Hey all,
Just thought I'd share a couple little tips that make things a touch easier.
I apologize for the crappy photos; I only had my iPhone with me today.
Ever had your day shortened when you fell on the right side of the bike and the brake lever
punched a small hole in the case? I have and it was a drag. Expensive, too.
So I take a preemptive measure by cutting a small piece of aluminum to the shape shown, give
it a little concave with a ball peen hammer so it matches the contour a little better, and
then epoxy it in place.
You know how when you're pulling the air filter, that top lip is loaded with dirt and sooner or later you're going
to drop some in the boot. Crap!!! I put a piece of tape that overlaps the filter just a little to prevent this. It's not really stuck to the filter so any airflow loss is negligible. You don't need to overlap it as much as shown here; I just did that for emphasis.
You're going to like this one! Everyone knows the 500 is a vibrating mofo and everyone knows about filling the bars with silicone. One day I had my subframe off and tossed it on the garage floor. It rang out like a tuning fork gone berserk. Hmmmmmmmm . . . . So I drilled a couple small holes and filled the subby with silicone. (I later realized that you can simply squirt the silicone in the various bolt inserts scattered throughout the subby. Oh well, live and learn.) It
does help . . . a
little. Not a lot; it's not the holy grail of vibration reduction but it does help just a touch.
(No photo for this mod.)
Morton, reporting for KXRiders, over and out.
Braaaapppppp!!