Pottering around...

[glitch_oz]

A random thread about a little garage in Oz...and some ideas about farkling a Strada (yeah...just because it was one of the last TR's availablle and there weren't any Terras left, shrug).

Bought the bike to put on the blocks for the first 6months or so of its life, fiddle and farkle, get a feel and an idea of how it's put together, and make up some bits I reckon I'll need for my riding lateron.
It'll transform to a 21" front (when/ if I ever come across a suitable BMW wheel)... I might keep the 17 rear, 'cause there's plenty of rubber of choice around for the riding I plan to do with it.
And I hate fixing tubed hoops! Especially rears!

I'll update the thread with thoughts and pics as the project rolls along.
There's still a long summer + autumn/fall ahead

 

[Aaron Simpson]

Hahaha ! You should have bought mine Pete

 

[glitch_oz]

All good, mate.
Not fussed either way...the price seemed to good to pass up.
Happy to forego 6mths of the 24mths warranty at that. Got another bike to ride for the meantime...

 

[Aaron Simpson]

Im just pulling ya leg Im moping around the house now with nothing to ride ((

 

[Next]

Welcome, and congrats!

I bought my Strada last year and "Terra-fied" it too--you will love it. 21/18 wheels, Terra bodywork change, and many farkles-- In case you are working on a list: Pro taper high bend ATV bars--no risers needed, 12v at the bars, Garmin GPS, Seat Concepts seat, heated grips, touratech side-stand foot and hand guards, Husky windshield, SW Motech crash bars and skid plate, Wuka King plug, and a few other things I can't think of.

You may be glad you have the Strada's ABS (though I think you guys can get the ABS on a Terra in OZ). Never had a bike with Anti-locks before this, but will not likely have a bike without it again. These thing are a hoot, go anywhere fun. I wish it was about 50lbs lighter, but even at just over 400lbs it's tough to beat these bikes without spending 2-3 times more moolah.

Enjoy the new bike, and please do post up your progress with it.

 

[RidingDonkeys]

Next, I'm jealous of your bars. I wish I had gone that route instead of risers. I'm stuck with what I've got for now. Maybe I'll crash soon and have an excuse to upgrade.

 

[glitch_oz]

Welcome, and congrats!

Pro taper high bend ATV bars--no risers needed, Seat Concepts seat, heated grips, touratech side-stand foot and hand guards, Husky windshield, SW Motech crash bars and skid plate, Wuka King plug, and a few other things I can't think of.

Not exactly working by a list...but THANKS for that idea
Got the seat sitting there to be modded/ re-shaped (that'll be done in-house), the little "screen" is off to a local marine guy as a sample to make a proper/ higher screen, Motech bars are in the mail, a B+B bashplate is sitting on the bench to be modded before fitting together with the bars and a pack of thermistors is underway to "Eruptionize" everything
Yes, there were a handful of ABS Terras sold here, 6 or 8 of them IIRC.
Thanks for looking in

 

[glitch_oz]

Bought a cheap 2.hand B+B bashplate from a guy on ADV some months back (way before buying the bike

The B+B's generally have one great advantage:
Hanger brackets and attachments are mostly separate bolt-on parts, NOT welded to the actual bashplate. Easy to work on, easy to mod.
Which makes it easy enough to home-bodge some hanger-brackets from sheet-alloy or even mild steel to suit the bike in question, then drill and mod the plate to suit various bikes, not just the one it was intended for.

First the weigh-in:

Jeez!!

Then a good, close look at the design of the thing, as I always found the B+B stuff WAAAYYY overspecced for the job (too thick/heavy/rugged etc) and always with a MAJOR flaw: the actual attachment points are miles beefier than the structure they're bolted to, that being the parts of the bike they're designed to be attached to.
Typical example was their bashplate for the V-Stroms. The Strom plate's front mount was bolted to the front cylinder head via a thick alloy-bracket, to which the plate was bolted.
Any solid enough hit/ belly-slam would force the front part of the plate upwards, most likely at some obscure angle-of-impact loading up one of the 2 mounting bolts on the cylinder head. There goes the cyl-head/ barrel...


Looking at the item here brought all that to the fore again, as the front mounting bracket is a COLOSSAL affair with 2 huge bolts going through the lower front downtube of the frame. Follow the front frame tube up and discover a major narrowing of the profile, the weakest part being just underneath the steering head pivot.

Additionally, the bashplate is mounted to its own bracket with speedclips and 2x8mm bolts near the upper edge. These 2 bolts are the weakest point of the actual front mount, making everything else totally over-specced and lardy.

To me, a bashplate is the sacrificial part of the equation, I want to prevent damage to the bike!!
So...the brackets will be cut down to half or less to become the "weak-spot" of the whole affair, the overall plate will be trimmed by around 35%, hopefully getting the whole thing down to the 2kg mark or less.

 

[glitch_oz]

A sidestand foot extension seems a good idea for the bike, the OEM item is fairly skimpy and overall a bit too short anyway.
Found some scrap 12mm (~1/2") alum plate in the dark recesses of the garage and wasted a lazy Sunday afternoon on this.

Next....make some plugs for those ugly "open pipes" all around the bike.

 

[Clete]

Now that's a sidestand foot extension i would put on my bike, those other sidestand extensions out there, not so much. Good work glitch, cant wait to see the frame plugs

 

[vodka]

heh heh.... used a piece from aluminium meat tenderizer..made huge difference ,especially if the left side ground tended to fall away

 

[glitch_oz]

heh heh.... used a piece from aluminium meat tenderizer..made huge difference ,especially if the left side ground tended to fall away

I know....saw the pics and went shopping for one at the local Coles/ Woolies.
Found the perfect tenderizer for the DL650 , hehe
Thanks to you there's a Zook with a nicely profiled foot now.
The other side of the thing was too small to match the plate of the Husky though...had to scrounge around for something else and not quite as thick as that tenderizer :-))

 

[glitch_oz]

The B+B front bracket...chopped to retain the upper half only.

Due to the SWM crashbars, the bracket needed further modding, like reversing the speed-clips and various cut-outs/ trimming.

Mounted with the crashbars

Good on SWM to allow for the use/ fitting of a skidplate by providing separate spacers.

Trimming the rear B+B mount, 2 new holes marked inside the mounting arms.

Not all, but most of the weight-saving on the B+B alone.

Outside temps of 42C+ / 110F made the tin-garage an oven while hacksawing this thing into shape.

Next...the "water-in-swingarm" issue. Pulled the 2 laughable plastic pins

...cleaned up with metho and got a pack of those (PERFECT fit!!)

...some black plumbers/ roofing silicone

...and before the rear wheel goes back in, might as well spend $20 on a pair of Nachi's and a fresh seal, all from the local bearing shop. That should take care of any possible rear wheel bearing issues as read about here and the German Husky forum.

More once I finished those frame-plugs and found a way to extend the front brake line which is too short for risers...or in this case, the ProTaper ATV High Bend bars.
All else fits but the front brake line, which is also curled like a pigs tail around the steering head tube ex factory. Arghhh Italian!!
Front master cyl overfilled by dealer pre-delivery I guess....started to weep when it expanded in the hot weather.

2 custom screens will be finished (drilled) today, seat re-shaping is started. Pics to follow.

 

[Next]

Try re-routing your brake line. I am running the ATV Hi-bend with the stock setup. I can post a pic if you like.

 

[glitch_oz]

Try re-routing your brake line. I am running the ATV Hi-bend with the stock setup. I can post a pic if you like.

There's nothing to re-route....there's a joiner where the fixed tubing turns into the braided line via a crimped fitting of some sort, then the braided line runs around the head-tube straight into the master cyl..
Moved the fixed line out of its holding clip and up a little, but that possibly gives 1/8"....and I need at least 1.5" to have a comfortable fit of brake-line at full right steering lock.

I've even looked into straightening the fixed tubing a little here or there, but that only shifts the fixed/flexible joiner into an impossible position, where it gets even more stress when the bars are turned to right lock.
Nope...no go.
This needs some sort of hardware changes.

 

[Next]

Hmm. I have been running mine with the risers or High Bends for a while (3000 miles) and had no issue. I took a gander and a video this morning--sorry of the poor quality, I was running off to work. At full right lock it gets a little tight but still has some play. Sitting at my desk at work I realized that this play might not be enough with the suspension unloaded. I get home late tonight, but either today or tomorrow I will put the bike on the lift and check again with the suspension unloaded.

http://s212.photobucket.com/user/NextFiero/media/BrakelineVid_zpsf499ef59.mp4.html


You may have save me from ripping out a brake line. Do let us know what size/brand you end up going with. I may be in the market to order one soon. I will also post a pic/vid of brake line with the suspension unloaded soon.

 

[RidingDonkeys]

Just to clarify here, are we talking about the brake line, or the cable? My brake line had plenty of room for my PowerMadd risers, but I did have to reroute the cable.

 

[Next]

Brake line off the master cylinder, I think. At least that's what I was looking at this morning. I tried to load the video differently, hopefully it is viewable now. I was in a rush this morning and didn't really look into it more than to take a quick video. I do want to unload the suspension to see how much play (if any) there is with the shocks fully extended and at full right lock.

 

[glitch_oz]

Hmmm...there's all sorts of terms used here, let's try to sort it out.
Strada, stock setup, only change is the swapout of the stock bars for a ProTaper ATV-High.

From the front brake master cyl. the front brake line is a piece of stock braided line with a Banjo on the master cyl, the other side curls around the steering head tube to the left side of the headstock of the bike. I'll attach a pic that someone else posted here to show the joiner that joins the flexible braided line with the fixed tube that continues on to the ABS unit.
It's the upper line in the pic attached.
The lower line in the pic is a very similar affair with the tube coming from the ABS unit, being joined to the flex braided line which coninues on to the front caliper.

There's no brake cable? (or does that mean the, electrical, ABS sensor cable coming from the front wheel??) nor is any suspension play the issue.
It's purely the piece of flexible braided line from the joiner to the Master Cyl. not being long enough when the bars approach anything like full lock. The brake line stretches tight around the steering head and tears on the banjo fitting as well as on the joiner end.

 

[Next]

Hey Glitch. I promise to leave you alone after this.

I just took a look at my setup and you are right. Since the hose goes up under the cowling and then has a separate fitting for the bottom section there is plenty of slack on the bottom, and no risk of the suspension affecting the connection to the master cylinder. That said, I am totally fine at full right and left lock with the stock hoses and the ATV Hi Bends. The hoses will even take the slightly taller Rox Risers with the stock bars.

I totally understand if you prefer a longer line for peace of mind, it's close. All the best whatever you decide to do.