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Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:24 pm
by Teethgrinder
My Caribou cases arrived today, at long last. :ride: Just finished assembling the actual cases, but running out of daylight. I will do the rack bright and early in the AM, then pics. I love them already, and the Pelicans look super nice. (For now). Also waiting on sweet new Givi engine guards, but I think the holiday is going to delay them. After engine guards comes:

PIAA lights
GPS mount of some sort for my Garmin, maybe simple RAM (No Zumo for me. Too many smackeroos :shrug: )
Minor electricals (power outlet, fuses)
Hyde Racing bash guard (Sexy!)
Handguards and heated grips before it gets cold in the fall.
Corbin or Sargent arse support.

I am ordering this stuff in no specific order, but once per pay-period (in my mind, this fools my wife into believing that I don't spend too much money on motorbike goodies. But only in my mind, I'm sure).

Pics of new farkle in this thread ASAP! :rickey:

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:39 pm
by RRob
:lurker:

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:04 am
by Bucho
If I wasn't so lazy and cheap I'd go for heated grips on all of my bikes.

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:39 am
by Rut Row
What color Caribou Cases did you get? I like mine - my only wish is that he made a top loading set.

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:29 pm
by Teethgrinder
Black, of course. And... they look smashing! Went on pretty easily (although I would recommend slightly clearer instructions to Caribou. If you weren't a little inclined mechanically, even a relatively simple job like this could get confusing - gotta appeal to the lowest common denominator). Everything sits the way it should, all the parts are present and nicely made.
After you finish oggling my new cases, please read below. I now have questions for those wiser than I...

Image

Image

Now: Let's talk luggage/cargo vs. suspension.

The approximate weight of this set-up (empty) is about 30-odd pounds. I am roughly 200 lbs, depending on the amount of cheeseburgers I may consume during any given week. The bike came from Japan with the rear pre-load set at 2 (5 being stiffest). I normally don't need to play with suspension for my purposes, but I may now. Logic (however twisted) says I should stiffen up, so I jacked it to 4. Plus I'm 2 bils, so I can compress a spring pretty well, right? Am I mistaken? Should I max the preload to 5 when bags are loaded?

Also: Tire pressure. The nominal number for my rear tire is 36 psi for one-up, 41 for 2-up. with this luggage system, would I be smart to go somewhere in the middle of those marks?

I appreciate all of your DAMN input as always -

And KenKylerKLRRider -or whatever your secret-spy alias is this week - do you have any plans for vinyl DAMN decals (the all weather kind?). One sure would look nice on one of those cases, no?
:loveit:

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:30 pm
by Rut Row
I have raising links on the KLR. For me alone, 1 is a little soft - 2 works better. Me with empty cases is a solid 2. Me plus a full kittle of traveling gear is a definite 3.

Best answer is try different settings and determine what works best for you.

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:41 pm
by mdubya
Like Ken says, try the different spring positions. All you want it to do is preserve the attitude/geometry of the bike so it handles comfortably and predictibly; too stiff and the bike will be harsh and nervous, too soft and the bike will wallow and not want to turn. If it just cruises along and carves thru turns confidently and predictiby (and allowing you to lean it as much as you want), then it is working fine.

Typically, preload will only change ride height. I don't know if your bike has a progressive spring on it. If it does, adding preload will stiffen the spring rate too. I would leave tire pressure alone. One of the worst things people do is run too much tire pressure IMO. Too much pressure makes the bike handle poorly and nervously.

But then again, what do I know? :lol8:

:roost:

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:55 pm
by Rut Row
Teethgrinder wrote:And KenKylerKLRRider -or whatever your secret-spy alias is this week - do you have any plans for vinyl DAMN decals (the all weather kind?). One sure would look nice on one of those cases, no?
:loveit:
we need to get Al to come up with a new design and get stickers done on vinyl instead of the cheap ass stuff CafePress uses.

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 6:10 pm
by Roadracer_Al
Clearly, everything depends on the exact tire, but 36 is about the most I'd normally run a tire.

The goal of adding preload (when compensating for added weight) is to raise the ride height to keep your footpegs/other junk from dragging in corners. That's it. It doesn't make the spring stiffer or any nonsense like that. In fact, it doesn't even put the spring in a "stiffer" part of the travel. Preload ONLY raises the ride height.

There is one rare exception - that's when the suspension is topped out even when it's loaded (rider+luggage on the bike), in which case, adding preload would actually put the spring in a stiffer part of the travel. HOWEVER, you'd never want to ride that bike because the excessively stiff rate would make the thing ride & handle like a hard-tail chopper.

Re: Commence Wee Farkling!

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 7:41 pm
by Teethgrinder
Good feedback all. Even before the case addition, on a couple of occasions, the Wee has gotten "sloppy" on me recently. Hard to explain. Where before, in a turn, it felt rock solid - once or twice lately I felt it get wiggly. User error, most likely.