One item to be sorted with the RMZ fork swap is: what to do with the DR650 ignition switch? Well, the key mechanism has never worked well on my DR. Ever since I got the bike, I have often fought with the key. It goes into the key hole easily, but getting it to turn is another story. You've gotta jiggle it the right way, work it back and forth, piece of shit.
The previous owner of the bike gave me one worn out OEM key, and one brand new OEM key. I immediately had duplicates made of the new key, but I think the lock itself was already worn out. In any event, I'm tired of screwing around with a key that requires so much persuation to work, so I decided I would ditch the key entirely. Besides, the steering lock isn't going to work with the new RMZ top triple clamp. So a push-button on/off switch will do the trick. Just needed to figure out the wiring. A little sniffing around on ADVRider and ThumperTalk taught me that the guts of the keyed iginition contains a 100 Ohm 1/4 watt resistor. Let's get to work:
The OEM keyed iginition switch - stupid key never worked properly anyway.
Snip.... I need that green connector.
My local electronics supply store doesn't sell individual resistors,
so I had to shell out 99 cents for this 10-pack of 100 Ohm resistors.
The orange with yellow tracer wire
soldered in place
* brown and grey go together
* black with white tracer, and orange with yellow tracer go together
(with the resistor soldered in there, under the long piece of black heat-shrink)
* the on/off ignition switch will be installed between the red and orange
Next up: the IMS gas tank is great in that it expands the fuel capacity from the stock 13 Litres to about 20 Litres. However, IMS supplies a really, cheap, crappy fuel valve that will eventually fail. This valve has the same build quality of something you'd expect to buy from the dollar store. Every time you turn the valve to ON, OFF, or RESERVE, it feels like the damn thing is going to break. Rather than wait for that inevitability, I decided to be proactive and do what many others have done: replace it with the much sturdier petcock from the Yamaha Raptor. Except for a 5-minute hack job required to enlarge the hole slightly, it's pretty much a direct bolt-on swap. The Raptor valve is about $25, available from any Yamaha dealer. Part #5LP245000100
Left: OEM Yamaha Raptor petcock
Right: junk petcock supplied with IMS gas tank
use Dremel and hobbyist scalpel knife to carefully
enlarge the hole on the IMS tank
Here the hole has been enlarged slightly to allow the Raptor fuel valve to fit
Raptor petcock installed, as well as a one-way venting valve
for the gas cap (eliminates the need for a long, floppy vent hose on the gas cap)
Finally, a sneek peek of my next project: Pelican panniers. Somehow, I'm going to mount these onto the bike to be used as my indestructible and waterproof luggage system. These are the Pelican 1430 top-loading cases. They're not huge, just ~ 15-17 Litres in capacity. I'm not looking for huge, rather, I'm looking for tough and durable.... and dry.
Stay tuned to find out what craazy idea I dream up to mount these things.