What I really want! but no bucks. More of a problem is the lack of room.
A decent compromise from Aerostich, but can't afford it either.
My lift. It works and I had everything I needed in the shed already. Zero $'s
Push the bike onto my loading ramp and attach the hold down straps, use the floor jack to jack it up, put the milk crate under it to hold there. If I need a wheel off the ground I use a scissors jack placed between the bike and the ramp. Works great for cheap.
A NO COST, NO BRAINER POWER SAVING MOD FOR THE DRZ
I did a very simple yet effective mod to the DRZ today. I'm old, so I like comfort. In the winter I ride with heated grips and vest. These items add quite a load on the already overtaxed and putrid DRZ Stator. I've already had to replace my stator once and would really rather not stress another one into extinction.
So how best to shed some amp load? Thumper Talk advised to use the "free power" mod to add additional charging capacity. It adds a half an amp by doing it. I've already done this. I also went to Auto Zone and bought direct plug in LED bulbs with resistors built in to save on amp load for the tail light and signals.
With my additional load I am looking at a 5 amp deficit to the charging system when both items are turned on (12.3 volts charging instead of 14.4) . So, I looked at my head light circuit and decided to put a switch in line to toggle it off when I am in the woods riding.
While I was figuring out how to best do this I noticed that the plug on the back of the DRZ head light bulb was three pronged. After doing a little testing I concluded that the yellow lead on the plug powers the head lights low beam filament.
Instead of installing water proof toggle switch I decided to rotate the plug 180* on the bulb. This makes the low beam circuit inoperable.
So how does this help? It allows me to use the headlamp in "high beam" only mode. With the high beam switch turn on the headlamp is operable and when I switch the switch to low beam the light goes off completely! This allows additional charging capacity when I am off the road and in the woods.
So for zero cost I gained charging capacity.
Yeah I know it's not DOT legal but it would work if you had an inspection because you could reverse the plug again prior to being inspected. __________________
Bought my KLR last December and immediately took it out to Big Bend for 8 days. While not new to riding, (daily rider to work) getting this KLR has returned me to my roots. I started out on a 1971 Honda CB 350 and a 1972 Kawasaki 100 that had 5 gears up for road and 5 gears down for off road. Wish I still had them. Besides the KLR 650, I also have a Yamaha RoadStar 1700, KDX 200 and a KX250F.
I have about 6 weeks of vacation coming up and plan on going back to Big Bend National, checking out Big Bend State Park and looking into the backroads (dirt & gravel) in and around the Hill Country and Central Texas.
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