Tool Tube and Puncture Kit Project

This is a project that is definitely long overdue for me. I've ridden in Laos solo and though I got the tire plugger with me I didn't carry any pump. So essentially if I suffered a nail puncture I can very well plug it but no way to inflate. Brilliant bro, just brilliant....

I must say that I've been pretty lucky having ridden all over alone and not suffered a puncture, but I don't think I should be pushing my luck. So when a friend wanted to order Tool Tubes, I thought, yes, I should definitely complete my puncture kit project. I also want this to be permanently on the bike rather than only when I go overlanding as you could be riding to Bangsar and run over a nail.

So first, let me show you what is in the kit.



Contents of Tool Tube

1. Topeak 160psi handpump. It's 10.5" long which leaves another 1.5" spare space in the tube
2. Topeak CO2 dispenser with cartridge
3. Topeak CO2 cartridges - 5 units of these bad boys in case I fuck it up.
4. Award winning (they claim la) Stop N Go, Pocket Tire Plugger,  
5. Long nose plier, at first it was the standard size pliers, but I found a smaller one that would be easier to fit.
6. PCL tire gauge - England mari I tell you
7. Good morning towel, beautifully made towel with multiple uses.

Now onwards to the installation. My plan is to mount it on the crash bar as all other locations have been explored and proven not suitable. Well there isn't much space on the 650 in the 1st place. The clamps provided with the Tube proved to be too small so a visit to Jaya Hardware fixed that.

Tube and the clamps

25mm clamps



Galvanised steel bracket



 I also had a piece of galvanised steel strip cut out as the holes lined up exactly with the tube to act as the bracket and washer. This should stop the bounces and shakes of the bike from damaging the Tube's plastic holes that the bolts go through.

Bottom cable tied for now as the clamp won't fit

The steel bracket

Barely noticable as the engine and guards are also black

Another view

Sits higher than the bash plate

 The above you can see the final result with the tube in place carrying the kit that I showed earlier. So far it looks like it'll clear and not get damaged if I tip the bike over. It also sits higher than the bash plate so if my bike bottoms out the plate should get it first.

So there you go my little DIY project (well I did screw the clamps together what.)

By the way, I also leave you with a teaser of another DIY project, not mine but Husref's. Trying to put together Adventure Panniers carrying strap, which will cost you about RM250/300. He's doing it for less than RM100. Watch this space.

2011 First Farkle - Suspension

It's 2011 and I have clocked 23,000km on the bike in 6 months.....and you thought that I'd leave the bike alone huh? Well fat chance. 

OK confession time, normally this is where you'll hear lines such as:

A) "my riding has improved and I feel that my suspension is not keeping up" or 

B) "I feel I need to make the change in order to feel more of what the tyres and the bike is doing"

as means and/or justification for the change.

Let me just say it straight.....that's just utter rubbish. The truth is, I have little(if any and if I'm feeling generous towards myself) or no skills whatsoever and as such decided to plonk on an aftermarket rear shocks to assist in keeping the bike upright. If you've never heard of YSS Suspension you can check them out here.

YSS vs stock....it's beefier

All CNC'd nicely

Nice rebound adjustment vs stock

Straight out of the box, you can see that it's well constructed and machined, the pistons and springs are larger vs stock which means it'll take longer to heat up and faster to cool down when it's working hard. You can only adjust the preload and rebound rate, there's no compression adjustment, though that's fine with me, cause the more I can adjust the higher the chances for me to screw it up.

I managed to install this in time for my Golok-Betong ride (report coming up later), and my first impression is that it feels firmer than stock though at no time was the ride hard or jarring. It did take me a while to tweak the settings as I had my panniers on, but once I got it right it was saaaweeeet!

Definitely happy with the first farkle of the year.

Indochina - Last bit of prep

Plonked in a new set of tires specifically for this trip, as there's already 7k on the Bridgestones. I went with the Metzeler Tourance EXP on recommendation of friends and from my initial impression I would have to say I'm not disappointed. The bike just turns in faster and with less effort, and seem to hold to corner very well. Considering where I'm going will be littered with twisties, should translate to lower fatigue levels (in theory anyways.)

The Metz knows I'm heading off to Thailand

1 more day to go.....woohoo!!

Farkle - Bar Riser

Mustakimrides brings you farkle of the day....Touratech 20mm bar riser. In view of the long trip coming up, i thot i add something that would help with the ergo. You're out in the hot sun and rain and you're talking about comfort? Haha , well....every little bit helps.

It's got the effect of bringing the bar closer to me....i got short hands mah...so that i'm in a more upright position. This should (in theory) translate to a less back breaking venture as i eat the miles.

Farkle - GoPro

Picked up a new toy today from David, as he is now an appointed distributor for GoPro cameras. You can expect to see the results on my blog soon.

Gonna have fun setting it up tonite. 

Yes, you know you've sunk to a new low when you idea of fun is to read the manuals.

Never Ending Farkle

Will it ever end?.......Never!! If you're not sure what I'm talking about or even remotely think that it's related to something obscene, let me just clarify it by attaching the definition below.

1.	farkle
	buy farkle mugs, tshirts and magnets accessory. The word is generally accepted to mean a combination of "function" and "sparkle", hence, farkle. Motorcycle enthusiasts may install accessories, called farkles (also spelled farkel), to customize their machine. One source attributes the term to Pete Wells, the organizer of a 1997 Honda ST1100 rally www.nabble.com/Re:-Farkel, {delete this line and join two halves for url} -or-is-it-Farkle--p2354383.html The term is well known in the sport touring community. An enthusiast may be in the process of "farkling". The completed motorcycle would be all "farkled up". Radar detectors, Global Positioning System receivers, heated grips, and satellite radios are some of those farkles. Other accessories could be aftermarket seats, side and/or top cases or bar risers, which make the motorcycle more suitable for long miles.

After my East Coast adventure I went to David's place for more stuff....good god have you no self restraint? apparently not. As usual, we justify these sort of spending as "it's necessary" humph...ya rite. Though as the definition goes, there is a functional element to it.

So what's new since my last farkle update:

1. Hepco Becker top rack and Junior TC45 case (from Sunny)
2. Wunderlich Microflooter Auxiliary lights
3. Hepco Becker Bash plate
4. Wunderlich Radiator guard.

HB rack

TC45

Lights on!

Bash plate

Radiator guard + bash pate

Radiator Guard

So is this the last of it?....we'll have to wait and see.

Ride Report - Kalumpang

Last Friday was my 20th year school reunion and for those who's quick in maths, yes...I am old. It was held in Kalumpang near Tg.Malim and since it's an overnight affair it'd give me some practice in packing my clothes...yes...yes I know it's just 1 night, so practice my ass la..haha. Even then i have to say I got it horribly wrong, I definitely brought too much unnecessary stuff like extra tshirt and shorts and yet forgot to bring my camera charger. Now how the hell am i gonna pack for a close to 2 months trip?

I also picked up a Rev'it Cayenne Pro jacket to serve as my touring jacket, so another opportunity to test this out. The idea is to have only 1 gear that'll that take the full weather onslaught come rain or shine on long trips. Though this time, I am (a little bit) smarter, I chose 1 in black so I won't really be bothered by how dirty it is.....oh you dirty fella!! Basically you can read more about the jacket in the link. 

I took the old trunk road from KL to Tg.Malim just to spice the journey a bit, which had the effect of taking me back to the good old days, when there was no PLUS highways from KL to North. I used to drive my dad after SPM from Ipoh to KL and it's all trunk road man. I thoroughly enjoyed it as there's always some "duel" going on with another vehicle, though I always try to make it as smooth as possible so that my dad won't notice. There's once when my dad was asleep that I came upon a Corrola and straight away I knew I had my quarry. At once a series of overtaking manevours ensued, I would overtake him and a few cars and he would do the same, we were literally locked in battle, no quarters given or taken and on and on it went, all the while I'm concentrating on the fella and keeping things smooth so as not to wake my dad. We were at it for a good half hour until he decided to up the ante and overtook on a blind corner which is also a double line, and I decided it was not worth the risk to follow, that was when out of the blue my dad said "mana aci potong double line".....hahaha guess he was enjoying the layan session as well...classic.

Arriving at the resort

Back to Kalumpang, it was good to see old faces again, boy have we grown and i mean it literally. No matter how old or important you are, when boys get together they're just kids. So yes, it was definitely a good outing.

Registration

Prosperity....

It fits!!

Yes, generally taking the lens cap off helps with the quality of the picture.

The ride back was brutal as I experienced 38deg, though in the name of saddle time and seasoning my butt for the longer rides, i plodded on. There's not much time left. I'm going for a 3days 2 nites trip to Taman Negara end of the month, let's see if either my riding or packing skills has improved by then.

Singapore - Shopping Part 2

ok lets move on to part 2, where more farling happens. I managed to get hold of a used set of BMW Motorrad Vario panniers for the 650/800 GS while i was down there. These things don't come cheap (then again, nothing related to the bike is), so it was good to be able to score a bargain on this set.

The beauty of these panniers is that as it is made specifically for the bike, the rack looks sleek when the boxes are off, as some aftermarket systems has racks that look like it's been welded together by a 3 yr old, looking all clumsy and obtrusive.

The boxes are extendable and the locking mechanism matches your ignition key. Khairi at David's place took less than 5 minutes to change the tumbler pins in the lock to match my ignition key. A big plus in my books coz there's less keys to lose...haha.

How it looks like

Changing the tumbler mechanism in the lock to match the ignition key

How the rack looks minus the box

In its element 

New touring jacket - Rev'it Cayenne Pro

I worried at first how the panniers would affect fuel and handling of the bike, but after some days living with it and making trips to Seremban and Kalumpang I'm happy to report no adverse effects detected. It could still cruise comfortably at 150 so all good there.

Singapore - Shopping Part 1

As mentioned, I was in Singapore to pick up some stuff, ok ok let's not sugar coat it, I shopped like the world is going to end by the 27th of October, why 27th you ask, well because 28th is my credit card statement date...haha. If i were a girl i'd be all giggly, then again I might have but no way I'm copping to that here. 

Anyways, the stuff i picked up are all for the bike and upcoming trip. I'd like to think they're necessary or dare i even say vital to facilitate a smooth journey. Of course some may say it's lame, but what the hell...who cares. I may or may not do a review about some of these stuff, so we'll see how it goes. 

I managed to get the panniers, jackets and the Garmin Zumo 660. Now the Zumo is a cool piece of hardware as it's actually made for the motorcycle. Here in Malaysia, it would set you back about RM3.5k. It's cheaper in Singapore but that's not to say that it's dirt cheap either. The lady at R-One in Sim Lim was telling me they don't sell many of these as they're quite expensive and the demand is low, in fact ever since this came out in late 2008, she has only sold 7 units, with mine being no 7 of course. So there i was sitting in this little shop on the 4th floor of Sim Lim with a warm and fuzzy feeling for making it to the top 10 while my wallet was being senselessly raped. Oh well....

The bad boy

Of course I have friends who has leveled accusations of moi being a wuss, a big girl's blouse for having such contraptions. It goes against the spirit of adventure they say, and how people used to cross continents being guided only by the stars and the sun. Well let me tell you this, when you're alone in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and the fuel warning light comes on and you hear a loud cackle coming from the trees next to you, you better hope that by the furious tapping of the Garmin screen it would take you to the nearest fuel station or a bomoh at least. 

So today I had a chance to install it at David's place in Sri Damansara. He's also kind enough to load it up with the Indochina map, but i'd need to get myself a micro SD card for this.

Bike in the shop

Putting the mount in the middle of the bar. 

It's called a ram mount...haha obscene i know.

Tapping the power straight from the battery

Screwing the panels back in

My view of it

Picked up a Komine mesh jacket and gloves as well.

The beauty of this package is that they also give all the necessary mounting for the car as well, which means that my Garmin 760 is now redundant, so if anyone is interested in it please give me a buzz.

I'll be heading back to David's place soon for more farkling so stay tuned.