I gave my Redheaded Mistress her initial break in today. What a great piece of machinery. I am really impressed with it. My Mistress before she decided to get dirty with me We headed to my friend Docs taking it easy until I got some legs on the new bike. It was a glorious day for riding despite the company I had to keep. Doc hamming it up near the Kings River Doc and Jim. Once again, Doc is still in 5th grade. No, really! I mean it. I did 139 miles on the day and averaged 55.9 miles per gallon The bike performed really well. It was sure footed even with factory tires (Metzler Saharas). I need to adjust the preload on the rear shock yet but the bike was very planted and the only real trouble I had was stopping on steep long downhill runs. I slid about a bit but nothing serious. My racks came today too. The thing is bullet proof.
I am farkling and modifying my bike this week since I am essentially snowed in (well, iced in). I thought I would provide a pictorial of the things I've done along the way. Altrider Skid Plate SW Moto Engine protection and regulator protection Centech AP-1 Fuse block and relay tied into the tail light to activate with the key on, three circuits. One for heated grips, one for my tank bag and one for GPS. Laminar windshield Ram mounts for my 276c and SPOT 3 BRMoto side and top racks I did the fender-ectomy too. Removed the heavy license plate holder, cut off about 4 inches of fender, reinforced the top of the license plate with a piece of 2" aluminum to provide a good anchor plate. Cannister-ectomy Added rub protection for the clutch cable Fender bag relocation and heat shield Radiator protection (1/2" expanded metal) & tool tube I have also disabled the sidestand switch and did a gas filler castration. Yes, I removed it's balls (well one ball, one pressure venting washer and one spring to be exact). This mod has been proven to keep gas pressurization from occuring. In addition I have heated grips and Cycras on the way.
How do you like the laminar shield? I have the Husky mini-fairing. It does a decent job, but i am planning more longer trips and thinking about upgrading.
The Laminar works well. It did require trimming around the headlight assembly. I get really good calm air in the cockpit with the air flowing above my helmet. No buffeting either. However, I did use my heat gun and did a re-shape job on the very top 2" of the shield and bent it forward to help throw the air further above my head. I had this same shield on my DRZ but it works better on this bike. My main consideration was that when I stand and go up steep uphill the my head and helmet don't make contact with the top of the shield and it is fine in that regard.
I would be concerned about vibration causing the heat shield to start chaffing the straps and inevitably cutting through them. There's no real need to have head shielding all the way to the bottom of the rack where those straps wrap around, because the pipe is nowhere near there. If it were mine, I'd fold the bottom inch or so of the shield up and keep it away from those straps, and presenting a smooth edge to the fendor bag.
