http://amzn.to/xRpOTt I really like the small size and ease of use with this tire plugger kit. Having a tool that can quickly plug a hole in a tubeless tire and get you back on the road is a very good idea. And it’s so small and lightweight that if you have tubeless tires on your bike there’s really no excuse to not carry one of these. I have tubed tires and I carry mine anyway. Never know when you might come across another stranded biker in need of a hand.
I have used it to repair a nail puncture in the tire of my 1200GS, and rode with the plug in for much longer than I should have. Even at freeway speeds and it held up just fine. I’ve also plugged the tire of a Yamaha Rhino. A friend and I were playing around in the mountains when a rock punctured the side wall of the tire. We hiked down for the plugger kit, and pump. Neither of us could believe that the plug held inside the large hole in the side wall. And the pump I review in this video: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlIFNQffjYg) did a good job of popping the tire back on the rim.
While I was searching around I found 2 other versions of this plugging tool. One that looks to be the exact same as what I use in this video, plus a few CO2 cartridges: http://amzn.to/zGJKzk
And the other uses a sort of gun looking device to squeeze the plug into the tire.
http://amzn.to/ziix8w
Both those other kits will take up a bit more space in your luggage system than the version I have, but I guess if you are replacing a 12V air compressor with CO2 cartridges then it’s worth it.
This video is a walk-through/tutorial on how to mount a new motorcycle tire. I bought a new tire way back in a video Shopping with Skeefoo, and I’m just now getting around to installing it. This was the first time I’d ever mounted my own tire. I think it’s one of those things a lot of riders are afraid to do, and prefer to spend the money having a professional do it. I used a couple of cheap tire levers (http://amzn.to/s2UL4A) and had my new rubber mounted, tube back in, and wheel on the bike in only about 30 minutes. This certainly isn’t rocket science. You just need a couple of levers and a bit of determination and you will be changing your own tires in no time at all. Save your money, ride more.
I didn’t worry about balancing the tire, this ain’t no race bike if you know what I mean. I’ve since had it over 60 mph a few times and haven’t noticed any vibrations from the tire.
One of the more difficult parts of the install was getting the valve stem of the tube back through the rim. I had to monkey with it for quite a while. Someone suggested I pick up on of these handy Valve Stem Pullers (http://amzn.to/xBasTP). Looks like a great idea.
Having the proper tools, and knowing how to change/repair a tire on the side of the road is a skill every adventure rider should know. I road from Utah to Panama on my BMW and had no clue what to do if I got a flat tire. I didn’t even have the tools to take the wheel off. Thankfully luck was on my side during that ride, and I didn’t have any problems.
In this video I film myself getting down to the clutch of my KLR650. To do that you will need to drain the oil from the engine, and the water from the radiator. This is a project that might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but if you take it one step at a time you should be able to handle it. Take the skid plate off, drain the oil, drain the water, and start taking out all the bolts in your way. Once you have everything out you will probably need a rubber mallet or something to jar the side casing loose. Mine took a little pounding before it would come off. Make sure to clean out the little filter while you are in there. Clean the old gasket off everywhere it stuck to the metal. Be careful when you are cleaning it off not to damage the O-ring that is in the side case.
Don’t forget to buy new gaskets when you do this job. I didn’t realize I needed them, and had to wait a few weeks for them to arrive before I could put the bike back together. One of the joys of living in Panama… You will need the big gasket for the side case, and a small one for the water pump.
For detailed instructions including tools and parts needed for this procedure check out: http://www.ravenshadow.com/KLR650/techtips.html I looked at it a few times while doing this project and it helped, but since there isn’t a video, or even any pictures I decided to post this so people could see what they will be getting into.
I know I’ve been putting out a lot of tutorials lately, and you probably want to see some adventure already. We are in the same boat you and I, but there are just a few more things I want to get done on my bike before I set off into the great unknown. If something goes bad on me out there it’s a long walk back for help.
Replacing a clutch cable is pretty simple. Keep in mind when you watch any of my tutorials it’s probably the first time I’ve ever done what I’m “teaching” you to do. There may be some pros out there facepalming themselves over my techniques, and short cuts they know that I don’t. But the point is you needed a new clutch cable installed, this is how I did it. If you know a better way please leave some comments below that can help me in the future and other who watch this video.
Another extremely useless tutorial. In this video I (sort of) show you how to remove the battery from a KLR650. It’s in a bit of a strange spot under the seat and even under the frame a bit. It doesn’t just lift straight out of the bike, it comes out sideways. In the video I point out that you only need to take off the plastic cover on the battery side. This is somewhat incorrect. You need to get the seat off, I just leave my seat unscrewed, it isn’t going anywhere with my fat ass on it. So I didn’t need take off the other cover to get at the seat, I just pop it off. So normally to take the seat off you need both panels off.
The music in this video is from Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com fame. Lots of great music check him out.
This is a quick tutorial on how to edit a time lapse video. I used my Drift Stealth helmet camera on time lapse mode, had it take a photo every 2 seconds. By the time I was finished taking out the motorcycle battery my camera had captured 320 .jpg’s. So I needed a way to quickly get them into a time line and make each one of them 1 frame long.
I found a description of how to do it in a forum and thought I would quickly make a video tutorial for you.
This was the first time I played with the time lapse features on my Drift. It was kind of fun and I plan to do more in the future.
I found a clutch lever in a pile of spare parts the previous owner gave me with the bike. The spare clutch lever was already broken, but it was less broken than the one on the bike. During a pouring rain storm I swapped out it. Because tutorials are normally pretty boring I decided to make some jokes at my own expensive in the form a legal disclaimer. I guess I could have explained what I was doing in the video, but seriously it’s a clutch lever. If you can’t figure out how to fix it by simply looking at it, then you need more help than I can give.
(The bit about an old woman mistaking me for a girl actually happened. My hair’s kinda long mmmkay.)
