Was looking for an excuse to keep me out of the pub, and reading some of the projects that folk on here and advrider have been doing to their XCs, I set about changing mine slightly to suit the trips I have planned.
Suspension, fuel capacity, and wind/weather protection were high on the agenda...... as was luggage but I obtained a Gaint Loop Coyote from Adventure Spec and the carried all the kit I need for what I wanted to do with this bike.
The Ohlins was form Stevie73 at Adventure Bike Warehouse, not cheap but a total transformation for the airshock, which I never liked form day one.
KTM 690EnduroR 48mm White Power forks have been fitted to the front, using a mix of KTM and BMW parts I have kept the standard XC bearing arrangement, used a set of 2008 EXC triple clamps and mounted the forks striaght in.
A brake caliper bracket and wheel spindle was purchased from my local KTM dealer, the standard caliper from the XC is the same as the 690.
Not wanting to run a floating disc as fitted to the 690, I arranged for Stealth Products in Sheffield to make a 300mm solid disc to mount to the front hub. I am still waiting for the delivery of the disc, which should be any day now.
Fuel capacity was increased to 26 litres by fitting a Touratech tank, which I bought in Belgium, for approx £140 cheaper than Plumb's outfit in South Wales. The tank has been piped up to operate via a syphon effect, so the original tank's breather is connected to the two fuel taps of the TT tank via a small filter unit under the seat. As the fuel pump send gas to the engine the vacuum draws fuel from the TT tank to the original tank. Several of the Europen owners have used this method and I have not heard of any issues of yet. I was not keen to drill holes into my original tank so this came as a bit of a relief.
The wheels came from Talon Engineering, which are a complete 690 front wheel with heavy duty stainless spokes, 1.6x21 Excel rim and Talon hub. The rear I have had to use my original XC hub and lace a 2.5x18 Excel rim on to it, again with hd stainless spokes. Both wheels have a billet rimlock in and are shod with Pirelli MT21 tyres.
I was looking at a Brittania Composite 'Lynx' fairing featured in one of the write-ups on advrider and thought they looked trick, so made some enquiries with the Canadian company. Then low and behold, Dave Emsley has one up for sale on ukgser, I couldn't believe my luck, it was in white too.
Being the universal kit, I set about mounting the unit, paying attention to wiring routing and how it would all behave whilst on the rough stuff. Electrical failures due to vibration are common, so was not taking a risks here. I have acouple of non standard sub-looms behind the cockpit already, one is for the Vision-X lamps and the other for the Oxford heated grips. These have all been routed together and mounted with zip-saddles. The stock dash display has been mount slighty to the right of the facia, with a TT lockable GPS mount being fitted to the left to carry a Garmin 60CSX. The stock ignition switch has had the steering lock removed and the switch mount above the dash. So I have rome for a trip meter and a roadbook holder should I get a bit frisky and want to do an event on it in the future.
Wanting to keep some indicators on the bike I found that Motrac make a silicone bodied 'Wibbly Wobbly' indicator, measuring in at 55mm long and with a 40mm lamp and a 6mm mounting screw hole, perfect for what I wanted. The rear mounts were easy, but the fronts I have made two small brackets for the time being but I'm still not 100% about these. Hopefully someone will mention a way of doing it one day.....
Next job is to get rid of the stock exhaust. I do have a Scorpian can here but even with the baffle in, it is too loud for my liking. I may try to repack this can or fit a defuser arrangement inside the baffle. Not sure what other exhausts are out there which a re reasonably quiet, and tipos will be gratefully received.
Oh well, for now that's it, here's a few pics of the bike so far.
Timpo.
) - same thing happened, but this time the number plate stayed on because of the zip ties and mangled the number plate light off
