Guys in the bone-dry desert on a 250lb bike, you guys kill me too. I could run slicks in that. Hell, I could ride a unicycle on slicks if the dirt is bone dry.

Come wrestle a 500lb adventurer tourer around in the greasy, snotty, rutted up back roads I end up on. You'll want the most aggressive knobs you can buy after the 4th time you've picked that bike up, your shift lever is snapped off, you wedged your entire leg into the soup under the pannier and now it's numb, your boots are cementing into the ground so bad your feet come out of them after you've stood the bike up (which just falls over again as soon as you take off). It can get Faustian if you don't have good tires.

Yes, it's somewhat stupid to ride in that shit on a big bike, but exploring some unimproved back roads and WV hollars is a ball until it gets swampy and your gravel road turns into a quad bog. Much easier to have aggressive meat on the wheels than fight a bike that's so heavy and tall. You never wanna be this guy...

I'm nuts though,  I ride slick ass tires in the mud too and because my bike doesn't weigh 500+ pounds I usually don't have to pick it EVER during the day.  




Take close note of how clean I still am.  That's because I'm able and smart enough  to ride around the swamp things homeland.

Took a little break from the long week and got the new horse out for another ride this aftenoon.  I played around the highway pegs.  When I first saw them on the bike, I thought those are way too high to do any good, but I was surprised.  They do put my knees pretty high, but I can see how it might be a nice change out on a long ride.

Anyone else have them on their vstrom or other adventure bike?  Of course, on cruisers they are common.    I just didn't think they were even available on adventure style bikes.

This brings me to another question, and maybe it deserves it's own thread, but what are your favorite farkles on your adventure bike?  What are your must haves?  Are all your farkles practical or are some of them just for looks?  

How about to me pictures of your favorite adds on your bikes?

 
I have pegs on my bike too...only put them on when I'm doing a long trip tho. They can be a lifesaver on a long stretch. Looks goofy, but fuck it.






For farkles, I only add stuff that helps me ride further/better/easier...never about looks for me. The Strom is a goofy fucker and I'm dressed like a Martian....I'd be fucked if I were going to try to make me any cooler looking. Pretty much chick-repellant as it stands.






Other than what I consider to be essentials to an adventure bike (engine protection, panniers, seat-upgrade, personalized controls) my favorite thing on the bike bar none is the GPS (TomTom Rider in my case). When people don't like riding with a GPS, it's often because they haven't explored the ways in which they can compliment and change your ride for the better. It's all in how you use it.






Mine has an .mp3 player in it too, and I love having some tunes on a trip but it's great for turn-by-turn navigation...to free my eyes up. But, also I love that I can pre-program routes, stops, abandon that at will or return to an itinerary. With a good GPS, you can change how it routes to keep you on curvy, interesting roads, stick to the faster freeways, calculate your distance, mileage, keep an eye on your time, know your direction and location instantly, find nearby points of interest, state parks, know the name of roads you've passed, make notes on what you're seeing and where it was, even communicate your location to someone in case of distress. They help you know your exact speed, which IME most motorcycles are off. They're really just essential to me.






Some farkles don't have to be so glamorous...some of my favorite pieces of gear are also the cheapest. A cramp-buster is great to keep your throttle hand from feeling like tenderized meat - all of $8.






I keep an absorbant cooling towel in a zip-lock bag with some water in it when I ride in any heat...great, cheap tool for instantly cooling you down and super fast to recharge. Just throw it over my neck and onto my chest...instant relief. Under $5 at Wally World.






The Shampa "tube" head wrap is a great thing to have too, $12 and it works as a neck warmer, balaclava, helmet liner, even a tourniquet if need be.






The Agri-Supply tool tube is a well-loved farkle for WeeStroms...so handy to store chain lube and some duct tape, or an MSR fuel bottle, whatever. For the $, you can't beat it.






I swap my foot pegs with the ebay KLR style...grabs better, more rugged, no slipping if I'm standing or my boots are muddy. I think they're $17 or something cheap like that.










 

I can defiantly see the attraction of different pegs.  

I'm finding the klr style MX foot pegs on amazon for about 20.00.  Is the hook up universal, or do I need to find a set that has a Suzuki specific attachment point?

ETA:
The agri tube thing is amazingly awesome.  I was thinking, I need more storage when I don't want the givi box on the back.  I've got a small tube under the Sargent seat, but this is just perfect.

I had Givi crash bars on my Vee. No highway pegs, but i'd put my feet up on top of the bars, not too bad. a bit high though.
Like Swingset, GPS is a must have for me. For all the reasons he listed. I have a Zumo 450. It was the very first thing to get put on the Tiger when I got it, and now the FJR. A good tool kit and tire kit are must haves. Make sure anything you might do can be done with the kit on the bike. get the tar strings and a small compressor for the tires. I got a nail in the middle of nowhere, so glad I had the kit. By middle, i mean about 90 minutes ride at 80mph from anything.
Swingset has said everything I would. Like he's stealing my thoughts!  or i stole his on ADV years ago

I recommend Seat Concepts if you dont like the stock seat. I cant say enough good about Lem and his crew.  They went way out of their way, giving me ride in service, free installation, free loaner seat, paid to return the loaner, etc.. super awesome people!!!!  plus the seats are fooking awesome. Wish they made it for the FZJ




also, anyone here ride a Vee, not wee ????

 
KLR pegs mount right up. D2 moto used to have them for like $10, dunno if they still do.




The Agri Tube mounts up super easy to the left-Givi rack with 5/8" insulated clamps (one on each end) and a zip-tie to stabilize it. You can even mount two tubes one over the other if you really want more space in there.


 

The tool kit conversation is a good one too, the OEM kit is just about disposable and there's a laundry list of expedient repairs you can't get done with it. There's some good threads on the Strom forums about it, but I'll make a list of what I carry and in my close to 100k miles on Stroms, trust me either I used the tools on my bike or someone else's. I've gotten pretty good at building a lean kit that addresses most shit that happens.

I was thinking of getting a tire repair kit.  Can you recommend one?  I don't have a accessory power outlet, so I was looking at the kit withe co2 cartridges.   Seems I could carry quite a few extras, just in case. Suggestions?

 
A quality string plug is sufficient to outlast the tire and the easiest to fix road-side or in a pinch, if you don't get stupid and ream a 1/2" hole in the tire they're GTG. I've put them in several tires and cars and never had a failure or even a slow leak out of one - but I used good quality ones (Tech brand is my choice, used them when I worked in a tire shop). You can always use a mushroom or interior plug later to fix it more stoutly if you worry over that stuff.


I use an Ultraflate C02 rig too, they work good Takes about 5-7 of them to fill the rear tire (I just use the Crossman ones from air guns, much cheaper). They have the advantage of A. not taking a shit on you like a little compressor that will overheat and B. they will seat a tire back on the bead if it's come off...the little compressors won't do that very well if at all.


The only thing is they get CRAZY fucking cold...don't bare hand one.

This is what I went with.  All of this and a small tire repair kit will easily fit under your seat.  
Battery Tender quick disconnect cable
Cigarette Outlet
Slime Tire Inflator

A tool kit is also a great idea.  I wouldn't know what exactly to pack though.  Does anyone carry extra parts like a chain? Or are there other parts that tend to fail?

I wouldn't worry about carrying extra parts.  Tools and a small lube can would be handy though.

I've got two battery tender quick detach cables.  Not sure why the guy had two, but I'm ordering the cigarette power outlet.  I can charge a phone or if I get a compressor, do that too.  

Thanks!

 
Chain failure is very rare on a bike like the Strom (big chain, not a crazy amount of power on it). It'll clue you in long before it shits most likely. If I were going RTW I might take a quick link or two and a short piece of repair chain. They don't tend to break. If it's puking red dust, keeps going out of adjustment, or shows kinking and binding, it's done.




Also, if your sprockets go shark-toothed, time for all new. Helps to run on the looser side of the adjustment scale too...too tight will kill chains.




I don't carry any spare parts, but on a long trip I'd carry an extra clutch cable and something to fab up a shift pedal lever/brake lever. I've snapped both before. I do carry an assortment of common bolts and fasteners tho...even tho I've loctited things, it's amazing what can work itself loose when Murphy strikes.




I'll snap a pic of my kit and lay out a list of what I pack, might give you some ideas.


 

BTW, if you sign up for the AMA with auto-renew, which is like $39 a year, you get all the usual perks and discounts (like Bikebandit 10% your orders, hotels, rentals, etc) but it comes with roadside assistance which they tailor to bike friendly haulers (if they can). That's a great deal, compared to AAA's. AMA also covers you in your car.

The wee is an ultra reliable bike, and yours looks to be farkled with all the basics so the only thing I would recommend that you put on it is some more miles. Figure out for yourself what's to like and dislike. You will know it a lot better after you spend time in the saddle and will discover if there's anything missing, just ride it and enjoy it.

Yeah, don't stress too much over what can go wrong (*unless you ride offroad, recklessly). The Wee's gremlin list is very short compared to most bikes out there. Lube the chain, change your air filter, ride the piss out of it.

Headlight relay kit might be prudent at some point, and if you do any tank-off engine work maybe do the external fuel filter mod. That's about the only things I'd say are issues that seem to strike folks with any frequency (and even then it's very hit and miss).


The best Wee farkle is gas.

Probably solid advice.

My problem is I'm so ignorant of what's available, I'd never dream of that simple tool tube addition, and I already saw the lack of a protected small storage space.    

I've got a little first aid kit I put together for my last bike.  It will fit nicely in there.

Our discussion last night cost me $97 from Amazon

 
Yeah, it's getting me too...I've got a few things in bound and my tires just showed up.


I found a picture of my toolkit I had for my Vee from a thread on Stromtrooper. Some things have changed (which I'll note), and I don't have the cool case-liner holders for a kit anymore, but the basics are still there.





1. Small air compressor (as mentioned, I've gone to the Ultraflate/Co2's for being able to re-seat a bead)

2. Tire patching kit, valve core tool & gorilla tape.

3. Thumb drive with full factory manual & parts fiche on it (replaced with the same .pdf's on my smart phone)

4. Micro sized auto-ranging multi-meter (Deal Extreme sells these pretty cheap)

5. Home made jumper/charging cables & electrical tape

6. Credit card tool (mostly used to open beer bottles, lol)

7. A couple of change purses filled with auto fuses.

8. Container filled with assortment of wiring repair items.

9. Mechanics wire

10. Assortment of hose clamps (2 of these and a heavy allen wrench and you can replace the shift pedal lever knob)

11. Big piece of duct-tape material

12. Portable funnel

13. LED headlamp and torch

14. Pack of nitrile gloves

15. Pressure gauge

16. Tow strap set up (1" flat webbing + a Nite Ize carabiner. Used to fab up a winch & lever to unstick my bike from a mud burial similar to the one at the top of this page)

17. Hot hands/feet warmers...in case heated gear ever fails, need those toes and feet to still work.

18. 3/8" heavy zip ties. Always a small assortment in the tank bag of regular sized ones.

19. Ratcheting multi-metric wrenches.

20. Allen keys for all the bike's sizes

21. Sockets & extensions for common bike fasteners (8-10-12-14, etc.). For the 8mm, I use a deep-well and a 1/4" extension because of the countersprocket cover, very hard to get to otherwise. I captured the loose sockets with a long bolt, washer and nut through the middle that can come in handy holding things. Easy to pull in and out of tool roll too.

22. Tire repair rasp/insert tool.


Above the tool roll is abrasive sheets (160 grit and 400 grit emory cloth), I forgot to photograph a small pack that went along with this kit that had some cold-weld putty, an assortment of bolts and fasteners for the bike and JB-weld. The abrasives were to prep for JB-weld/cold weld. Also not pictured are the contents of my tire changing gear (which are different on the Wee anyway).


For that I use a Motion Pro T6 Tire lever/24mm axle wrench combo tool, a cheapo flat 22mm spanner (to hold the capture nut on the other side), and I have two lightweight Motion Pro tire levers. Also I have a 3/8" 12mm hex nut for the front axle.


This set up is my "taking a long trip" rig and now on the Wee I have it split into two distinct "packages"...essentials which stow under the seat, and stuff for a longer jaunt which go in a long tool roll that stores in my pannier. Obviously something like a tire-changing set up is not carried around for commuting or short in-state trips.


My tank bag has some things in it too, like a good multi-tool for quick/dirty needs, zip ties, a spare headlight, etc.

Swingset, where is the kitchen sink?

You might as well add some fishing line and some hooks in there and maybe a water purification straw as well.

 
I do carry a water purification filter in my hydration pack.




Again, some of that stuff is for long trips and in no way am I saying you need all that. If I'm going to be riding around the very populated eastern part of the US, a good deal of that stuff isn't going. If I'm in New Mexico 75 miles into the desert on a dirt road with baby-head rocks on it? Shit...that kit isn't enough. On that one I'll have extra levers, a SPOT, rotopak some oil, and a water cube. I've been a part of a couple rides where I didn't bring enough shit for the issues that happened either to me or someone else. I had to bitch-haul a friend out of a Upper Peninsula trail about 20 miles of sandy, washed out shit because we didn't have a simple item that would have gotten him moving again. That made for a super fucking long day, and a miserable return to extract his bike. Should have been a 10 minute fix, but the ride was ruined by being unprepared for a likely thing in offroad travel.


When I commuted on a little bike, my kit was a cell phone and a credit card.


Your risk tolerance is entirely subjective, but so are your rides and access to help.

Thank you Swingset for all the details.   I'm going to try to consider what I need and put together a similar kit.  Very informative, I appreciate it.

 
Don't forget fishing line.










Like everyone always says, use your kit to do some maintenance and it'll be apparent what is ok and what is lacking. There's some great toolkit threads on ST, VSRI and Advrider. Got some good ideas from them...even about how to do some expedient repairs.


 

If you guys are packing levers because drop your bikes so often MAYBE some armored handguards are in order.

It'll keep you from wasting the time putting a new lever on, because when you go to pick up your bike you'll notice that once again the levers aren't broken.

 
I have Cycra armored handguards on. I was referring to spare pedal levers, btw. Folders help, but they're expensive and can still break at the shaft.


Not that the handguards are 100%. I had a stick get behind some Moose guards once and break a lever on my DRZ.

Ok, I'm going to point out a flaw in the V Strom design.  Who the hell designs a bike or any vehicle where the gas tank has to come off to clean and change the air filter.  Thats pretty fucked up.

I managed to get the tank off and the filter blown out, but it just seems like a crazy amount of work to do it.    

The worst part was, it wasn't even that dirty.  A few bugs, but that was it.  I think it got serviced when the chain and sprocket were also serviced.

Its a pretty common bike design nowdays to have the air filter under the tank, quite a few bikes are that way. You dont have to completely remove the fairing to get the tank off, but if you didnt figure that out on your own it sounds like that tidbit of info is a little too late.

No, I followed the directions, which were pretty good.   I didn't remove the fairing, but it doesn't seem like there was much left to do to remove it.

Grips got here today.

 
Once you do it a couple times, you can reduce the whole affair to a 10-15 minute breakdown. I agree it's a weird place to put it, but it's very common on touring bikes. The Strom is positively delightful compared to some bikes when it comes to getting at the innards.


I think every bike has something where a common maintenance item is "WTF?" located. Something has to give.

I think this should now become the official arfcom adventure bike picture thread, I'll start;

Very nice. Il have to search, but I have one very much like it.

Looks like a nice road.

Alligator Bayou road outside of Baton Rouge
Taken with a 2004 potato.

 
Nice BRP...you should cheer up Guns and tell him about getting the spark plug out of that XRL Jug. It's about as frustrating as a Strom air filter.

Title changed for you.

If you had the original spark plug tool from the stock toolkit it wasn't too bad, my used XR did not come with one

I've had a few 4 wheelers that required several swivels, and an extention, connected together to get the plug out.

It's an XRR but the problem is the same. I ordered three factory tools and keep one on each of my XR's (650, 400 and 400).

You can tell an XRR By the square aluminum frame vs the round steel frame on the XRL (well that and it's 40 lbs lighter and has about 18 more HP.

Aren't they also liquid cooled vs air cooled?

My trusty Vee. Somewhere about 2 hours from pavement in New Mexico. Awesome trip. Just me, the bike, and the tent for 2 weeks.

 
As you can tell from my White Sands pic above, that's some good country for a big adventure bike...I've taken 2 big trips out that way. Luckily, my mom retired to Las Cruces so I have a "base of operations", hehe. I've explored a ton of Southern NM and West Texas, and feel like I haven't even scratched the surface. It gets tricky with the bases & reservations (Mescalero folks were...well...a bit salty when I wandered into their bit of dirt), but it's worth it.


 

The area between Cloudcroft and Carlsbad is some awesome stuff. Like being on the moon sometimes.

Wife leaves for a couple days with her mother tomorrow.

This means I tear into the bike tomorrow night to replace the handlebars and grips.  I'm planning on using heat resistant paint/grill paint as the grip glue unless someone thinks thats a bad idea.  

Also got my vin check today for my tags.  Not stolen.  Chief, himself, did the check, then wanted to talk bikes.  I had to finally tell him I had to take off, as I was late on my lunch hour.  He was telling me about his go 75k that needed attention in his garage.  Cool dude.

Bump this thread

Elefant ??

 
Moto Guzzi Quota

Yep.

Duh. now that you say it i see the heads......

She's a fat pig but no need to call names lol . Theyre actually pretty similar looking bikes.
Mine

Elefant