Grace (BikeHedonia)

Fixed the high idle issue. Low tech solution. $10.

On 28/02/2022 at 18:16, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

I’ve never been in an automatic that doesn’t give the option to change to semi automatic where you can control the gear changes. Do they have exist? I dunno  
 

The hilux has manual shift and low range but still don't get enough engine braking for the gnarly stuff. Not like cruising down a mountain in an old landcruiser in first or second gear.

On 01/03/2022 at 01:43, Sir Fallsalot said:

Don't leave it in drive you can down shift an auto manually and it stays in that gear. I used to go down some real steep stuff in my Toyota surf purely on engine braking no problem 

It's not enough on the new Hiluxes. You put it in low range and manually down shift and you still don't get the engine braking you need

On 26/02/2022 at 18:45, boboneleg said:

Oooooooooooooh  the big boys don't like driving unless they can move their hands about.  You stick to your manuals and I'll just cruise along in my autos .

Changing gear manually in a car.............  no 17 in life's pointless exercises

Having lost brakes due to overheating two out of the three times I've tried to drive down our local mountain in an automatic four wheel drive, I must beg to differ. Please give me back a manual transmission and some decent engine braking because I'm having too much fun to die. And also I'm sick of sitting on the mountain as it gets dark, waiting for the brakes to cool...

10 hours ago, Pedro said:

My Honda XR400's manual asks for an oil change every 1000 miles. Honda assumes it's a racebike, as it was meant to be back then, people however take them touring and do 5 times that with no issues. 

I do like the xr400. A good bike for mustering cattle, among other things.

13 hours ago, Pedro said:

If you heat it up enough, any clutch will fall apart. You can burn through a clutch in 1km or the same one last 100000 if used gently on the road, considering the abuse it's not surprising, ideally next time just stop for a breather when you feel it start to slide at first.

Also, if that is the abuse the bike is going to get it's better you adopt closer oil change intervals, and maybe put stronger clutch springs in, too. Kawasaki clearly thought you'd use it differently when advising on maintenance.

I guess it's a more delicate animal than the other machines I've been riding. I did let it have a little nap in the rain when I first felt it slipping but yeah didn't seem to do the trick.

Yes, totally agree with you re service intervals, I will be changing oil etc much more frequently. Interestingly, it has the same engine (but different mapping etc) as the KLX230R, and comparing the service interval recommendations for the two bikes is like cheese and chalk. 

2 hours ago, Catteeclan said:

Just guessing. Running in oil's not so slippery to allow the engine to bed in. I shouldn't think it'd allow the clutch to wear faster but you never know.

If you had that little play at the lever then it should be fine.

Interesting thought re: running in oil. Thanks.

5 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

I had the clutch give out on my XR a while back after struggling to get up a gnarly lane, it failed as i got back onto the road i couldn't touch the throttle as it would slip so i backed off all the adjustment at the handlebar and i got it to bite again but to get it right i had to back off the cable adjustment down by the engine as well it's been ok since no slipping at all 

Oh how strange. Yes I tried backing off the adjustment and waiting until the bike was cool, to no avail. But didn't changet the cable adjustment down by the engine...

7 hours ago, Catteeclan said:

Not sill on the running in oil?

Yes, Kawasaki just said, "don't go over 4,000 revs and change it after 1,000km". Is there something else I should know?

Thank you for everyone's thoughts by the way, I appreciate it

4 minutes ago, XTreme said:

They didn't put car oil with those friction additives in there did they?

Nah this came straight from the factory

5 minutes ago, Catteeclan said:

I guess it's possible the cable was adjusted wrong but would think you'd notice it sliding with your experience.
I also wonder as it's a road going model whether its not as good a clutch as the off road.

Yeah I definitely didn't notice any slipping until the final hill where it gave out rapidly and totally. I think you might be right about quality though. Although the klx230r and klx230 have basically the same engine, their maintenance schedules are unbelievably different.  The R is clearly in a different performance (and stress) league than the standard, and it makes you wonder what else has been bodged on the inside to keep the cost of the standard edition down, on the assumption that it won't be working so hard.

3 minutes ago, Tym said:

My soft spotz my wallet thats why im still on my KLR.... If i was somebody id ride a Yamaha. 

off road yammies like hen's teeth around here

1 minute ago, Tym said:

I think she would look great on a Kawasaki. 

Diplomatically avoiding the question haha

Well done

I have a slight soft spot for Kwakas because my first road bike was a zzr250... the beginning of many things

4 hours ago, boboneleg said:

Good job you're young and fit, some of those trails look like goat tracks

I could have done with a tow from a few mountain goats a few times there...

26 minutes ago, Catteeclan said:

Bummer with the clutch but I guess it wasn't expecting that ride at the beginning of it's life.

Neither was I. 

Having said that, I didn't flog the shit out of it any more than usual, and even if I did it should have endured more than 220km of punishment. I wonder if it was not adjusted right from the factory, or if something went wrong when they chucked the aftermarket levers on? It doesn't make sense to get 90,000km out of one set of clutch plates on the KTM and 220km from one set of clutch plates on the KLX...

So I was like, "let's check out this new remote route through the wilderness!" and THREE DAYS LATER we made it home. Turns out that it was most likely a drug smuggling track not a normal trail... lol.
 

That looks genuinely delightful. 

13 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

With the trail riding i do on the 650 and xr400 i run tubes because there's always a lot of road work and i like to keep up a good speed on the road and always carry spares and tools to change them. with the XTrainer i use mousses because you just cant puncture them i run a 120 Mousse in a 140 tyre so when the mousse is new its the equivalent of about 10 psi now it has 1500 miles on it it's more like 6psi  when it starts getting really soft i'll stick it in a 120 tyre
I was thinking of tubliss but I was out a few months ago with a lad using tubliss system and he had a rip in the sidewall of the tyre, he had a tubeless repair kit but it was no good to fix this. A fix would have meant putting a tube in so that means carrying tools and tubes again so i decided to stick with mousses 

I still run tubes on my 690 (my round the world, get-stuck-in-random-places-alone bike) because of the repair issue you just mentioned, i.e. what do you when there's a serious tear to the carcass of the tyre. 

That is wild

2 minutes ago, Catteeclan said:

We don't bother with gifts/flowers anymore, sometimes go out for a drink n food.

Bunch of roses going for £275 in London, she'd smack me about the head if I spent that. 

good god, and I'd agree with her. That's KTM parts prices!! My roses cost me about 2 pounds

1 minute ago, Catteeclan said:

Not always your heart they're after.

That's okay, I'm shallow too.

6 minutes ago, Tym said:

Do they stop looking for you after 5 years? Some States do here. 

I wish student loans worked like that too...

2 minutes ago, Tym said:

Do they stop looking for you after 5 years? Some States do here. 

statute of limitations is usually only 2 or 3 years... a little longer for the felonies

Even better than valentine's day is today - the day after - it's my anniversary of departure. 5 years exactly.