High fender

One thing I never liked about the xmoto and the KTM Duke, is the low fender. Somehow I like the looks of a high fender. I just ran across a universal one that might fit. If you know someone who has done this, shoot me a picture!

Tail Tidy

This Tail Tidy product is for those that want to tidy their tail but don't like to do any cutting themselves. Apparently, the small LED-based plate light does an awesome job.

Crash Bars / Engine Guards

TwistedThrottle has these engine guards for the G650X series that should protect the bike from accidental drops. My main concern is that if the bike drops, the radiator and plastic work is right there to hit the street. Even if the repair is not too expensive (which seems like a strange situation with a BMW), I would HATE to wait for a ride home and have my bike towed after it drops. The least that I would like to do is ride it home. These things may help out with that and for $169, they may be worth it!

Adjustable Levers

One annoyance on the bike is the lack of adjustable levers. A company in Great Brittain makes them for the G650X. From the description:
The original levers of the G 650 X / F 650 models are positioned very far from the grips. Our adjustable levers allow you to choose a better lever position according to hand size.

The levers have a built in “weak spot” to allow it to break there in case of a fall so greater damage might be prevented.

There are 4 settings available, especially riders with smaller hands will appreciate the closer positions available as it makes using the clutch or braking easier.

http://www.bmwbikebits.co.uk/products/product-3590-Wunderlich-Brake__Gear_Lever_Kit_G650_X__F650_GS.htm

Cost: £47.66 for the set (both sides).

Post about suspension tuning

A couple of years ago, I found this article online on suspension tuning. I saved it, because it describes ‘real world problems’ that one might face while riding, and how the suspension setup should be changed to eliminate the issue.

 

My BMW came with completely soft settings and while the manual only tells you how to ‘set the suspension to the load’, it does not reference riding characteristics.

 

General Explanation:

Unfortunately the rear shock set-up affects the behavior of the front end in some circumstances, so there is often no easy answer to a particular handling problem. The most important thing to remember is never change more than one thing at a time .... Always test the bike after any change in the setup to see what affect it has. And make sure you note down your original settings, so if it all goes haywire you can start again from scratch.

 

Preload:

Preload controls ride height. It does not make the suspension harder or softer. What it does do though is alter the angle of the steering, which affects turning speed, and it also changes the weight distribution, which can affect front/rear grip.

Front Preload:

Increase it to put more weight on rear to get better rear traction, or stop the bike diving on the brakes. Too much will cause slow turning and possible front lock ups on braking.

Decrease it to get more feel from front tire in corner. Puts more weight on front which increases front traction. Too little will cause dive bombing.

Rear Preload:

Increase it to quicken the steering. Too much will cause loss of traction as bike skips over dips in road, and can make the bike generally unstable.

Decrease it to improve stability. Too little and the bike will be slower turning and it will squat when you accelerate, leading to tank slappers.

 

Compression damping:

This affects the speed at which the shock can compress, under accelerating (rear) or braking (front), and also when riding over bumps. High speed damping usually operated by blowing the shim stack, allowing quick release of oil to compensate for a sudden shock like a pot-hole. Low speed damping controlled by the shims, allowing very subtle oil flow according to suspension loads.

Front Compression:

Increasing will remove some of the dive under heavy braking. Also it will increase the feedback and soak up small bumps better. Too much will cause instability, a rough ride, and it will reduce the grip available at the front.

Decreasing will smooth the ride. Too little will cause excessive front tyre loading and can have the bike standing up on the brakes mid corner.

Rear Compression:

Increase to make the bike run true and hold a line around a corner. Too much and the bike could launch you into space after a bump, and the rear tire will lose traction on undulations.

Decrease compression to smoothen the ride. Too little will allow the bike to squat under power and run wide in corners.

 

Rebound damping:

This affects the speed at which a shock rebounds, which allows the wheel to return to the ground after hitting a bump.

Front Rebound:

Increase the damping to help the bike hold a line, and help front stability. Too much will gradually jack the front down as each bump compresses the front further and further. Also it will cause loss of feel and a tendency for the front to wash-out.

Decrease to help the front react to bumps, and to keep it in contact with the tarmac. Too little will decrease front stability.

Rear Rebound:

Increasing will help to stop the rear bouncing around, and the front "pushing" in corners. To much will cause front end shake and overwork the rear tire.

Decreasing will smoothen the ride on a bumpy road, and decrease the rears tendency to step out on a bumpy corner. Too little rebound will cause running wide on corners.

 

Problem:

Front wheel chatters entering a corner, the problem disappearing as soon as you let the brakes off or when power is applied.

The fork is working too low in its travel.

 

Solution(s):

Apply more preload

Change to a harder spring

Reduce oil level if a tie wrap on the fork tube indicates a lot of stroke is unused

Check fork friction (stiction)

Rear ride height is too high - possibly too much spring preload. Reduce ride height.

 

Problem:

Front wheel skips during heavy braking

Forks are bottoming out

 

Solution(s):

Increase spring stiffness

Lower oil level if a lot of stroke remains

 

Problem:

Front end feels vague mid corner

Poor damping control

 

Solution(s):

Insufficient rebound damping - increase

If suspension feels harsh it may be too much rebound or compression damping - reduce

 

Problem:

Front end loses grip exiting corners

Insufficient spring compliance or damping control

 

Solution(s):

Increase front rebound damping

Reduce front spring preload

Increase rear compression damping or spring rate

 

 

Nice looking Supermoto mirrors

A company called Advanced Performance Accessories makes some realle nice Supermoto mirrors. I am not a fan of the large rabbit-ear ones that come stock with this bike, but I don't want to go without them.

These look nice, though, and can be mounted either above or below the handlebars. For around $50 each, they seem affordable as well!

EVAC Canister Removal

Today is Sunday and it seems like a nice day to do some minor wrenching. The EVAC canister on the right side of the bike is a charcoal filter where all the excess gasoline from the tank and throttle body are filtered before being leaked to the street.



On itself, I have nothing against that, but the canister is very ugly, hanging off the side of the bike and everybody has something to say about it when they see the bike. Removing it does absolutely nothing for performance and is not bad for the bike either.

There are multiple posts around in forums on how to do this, but none have pictures. I used a post from the ADVRiders forum as a base and added some pics myself. The whole thing takes less then 30 minutes to do if you don't take time to takes pics... :-)

1) To give yourself some more space, take the seat and the red, plastic tail piece off. The tail piece unbolts with 4 screws, so this takes only a few minutes to do.


2) Pull the hose on the bottom of the cannister off and pull the hose with the quick connect from the check valve. Leave the check valve plugged into the harness and keep it in place so the EFI doesn't throw fault codes. And yes, due to some minor carelessness on my side, the connector the canister snapped of, which is why that hose is in a separate picture...




3) Pull the other hose off of the check valve pointing to the front of the bike and plug it with a bolt or something the correct size, this vent hose goes directly to your throttle body and you don't want a vacuum leak let alone get any debris in your engine.



4) Pull the 3rd hose, at the top rear of the cannister (going to the gas tank) and get yourself a male/male fitting so you can connect it to the first hose you pulled off the bottom of the cannister. Since I did not have one, I found that a cut-out piece of plastic pen fitted perfectly (YMMV).




Many people use a tie wrap to mount the hose to the frame, but I opted to unscrew the entry point of the bottom hose and re-route the hose behind the plastic (between the frame and the gas tank). I think this just looks cleaner.

5) Put the canister in a zip-lock bag and 'store for later retrieval'. Below are the before and after pics.

Before	After

All and all, I think this was a successful operation. It was not brain surgery, but then again, I am not a mechanic... And the result looks just better.

Thoughts:
I unbolted the complete mounting bracket of the canister, as I will no longer be using it. Somewhere out there, there is a 1 liter bottle that will hold some additional gasoline if the tank is just too small. This bottle mounts in the bracket that is used for the cannister. Since I am riding only city traffic, I so not see the use for it. Maybe there are even some other uses for the brackets out there, like bringing a toolkit or a place to store lunch (for small eaters, I guess). **UPDATE**: I found a forum post with a picture...