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This blog page will be devoted to describing various modifications & experiences with my 96 Kawasaki KLR650 motorcycle. Maybe someday I'll set up a "true" website, but until then this will have to suffice. I'm not going to write EVERYTHING down, so feel free to email with questions. After all, I'm writing this to help other KLR owners/lo-buck adventure riders.

Friday, June 6, 2008

>So you wanna change yer tire.
Since you own a KLR, you probably wanna do it yourself. Not that you can't afford to have it done, oh no! It's not that KLR owners are cheap bastards, of course not. You just want the experience of doing it yourself so you can later do it "in the dirt" if need be. This strong inclination to seek out the hardest way to do something & thereby enjoy all the attendant misery is an essential part of KLR-ing, I have found. Changing your tire should satisfy this need, at least for a while.

I'm not going to re-print directions for tire-changing. You can Google a half-dozen, like I did. Here are the two instructions I printed out & used:
Best tire-changing site

Best tire-changing-in-the-dirt site

We also watched Jay's Tire Changing & KLR Valve-Adjustment Video first:
Jay's Famous KLR DVD at Technical Video Rentals
This site has lots of cool videos 4 rent cheap.

The most notable thing about the three methods is that they all disagreed on various things. I forget about what--but recall feeling vaguely disgusted. Oh well, on to the madness!

F'in tire!So, uh, what now?Ghetto bead-breaker works like a charm.Uh oh, how do you protect the rotor from scratches while "in the dirt"?
Aha! There's the leak.New tube must have a little air in it. We used a HD tube.

Now for the "fun" partF 'in tire! We used a lot of soap.
The "New" tire is already 60% roached, I just wanted to check the process. I left the wheel weights on where they were & haven't had any problems yet.

Good list of stuff 2 bring:
http://www.klr650.net/forums/showthread.php?t=22545

I'm sure these pictures make the process perfectly clear! Seriously, if you have questions, feel free to email.

Tunes on the Road

MP3 players were made for motorcycling...with a few modifications. I looked around & decided on this Insignia 4gig thing for $60. It's small & appears reasonably water-resistant. I use $12 Koss squishy ear-bud speakers, which are the best I've ever used in my life to cut road noise & amp the tunes. Make sure to get their old, blue type, not the new white ones, as the white ones' stick out too far to be comfortable in a helmet. Aerostich sells them(for too much, of course--$17, whereas ebay is $10)

To prep the MP3 player, I first opened it up & applied black RTV to the back cover. Helps keep the rain outta the guts.

Then I bought a little $5 plastic cell-phone clip from Radio Shack. I took it apart to get just the plastic/metal jaw part & epoxied it onto the back of the MP3 player. It eventually popped off so I better prepped the surface with a file & it's stuck good since then. Note that the unit is upside-down, so that it can be read while riding.

After a ride or two, I put nice thick globs of RTV on the circular dial on the front & also on the bottom volume buttons. This really works well with gloves or thru a rain jacket.

Other thing I learned is to put a little piece of duct tape over the USB port, in case of rain. Don't ask me how I learned this. Also note that I jam the rest of the cord back in a pocket--works well.