The great FE501 conversion

Why bother with indicators on that type of bike?
 
Why bother with indicators on that type of bike?

Because I want to ride it to places like Bulgaria or the Baltic States and they act like little orange comfort blankets in heavy traffic :D

If I was going to pay someone to transport the bike for me then I’d feel differently but at the moment that isn’t in my plans so things like mirrors & indicators will be getting swapped on and off the bike depending on what I’m doing.
 
Even the hedgehog wants a look at the 501!

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The first piccie...is of a rear wheel & a hedgehog.....;)

You want miracles?

I had planned to stick the bike in front of the garage and take a couple of photos now it’s got the satnav wired in and my old KTM tankbag sits nicely in place but rugby and getting ready for work prevented that from happening.

Now I know some would question putting a tankbag on an enduro bike but I need to carry a disc lock everywhere until I put an ignition lock into the kill switch wiring and in 4 days time I’m catching a ferry from Harwich and it’s just a whole lot easier if phone, passport and eTab are in the tankbag than digging through pockets or using a backpack.
 
I’m hoping that the latest version of the luggage plate/side carriers is up to the job of keeping a pair of Wolfman panniers from slapping about plus hold a rollbag with a tent and sleeping bag otherwise I’m back to square one on that front.

A few people over on the ADV forum have complained about slow delivery on parts going to the US but given that I’ll be throwing a lot of cash in their direction of which a fair part will be going towards bought in parts they shouldn’t be too slack when it comes to completing the task. The first planned run out for the bike is up to Denmark for a rally in January and while I can use my 1150 if I need to I’d sooner be using the 501 if only because it’s the new toy.

They need the bike for at least 4 weeks because they’ve not built a tower for the MY20 bike yet and they’re expecting to need to make a few changes to the profile of the fixing plates for the fairing then they’ve got to get them anodised but there shouldn’t be any other changes necessary. I’ve ordered a 17l fuel tank from them to give me at least another 75 miles worth of range and though I thought there were changes to the tank on this years bike they seem to think there’s nothing that will take a long time to sort out. Only time will tell on that one.

One thing they claim which I’m a bit wary of is that because they’re changing it to use LED lights I can run heated grips and a heated jacket but even though I always turn off heated gear at least 30 minutes before stopping for the day I think I’ll fit a voltmeter or similar so I can keep an eye on the battery status.

I use symtec heated grips and a gps on my KTM 350 EXC wired through a switched timer relay and have never had any problems with the battery, and that’s with standard lights so you should be fine. If you don’t have a heated jacket I’d recommend Warm’n’Safe with a remote control, much nicer than the normal gebring or keis offerings


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Here it is at Harwich about to board the ferry for a little trip to the land of dykes & clogs.

Unfortunately it had a little lie down at a petrol station and now has a shorter front brake lever than when it left home but such is life and I’ll not be losing any sleep over it.

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Yes, that’s a can of beer on the footrest

For those that worry about minor issues like fuel consumption the road trip app on my phone says it was returning close to 70mpg riding to Harwich this evening so that’s not bad


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Andy, are you going to take some 'before' photo's so we get an appreciation of the conversion?

As for the front brake lever.....you can always use the rear brake until your people replace the front during the conversion :D
 
so I made it even more of a lump by putting a chair on my then leaving it to rot in the garage because it was crap on tarmac and scared me on dirt :blast

Are you planning to sell it? If so splitting it might be better. I'd potentially be interested in the chair. Trying to motivate myself to start the swing setup in the quest to resolve some of the issues with mine...failed miserably so far.
 
That’s me back on the ferry drinking beer again 🍺

I might have to do a couple of weeks of night shifts after acting like a kid in a sweet shop and the shopping list grew faster than a politician tells lies. The ‘rough’ list is as below:

Travel tower.
Bigger tank.
Luggage rack and side plates to keep soft panniers off the panels.
Replacement seat so my arse doesn’t bleed after sitting on the standard razor blade one.
New wheels.
Discs & sprocket for the wheels.
New tyres and tubes.
Steering damper.
Bark busters.
Nice bright LED headlights.
Heated grips.
New clutch cover to increase the oil capacity.

I’ve asked for 2 USB charging points plus a DIN one, ram mount for my sat nav on the tower, ignition key, micro indicators, small mirrors, chain oiler and I forgot to ask when I was there but I’ll get a charging socket for an Optimate fitted to the tower so the bike can be plugged in when it’s in the garage.

They’re not sure if they can fit a bash plate with a built in toolbox because of where the exhaust runs but if they can they will do.

Basically it’s going to be costing me something approaching the GDP of a 3rd World country but I’ll just pretend it’s my annual bonus and forget it.

Will it be worth it? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t but the bike will still be significantly lighter than a stock 701 or 690 Enduro or to put it in a way GS owners will understand, about 40% of the weight of a new GS. If I didn’t think it would be a riot to ride on unmade roads or trails in Eastern Europe I wouldn’t be bothering though getting there would be much easier on a GS.
 
The flexible approach has already been called upon. I ordered new wheels with black rims and black hubs so they emailed me late yesterday and said there was a longer lead time on those but I could get it finished quicker if I went for blue. Ok, I really don’t care so I’ll go for blue.
 
sounds like its going to be one hell offa good bike. the rims will look awesome . I should think you'll need to be working nights till Christmas to pay for it though :D

dibs :green gri
 
sounds like its going to be one hell offa good bike. the rims will look awesome . I should think you'll need to be working nights till Christmas to pay for it though :D

dibs :green gri

I’m hoping it does everything I want from it. The big question is how much can I stretch the time between oil changes, I’m fitting a bigger clutch cover to increase the capacity and I’m tempted to go for an oil cooler which should move it out a bit further. I’ll play games and get the oil analysed at work to get a clearer picture then just be sensible and keep in mind how I’ve been riding it.
 
I’m hoping it does everything I want from it. The big question is how much can I stretch the time between oil changes, I’m fitting a bigger clutch cover to increase the capacity and I’m tempted to go for an oil cooler which should move it out a bit further. I’ll play games and get the oil analysed at work to get a clearer picture then just be sensible and keep in mind how I’ve been riding it.

You should already be able to stretch the oil changes to 2K miles :thumb2
 
You should already be able to stretch the oil changes to 2K miles :thumb2

That’s good to know, I shouldn’t need to worry about an oil cooler if that’s the case because 2k would mean a change mid trip on my normal summer jollies and that’s not a big deal by any standards.
 
I ran my 525 for just shy of 2000 miles this summer with Tim without an issue. By the end of the trip neutral was slightly harder to find than at the start, and the oil in the sight glass was darker. When I dropped the oil back at home there was no sludge or metal bits on the screens or in the filters, so I wouldn't worry about doing it again. Obviously this is only my experience, yours may be different...….:D
Mark
 


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