It is good to see you back again. I hope all is well with you. What are you playing with these days?

 

@klx678 , sorry to inform you that Richard's post you referred to is 5.5 years old. He has not been heard of in many years. Considering his health issues, I fear the worst.

 

Oh, thought it was new. I should have looked at the date. I wrote him several times back then. I am sorry to see anyone depart. Wish it would have been recent. No matter how I look at it, I gain a bit from everyone here. You included for sure.

Are you still doing the Indians and have you gotten your hands on to an FI KLX? I know we bonk heads, but I still have respect for what you do and still will refer to you as the one to go to on the CV34 and Dyno Jet work. Seems a couple of us have gone street bike here, me with a XSR700 and TNC with a Kaw Z650. I just got tired of wearing out dual sport tires on the pavement here in west central Ohio. Still take the 250 to the east to play in the hills of east/southeast Ohio, saving the tires for the good stuff.

Have a good holiday season and here's to Richard wherever he may be.

 

Mark you know, it's ok that we bonk noggins every now and then.. No one disagrees anymore except you and I (and we only disagree every now and then) - without us, there'd be no drama at all ! lol

Every time I get to thinking about buying a new EFI KLX, something happens.. First it was DJ stopping PCFC sales in the US (killing my intention to dyno tune the EFI's..) , then learning that there was "a way" to get a PCFC ( Thru J Higgens..) , and the latest "happen" is the '21 KLX300S (?) ... I think that new 300 could be a real game changer with a full exhaust system, the MCM, and a complete revamp of the fueling programming (via PCFC)..

I've gone "street bike" in a bad way - which is weird because I've never been a street bike kinda guy - and never owned one until just recently.. But at 54 (yrs old) I started buying em (which was 2014) .. Long story short - went down to the three local Indian dealerships and bought 3 new Indians (one from each) in 2016, joined the Indian Motorcycle forum, used the foundational knowledge I gained from the KLX dyno development to expand into EFI performance programming, V-Twin performance enhancements, etc... I have been hell raising over there for over 4 years ( as Indianster ) - Anyone that thinks I'm a $$hole here outta read some of my posts, threads, and stickies over there..lol It is a different "clientele" than here and those "old guys" can be suckered more easily than us "young'uns" over here, by "snake oil salesmen".. Also, the "geniuses" on this planet that are a part of the V-Twin performance sector have not produced significant Indian performance gains in over 3 years now - despite ever increasing availability of "better" performance parts, BB kits, and a fantastic tuner (DJ PV3) with ongoing development / enhancements (by DynoJet) for creating ever more performance.

I still have my FE650E ( 2008 and the last of its' kind), my '07 KLX300R (last of its kind) , and some off-road playbikes, but they get ridden only occasionally..

Finally, last month, got my 7 yr old grand-daughter riding the two Mongoose MGX 250 's I bought her last year.. She is making up for lost time on them ! Loving the "freedom" of kik'in a leg over one and "doing her own thing" out here at the Ranch.. Working on getting the 172 engines' health check'd out - got new(ish) friends that want to go flying - feral pigs have pretty much torn up my airstrip though, so lots of repair work I gotta do before any flying...

That's the news..lol

Here's to you Mark, hoping you have a safe, healthy, and fun holiday season.
Brad

 

Klxster, you're right about Mark and drama. Over on ADV Rider he's know as the drama queen!

Well, OK...I made that up...just for drama you know...LOL! Mark, just for more drama, here's my latest iteration of the psuedo gravel, dirt road Z650...getting weirder and weirder...but fun.
I think a full exhaust is next.

 

Back at ya.

My son-in-law picked up the top model FTR1200, had the S&S high pipes on it, a look that is the way they should look for us. He had a reflash to help eliminate some stumbles or whatever. The dealer did it as part of the deal. Now he needs to play with the suspension settings to improve the performance there.

I am avoiding modifications to the engine other than a full Delkvic exhaust with the 18" can. I like the look better than the steam punk look of the stock system and figure the longer can with the baffle will keep the volume down while giving a bit better tone. I also got the extra quiet baffle just in case, ordering at the same time cut shipping costs, by fitting all in one box. I don't know if I want to have the ECU reflashed or not. Delkvic answered my question if it needed reflashed or not. They said it would work with the stock programming. I'm fine with the power.

The place where I'm blowing the big bucks is on suspension. I scored an Ohlins shock with about 100 miles on it for $350, normal at $695. I'm torn on the front end. Traxxis makes a kit with a new CNCed damper rod and a shim stack compression valve (emulator, like Gold Valve) with springs and spacers at $399, but Matris (Italian) makes a kit that uses shim stacks for both compression and rebound, comes with springs and spacers, plus preload caps for $325. Feedback on Traxxion is good, Problem with Matris is there is no feedback that I can find for their kit, but their cartridges get good press.

Got heat in my shop, a stereo for tunes, and time to do the work on the XSR. Never really had good suspension and am anticipating some good results on some of the rougher roads.

Ride a lot - best social distancing you can get.

 

Yeah, I've been impressed with the Ohlins rear shock...got it at cost through the shop I've been working at part time again. Oddly the front fork has worked really well in stock form, and I may leave it alone. I'm going with the Delkevic 14" stainless and the extra quieter baffle for this muffler. My Rapid Bike controller should adaptive learn to the mods easily. This stuff has been fun on this bike. It will never fill the void of a dirt bike, so the KLX300S will always have a home...LOL!

 

Yeah Mark, those FTR's with the S&S high pipes are bad a$$... Funny tho, NO ONE over there gives even a passing thought to putting DOT knobbies on one and dual sporting it !
To me, that is what an FTR is ! I started a thread in the FTR section asking if anyone had done such or have thought about it - got a bunch of "hell no" and "are you kidding" type responses...lol Heck, one of the ads for the FTR is all offroading !

Your son-in-law will find all his answers regarding engine management tweaks/flashes/tunes/ etc, in the FTR section. It seems some have issues with the stock programming and others are perfectly happy - they do tend to whine over there..

My test ride on the FTR.. I was riding wheelies on it from the get-go... got in trouble with the dealership GM for wheelieing by the front entrance to the showroom... But, her and I are good now since I told her I was ready to buy another white chief.

 

I think I am getting the road bike bug as well. Gonna test ride the new Triumph Trident as soon as it comes out. MSRP is $7,995. I think I can afford that Hoorah!

https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/m...dsters/trident

 

That's interesting. I didn't know Triumph had a 660. Seems like a neat package. It still appears to have that dumb rider/passenger saddle setup that many bikes in this category have. I wish they'd quit trying to make these standard/naked bikes fit into the sportbike, crotch-rocket category. That pricing sounds good, and the 3-cylinder engine should sound good too.