| Author | Message | ||
     Debueller |
No, this is not another thread about headlights that are not bright enough. On the contrary, with the Silverstars I find them adequate, but not exceptional. Last week me and a couple of buddys on KTM 950 Adventures went to do some wet gravel roads at night, during a rain storm, in the dark. (great fun!!) After about 10 miles of riding wet, sloppy, roads at a sporting pace, I could hardly see. The Uly's front tire had "soiled" the headlight(s) so bad that the headlight was putting out less than half of it's normal meager output. I stoped and cleaned it off with a rag and continued only to have to stop every 10 miles or so to repeat the cleaning process. This went on the entire ride. The KTM's headlights were almost entirely dirt-free the whole time, even though they are both running high fenders, and never wiped them once. Having to stop so often just to wipe your headlights every 15 or 20 minutes is unacceptable for an adventure bike. Has anyone found a way to solve this? I've never seen this mentioned here, although I've seen about everything else. Maybe I'm the only one bothered by this. I had no problem keeping up with the KTM's, except for my frequent pit stops for headlight cleaning. Kind of a silly flaw for such a capabale bike. | ||
| Stevem123 |
I noticed that problem also but I think the only way to fix it would be to put a mud flap on the front of the fender or go to a lower fender. It's a minor inconvienience but a real one for sure. BC Steve | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Standing on the foot pegs during a ride in the rain I watched the spray go out in front of the bike about 2 feet and then right back onto the headlights. I took a piece of black rubber cove base and made a 3"+ or - mud flap and attached it with double face tape. It seemed to help. I hope this helps you. FYI you should be able to get a 4 foot piece of cove base at Home Depot for 5 bucks or so | ||
| Treadmarks |
If you had the deathray, the water/mud would vaporize before it reached the lights.   Joking aside, I have seen the water trail that rolls on to my lights during the rainy season. But like BC Steve said, a simple mud flap would cure that. I have been considering a hidden snap on flap that I could keep in my bar bag, just in case I was lucky enough to find some wet back roads in this town. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Don't ride on gravel roads in the rain, silly! Tried a set of these?  | ||
| Dragon_slayer |
You may try a lower mounted fender to keep the spray below headlight level. Just expect your legs and boots to get wetter! It could also be the second lower part of the fender is keeping the spray off the bike but hugging the tire and allowing it to throw the water forward and higher. You could take it off but this will throw water all over the engine. | ||
| Brad1445 |
Buell, On the Next Sally Jesse Rafael  | ||
| Debueller |
Wolf RR, Ya got any photos of your cove base mod? Tread, I seen your install of those lights earlier. Those do look tough. Fatty, Where in the hell do you get all those silly photos??  DS, I haven't seen any photos lately of the low fender that Al Lighton? was working on for the Uly. Could be a problem in the mud, though. Gotta have something to keep some of the crap off the engine.  | ||
| Debueller |
Dirty headlights:  | ||
| Ulyssesguy |
Man I thought I got my Uly muddy and dirty But you take the cake!  ... | ||
| Lovehamr |
Debueller, I think you took the "Dirt Bike" thing a little to far man! LOL  | ||
| Chadhargis |
Yeah...riding the Uly in those conditions is like trying to drive a nail with a screwdriver. Yeah, you can do it, but it's going to be slow and most likely damage your screwdriver.  Get the right too for the job. A Suzuki DRZ400 maybe? | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Debueller,.... Where is that Road!?! It gives me and my CityX dirt envy . | ||
| Paochow |
+1 I think the DRZ might fare a bit better in those conditions. | ||
| Debueller |
I agree that road would be better on a bike like my XR650L or a DRZ but...... the ride from the Seattle area to southern Utah on a true dual sport would be brutial compaired to a Ulyssess. That road is the road that leads from St George UT to the Bar 10 ranch on the north rim of the Grand Canyon in northern AZ. http://www.bar10.com/ Last October my brother (KTM 950 Adventure) and I tried to ride the 80+ miles of dirt road to the ranch. The night before it rained very hard. The road was very muddy and sticky. The mud cloged up between our front tires and fender, locking the front tire and we both crashed at least once. We finally had to pull our front fenders off, then ride back to town with our tails between our legs. We pretty much got our asses kicked and never made it to the ranch. In dry conditions it's a 40-80 mph road. Not that day. We were taken by complete surpsise. Wasn't very good for the Uly's drive belt either:  The belt injested a lot of mud....it was oozing out of everywhere. I finally pulled the countershaft cover so the mud could get out a little easier. After the mud dried in the sprokets, the belt started skipping. It was a very tedious process chipping the dried mud one tooth at a time out of the sprokets with a screwdriver while laying on the ground. About 3000 miles later the belt broke. I took it back to the dealer for a new one....no questions asked!! They replaced it again. (my 3rd drive belt) Bike now has over 34K miles on it and runs very strong. The damn thing has never failed to start. It has been very reliable. It's one tough sombitch. I've not been very nice to it on many occasions. However, it gets plenty of maint and TLC. It has taken good care of me on some long, fun trips.  |
