
In theory you should be able to have a shock that's 498.5 mm and has 83.5 stroke

I went for another ride at Woodhill today. It was even better than last time. they keep changing the tracks, so it's always a new experience.

Two downsides were that I lost my sunglasses and also had to switch to reserve on the first run. Although I was keen to hop on an intermediate track, I wasn't so keen to run out of fuel.

The beginners track was pretty rideable on an adventure bike. Not many beginners seem to use it. And the little kid that passed me as I got stuck on a hill due to lack of fuel, had no trouble getting around me. He was on a bike so small, I could have added it to my tool kit.

You really learn how to look where you want to go, as hitting a tree wasn't an option. I didn't fall off, but a laps in concentration saw me take an alternative route once or twice.

I got a couple of strange looks, but since I've stayed out of the "big boy's" tracks, nobody seemed to mind. If you are in Auckland, you should give it a go.

Sounds like fun. I reckon taking a big adv bike out of its and the riders comfort zone is a bloody good way to upskill. Just ask the NADS. Remember them?

Did you notice the bike wanting to fall over sideways when going slow?
I always find Schmidt dropping to the right when slowing down for an obstacle or very tight turn. I put it down to the centrifugal gyroscopical effect.

Are you gonna come down for the cape to cape? We really should all meet up there and talk about cams, pipe tobacco, tartan vs sheepskin slippers etc.

The NADS? I hardly remember what I had for breakfast.