Wow, not much snow up that high. I'm a little jealous. We won't get above 5000 feet till June, maybe July if it's cool. Studs are fun but you guys have a long riding season on rubber. Light snow year perhaps? Garrett
At LHC there was surprisingly little snow, it was a shame Geek couldn't stay out longer, he would have loved the lights there. I'll be setting up a set of wheels to try studs, I'm just a little sketchy on how they'll do on pavement. So far pretty light, but cold. I wanted to test a little more and I need to ship to the guys that already picked up a tower, then I'll have a thread in vendors, but after yesterday I think I'm 95% there.
For what you're riding car studs are a good compromise and they're fine on the road. Long studs on the road or hard pack gravel can be scary. They won't last long either. You can borrow my stud gun anytime!
I had a couple of lenses with me yesterday and took an arseload of pics (thanks to Paul & Derek for their patience and letting me play with my camera ) Some more random ones: Here's Paul's current cockpit setup:
Paul: I did get a photo of you sliding through the corner in the snow.. but Derek is standing in the background with his willy in his hand taking a wiz so I decided not to post it
LOL.... Thats WHY Paul was riding so fast! Damn thats funny stuff. Hey Paul if you have that much riding without snow I'm not sure I'd bother studding up your tires. Here, there's about 6 inches to a foot on most of the trails. The REAL fun is riding on the creeks and through the bogs where you can't go in the summer. Winter riding is a blast but I'm REALLY giving the HDB handguards a workout. I think I fell 8 times today. I also whacked my arm on a tree, but you can really haul up some cool climbs that you might not be able to in the summer. It's fun but riding on pavement eats the studs. Might be a cool spark show at night though... Garrett
Don't stud your tires, followed by.... I'm crashing a lot Thats why the car studs are perfect, just last month I was riding down the paved road going 50-60 mph with no problem.
This is the way I have been wiring the LEDs. I guess I have a bad ground because it looks like a our schematics are the same. Took the 500 out to our local lease today. 70 mph on dirt roads there, then 20 miles of tight single track, then back on dirt roads. The full 6.3g tank made the single track a little tricky, but otherwise, a very capable bike on the trail.
Yeah I should have qualified that...I crashed on the trails in the deeper snow. I've got Gripstuds on my bike and they work well and easy to install. I'm happy with them. The buddy I was riding with is one of "those" riders that makes everything look easy. He stands all the time, I'm paddling up a slippery deep section section and he's standing with the gas on, rear wheel sliding back and forth hauling ass. The Gripstuds are taller so are slick on the pavement. I had to do a short section the other day and it's not comfortable but ok if you're not on the gas. Garrett
Ben, those are a bit less universal, so I'm not really offering that on the site, more of a case by case thing. Travis, that is how I do it and have yet to have one fail on me electrically, I don't frame ground anything anymore, but even a bad ground shouldn't fry them, just turn them on and off. I silicone them after all the wiring is done to try and keep the leads from fatiguing from vibration.
Great thread!! Owning an EXC in Europe, which is a hybrid between EXC and XCW in the States, I'm also subscribing to this post
Excited new owner going to convert to street legal for a Moab trip in May, so I'll be rereading this thread and come back with any questions. Can't believe how light this thing feels - feels lighter than my 250X - unbelieveable.
Hope I havn't killed this thread - seems I have been the final post on quite a few. I have a few questions after going thru this thread. Geek - I am wanting to do the same as you to get this bike minimumly street legal and not add a bunch of weight - don't think I will add turn signals, but will need horn, mirror, brake and license plate light etc. Questions: Would like to use stock tail light and understand that it has built in brake light? What do you use for a license plate holder? Looking at the front master cylinder looks like I can mount a micro switch for a brake light switch - I am assuming that is what KTM uses, should I order up a stock KTM part and is the stocker waterproof or is it just a standard old micro switch that I can pick up locally? I see hydraulic switches are available but I have had failures over the years and think I would prefer mechanical. I want to install a key switch and would like some feedback if anyone uses the HDB setup - guess I am also kicking around the EXC stocker. Also where can I find a schematic for this bike - don't see one in the service manual. How do you like the Eline skid plate - think that is what I have on my CRF and I have liked it. Finally you have a picture of a Waterproof fuse holder - where to get those - searched Ebay and only found rubber boot units. Thanks in advance.
I installed a Sicass light kit on my '13 XC-W 500 and it works great! Yes the taillight is also a brake light (and led at that) The kit came with turn sigs and a pressure switch for the rear brake truly a plug and play setup. it also came with the handlebar switch which has the horn, hi, lo and off headlight switch and turn sig in a compact switch.Only drawback was that the running and taillight are on with engine running, so I left the OEM switch and wired it in to the system so I can turn all lights off when on the trail thereby saving battery draw. You will like the setup>>>>
