The ADVstrom

[brianjonesphoto]

She complete! Yesterday was my first day back on a bike since my accident in July. I was off the bike for 9 months, 25 days, 20 hours, 22 minutes to be exact.

For those of you have don't remember (or care), an asshat cager made a left turn into my radiator while my wife and I were on a 2 lane back road. I was doing approx 43mph at the time of impact. I was riding an 07 650 ABS and my wife was on one as well. My bike was toast, her's was a superficial total. We bought both back as salvage. I de-farkled and parted out most of my old bike, and her bike became the foundation for the ADVstrom.

Before (my seat, tool tube, and center stand already installed)


Bent forks


Tweaked radiator


Busted Fender


The true cost of repairing the damage was under $800, but I took the chance to start with a "blank canvas" and build the bike I wanted.

Part's from my old bike
Rich's Custom Seat
Zumo
Tool Tube
Givi side racks
Pivot Pegs
Buel Signals
Zuk Centerstand
Hyper Lites
Motech Mirror extenders
Hula Girl
Naked Chrome Lady

The new parts list
Custom Fork Tubes 1" longer than stock
Race Tech emulators
Elka Shock adjusted for 1" rise
Murph's Brace
Touratech Skid Plate/Oil cooler relocation
Dirt Bike Fender
MadStad
LED Running Lights
Starcom Advance
Dual Star Grips
Gerbings Dual Temp Controller
BarkBuster Storm Hand Guards
Moose fat bar risers 50mm
Protaper Contour ATV High bars
JCW top box

Mods to come soon later date
SV1000 front calipers
Braided front lower lines

After




Dirt bike fender and LED running lights

I'm not sure what I think of the fender. It's made for a 21" wheel and I don't really like how it sticks out in front. I may try heating and bending it or even cutting it sorter.

LED running light in action

Made mounts from 3/16" ABS sheet and mounted to the stock fender mounts. They are wired to the heated grip socket


Fender Mount made from 3/16" ABS sheet

Pennytech adjustable folding shift lever and hockey puck side stand foot


Extended centerstand

Had a local welding shop add 1 1/4" to the length of the center stand legs to compensate for the 1" extra ground clearance. They did a great job for $40

The Girls

I can't ride without my girls. The hula girl lost and arm in the accident.

I put on about 150 miles yesterday and it felt great to be on a bike again. With all of the suspension mods the bike handles much tighter and feels more "planted" than my old bike did, but since it's been so long and so much has happen since I last ride can comment on details.

I know I did something unthinkable to most. I took a top heavy bike and raised it 1". I can no longer flat foot it, partly because I've lost a little flexibility in my hip. Part of it is because my seat's little too wide at the front. Luckily it doesn't feel too top heavy with a full tank of gas. I'm sure the first time I get in on a fire road and need to get a foot down I'll notice a difference.

Total cost of bike including salvage buy back $4500

Thanks

[rallydrz]

Just a thought but if you're looking for a better profile on that fender maybe try a KTM style fender with a little tighter bend up front.
Here is a 525EXC one on my DRZ...

[Remarksman]

Congratulations, it sounds like quite a project. Some interesting ideas and solutions there. I'm glad you posted it.

[jgunsett]

Sorry for the hi-jack, but what type of fairing is that on the DRZ?????

[HighwayChile]

welcome back among the riding

[wsdbikes]

[John in Seattle]

[quote=brianjonesphoto]
Mods to come soon later date
SV1000 front calipers
Braided front lower lines

Welcome back Brian, glad both you and your Wee are now healthy enough to ride.

You will love the SV1000 calipers and steel lines. I put them on my ABS Wee along with new pads and found them to be a quantum improvement in feel and modulation compared to the wimpy stock calipers. I'd highly recomend buying the master cylinder banjo bolt bleeder when you order the rest of the parts as well as new brake pads.


Bleeding the ABS system without the master cylinder banjo bleeder proved to be a challenge. After two plus hours of bleeding with a Mity-Vac at the caliper bleeders I still had spongy brakes and a soft lever. Once I installed the master cylinder bleeder I zip-tied the brake lever down overnight and bled at the master cylinder in the morning. Two minutes of bleeding and the brakes were firm with zero bubbles of air coming out of the bleeder. Blair was so right in recomending bleeding from the master cylinder. Air bubbles RISE in brake fluid, they don't descend toward the caliper bleeders .

I was also glad I bought new pads. My e-Bay calipers came from a low mileage bike so I was tempted to defer purchase of new pads until the old ones wore out. Blair talked me into new pads with the argument that my low mileage calipers were likely to come with brake fluid-soaked pads. He was right, the pads than came with my eBay calipers were useless