Yella farkles

So as Geoff predicted, with a new bike there are always farkles and so it has begun...

But, I'm fairly certain that things shouldn't get too out of hand.  The RMX needs to stay light and at this stage there are no plans for full luggage, extra lights or even heated grips...

The first farkle that I had to have was simple:

Naturally I bought these as they were a nice shiny yellow colour...

Yeah, right.  It was easier than that - not having them on a bike that just might "fall over" at some stage is silly.  Add to that the protection you get from things like tree branches and gorse bushes then they are worth getting for sure.

As I've been pretty close to death with some sort of man flu plague lately, it took me a little longer to get these sorted.  In fact it took me two goes at it.  It was far easier after watching a Youtube video that showed me I needed to trim a bit off the the throttle tube to fit them...

And they're yella!

Next up, was not really a farkle but a necessity.  The bike came with some great riding gear but it also came with a stuffed battery.  Yeah, she fires up ok on the kick-starter but if I wanted to do that I might have got an RMZ instead.  I'm old and unfit with short legs (multi-handicap, must get a sticker) and don't want to be stuck in some mongrel place and needing to use my boot - a button wins every time...

Colin had just replaced his WR's battery and had stumbled across some lithium-iron jobbies on Trademe.  These seem to get mixed reviews but having not tried one and enticed by the light weight I decided to give one a go.  Check out the size difference - and it's at least half the weight!

Due to the size difference, they supply some sticky backed rubber so that the battery will fit nicely in the bikes battery box/compartment.  Here's what I initially did to make it fit.

In the end it was sitting slightly too high so I took off one layer off the bottom, add a little more on one side and slip just a small piece under the rubber retaining strap to make it nice and snug under the seat.

But would it work?  Remember how I was dying of the plague?  Well, unfortunately there was quite some in-depth investigation before we remembered that some Suzuki's need their clutches pulled in when hitting the starter - go easy on an ill person...

Anyway, the main thing is that she is ready to rock and there just happens to be a trail ride on Sunday.  I really need to kick this bug!