KLR 685 cylinder removal

Bike stripped down ready to drop the coolant and remove the carburetor. At this point it only took me around fifteen minuets..
I'm not going to bore you with a picture for every part I remove so we'll start it off with the head.. Plug looks very clean so I don't have the jetting too rich. Right now I have the dyno jet needle on the middle clip and a 153 main jet.



The top of the piston had a fair amount of carbon for only having sixty three hundred miles.
I'm not sure if this is due to running the bike on cheap gas or lugging the engine too much.
I was debating using the thinner base gasket to bump up compression but after seeing this I'm afraid of pre-ignition.



Cylinder looks normal for a big bore. The picture makes it look a little more dramatic, nothing you can feel.

The skirt looks really good and the rings were not that lined up when I pulled off the cylinder. The gaps were about eighty degrees apart. Cary from Schnitz said that the rings normal rotate and compression would still be good if they happened to line up. You figure piston ring end gap is only .018" so a line up wouldn't do much.
The weight of these pistons in your hands feels huge. Most likely all the weight saving is from the much shorter piston skirt.
This coming Saturday I'll drop off the cylinder and piston to get fitted. It's going to take a week to get back. While thats away the valves will have the clearances checked. That should be very easy off the bike and on the work bench.
So far total time is about two hours.

Schnitz Racing KLR 685 piston kit --- engine porn!! :)

So this is the Schnitz klr 685 piston kit!!!!!!! In the next few weeks I'll be getting down to business getting the bike torn down and get the cylinder bored & honed. The piston is pretty nice and really looks like a Chevy 400 piston. The main reason for me doing this kit is after 400 plus miles you feel really buzzed from riding the KLR. This piston is 83 grams lighter than stock and should help. Also with the kit is a .010" base gasket that really boosts the compression up.

Mad Maps run to Benton Harbor

The lovely view of I-80 heading to the Indiana border!!! Today's ride was a test run of a route of MAD MAPS design on there Chicago day trips. It begins in the area of Indiana dunes on RT.12 and runs all the way up to the ST.Joes and Benton Harbor area.
Jim on his klr on RT.12 and my camera was not happy and left me with a blurry picture........This is what you do with a blurry pic, you have fun with it!!
Hanging out just north of the Warren Dunes warming up on coffee and hot chocolate.
Did I mention the day started out at 40 degrees. It did get warmer after 10am.

All the yachts pulled and winterized. Note: the brick road out to the ST.Joes light house, you can't tell but the road was very wavy.
ST.Joes light house is located in Tiscornia park. N42 06.919 W86 29.240


This guy was nut's, I love my toy's and activity's but it was 50 degrees and the wind chill had to be 40 degrees. The positive side for him was he had the place to himself.
That runway is the original way out to the lighthouse. It's about twenty plus feet above the water. That would be a tough walk in ten below zero in the snow.

Even gang members love the light house!! :)
Jim very sad we could not go into the lighthouse..



Stooges only about a half mile from the lighthouse and pretty good burger. Was recommed my Mad Maps..
What better place to knock out two birds with one stone..
I don't think I would want to taste the BBQ!

The route suggested from Mad Maps was good on the way up the lakefront. The return route brought us down through some really crappy neighbor hoods. Also some very slow and congested large towns. The good part was it was cool out so we didn't have to sweat through all the stop and go.
I have a Mad Map from the Deals gap area and it's night and day between how the routes are done. For the Chicago day trip I give the two routes I tried a D- for both running into congested areas. Also they didn't list things to see anywhere near the route Don't spend money on buying it.
The Deals Gap version is worth every penny. I've done two of the routes on that map and were a blast. They list gas stations and plenty of food options. Next year I'm hoping to head down there again and knock out two more of the suggestions.

Ride to Clinton Iowa to hit the boat!! :P

I haven't been out on a longer trip for a while since I was under the weather it seemed like every weekend in August. Jim invited me on his traditional gambling run. This was a fun simple trip, straight out to Iowa. Met up with Jim and Tom in sugar grove at the airport.
Had some breakfast in Shabbona IL. Nice little place that was jammed so we hung out at the counter seats. Our waitress was awesome as she was more sarcastic than Jim, very entertaining.
The best part was the twenty something guy talking to us telling about how he owns the bar down the street. He then gets up and says "well gotta go clean the bar and smoke a bong". Little surprised he was so open with that.
Sorry about the buggy pictures, I thought the camera wouldn't pic it up so bad.
Anyways the price of gas kept going down all the way to Clinton. Lowest price I think was $2.49.
Clintion's new welcome sign.

They closed the boat and now it's on land and being used as a showboat. Snore!!
They did post directions for the new casino farther down RT.30....

The Killers waiting for a street light. There's nothing going on in Clintion.
The new casino, it's on dry land. They must of passed a $$law$$ to dump the boats..
The wind farm along HWY 30 buy Paw Paw. I had KLR and hit the gravel road to get closer pic's.
The typical country picture, with bugs!! :)
I think they want me to STOP NOW!!
Maybe one or two more rides this year. You can only hope.