southern humboldt rides

Glad to hear you like the 690! Not the long range machine, but tons of fun on local mix roads. Pelletreau Ridge, Simms Ridge, Bare Road are all perfect for it. Need to keep it for Island Mountain. There's a small KTM windshield fhat is really a huge help and pretty inexpensive. 76508065000 is the KTM part number. Their $65 or so.

I have a set od 2" Rox risers which might help since you're pretty tall. Welcome to borrow them. Larry and I both use the Oxford heated grips, I think you have also.

Thanks. No risers needed. I'll look at that windshield. Just ordered Cycras and the Tusk element style grip heaters.

That exhaust weights a ton. I've got an Akro on mine and it's not too loud, and made the bike a bit easier to pick up. Unfortunatly you can't cook your dinner on it like the stocker.
You've inspired me to take mine out tomorrow and get it a little dirty.

I have a Wings and it is super light and runs cool, but it smells like raw fuel when running, so I put the stock back on. Hate that smell.

I wonder if there's a different map to plug in for running different muffler? The heat buildup from the stocker is usually not liked.
We've been told FI is the magic self jetting fix for all days and so on,it doesnt quite work like that yet. They do make a set up for adjusting rear preload while shock is on bike. Little involved but it worked on a friend's bike.

The way things are going here I may have to pick up some sort of 690/701 within the next year.

Hus 701 LR 'Long Range'. Fators had one a few weeks ago. 320 mi (+-) gas range.

I wonder if an orange version of this LR model will be out before long? If this gas tank could retro fit to older 701's they would have a good selling aftermarket part.

This bike sports 2 fuel tanks. 3.5 gallon subframe tank and a front tank that adds another 3 gallons. 2 fuel pumps, and rider selects which tank to draw from via a switch on the bars.

Ive looked at a 701 with all the rear bodywork etc off the bike. It's a foreign looking thing to have a gas tank make up the rear of the bike.

It seems a little rude to just say "nope you cant hang luggage on this bike". No subframe,and a hot muffler.
If you run a tail bag you gotta move it to put gas in. Modern times.

But if I got a new bike,or new to me bike,it would be a 701. For sure,most likely,absolutely.

Eh ? I had luggage hung on my 690 ?

Did it have a subframe on the back? It must have to hang luggage on. The 701 gets an outer frame added on from passenger peg and up the side to make a rack mount and a top bag mount.

Maybe Vanasche makes em.

Like this. I guess the top rack is a separate thing.

Same for the 690 it looks like.

I looked at the Perun site,where they make top racks for both these bikes. It said a couple kilograms of weight on the back of the bike is about it.
Any weight back there is supported by the threaded holes in the under seat gas tank.
I suppose that's why they make the separate pannier racks

Yup. 690 was tall and awkward for me.
I wish I could get a hold of whoever designed the kickstand. (It won't swing clear at the bottom.)
Ruined the bike for me... but then again, I have a damaged back.

Im all beat to hell also,reaching the ground and getting off and on a light dirtbike,is way different than getting off and on a loaded bigger bike. Things get tippy on uneven ground on a heavier tall bike especially loaded,and over it can go.
UC Davis was all for fusing my spine after they looked at x-rays and MRI. Were holding off on that idea.

Lowering a 701 or 690 can be done a little ways,then it gets pricier from there to go any lower. Seems like most people lower them some.
DR is fine as is,but can go 1.5" lower just changing bolt holes on rear shock mount,and dropping the forks.

Since we're on a 690 kick, I'm looking for factory grab handles if anyone has theirs lying around. Will be removing the rack the PO had installed.

Hmmm. I reinstalled the Wings exhaust and now there is hardly any raw fuel smell. I wonder if the bike had just sat for so long and only been started and idled for a few minutes at a time that the ECU was richening up the mixture. Maybe just the act of riding it a few hundred miles got it set correctly. On a similar "smell " observation, I was smelling antifreeze every so often on the first few short rides; that is now also gone. Seals dry from lack of use?

Disclaimer, I probably have no idea what I'm talking about ....

You mean the kickstand seems too long... or...? I feel like it's about 3/4" too long.

Actually it's 'oddly' engineered.

On anything but a 'perfect' slope:
When you extend the kickstand, it contacts the ground close to the bottom of it's arc...
but before it's full in the down position.

At that point, you have to lean the bike to the er... 'other' way.
Same thing on getting the bike ready to ride, gotta lean the bike the other way to get the kickstand up.

Which means if you have short legs and are inflexible, you get hung up where you can't fully get the bike parked or un-parked... and you can't lean the bike the other way.

I'd been that way multiple times. Probably the reason I sold the bike.