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[Rhoades]

Anyone know off hand how many watts the stock stator puts out? I commute at 3am every day and would like to add some sort of small driving lights. Maybe a plug to charge the phone as well.

[Sub Zero]

Originally Posted by Brown Falcon

Anyone here have luck painting the old Clarke tanks? Mine has definitely seen better days, but I don't have money to get a new one right now. I just want to make it look a little better. Considered doing spray on bed-liner, or Krylon Fusion either black or white.

Thoughts?

Bad idea! Last time I painted a plastic tank it looked great for a few days....


Until the escaping gas vapors had no where to go and caused the tank to bubble and start to split in many places. wound up having to strip the paint off and attempt to JB weld the cracks... which proved unsuccessful. eventually had to spend 200$ on a replacement. not cool!




(im aware how shitty the orange grips look. ebay sent the wrong color and i was too lazy to ship them back and have them replaced with black ones)

The new tank I had to spend 200$ on was the wrong shade of blue anyway. Was too scared to try to paint it again.

[cyclewizard]

Originally Posted by KirkN

Hey, all,

I'm SubZero's "mechanic", and I'll chime in a bit on the head gasket situation:

The first "proper" XR650L head gasket (not the incorrect earlier one) blew at the rear right-side head bolt, which is located very very close to the cylinder sleeve - much closer than any of the other 5 bolts. When we disassembled the motor, we found that one bolt loose, and all the others tight - still set to specs - 25 ft-lbs. As a related side-note, the previous reassembly had been ~5000 miles earlier and we never went back in and re-torqued the head bolts following that initial install. Our bad.

When we got it apart, all the bolt threads on all bolts were fine, as were the threads in the cylinder bolt holes. What we found was the gasket had blown out across that small gap into the "bolt shank" region. Pressure was escaping up along the bolt shank into the space around the cam.

So, we ordered up a replacement top-end kit as before and reassembled. Yes, we did lube the bolt threads as the Honda manual states. Yes, we did torque the bolts to 25 ft lbs in 3 stages, following the sequence in the manual. We just selected this particular top-end kit (head, base, rocker cover, intake manifold, exhaust 'crush' rings, tappet O-rings) off ebay because it was inexpensive ($55 for the whole kit) and quick.

At reassembly, one of the bolts, this time the front right-hand side bolt, "felt funny" as we approached the 25 ft-lb setting on the final torquing sequence. It DID reach torque spec, but it just felt to me like the aluminum threads in the cylinder were failing. Just kind of a gut-feel thing. Or "fingertip-feel" thing. :)

Since then, Sub has put 400 ~ 500 miles on 'er and we were just due for the 500 mile re-torquing (lesson learned).

That's where we are today. We haven't disassembled anything yet to confirm, but that's what we're thinking. Further, we're not yet sure that the head gasket even IS blown, just that the motor is running very poorly (if at all) and a lot of oil is blowing out the breather into the airbox. This excess blowing of oil is a similar symptom to earlier.

So, there you go. To me, the first failure was due to loosening of the one bolt after 4k miles because we didn't go back in and re-torque. The second failure, I'M GUESSING, is due to stripped threads in the cylinder, but that's not confirmed. Disassembly to follow...

Thoughts?

Kirk

The head bolt is probably stretching, over tighting the bolts will cause this and the same goes for the threads in the block/cylinder...make sure you put moly paste on the threads and the head of the bolt.
I've taken many motors apart with loose bolts, buy new bolts they're only good for a few tightenings.
I would deck the cylinder and head to make sure that it's square to each other, that will also cause this problem.

[ThumpnRed]

Originally Posted by Sub Zero

Bad idea! Last time I painted a plastic tank it looked great for a few days....

Not to turn this thread into a vintage 2-smoker thread, but that's a nice old IT.

[3girlsdad]

Originally Posted by Brown Falcon

I'm still looking at other options for tires, like the Michelin T-63 or the Unicross you mentioned before.

i read every tire thread possible and talked to a bunch of dudes before settling on a pirelli mt21 in front and dunlop d606 on the back. of course, this setup is more for dirt. they do very well on the slab though. currently have a michelin something something on the rear (friend deal), but i will go back to the d606 asap.

[mcma111]

^ +1

Same set up for my dirt wheel set up. MT21 front and 606 rear

[mendoteach]

Originally Posted by cyclewizard

The head bolt is probably stretching, over tighting the bolts will cause this and the same goes for the threads in the block/cylinder...make sure you put moly paste on the threads and the head of the bolt.
I've taken many motors apart with loose bolts, buy new bolts they're only good for a few tightenings.
I would deck the cylinder and head to make sure that it's square to each other, that will also cause this problem.

Since we're talking torque, it's interesting to note that the best way to torque a bolt is by measuring its stretch. Of course this is only possible on connecting rods bolts, but the technique is used to figure out what a torque should be for a given bolt. It's also why CW recommends that you only use the bolts a few times, and why it's important to use a good moly lube. Otherwise instead of streching the bolt, you're just trying to overcome thread friction and not getting an accurate torque.

[mcma111]

The cylinder head bolts on the XR and XRL are 10mm, fine thread. Six of them to hold the head in place at all of 25 lbs torque. It's not like were asking the bolts to keep the Eifel tower from toppling over. A clean hole and thread on the bolt and propper lube goes a long way to keep everything in good working order, as in not stripping out the hole. Also not being ham fisted helps to.

[ThumpnRed]

I know... use the Search Feature... Been there, done that... Too much chaf from too many people who I dont know! So... who uses them? What kind do you use? How well do they work? Do you leave them on year round? Any other stuff I need to know before I start shopping?

I am tired of "hugging the jug" to warm up my hands on the ride into work in the fall. I want to see about extending the season a bit this year.

[Sbeau]

Baja Designs headlight installed, it's a major flamethrower!

[JThompson]

Originally Posted by ThumpnRed

I know... use the Search Feature... Been there, done that... Too much chaf from too many people who I dont know! So... who uses them? What kind do you use? How well do they work? Do you leave them on year round? Any other stuff I need to know before I start shopping?

I am tired of "hugging the jug" to warm up my hands on the ride into work in the fall. I want to see about extending the season a bit this year.

I tried them, didn't like them. They got too hot on my palms and my fingers were still too cold. Finally broke down and bought electric gloves and now I am comfortable down into the low 30s. The Gerbings I bought had a cigarette light adapter with a on/off switch included. I just switch them off if they get too hot, but below 40, I just leave them on, they don't get too hot.

http://gerbing.com/Products/Gloves/liner.php

[Barron]

Originally Posted by ThumpnRed

I know... use the Search Feature... Been there, done that... Too much chaf from too many people who I dont know! So... who uses them? What kind do you use? How well do they work? Do you leave them on year round? Any other stuff I need to know before I start shopping?

I am tired of "hugging the jug" to warm up my hands on the ride into work in the fall. I want to see about extending the season a bit this year.

I have been using grip heaters for years and they are awesome! Since you have to glue them on so the grips don't slip when you ride I leave mine on all year. They work pretty good at temps most people are willing to ride at but I'm stupid and just gear up no matter how cold it is, but when it gets below 40 and you are going to be on the highway, there really isn't anything other than hippo hands plus the heaters that will help at that point and FWIW, heaters + hippo hands are AWESOME in the cold. I have cycra barkbusters that screw into my handlebars so I went with the heating elements that go under your grips. I know a lot of the descriptions say for offroad use only and that they will melt your grips and cause the zombie apocalypse but when they get too hot either shut em off or switch to low. For my throttle side I left the wire a little long for slack when using the throttle. After 3 years of use (I think) one of the wires on the throttle side broke so I will be replacing them. I also reinforced the wires with heat shrink.

Here's what i have been using with great results:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270641538905?hlp=false

-Barron

[mrfixit54016]

Originally Posted by ThumpnRed

I know... use the Search Feature... Been there, done that... Too much chaf from too many people who I dont know! So... who uses them? What kind do you use? How well do they work? Do you leave them on year round? Any other stuff I need to know before I start shopping?

I am tired of "hugging the jug" to warm up my hands on the ride into work in the fall. I want to see about extending the season a bit this year.

Red

Try these:

http://www.aerostich.com/heated-grip-kit.html

I have used them for two seasons now and love them. The stock stator does fine. Just make sure to put a layer of heat shrink tubing on the left bar area to act as an insulator so the the heat doesn't get sucked up by your aluminum bars. The right side is already taken care of by your plastic throttle tube.

I also have my iPhone, gps, and ADV monster aux lights all running off the stock stator on my XR650L.

[RideAbout]

Originally Posted by Brown Falcon

Looking for some soft bags for day trips.

Really like the looks of the Wolfman E-12's. Looks like yours are similar?

To chime in the on E-12's, have a set myself. Recently completed a couple of multi-day trips with them... worked great. With a duffel on the rear seat/rack, I can carry all the gear I need for a multi-day campout.

Like the Giant loop, no rack is necessary. Only problem I've had is forgetting to fasten one of the straps and having it melt on the exhaust.

Wolfman recently updated the E-10's to the E-12...slightly larger.

[sc-razor]

Originally Posted by RideAbout

To chime in the on E-12's. Have a set myself, recently completed a couple of multi-day trips with them... worked great. With a duffel on the rear seat/rack, I can carry all the gear I need for a multi-day campout.

Like the Giant loop, no rack is necessary. Only problem I've had is forgetting to fasten one of the straps and having it melt on the exhaust.

Wolfman recently updated the E-10's to the E-12...slightly larger.

And they offer replacement straps if you do melt anything. I love my E-12s and will probably add a duffel later.