2018-2019 Africa Twin Adventure Sports

While my seals gently weep ...



This is the 3rd time after two previous cleanings with a feeler gauge that had them seal back up. Will the third time be a charm too?



I did two circumferential passes on each tube for good measure, I can always tell that I got in good with the feeler gauge as quite a bit of fork oil oozes out and helps with flushing out any crud in there.



After getting things cleaned up with a bit of brake cleaner followed by enthusiastic bouncing the front end up and down with the bars, things look promising and no more wetness is apparent.



The AltRider fork guards make the job much easier than the OEM low fender ... I recall it being kind of a PITA to get on and off. Here it is just three 5mm hex head bolts that hold each protector on. We'll have to wait and see if they'll hold as the roads are still full of snow 'n ice here in these parts.

I'd encourage a try at cleaning them out first as I've had good luck with that so far. I'll open mine up later during the really dark 'n cold months along with gas tank cleaning, valve inspection, etc. to see if there is any spooge inside the tubes and if the crud that has gotten into the seals has buggered up the tubes any.

Good simple fixes first to ya!

My forks seals leaked at 100 miles, even after cleaning them out twice. Pulled them and found there was too much fork oil in the factory in both forks. Replaced them with SKF fork seals. 9800 miles later (50 / 50 on- and off-road) no leaking forks =]

Whaddaya know, it worked again...dang! We had a spell of warm weather here before the next winter blast comes in tonight so I took the Nifty-Shifty for a spin to Brown's Lake:





and after bouncing around through the mud and frozen puddles 'n slush they're holding seal nicely:



The simple fix works a third time!

Good wrenchin' to ya!

Ok Guys maybe a strange one

I need to find a way to turn off the headlight but still have the Daytime running lights on
I did this on my Africa Twin by simply removing the headlight fuse which still allowed the flash facility to work but on the Adventure Sport when removing the headlight fuse the flash does not work
I have a set of powerful LED spot lights that are on all the time so just want the Daytime lights in the headlights to be on

heres a pic of my bike

Thanks Rob

So I joined the ATAS club today. Picked up a 2018 with 4000 miles, I bought Honda Extended warranty for 5 years for $770 which seemed like a no-brainer to me. I fly from Miami to Tampa, picked up the bike in Clearwater, and rode it 280 miles home. First the good. The bike is perfect, almost factory new, the stock tires are smooth on the highway and the power is really good. First time ever riding a DCT, and let me tell yous damn nice. This bike is quiet and smooth, closest thing to an electric bike you can get. I got in some stupid traffic on I75 midday and the DCT made it almost bearable. The seat is comfy, controls are good, brakes are great, suspension seems good and very adjustable. I am 5' 7 and I was worried the bike was going to be too tall. I put the seat in the low position, took out a ton of rear preload and front dampening. The bike sagged right down to where I was comfortable for my first ride. I will cut the seat down some and raise the forks so I can put back some front dampening and figure out the rear. The Panniers are not perfect, but they were included and they work. Plenty of room. Heated grips, nice touch. Windscreen is iffy, I was doing 80 mph for 4 hours with a FF on. It was loud and I felt the wind on my body. The wind was fierce today, it was moving me all around and the shit ton of rigs on the highways made it worse.

Now the bad.

Worst grips ever, lots of hand fatigue, unlike any of my other bikes. Single foot position sucks, this bike needs highway pegs on the crash bars, those are going on right away! Lack of cruise control on a bike with fly-by-wire, comeon seriously? Did anyone at Honda take an extended ride on one of these??? Definitely getting a throttle stabilizer of some sort.

List:

Highway pegs
Grip Puppies
Center Stand (dealer is shipping to me)
Cruise control thingy
50/50 tires- Mitas or Shinko 804-805
Honda Top Storage box.

All in all, I am super happy with the purchase and i think it will be with me for a long time.

Your a mad man lol.You must be as poor as me.

Get some seal savers and use the feeler gauges for doing valves.

Grip thing is funny. I have pillow grips on now and stock was better.I have burned up a set of midas and on 3rd set of 804/805.Midas rear works good with shinko front.Midas front pretty much a street tire and sucks in dirt(they are mis matched for AT).Shinko front is good on pavement but breaks away quick if you hit some gravel on hard top. Works decent for 50/50 if you respect it.After living with my AT since 2016 I find front tire is very important for type of riding you are doing.I have had everything from a full moto knobby to the midas up front for what I do.I found all tires slide out in rear except the tractionator adv which is bad ass off pavement but loud as fuck on pavement. Just sharing some long term experiences on this bike.

Totally agree! I have definitely grown some appreciation/compromise with the MOTOZ line up. If you get off pavement, they are amazing........yet still hook well enough to support some confidence on road. Granted, we're not knee dragging but shit........What adventure bike with hopes of off-road is? Ummmmmm..... None! For what I do, the Motoz Tractionator Adventure rear and Motoz Rallz front work amazing for me. Yes.......... Loud on road is an understatement, but, when my buddies call to get off pavement, the confidence is unmatched!! For my personal interest, I will never run anything less aggressive. Shit, I've grown to love the howl......... Lol

I thought the same thing about the grips till I went to something else. I have some Beemer Buddies on mine now and I like OEM better.
McCruise is awesome. It will even downshift and upshift the DCT to hold speed.

I have beemer buddies on mine. I'm very happy with them, but they kill the grip heat. I'm noticing this a lot this week. It's been ~32 when riding and my hands are feeling it. Texas isn't supposed to be this cold, dammit

I found with the factory heated grips they were too large in diameter for my hands and actualy caused cramping on the throttle hand.
First time in over 250K miles of riding over the last decade in numerous different bike I ever experienced this.
I ended up taking off the stock heated grips (which was a pita by the way) and found out why they were so large, this is a thick plastic tube to insulate them from the bars and for me this was enough to make them too large for my hands (i have small palms?).

I am 6'1", and the Swogotech forkshield really helped remove that buffer from my helmet and wind I was getting. Before this, I would get a headache after riding for 45 minutes or so.
http://www.swegotech.com/Forkshield-Adventure-Sports-CRF1000L2-stop-helmet-peak-wind-buffeting.html

For the windscreen, I am using the stock windscreen with the Batzen riser. Batzen is here on advrider, and makes them over in Germany. Really cool guy!! That adjustment works great for me off-road and on-road, and I do not doubt getting it at all. Even with the Batzen, you can use other windscreens as long as they utilize the stock windshield mounting points.

Those two combined took care of my issues with wind, hope this might help you out!

For the cruise control, there is the Mccruise system or the Kaoko throttle lock.
I have the Kaoko throttle lock combined with barkbusters (make sure you know which route you will take there, as the part numbers are different between barkbuster vs. stock wind guards), but assuming I keep this bike I will be ordering the Mccruise system. Finally got my hands on a bike with it, and it worked great!

Congratulations! I've had my ATAS manual about six weeks now and loving it and considering the extended warranty before the original expires at the end of January.

I'm 6'1" and during my first ride, got really bad buffeting and vibration in my helmet and went home to research the issue. The Swegotech forkshield was my first purchase which pretty much solved that issue. I have the Honda panniers and they work well enough for now, the centerstand is invaluable for maintenance. Still waiting on the new Dunlop Trailmax Mission to give those a try.

The fork shield is a must, lots of dirty air comes up through that gap and vibrates your head. At 5'7" you should be OK with that, I have the Madstad screen because I'm tall and it works really well for me.

Bike came with the forkshields, I guess thats why I wasnt miserable from the air on the ride back.

So this weekend I installed the rim tape tubeless conversion and the Mitas E07's. I am glad I went tubeless because doing the tire change in my garage was hard enough, I cant ever see doing it roadside without gouging my rims or pinching a tube. Thank God the tubeless is holding air, i will be plugging leaks, and if I tear a tire, then I guess the buzzards will get me! It would have to be really dire straits for me to try to change a tire roadside, and I dont want to carry all the extra weight in tools. Now I can just carry my plug repair kit and compressor.

The Mitas tires look to be fantastic. I road 50 miles today to test if they were in balance, and scuff them in. THey were smooth, quiet and honestly had plenty of traction on the road for my road skills. They didnt feel much different than the stock Dunlops on the road. I will have to wait and see for rain and off-road. I also raised the forks in the trees. lowering the front a bit to match the low preload I have on the rear. I cut down the seat foam and I can just about flat foot both feet now at 5-7" with my riding boots on.

I installed the center stand, let me tell you those springs are no joke! That was not fun, I ended up having to get help from my neighbor to pull while I aligned and hooked it with a tool we made. So it was a productive weekend of work on the ATAS, almost ready to tackle a trip.

Loving this bike so far, havent ridden my Road GLide since I got this!

Pictures, Pictures Give us Pictures

I did the tubless conversion now about 2K miles ago.
So far the bike has lost negligible tire pressure.
Maybe like 1lb over the course of a week, but that could be temp drops etc.

I used the 3M tape approach and this is the third time I have used it (also did a stelvio to stop the O ring leaks and on HD for a friend).

One thing that has cropped up on the front wheel I think the tape got to close to the air valve so sometime I cant put air in the tire, it is blocked.
I get a stainless rod, heat it up and pass it thru the valve to burn thru the tape and I can get air in so when that front tire comes off I have to so some trimming but good thing to be aware of.

Not a deal breaker but sure confusing first time u try to put air in the tire and nothing happens.

Didn't see this post earlier ... I was able to solo and effortlessly get the springs installed onto the centerstand by making an improvised tool from a humble coat hanger.

One end had a small hook that went into the ends of the springs (they should both be facing "back-to-back" so there is not much of a gap between those two end hooks) and the other had a larger hook that went through one of the openings in the rear sprocket. With the centerstand zip-tied in the up position (had a handy-dandy stand under the skid plate to get the rear tire in the air) and while laying on the floor next to the bike, I rotated the tire backwards with my right hand as I easily guided the spring hooks onto the centerstand with my left hand.

Everything was nicely in alignment, they went in like butter and I didn't even need to use my usual stream of favorite profanities for moral support.

Good bloodless accessory installations to ya!