I’ve been looking for something minimalistic that is compatible with the 7/8” bars on my XR650L. I want to keep the phone as centered as possible without some super tall mount (feel like most mounts are aesthetically ugly). Seems like the bar pad would give a little bit of vibration dampening as well. Anyone have any experience with this mount?
I’m trying to add my Apple Card to my WeChat wallet for my trip to mainland China as it’s my understanding that US cards and ApplePay are not usually accepted. I keep getting the error in the screenshot. I tried calling the Apple Card help number and they basically said that there is nothing they can do about it and to use a different form of payment. He mentioned something about their policies. Has this been anyone else’s experience or did I just get an unhelpful customer service representative? I was really looking forward to taking advantage of the 0% foreign transaction fees.
Thought I would make a quick little write up on how to accomplish this since I could only find a couple forum posts talking about this and there are additional details I found out about by trial and error when trying to get my KC LED Daylighters to come on with the high beams. This isn't menat to be a comprehensive step by step guide to wring auxiliary lights, this assumes you know the basics of automotive wiring. This is just meant to help anyone in the future who is trying to figure out how to do this specific task due to it being a little bit odd. This applies to pretty much all mid to late 80's pickups and 4runners since they all used a ground switching circuit for the lights which makes things confusing (at least to me).
See the wiring diagram for details but essentially, you will need to tap into the ground wire for the high beam circuit (red/yellow wire) and this will be the trigger ground for your new relay. I had this set up on the right side (passenger) of my truck so you will need to remove the battery to gain access to the right headlight connector. You will need some sort of power supply for your lights whether that is directly from the battery terminals or if you have an auxiliary fuse box added like I do. Just make sure you have an appropriately sized fuse. You will then need trigger power, this can either come from your aforementioned source that will power the lights or you can tap into the power wire of the headlights (red/black wire). If you do the former, your aux lights can be triggered regardless of status of the light switch. This runs the risk of leaving your aux lights on if you accidently have your high beam stalk pushed forward but the lights turned off. I opted to take trigger power from the headlights so I know when I turn all my lights off the auxiliary lights are off too regardless of the dimmer switch position.
Now for the most important detail I had to figure out on my own: if you have halogen headlight bulbs, they can allow the circuit to backfeed and do some odd stuff that will be confusing due to the nature of halogen bulbs. You need to add in a diode on the ground wire of the high beam ground wire (red/yellow) in between your tap and the headlight connector on both headlights. If you skip this step with halogen bulbs, your aux lights will turn on regardless of the dimmer switch position because it will backfeed the negative side of the relay through the bulb and ground through the low beam side.
Let me know if you have any questions. Again, this isn't meant to be a super comprehensive guide, just more of some tips/hints if you are trying to do this as I found the whole ground switching circuit and the ground backfeeding through the bulbs to be super confusing despite having decent experience with automotive wiring.
I absolutely adore the way these tires look lol. I think they are the best looking A/T’s out there rn and they are reasonably priced. Mickey Thompson Baja Legend EXP 31x10.5R15, on early 80’s SR5 wheels.
Found a guy selling a 650R carb for cheap and was wondering if anyone knows how well it can be set up for our bikes and if it’s worth the time to tune it? I have my stock carb set up pretty much perfect with all the usual mods but it still doesn’t have that snappiness of a slide carb like a true dirt bike. Would love to get the Mikuni pumper carb but can’t justify the money and seems like the tuning is fairly complex with the addition of air jets to swap out.
I found one forum from years back saying the 650R carb fits perfect and runs better. Just wondering if anyone else out there has done this.
Well I feel like I’ve gotten lucky for too long and unfortunately finally had my first street accident after 5 years of riding. Pretty much the sum of it was that I was riding through a local twisty road in a neighborhood at about the speed limit and a dog shot out from someone’s driveway and nailed me so fast I had no time to react. Thought in the moment I could ride it out but hadtolayerdown or I got bucked, I honestly don’t remember exactly. My bike (XR650L) ended up in the middle of the street with me 10-20 ft down the road on the opposite side. From what I saw, my bike faired alright but unfortunately I was told the dog passed away. Apparently the owner was gone and left their gate wide open.
Anyways I ended up with some moderate road rash and a broken hip/pelvis in two spots. I feel relatively lucky all in all and they say my break isn’t too bad and might not need surgery. Now for the gear review:
Troy Lee Designs SE4 (Mips): only had some light abrasion with the visor detaching on one side. I don’t think my head hit too hard. I have no head trauma, and didn’t black out. Very happy, will buy another one when I’m back.
Icon Mesh AF jacket: I had a backpack so I didn’t really use the back protector. Landed mostly on my side and the elbow guard seemed to take a big part of the impact. Got road rash next to the pad where it was just mesh but it’s not bad. I feel that it provided reasonable protection for how cheap ($180 w/level 1 back protector) and light and breathable it is. I will probably buy another one.
Scorpion EXO Vortex Air gloves: doesn’t seem like I hit my hands too hard bc it of the lack of time to react/try to break my fall. There is is a good scrape on one of the knuckles but both of my hands are completely unscathed. Pretty happy for a $60 glove. Maybe I just got lucky with the way I fell, but I feel for the value and breath-ability they did their job. I probably could even ride in them again.
Generic Target work pants: goes without saying they didn’t do anything noticeable. I got some moderate road rash on both knees and my ass especially. To be fair though I don’t think riding pants would have saved my hip from the break, they probably would have just prevented the road rash.
Alpinestars SMX 6 v3 vented boots: I’ll concede my XR is not very heavy but I’m pretty sure the whole bike was on top of my legs at one point. I came out with zero damage or even discomfort to my lower legs/feet. The boots just look a little scraped, pretty sure I can put them back into service. I’m really glad I was wearing them bc I have a bad habit of only wearing work boots or sneakers.
Takeaways: I think continuing to wear riding boots or at the very least moto sneakers is gonna be a non-negotiable for me. I’ve gotten better about it over the last year. It they definitely saved me this time. I’m happy with my helmet, gloves, and jacket and will probably replace them with their updated variants. I feel conflicted about my pants. I could’ve had less road rash but that wouldn’t have done anything to prevent my hip fracture. I own a pair of riding pants but the reason I don’t wear them all the time is bc I get dirty for my work and don’t want to get them dirty and have to wash them multiple times a week. Maybe I should invest in multiple pairs. I knew the risk I was taking there. Maybe I should just suck it up and change every day at work.
As for me I’ll be in the hospital for the next day or two minimum to evaluate if I need surgery or not. They want to see if I can tolerate walking with a walker or crutches first bc the break isn’t displaced much
RIP to the dog, hope the owners double check their gate next time.
Made a simple bracket that bolts to the triple tree/stock dash mount using some 1/8” thick steel I had laying around. Actually made my headlight much more secure now, less slop. Wiring was super straight forward. Just have to finish wiring in the tachometer and make an extension for the speed sensor as I am mounting it on the rear brake caliper.
Working on refinishing my fender garnishes and want to replace the clips as some of them broke when removing. Does anyone know if there is a generic version of these available for cheaper on Amazon or eBay? I always buy the usual body clips and such from Amazon bc why would I pay triple the price for an OEM clip that will break just as easily. Can’t seem to find any exact replacements for these clips.
Has anyone put one of these or similar clutch lever/perches on their XR? I know I would have to bypass the clutch switch but I mainly just want to make sure the hot start lever can be hooked up to the choke cable ok? I know it won’t have the indents to hold it but my bike only needs the choke for like 30 seconds when cold starting.
Enjoying this nice Spring weather in SoCal before the heat returns
Need to replace the stock gauge cluster on my XR650L supermoto due to lack of cable drive. Was originally planning on going the Trail Tech route but stumbled upon this brand. I like the aesthetic of this gauge better than the Trail Tech and it’s similarly priced but can’t find too many pictures or reviews of it actually installed. Anyone have any experience with this gauge or other Koso gauges?
Hello, I’m currently part of a roller coaster design project in my engineering program. For part of our design we need to source a commercially available restraint system and show that it means the ASTM requirements (class 5 for our coaster design). I’m having trouble finding any details online of a restraint system. I’ve found a few major companies that state they make these systems or parts of them but they don’t provide any details. My professor wants us to be able to show that it meets the ASTM requirements and preferably show a diagram of how it works. Would anyone have any suggestions on where to find this?