Articles - Tech Talks

In this month’s tech talk, Carl talks about the benefits of LED lighting. While many manufacturers have kept their dual-sport models pretty much the same since the late 1900s, you can still take add new technologies like LEDs to make your ride safer.

In this month’s tech talk, Carl talks about the importance of having matching rims and spokes when putting a wheel together.

We hear from a lot of customers who dent a rim, bend some spokes, or just want a different rim on their bike. We also hear from customers who bought a rim somewhere and just need us to get them a new set of spokes. Unfortunately, not all rims and spokes go together.

In this month’s tech talk, Carl gives an overview of fuel petcocks and walks through the process of rebuilding one. Fuel petcocks sit between the tank and the carburetor, and are typically either vacuum-fed or gravity-fed.

In this month’s tech talk, Carl will demonstrate how to properly apply anti-seize paste. Anti-seize paste contains copper, aluminum, or zinc particles mixed with bearing grease, and helps keep your parts lubricated so that they do not seize up, even after being exposed to extreme temperatures or the elements.

Copper-based anti-seize are suited for high-temperature applications such as spark plugs, head bolts, or brake calipers. Aluminum-based pastes can be used for things like triple-clamp mounts or handlebar mounts.

In this month’s tech talk, we will go over how to replace the throttle return spring on a Mikuni TM40 carburetor that’s often used as an aftermarket option on the Suzuki DR650, Honda XL650L, and Kawasaki KLR 650. Many of our customers feel that the stock spring is too stiff, making it harder to rev up their bikes and straining their wrists on long rides.

In this month’s tech talk, we are going to go over bonding the rings onto a Mikuni TM40 carburetor for use on the Suzuki DR650. We sell these rings in the DR650 conversion kit, and have received a few questions on the process of attaching them to the carb.

The kit we sell includes two rings: the larger for the airbox side and the smaller for the cylinder side. We use a good 2-part epoxy (such as Devcon Home 2-ton Epoxy) to bond the rings. Following these instructions will allow for many miles of smiles.

We all know that riding a motorcycle can be risky. However, there are many things we can do to make our riding safer.

Being fatigued can cause us to become less aware of our surroundings and cause us to make mistakes in controlling our motorcycles. So first, don’t over-ride. If you’re feeling tired, take a break and stop riding for a while to recharge. Sometimes, you may not even know that you’re tired. If you have been riding for a long period of time, take some time to stop, relax, and get some refreshments.

We often get asked by customers what size sprockets they should put on their bikes. The answer depends heavily on the type of riding you intend to do. Bike manufacturers typically choose a standard front and rear sprocket ratio that is good for “all around” riding, but depending on whether you ride primarily off-road or for long highway stretches, you may want to change that gearing.

Occasionally when we're riding and come off the throttle, we hear a loud popping. This is particularly noticeable if you've installed a new exhaust system or jet kit. In this month's tech talk, we'll explain what causes decel pop, whether it hurts your bike, and what you can do to reduce it.

We get a lot of questions from customers about how best to set up their suspensions. This can be a tough question to answer, because so many riders are looking for different results. Some riders are just street riding with very little off-road, others are full off-road, and others are somewhere in between. While we have lots of choices for forks and shocks to have your bike perform better for you, you should not forget about tuning the suspension, including setting the sag. An appropriate amount of sag allows the shock enough travel to perform well on compression and rebound.