Gallowbraid
Adventurist
My primary drive sprocket was starting to show some curvature in the teeth causing it to drag a little as the chain rotated around it. To be honest I've been lax on the chain maintenance lately hoping to wear things out a little faster so I could change to a 16 tooth front sprocket. Looks like my negligence paid off! 
Pulled the sprocket cover to clean out all the chain oil goo and remove the front sprocket. This is usually pretty straightforward on a KLR. Flatten the retaining washer, sit on the bike with your foot on the rear brake, use a breaker bar and 27mm socket to loosen the nut, remove the nut and slide off the sprocket. Everything went well this time except removing the sprocket. When the dealer assembled the bike out of it's shipping crate the assembler must not have used any anti-seize or grease on the splines of the shaft at all. Despite my best efforts with WD40 and some mechanical advantage it was not coming off. Had to break out the big guns....or 3 jaw puller as it's known.
The smallest of turns pulled the sprocket free. I pulled the rear wheel and removed that sprocket as well. With the new 16 tooth front sprocket and new 43 tooth rear sprocket in place everything got reassembled and the new chain was installed. Took a quick ride around the neighborhood and then adjusted the chain to spec along with aligning the rear wheel. I'll check the chain again in 500 miles, 1000 miles and then at regular intervals after that.
My stock front tire (Dunlop) was beginning to show some wear so I spooned on a Heidenau K60 Scout while I was at it. This tire is FAR superior to the Dunlop rubber the bike came with. When the Dunlop begins to wear it does so unevenly along a ridge in the middle of the tire. This makes the front tire wobble and shakes the handlebars at interstate speeds. Sort of like death wobble for a bike.
After that the friendly postman showed up with a box from Krono Parts. I came across Krono on instagram a while back and took advantage of a weekend sale to pickup a taller windshield and some tank protection.
The parts came with a free lanyard...I don't want a lanyard, I want stickers!
Oh well...
A few screws later and the front of the bike went from this:
To this:
Next up was the Krono tank pads. My tank bag had started to rub and mar the top of the gas tank:
I cleaned up the tank and applied the tank pads:
The small pads for the angled sides of the tank I left off since this is where the magnets in my magnetic tank bag grab on. If I swap to a different style tank bag in the future I may add these.
Pulled the sprocket cover to clean out all the chain oil goo and remove the front sprocket. This is usually pretty straightforward on a KLR. Flatten the retaining washer, sit on the bike with your foot on the rear brake, use a breaker bar and 27mm socket to loosen the nut, remove the nut and slide off the sprocket. Everything went well this time except removing the sprocket. When the dealer assembled the bike out of it's shipping crate the assembler must not have used any anti-seize or grease on the splines of the shaft at all. Despite my best efforts with WD40 and some mechanical advantage it was not coming off. Had to break out the big guns....or 3 jaw puller as it's known.
The smallest of turns pulled the sprocket free. I pulled the rear wheel and removed that sprocket as well. With the new 16 tooth front sprocket and new 43 tooth rear sprocket in place everything got reassembled and the new chain was installed. Took a quick ride around the neighborhood and then adjusted the chain to spec along with aligning the rear wheel. I'll check the chain again in 500 miles, 1000 miles and then at regular intervals after that.
My stock front tire (Dunlop) was beginning to show some wear so I spooned on a Heidenau K60 Scout while I was at it. This tire is FAR superior to the Dunlop rubber the bike came with. When the Dunlop begins to wear it does so unevenly along a ridge in the middle of the tire. This makes the front tire wobble and shakes the handlebars at interstate speeds. Sort of like death wobble for a bike.
After that the friendly postman showed up with a box from Krono Parts. I came across Krono on instagram a while back and took advantage of a weekend sale to pickup a taller windshield and some tank protection.
The parts came with a free lanyard...I don't want a lanyard, I want stickers!
Oh well...A few screws later and the front of the bike went from this:
To this:
Next up was the Krono tank pads. My tank bag had started to rub and mar the top of the gas tank:
I cleaned up the tank and applied the tank pads:
The small pads for the angled sides of the tank I left off since this is where the magnets in my magnetic tank bag grab on. If I swap to a different style tank bag in the future I may add these.
