watch that oil level!

[Luc Legrain]

A couple of weeks ago,before it became to cold to ride, even for me,I rode in the fog,thick enough to see the aim of the head light ( high beam ),it seemed to be way off ( far left),I've never touched the ajusting screws, but took the whole front " thing "off several times. How do y'all aim your head light ? target dot on a wall ? guessing ? Wait for the incoming to flash high/low, so you know you blinded them ? Iknow they have this special aiming device for cars but what about bikes? Luc thinking about putting back the ole Christmas lights on the Red Donkey... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

[E.L. Green]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Luc Legrain wrote:

> several times. How do y'all aim your head light ? > target dot on a wall ? guessing ? Wait for the > incoming to flash high/low, so you know you blinded > them ? Iknow they have this special aiming device for > cars but what about bikes?

The "special aiming device for cars" is history. Cars today have fixed headlight reflectors, and those which do not, are aimed by pointing the car at a wall and turning the screws until the headlights are pointing forward at the designated height (designated in the service manual). Personally, I aim my headlight on my KLR by a) verifying that it is pointing straight when my KLR is pointing straight, and b) adjusting the up/down aim such that I get the most usable light. I.e., while actually riding the bike, observe whether my headlight is pointing too far down or too far up, and then pull over, reach under with a wrench, loosen the adjuster, and move the headlight the way it needs to go (note - wear leather gloves while doing this, the headlight is hot). Repeat until done. Unfortunately hauling a load usually requires re-adjusting the up-down aim since the headlight then starts pointing at the sky... .

[Greg May]

Hi Luc....google "aim motorcycle headlight" ...here is one link of many....have a great evening.....Greg http://www.gadgetjq.com/aimheadlight.htm Luc Legrain wrote: A couple of weeks ago,before it became to cold to ride, even for me,I rode in the fog,thick enough to see the aim of the head light ( high beam ),it seemed to be way off ( far left),I've never touched the ajusting screws, but took the whole front " thing "off several times. How do y'all aim your head light ? target dot on a wall ? guessing ? Wait for the incoming to flash high/low, so you know you blinded them ? Iknow they have this special aiming device for cars but what about bikes? Luc thinking about putting back the ole Christmas lights on the Red Donkey... __________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping --------------------------------- All new Yahoo! Mail - --------------------------------- Get a sneak peak at messages with a handy reading pane. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Greg May]

Hi Luc....google "aim motorcycle headlight" ...here is one link of many....have a great evening.....Greg http://www.gadgetjq.com/aimheadlight.htm Luc Legrain wrote: A couple of weeks ago,before it became to cold to ride, even for me,I rode in the fog,thick enough to see the aim of the head light ( high beam ),it seemed to be way off ( far left),I've never touched the ajusting screws, but took the whole front " thing "off several times. How do y'all aim your head light ? target dot on a wall ? guessing ? Wait for the incoming to flash high/low, so you know you blinded them ? Iknow they have this special aiming device for cars but what about bikes? Luc thinking about putting back the ole Christmas lights on the Red Donkey... __________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping --------------------------------- Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Greg May]

Hi Luc....another perhaps better version....Greg http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto/122_0310_headlight_aiming/ Luc Legrain wrote: A couple of weeks ago,before it became to cold to ride, even for me,I rode in the fog,thick enough to see the aim of the head light ( high beam ),it seemed to be way off ( far left),I've never touched the ajusting screws, but took the whole front " thing "off several times. How do y'all aim your head light ? target dot on a wall ? guessing ? Wait for the incoming to flash high/low, so you know you blinded them ? Iknow they have this special aiming device for cars but what about bikes? Luc thinking about putting back the ole Christmas lights on the Red Donkey... __________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping --------------------------------- Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Blake Sobiloff]

After I cleaned my engine with CycleRx back in late '05 my bike quit using oil. Regardless of the kind of riding I did, the oil level was just the same at the end of an oil change interval as it was at the beginning. So I got complacent and quit checking it at every gas fill- up. I usually check it every two or three tankfuls, but I no longer did so on a regular schedule, and the intervals between checks slowly became greater and greater. Well, a couple of oil changes ago I decided to stop using Red Line oil since it couldn't hold its viscosity any better than Rotella, but it cost a heck of a lot more. I had some stray containers of other kinds of oil taking up space in the garage, so I decided to use them up before moving on to the next oil I wanted to try. During the summer I ran Mobil 1 15W-50, and although one of the side cover gaskets started weeping a bit of oil (typical with Mobil 1), the amount lost wasn't noticeable in the sight window. Come this winter, I used the last quart of Red Line 10W-40 plus the last quart-and-a- half of Rotella 15W-40 I had laying around. Since then I've ridden a little over 1,000 miles, and was planning on going about 1,500 miles before changing it. This evening while reconnecting a wire to my heated grips that managed to come loose, I decided to check the oil. Good thing I did, as I was down about 1.25 quarts! *@&$^!*#!!! I should have known better, as it's common for an engine to use oil when switching brands, especially with Mobil 1 for some reason. My complacency just about bit me big time. So, learn from my mistake and make sure you check your oil level every time you fill your gastank-- it only takes a couple of seconds to tip it upright and make sure you see some oil in the sight glass. You don't have to be precise about it--just make sure some shows. -- Blake Sobiloff http://www.sobiloff.com/> San Jose, CA (USA)