bikes – what else matters!
Once I removed some of the body work I could see the left hand radiator was dented.
Thought I’d try my slide hammer and had a great result.
The one thing it does highlight is that the radiators are very soft so will need to investigate some kind of radiator bracing.
Kove has arrive with much more damage than was visible on eBay, I guess that’s the chance you take.
Current issues to be sorted –
Fixes underway
Removing the graphics glue is proving a nightmare. Tried WD40, Meths and Goo-Gone with no effect. Current working option is heating the glue with a hair dryer and smearing the glue into globs you can pick off, time consuming but effective.
Awaiting delivery …..
Its stolen recovered but the price was a massive saving as its only 10 months old. From the photos it will need new graphics set, screen and ignition switch. Fingers crossed there’s nothing major.
Does mean something has to go from the garage, which is going to be a tough decision.
There are two things I’ve always disliked about the Adventure and that’s the indicators and enormous rear light. Indicators were fixed with KTM EXC ones and the rear light has now been sorted with a kit from Twalcom in Italy. They do a great range of upgrade parts, unfortunately in the UK we get hit with import fees due to the Brexit fuckwits.
The kit consists of a modified led rear light, some aluminium brackets and a custom number plate holder that is quick release if you’re off roading.
Fitting is easy, basically remove rear light and mount, swap some spacers over and fit new bracket etc. Only issue for the UK is the number plate holder isn’t the right shape for our number plates, so as a temp fix I just added a flexible plate at the top of the holder. When I get some free time I’ll design and 3D print one for UK plates.
The improvement is massive and highly recommended!
Bought one of Z Adventure‘s QR glovebox brackets. Good value and dead easy to fit.
My only issue was the bottom moulding had previously been drilled for a 12v socket, so tried to buy a new one to find, after weeks of waiting, its no longer in production.
Months of eBay searches revealed a NOS one the other day which I now have.
Certainly will make air filter changes a lot easier in the future, whilst I was at it I added a K&N filter.
I noticed when fitting the K&N that the secondary butterflies have been removed so guess some tuning has happened in the past, will checkout the engine mapping when I get a chance.
The bike came with a HID conversion but I didn’t like the buzzing noise from the HID controller and want to lose any weight I can, so I removed the HID wiring and bought some LED bulbs.
Only issue at the moment is I’m still looking for rubber cover that will fit the high beam bulb as the one I bought has a large heatsink.
You can see the difference the lighting has gone from the blue tone to a much whiter one. IF the bulbs would have been standard the difference would be massive.
Highly recommended and cheap improvement. Bulbs are H7 dipped and H3 high beam, I bought 20Twenty bulbs, only issue was the dipped ones came as a pair but I guess a spare is always useful.
Catching up on items done just before I moved into chaos.
Brake pedal had my standard steps –
Fitted new Stainless allen bolts to the pedal, a new bearing – 6082rs and made a new stainless adjuster out of an M6 bolt, cut to length then filed the end round.
Garage roof is being fixed in a few weeks and shed is nearly built then I can get my tools and all my bikes back.
Fantic XEF250 Trail soft spring is now available from Haines and is well worth the investment and the 10mins it takes to change.
Also slowly converting all images to webp format to speed up loading times.
Its been a bloody nightmare with ridiculous builder’s quotes. So garage rebuild has been shelved, as I’d rather spend £50k on bikes.
Managed to get the KTM home and have been doing a few maintenance jobs, but the garage has a long way to go. Fitting the door nearly killed me, as I had to do it by myself, so removing the old patio doors, what were they thinking, and then fitting the up and over door was hard work.
Next need to get shelving sorted so that I can get my tools and gear back and get rid of the bloody cardboard boxes.
Finally moved house to discover its in a worse state than expected. Ok, lets get some quotes – £24k for 10 windows and £50k to rebuild a single garage and new drive – WTF!
Need to come up with plan B as its driving me mad not having my bikes out of storage.
Did get the custom spring fitted to the Fantic XEF250 Trail though and everyone who’s tested the suspension has said how much better it is over stock, that you can actually feel the shock working instead of just fighting the spring.