[AzCal Retred]

There are tubeless tire "rim tape" tubeless kits that get good reviews in the 650 section. Look over there and see if they appeal.

Usually a tube of "Slime" in a new tube will prevent the great majority of flats from happening. Going to cast wheels is an unnecessary practical expense, with "Slimed" tubes you'll likely never have a flat anyway. The 350 Meteor comes with cast alloy rims, is a better road bike, and the upcoming Hitchcock's Meteor big bore kit will take up any power slack and then some.

Again, lightness requires pricy materials and manufacturing processes. The $4500-ish 411 Himalayan is a great bike for the price, but the KTM, Husqvarna, et al will always be lighter and have more HP. That said, for everyday use and moderate trail bashing the Himi is a great choice. It's likely cheaper to pick up an old Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha or Kawasaki purpose built off road machine if you are seriously interested in off road performance.

[him a layin]

finally got off my lazy butt and got my MC permit. rainy until saturday, so will start exploring the local dirt roads then. once i get a feel for the bike i'll think about mods/deletions.

[him a layin]

took it out for a run, it died about a mile and a half out, obviously some sort of electrical problem. neighbor helped me get it home. battery below 12v. replaced both 5-pin relays, no improvement. weather is inclement, so not much diagnostics for the next couple of days.

[him a layin]

this might be part of my problem,#1, charging fuse. also ordered the add-on battery drain harness from hitchcock's

[him a layin]

it cranks! it starts! it runs... fitfully. like me, it doesn't like going out when it's cold. i may try to adjust the idle.

i feel like an idiot. after looking over the wiring diagram for hours i noticed the starter solenoid is wired to the clutch switch, and voila! squeeze the clutch lever, fires right up. i still suspect there's an issue with the gear position sensor, it says "-" instead of "0".

tomorrow i'll fire it up and let it idle for a while, see if it drains the battery. worst case, i won't have to push it home.

[Spicyred]

it cranks! it starts! it runs... fitfully. like me, it doesn't like going out when it's cold. i may try to adjust the idle.

i feel like an idiot. after looking over the wiring diagram for hours i noticed the starter solenoid is wired to the clutch switch, and voila! squeeze the clutch lever, fires right up. i still suspect there's an issue with the gear position sensor, it says "-" instead of "0".

tomorrow i'll fire it up and let it idle for a while, see if it drains the battery. worst case, i won't have to push it home.

Does it do that all the time?
Mine has done it a couple times. No big deal - just knock the lever back into second gear and down to neutral again to get the “0”.

If I haven’t ridden for a couple of weeks, I’ll lift the seat and plug a battery charger to the terminals for a couple hours. Works fine on my 18 month old battery.
Note that we don’t have the freezing temperatures around here. Perhaps 6 or 8 C.

Anyway, off for a ride and shall have passed the 10,000 kilometre mark by afternoon.

[him a layin]

Does it do that all the time?
Mine has done it a couple times. No big deal - just knock the lever back into second gear and down to neutral again to get the “0”.

If I haven’t ridden for a couple of weeks, I’ll lift the seat and plug a battery charger to the terminals for a couple hours. Works fine on my 18 month old battery.
Note that we don’t have the freezing temperatures around here. Perhaps 6 or 8 C.

Anyway, off for a ride and shall have passed the 10,000 kilometre mark by afternoon.

re the gearbox, i haven't ridden it enough to know. i've had both 1-down/4-up (like the himmy) and all-up bikes so i know there's a period of getting accustomed to it.
 
i'm hoping to get it out tomorrow and put some local miles on it. it idles well once it gets up to operating temp. i let it run 20 minutes today on the center stand so am confident that the charging system works. thousands of miles? eventually, i hope. right now the weather is turning cold (below freezing some nights) so i might not get much riding in until  spring comes in march.

[him a layin]

we've had a couple of days of lovely weather, so went for a ride to the yadkin river bridge. no problems except operator error. need to relearn some old habits.

[darmahman]

Delkevic full exhaust took 10 pounds off. Then added rack and bags…:)

[him a layin]

explored some back roads in my little town, found the abandoned lutheran cemetery, graves from 1900-1920s

[him a layin]

explored some back roads in my little town, found the abandoned lutheran cemetery, graves from 1900-1920s. no problems beside operator error.

[Spicyred]

Exploring back roads, sealed or unsealed, is where these bikes really shine. ;

[him a layin]

Exploring back roads, sealed or unsealed, is where these bikes really shine. ;

indeed.

[him a layin]

installed the battery-drain harness from Hitchcock's today. took 2 weeks to arrive from Germany because i cheaped out on the shipping. looks like a quality product, good clear instructions so installation was easy, about 15 minutes including running back and forth for tools.

[him a layin]

rode up to the Dan Nicholas state park today bumblebee yellow/black jacket was cozy despite 48*f. only stalled it once!