Transalp project

[Transalper]

Never had any bikes fall in any of our quakes. Thinking about that I'll be keeping the TA on it's side stand except when doing maintenance on changes etc as the side stand is probably more stable.

J's DR fell over sideways this time though... it went up and over to the right side... away from the sidestand. no damage to it though.

The new centre stand is harder to use than your 650 one when on my 600.
I think it could use a longer foot leaver and slightly (5mm?) shorter legs would probably help.
I've just put the stand on and just realised the extra bit that I wasn't going to bother with is a grab handle so yep, installing that now.

[CRM]

The easy way is to just by my bike http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...x?id=357830227 If you are too cheap or a masochist remove the black plastic surround around the instruments/inner cowl, then unbolt the speedo cluster and push it to one side and you can see what you are doing. Access the bulb from underneath a real contortionists nightmare. There's a rubber cover over the connections to peel back, and then there's a wire clip that releases the bulb.
It un-clips on the left hand side. If you force it and it pops out of its hinge arrangement on the right side its a right bugger to get back together - don't ask! One of those wee round flexible mirrors is a now worth its weight in gold bullion... If they tried a little harder they could have made it bloody impossible instead of just friggin difficult Cheers.

Still struggling with this. I'm not real good with Rubics Cubes or wooden puzzles either . When I have a spare day I'll just pull all the front off to figure out how it all works - in the meantime I've taken the screen off and lost one of the rubbery bits down in the bowels so I guess I have to take it all apart now. Maybe I'll take some pictures and publish a "Transalp headlight bulbs changing for Dummy's" book

[thepom]

Well my blackbird fell on its side and munted mirrors,panels,screen and other stuff so I,m gutted...........my pushbike fell over and the xt600 fell on it and then the tenere fell on top of that and then everything from the roof storage fell on them all,including shocks and gearboxes......and my house is munted...and my girlfriends house too............could be worse,I could have run out of red wine.

[CRM]

Well my blackbird fell on its side and munted mirrors,panels,screen and other stuff so I,m gutted...........my pushbike fell over and the xt600 fell on it and then the tenere fell on top of that and then everything from the roof storage fell on them all,including shocks and gearboxes......and my house is munted...and my girlfriends house too............could be worse,I could have run out of red wine.

And I thought I had problems having trouble with changing a lightbulb You guys really are in a bad way...

[CRM]

I decided to get serious with it yesterday afternoon and do a photo-shoot so others like me can follow how to do it.

First thing was to remove the black surround from around the instrument panel. This involved taking off the screen (4 screws then as you pull out the screen try not to let the rubber grommets get sucked into black holes). Then take out the screws pointing forward through the surround on either side of the instrument housing. Then the screws going down on the sides of the surround. Then there are a couple of plastic tabs just below those screws on the inside. These are trickier - I used a very small flat screwdriver blade to lift up the centre piece and pull out - once that's out the outside bit removes easier. Some of these also have phillips heads on the centre part just to fool you into thinking they are screws. If you turn them 1/4 turn they pop out a bit which means you can then prise them out with a flat head screwdriver or get some small needle-nose pliers on them. They can break by the way...

Once these are all removed the black surround should feel a little looser. The fairing can be gently separated apart to let it come out (if in doubt just go ahead and remove the fairing - that's what I ended up doing anyway as I couldn't get the bulb out even with the instrument surround removed).

Once the surround is out you can remove the four bolts that hold the instrument panel in place and swing it to one side. Now you can at least see the back of the headlight. But I still couldn't figure out how to get the bulb out just didn't seem to be room.

TO BE CONTINUED

[timg]

Ooops Pic3 looks like the clip holding the bulb has sprung out of its holder/hinge/retainer thing. I had major issues getting it back together and still don't know how it happened to 'pop' back into where it belonged. I assume you have disconnected the plug at the back of the bulb? It should be free as it is the spring clip that holds it in. Or maybe my memory is failing me

[CRM]

Ooops Pic3 looks like the clip holding the bulb has sprung out of its holder/hinge/retainer thing. I had major issues getting it back together and still don't know how it happened to 'pop' back into where it belonged. I assume you have disconnected the plug at the back of the bulb? It should be free as it is the spring clip that holds it in. Or maybe my memory is failing me

I ended up taking the fairing right off because I still couldn't see how it worked at that point. I'll put the rest of the story and pics up soon. Plot spoiler is that when I got it all together with the new bulb low beam still not working . So it's something else that I haven't figured out yet

[barrie]

You can buy ABS glue from palstic pipe suppliers. Try plastic systems in Auckland or Capital valves in wellington.ABS pipes are widely used in the water industry.Cheers

Engine Bars. Get Engine Bars. They're not very heavy.



I've got a few cracks I need to tend to so am about to start frigging around with plastic repairs. The fairings are likely ABS (black under the paint) and while you can get abs "welding" rods to use in a plastic welder, a lot of guys use acetone or plastic model glue (you know the sh*t that melts plastic).

The idea with the acetone is to liquefy ABS offcuts in it to make a runny goo of ABS and use it to backfill a crack or reinforce a crack on the rear side of the fairings. sand yer paint off and prep the area first, spread the gunk in, the acetone evaporates out of the mixture over a few days and the whole lot is bonded...not stuck together, but bonded structurally.

Oops, gotta go, the kids are outside squirting acetone at each other...

[CRM]

Okay back to the light bulb story. I ended up removing all the fairing because I couldn't figure out how to get the bulb out. But it's actually easy now that I've done it a couple of times (because they gave me the wrong bulb twice from different shops - I know I should have checked )

Anyway once you have removed the screen, the shroud around the instrument panel and taken out the four bolts holding the instrument panel (see previous post) you can now see the back of the headlight.

Three easy steps:

1. Pull off the rubber-covered plug from the back of the bulb.
2. Pull off the circular rubber cover
3. unclip the metal spring clip from the right side and swing open
4. Draw out the bulb

Well four actually

See the pics below. Once you have it in reverse the above.
If you break any of the little black clips (and you probably will) you can get very good replacements at Super Cheap Auto called Scrivet Clips. Not exactly super-cheap but do the job nicely (about $3.80 for pack of 2).

[CRM]

At last I'm taking the TA for a decent ride - down the East Coast from Whangarei to Wellington. It is mostly on seal unfortunately as my daughter is with me on her ZZR400 so can't get too adventurous .

We did East Cape yesterday in the rain and that was fairly close to an adventure ride in places. The TA just loves those kind of conditions - rough, holes, mud, gravel - awesome I did find out the rubber pegs are scary when you do water crossings . I have some serrated ones at home so they'll be going on when I get back.

Handling in the wet on the seal is okay but I take it very easy with the T63's that are on it. But today from Gizzy to Palmerston Nth in the dry they were fun I love the handling of the TA in the dry - very confident through the corners and if you do hit hole or some gravel or a rut there's just no drama - not like a sports bike. The T63's will probably be bald by the time I get home (or before) so maybe I'll go for some Anakee 2's or similar.

Good times !

[Transalper]

Very nice, got no rear shock in mine at this moment.

Have you checked to see if your pegs have a removable rubber top which may be hiding serrated pegs below.
This is often the case, not sure about your model but would be suprised if they didn't have a removable rubber.
The pegs you are likely to put on yourself will likely be bigger than the stock ones though.

Cheers
TA.

[CRM]

Very nice, got no rear shock in mine at this moment.

Have you checked to see if your pegs have a removable rubber top which may be hiding serrated pegs below.
This is often the case, not sure about your model but would be suprised if they didn't have a removable rubber.
The pegs you are likely to put on yourself will likely be bigger than the stock ones though.

Cheers
TA.

The guy I bought it off had got some serrated pegs for it - not sure what off - but I'll put them on when I get back. I think they are a bit wider than the stock ones.

A few shots from the trip:

[DR650gary]

Good riding with mates, Great riding with family

Do you find those tyres give a bit road noise around the 100 k mark?

Cheers

[CRM]

Good riding with mates, Great riding with family

Do you find those tyres give a bit road noise around the 100 k mark?

Cheers

Yeah it was a good ride. Serious winds coming up from Welly on Tuesday morning . Yesterday came up from Taumarunui to home and it was a bit better day.

The T63's are a bit noisy - like when you ride over a rumble edge you don't notice any difference . They seem noisier to me around 60k though and not so bad faster. I've nearly worn the back one out so sondering what to replace with. The thing is that in the dry they are fantastic on seal - and they aren't too expensive. So I'm tempted to go for another set even though I've only done about 5km of gravel since I've had the bike. Hoping that will change though and I can do some proper adventure rides.

[Skinny_Birdman]

Phew, looking at that access to the headlight is like some kind of motorcycling Shangri-La!
As I was confined to base over easter I decided to do an 18,000km service on D's Alp. Not too many dramas, except in trying to get the cover off the nut on the end of the crankshaft. Gave up in the end, and set the valves by getting D to watch for the timing marks while I rotated the rear wheel. The rocker adjustments are a bit of an arse to get at, but probably no worse than a lot of v-twins.
I also decided to get K & N air filters for both bikes. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the 650 'Alp, unlike the 600 'which has the air filter under the seat where god intended, the 650 has it under the tank. To get at it you have to remove (deep breath):
Crash bars, cockpit trim, main fairings, internal fairings, rear fairings, tank, crash bars and finally airbox lid.
Not something I want to do too often. So I went to Repco, who basically seemed uninterested in getting in a bike filter (the spotty teenager I dealt with had an attitude like the woman in Little Britain - "Compu'er says no"). After trying a couple of other places I thought "bugger it, I'll take my dollars elsewhere and buy it from the net". So anyway, ordered on 5 May from Performance Filters in the UK, and here I am on 22 May, still waiting for my filter to arrive by DHL 3 day delivery.....

One positive about having the bike in bits (apart from the fact that its not mine) is that I had a chance to play with the centre stand. It will clear the bolt for the crash bars, by a whisker. So no mods required there.

I also shouted my 'Alp some hot grips and a set of Zeta armoured handguards. Zang!