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Adventure Rider Magazine decided to have a close look at the doohickey and see if fact could be separated from myth. Mitch’s Shop Bike was a great study subject because it had 40,000km on the odo, and Mitch works it hard.
The bike was rolled into Teknik Motorsport. Nick Dole pulled the covers off and had a look at the doohickey situation (read about the findings in issue #20, on sale in December).
The steering-head bearings needed replacing, so Nick was ready to tackle that job as well, and a fork seal was weeping. Teknik Motorsport manufactures a lot of high-quality suspension components, so a pair of fork seals was going to be easy-peasy once the forks were out to replace the steering-head bearings.
But then, the bearings and races weren’t just a little bit crook. They were destroyed.
Removing them turned into a mission involving welding jigs and some very heavy hammering.
Hmm.
While the steering-head and bearings were being sorted, we slipped on a pair of IMS Adventure 1 footpegs.
These things are frigging huge, and we’re keen to get Mitch’s report on the comfort they offer. TF weasled off with Mitch’s old IMS Super Stock footpegs, chuckling to himself. We bet they’re already on the editor’s KLR.
Then it was time to replace the bashplate (removed to get at the doohickey), only to find a stripped captive nut or two on the plate and frame. Nick had to swing into action again, and, as is always the way with Teknik Motorsport, just ‘fixing’ wasn’t the go.
The job had to be done ‘properly’, and that involved quite a bit of time and some expert work from Nick himself.
At the end of it all, Mitch’s bike is back on the pace…except for a front hub damaged during a recent tyre change (not one done by Teknik). The speedo drive wasn’t seated correctly and crushed the metal of the hub, so now the hub itself needs replacing.
Do’h.
Still, Mitch has been on the phone to the folks at JTR and it looks like the bike will have some very trick wheels, front and rear, in the near future. With a new wheel in place, Mitch’s KLR will be ready to carve up again. He loves scorching past far more expensive, higher-spec bikes, does Mitch.
Adventure Rider Magazine offers a huge thanks to Nick at Teknik for once again spending most of a work day getting the bike back in shape, and especially for his expert opinions on the balancer idle lever and spring (that’s what Nick calls the doohickey ‘cos he knows about engineering stuff).
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