950 S-new look, new mods, new year

[Deadly99]

So how about some info on those monster tanks

[WIsixfitty]

you mean the Frankentanks?

[cjracer]

Originally Posted by Deadly99

So how about some info on those monster tanks

Like what?

They are made of aluminum.... Hand welded..... Took a lot of time..... Done by a great friend of mine that can weld aluminum..... I can't.

They are the same width as the OEM tanks to fit Stock crash bars.

Hold about 13 gallons of fuel. The were build by Eye and guess work, no CAD or clay modeling. I requested about 9+ gallons. Anything more was extra credit.

One Huge PLUS. They go on and off like clock work every time, at any temp. NO warpage.

These were protoypes for future testing of AWD bike buildups. Just seeing what my opions are for the future. Plus, no one else had made any for the KTM Adventure yet. So why not.

We might try and make more if enough riders are interested, but nothing set in stone yet. I'd like to shoot for the 9 gallon size again.

Even thought they are painted and you can't see inside for fuel lever like the clear Poly, I ran a clear fuel line from botton to top on each tank. I still have a fuel site guage so I know how much is inside each tank.

All the mounts, fillers were CNCed and hand machined to use stock mounting hardware and dirtbike filler caps.

They weigh in at about 11lbs each. 1 lbs lighter than the Poly Aqualine tanks.

Anything else, let me know.

[cjracer]

Originally Posted by WIsixfitty

you mean the Frankentanks?

I prefer "jerry cans".

[kamanya]

Thanks for your inspiration.

My mode button on the dash stopped working. So, off to the electrics shop and a few hours in the garage and...



Thanks!

[cjracer]

Originally Posted by kamanya

Thanks for your inspiration.

My mode button on the dash stopped working. So, off to the electrics shop and a few hours in the garage and...



Thanks!

I've got the same issue w/ my dash. :( I wonder if the the buttons flatten out over time. I can get it to work if I push very hard.

Mine don't looked so new anymore and have faded in color, but still work great.

[cjracer]

So I stumbled across this Video and it brought a smile to my face. Very cool rider willing to take some time to make a difference using his BIKE and a TOW strap.

Not sure where to put it, so it's going here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DItbharEN8

[cjracer]

Last few weekends have been nice around Wisconsin for our Fall Dual Sport rides put on by various clubs.

I didn't get any of me that day, To busy riding.

These are a few of Matthew.

Bucky Ride in Madison, WI


Steep hill climb.


Long way down.... Lets get out the winch.




Next weekend was Leaf River, in IL.

Met up w/ Daniel and his crew to hit the 30 mile single track loop on our bikg bikes.


Quick exhaust fix before we leave. All good now.


The pits.



Single track on a big bike..... There is a trail there.




Daniel looks to be having fun back there. His first ride of this kind. Looks like I might have found a local riding partner.


It will fit, one way or another....


What a great day. 50F and sun. Perfect for wresting a big bike through the woods.


You can find more updates of our trips on the blog.

Let hope this weekend shapes up for our local RGN race club ride.

[Apple Jam]

Originally Posted by cjracer

They are made of aluminum.... Hand welded..... Took a lot of time.....
Done by a great friend of mine that can weld aluminum..... I can't.

They are the same width as the OEM tanks to fit Stock crash bars.

One Huge PLUS. They go on and off like clock work every time, at any temp. NO warpage.

We might try and make more if enough riders are interested, but nothing set in stone yet.

I'd like to shoot for the 9 gallon size again.

They weigh in at about 11lbs each. 1 lbs lighter than the Poly Aqualine tanks.

Highlighted the important things

All you have to do to sell some...... is make them cost about $1700 for the pair.
Can you make money with all the time that would take?

I woulda bought US made Aluminum ones at $1,700
over Aussie made plastic ones for $1,600 in an instant. Easy decision

Would I have paid $2,000 for aluminum? Maybe......,...., it mighta been a tough call......

[cjracer]

Originally Posted by Apple Jam

Highlighted the important things

All you have to do to sell some...... is make them cost about $1700 for the pair.
Can you make money with all the time that would take?

I woulda bought US made Aluminum ones at $1,700
over Aussie made plastic ones for $1,600 in an instant. Easy decision

Would I have paid $2,000 for aluminum? Maybe......,...., it mighta been a tough call......

There is now way we could do them for $1700. Even $2000 would be hard. There is so much time in them it's insane, but that for another place. These are CUSTOM hand built tanks, not mass produced. When you figure what OEM replacement tanks cost EACH, anything starts looking like a pretty good option.

It was a great learning process and we might offer something in the future but currently Aqualine is the most cost effective way to add range of this kind.

The best things that these offer is NO warpage and OEM width, w/ 13 gallon range when need be. Plus there were 2 lbs lighter than the Aqualines. I do run Crash guards w/ them though as I always have in the past w/ the Aqualines too. I'm really liking the A990 bags to keep all my winch stuff handy. Taking what we've learned this season and 30,000 miles, we might try and make a 9-10 gallon test version this winter. Thin as stock, lighter and easier to build.

Safe travels,
cj

[jay71]

Originally Posted by cjracer

So I stumbled across this Video and it brought a smile to my face. Very cool rider willing to take some time to make a difference using his BIKE and a TOW strap.

Not sure where to put it, so it's going here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DItbharEN8

Craig- thanks for posting that! Made my day!

[cjracer]

Originally Posted by cjracer

Well..... We're back from trip. We had a great time and learned a lot.

A little update on my bike as of this weekend.

I have 95,000 miles on the bike now. On our return home the bike felt low on power. It would still start fine, didn't blow smoke or burn any more oil than normal (.75lts every 3,000 miles)

At 75,000 miles I dynoed it at about 85HP at the rear wheel.

Yesterday I dynoed it and found 42hp at the rear wheel. I thought it felt like a KLR.

Looks like it's time for a big bore kit.

Anyways.... the engine will be pulled apart and I'll drop in the 04" engine I have on the bench w/ only 12,000 miles. This will keep me rolling.

I'll report back what I find as I get it torn apart.

Sure, I wish this would have lasted much longer before a rebuild, but I've run this bike hard and long. It's given me many great trips and smiles. I can't imagine any bike putting up or lasting as well as the KTM has. I look forward to learning a bit about the inside of this engine and what can be done to get more power out of it.

Long live the LC8's!!!

A little "delayed" update to what I found on this engine setup.....

During the process of installing the 04' engine in August, I decided to clean out the carbs as a final engine swap step.

I found one of the slides was not moving like the other... or rather not returning like the other. ????

I pull the slide out to find 4 rips in the rubber diaphragm. NOT GOOD. Basically the engine was only running on one cylinder. Both were running and firing, but only one slide was opening.

I had 2 extra sets of carb in storage so I grabbed them and took the slide out to put new ones in. Only to find 1 out of the 4 were actually usable. 3 of the others looks like they have shrunk and I could not get them to sit properly.

Swapping the used one and everything looked and worked great again.

The 04' engine fired right up. I bet if I would have looked at this a little more ahead of time my 2006 95,000mile engine would still be going strong.

I just figured my engine was shot and had eaten enough dirt in it's life time. Instead of bolting it back in a frame to dyno test it, this engine will be used as a donor for a 2012 engine build up I will be testing this season.

The 2006 engine lived a hard life and served me very well. I did my best to give it fresh Motorex Oil every 4-7,000 miles. Valve check every 10,000 miles. But I think the best thing I could have done was USE it and ride it hard any chance I got. I feel this helped keep things clean, and was a lot of fun. There is a rev limiter there for a reason. You won't hurt anything if you ring it's neck.

This engine held it's valves in spec until about 50,000 miles. No shim adjustments needed until then. After 50,000 it's needed shims every 10,000 miles. The sad part was this engine was built with shims of the thinnest specs in KTM shim list. After only 1 valve shim change I was out of Spec per KTM shim guidelines. I spoke w/ a few KTM dealers and shop techs. They all said, the head needs to be rebuilt.

I decided to push my luck and run Buell shims as I could get them thinner. I looked over the heads and found that thinner shims could be used w/ no issues that I could see externally.

Over the next few years I continued to use thinner and thinner shims. On my last valve check before we headed for Alaska, I was at the end of those shims too. Figuring once I got home it would be time for a rebuild and I now look forward to learning more about these engine and get this back in a bike for another 100,000 miles.

When I first got this bike everyone questioned how it would hold up, compared to the BMW's. So did I, as no one had very many miles on these bikes. It's great to see riders keeping these bikes longer and the miles stacking up and I hope to offer rebuild kits and performance options in the future when others are ready for a rebuild. The 950/990 Adventure and 950 SE are amazing platforms and hope to keep mine around for a long time to come.

Safe travels,
cj

[Qwik]

Originally Posted by cjracer

When I first got this bike everyone questioned how it would hold up, compared to the BMW's. So did I, as no one had very many miles on these bikes. It's great to see riders keeping these bikes longer and the miles stacking up and I hope to offer rebuild kits and performance options in the future when others are ready for a rebuild. The 950/990 Adventure and 950 SE are amazing platforms and hope to keep mine around for a long time to come.

Safe travels,
cj

YAYYYYYYYYY. Love Mine

[cjracer]

Just a heads up. Don't want anyone to freak out if they brake down and can't get me by phone or email.

I'm officially out of here now until Mon.

Have a safe weekend. We'll see you next week.

[cjracer]

I'm back and ready for a great season.