Made this last year but as I've had a few questions about it I thought I'd better put up some more pics & details. Like many dirtbike derived adv machines the stock light on the 640 was a bit lame. But installing anything better was hard without re-engineering the dash, screen etc.... so that's what I did. I used a std size 7" H4 headlight as used in many 4x4's & trucks, but a new light & strong polycarbonate version from Narva, PN# 72000. First step was to make the bezel, I jigsawed out some 6mm alu, then finished it in the wee lathe: Without a lathe but with some patience, sandpaper & a file you would still be able to make this, but you'd have to laminate several layers of alu plate rings, some with a larger ID, instead of just machining out a recess like I did for the lamp flange. The 'ears' are alu angle, with the curve machined in, & some other shaping by hacksaw & file. The bits were drilled & tapped to bolt together. I actually had to retrofit another ring in the middle when I found the Narva light was fatter in the flange than the old semi sealed unit I had been using for mock up. Note the filed out recesses for the locating lugs on the lamp. Then it was on to the cro-moly frame, with machined bushes onto the original mounting points on the triples, although you could do it a lot simpler by mounting to the fork tubes as is done on many bikes. If you wanted to go lo cost & lo tech this frame could be bent in a vice out of 8-10mm solid bar & stick welded. But such a small amount of cro-mo wasn't too pricey, I used my home made bender & my TIG for the job. On the 640 I chose to offset the light a bit to miss the ignition barrel so it would sit further back. The little tab holding up the digital dash in the above pics was replaced with an alu plate so I had more real estate to attach wiring components. An alu shroud was made to sit over the original digital speedo unit & cover the relays, diodes & wiring. Some major tidying of the wiring was done too. The relays that were previously floating around were replaced with a mounting block & a set of micro relays to run the original ignition & aux start circuits plus the accessory relay I had added in along with inline fuses for the hot grips & USB charger. Then some tabs were bent up to mount my screen: That was a pretty brief overview, I have a few other pics on hand, so if anyone wants more detail let me know. Cheers Clint
I posted up a year or two ago about anyone selling something like this and got no response. It amazes me that there aren't any companies out there making these. Looks great!
I have a KLX as well and would love to make something up like this. All I need is a lathe, and a bender and welder and the talent to use all of the above.
well I have 2 out 4..... I see Narva make a slightly smaller version of the same headlight at 5", might look ok on the KLX
Very nice work! makes me want a lathe even more. FWIW for those without a bender (like me) you can get good results on brackets, racks, etc. using sand bending and a MAP torch, at least for 1/2" 16ga tubing which is all I've tried so far...also coathanger wire works great as a template . (there are some safety rules for sand bending so read up on those if you decide to try it)
You can buy the full on 8" rally light units from a few places, but they're pretty huge, $$$, & to be road legal I'd have to put in a adapter & 7" H4 anyway... There is some nice compact dirtbike styled LED stuff out there too but again, $$$ & not road legal. If you want to put the time in, you could make the bezel without a lathe, just the jigsaw to cut the rings. Get the right jigsaw blade & use cutting oil. As I said, laminate together a few rings of different thicknesses to sandwich the lamp flange, then get busy on the file & sandpaper to make it pretty. Get a proper aluminium file, they are awesome for jobs like this. I bet if you got creative some alu brackets to mount off the forks could also be fabricated with minimal tooling. For something similar to mine without a bender use 1/2 steel hydraulic tubing - cheap, common & thick walled enough that the bends in my design could be done stepwise in a vice. Er... lots Making the bezel was fairly easy but getting the asymmetric steel frame located in just the right place & making all the little bits & bobs to mount the dash etc took some time. If you were just mounting off the forks & didn't have to incorporate a dash, screen, relays, wiring etc it would be pretty simple. One note, make sure you leave plenty of room to angle the light down - I found mine had to be on quite a tilt to get the beam in the right spot. Cheers Clint
nice clean fab.. looks real good. If other inmates dont have chromoly for steel frame materials ..On another site i viewed a back rack made out of scrap chev engine push rods.. most important .. cheap.. real strong and hollow.
Good tip on the pushrods! I'm always looking for re usable scrap like that Jekaio just pointed out to me the Truck-Lite 7" LED units that would go nice in a frame like mine. Still a few $$$ but If they get a bit cheaper I'd be tempted to try one out. http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&productId=92025 Edit: I saw some Truck-Lite LED units in a local store recently - they are a nice beefy unit - to the point of being really freaking heavy! Not sure I'm so keen on them any more for a lighter bike like mine, wouldn't make much difference on a big beast of course. Cheers Clint
I've heard good things about the TruckLite 7", the old version can be had as well, but it runs on 24v I believe.
doh.. id been looking at the those... trucklite also has a DOT approved 5 x 7" LED rectangular headlight {1300 lumens} as well for folks wanting to jamb something in a rectangular hole. Been following the site for awhile.. $215.00 on amazon ...doesnt seem the prices change a whole lot... group buy maybe? http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&productId=92027
