nhtsa recall-klr balancer system? (repost)

[vfrdirk]

Yesterday, I finally got around to installing, on my A14, the regular Progressive Fork Spring set which was sent to me, gratis, by lister Steve Anderson after he upgraded to the Larry Roesseler setup. After riding it around for a while, I'm duly impressed by the improvement. Steve's recommendation to use 3 1.5" PVC fittings as spacers set me up at just about the right preload for my riding. After fiddling with the rear shock, I got a setting which makes bumps feel relatively similar as they go under the front and then the rear tire. Limited dive under braking, smoother handling of small surface bumps, and more confident cornering on my K270s were all benefits of the upgrade. Hats off to Steve who made the whole thing possible! I'm not sure if anyone else has done this, but I Ebayed (is that a verb now?) myself a set of stainless steel replacement fasteners for the KLR. Today I started fastening. The fasteners, over 100 pieces including washers, are 5 or 4 millimeter hex head depending on application. Admittedly this brings the number of tools required to do most routine 'R and R' tasks down from 3 (Philips, 10mm, and 8mm) to 2 (5mm hex and 4mm hex), but the hex tools are much smaller and allowed me to get better torque on some fasteners than a screwdriver would. So far I've replaced seat, side panel, rear brake reservoir, battery box, gas tank, chain guard, sidestand switch cover, header heat shield, and tank fairing bolts. Switchgear and fairing fasteners are yet to do. All in all, the convenience of having most of the fasteners converted to hex head hasn't been felt yet, but the kit was complete and the instructions were clear and accurate (so far). Besides, it was winter when I bought them and I couldn't ride the KLR, so I just bought stuff for it instead.... Also, just to throw in a word about my 'overly large, over engineered, and over priced' Schuberth Concept helmet. I got one of these things for my birthday last December. I didn't get a chance to wear it until February when we had some days that got into the upper 30's or low 40's. My impression of the helmet was cemented during the cold commutes to work. The venting just plain works. (When I opened the top vent, my head got cold) The 'city mode' of the visor keeps the thing free of fog no matter what. (City Mode moves the entire visor about 1/8" directly outwards from the front of the helmet allowing a sheet of fresh air to move across the inside of it without blasting the rider) And the sun visor is awesome once you get comfortable with the coverage it offers. (The sun shade covers the top half of the visor, so your gauges aren't shaded too dark to see, and it stays there even when the clear visor is up) There's a 'lip' contoured into the back of the helmet shell which tames the lifting and bobbling I used to get with my Bell M4 helmet on bikes with mid- sized fairings. Finally, the thing fits in my Givi 50L case with room enough for my 2pc. Aerostich and gloves. If that's the price of 'over- engineering' count me in! I bought my Schuberth through a contact in Germany and the whole thing wound up costing me $225 shipped. Sorry for the long post, I was saving up... Dirk Koenig (overly large, over-engineered, over-priced and German) Minneapolis, MN 00 KLR 97 VFR

[Ted Palmer]

Jim Hyman wrote:

> > I originally posted this to the list on December 11, 2001 > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > N.H.T.S.A. - the National Highway & Traffic System Administration > has NOT issued a recall, but they should. > > If you've been the victim of a balancer system failure, contact > NHTSA and file a formal complaint. Keep in mind that they deal with > ANY safety related concerns for all vehicles.

[much deleted] This is the way, dudes. Get your tax dollars working for you. KHI-USA might brush you off, but they would have to take at least some notice of a governmet federal department. Mister_T Melbourne Australia