Road tested and very happy with weight distribution aspects especialy front end, only issue was seat height was too high but overall very pleased..!!

Wow! That's quite a beast.

K75 Adventure Bike
 

Been busy and it's starting to look usefull..!!

So its been a while.....
 

Getting somewhere now, integrated luggage system starting to take shape. Rear cubby box is my favourite piece of engineering so far, love it...

:D:D:D
Excellent work! Beauty! Love the boxes:thumbup1:

But I still worry if your K75 is ever taken into rough country, riding over corrugations (washboard) or worse. Not only will be hard to handle once fully loaded, but Stuff can shake apart, crack, or other wise fail.

I just ran my Ducati Hyperstrada over 15 miles rough dirt roads .... it is now dead. Not sure what or why, but suspect failed fuel pump. It's a street bike and I should never, ever have set foot on dirt with it. Now, what is the K75?
And what does it weigh fully loaded for travel?

Heavy street bikes get even heavier when loaded up with metal boxes, luggage and whatever else you strap on there to travel (kitchen sink perhaps :smartass:

And, if you look at the long iist of potential failure items MotoEdde has listed below, well, IMO, it's quite daunting and Edde would know. (RTW on a K75)

For me? My "new to me" Ducati is up for sale. This was my first longish ride on it ... and it crapped out. Done.

My DR650 has over 60K miles of very harsh dirt roads/two track, Desert rocks and lots of high speed road road work at 75 mph as well. Not ONE ISSUE beyond normal, basic maintenance.

Review again what Edde wrote way back when:
I think for a road based ADV bike your K75 will be tits. But I would not take it too far from home or off road. But that's just me ... spoiled by Japanese long term reliability. :D

Hello AGAIN Mr Mollydog, your thinking way too offroady here, I am taking the wife with me on the journey and in no way will I be skimming the wash board tops and certainly not anything at great speed. I will however be doing logging roads, off the beaten tracks when it feels right, off the main road river locations etc etc you know the score but the sort of stuff you wrecked your Duke on ???? No thanks not on a RTW trip...
As for the panniers , you would have to pick one up to realise just how surprisingly light they really are.
With reference to MotoEddie's post, my bike is so far removed from a standard K75 its only the engine issues that relate and final drive.
Anyhow, there's a new build i'm starting that would get your juices flowing and again it involves fabrication intervention. It's a cracker and only 3 of them exist so far, 2 in the states and 1 in the UK..... Watch this Space..!!

Can't' wait to see what you come up with! :thumbup1:

BTW, my Duc WAS on a forest service road! :w00t: Granted, it was in bad condition, even the paved sections were brutal. I could not avoid one the millions of Sharp edged Pot Holes (in shade) and nailed it at 40 MPH. BAM!!

Thought I'd broken my spine! ... or at very least bent a wheel or cracked the frame. No damage (except to me!)

You've probably done more RTW travel than I have ... but in my mostly USA/Mexico/Centl America experience I find that the dirt road that can start out nice and easy can somehow transform into a nasty nightmare.

Bad corrugations can happen anywhere there are UP HILL sections, not so much when flat. California is ALL Mountains. UP DOWN UP DOWN ... all day.

Water Crossings? Deep Sand? Rocky Tracks? These conditions are everywhere and can sometimes get tough and sometimes can't be avoided if you want to go off road.

And what about Mud? Sometimes you can't avoid it either ... even on roads that are normally in good shape. I struggle in mud on my DR650 and could not make some on my former VStrom 1000. (mud jammed front mud guard ... wheel would not turn and jammed up around hugger/swingarm too. Once free, I had to turn round.

Your new boxes are works of art :D and I'm sure as light as you say. Problem is
once you LOAD THEM UP! :oops2: Now add on a tail box, tank bag.

One Baja ride years ago a couple of KLR guys were over packed, using Alu Boxes. They really struggled even in relatively easy sections. On that one Baja ride we had a Chase Vehicle following along or taking alternate near by tracks.

On DAY 2 of this 14 day ride BOTH KLR guys off loaded their Boxes into Chase truck. Lucky for them the Chase truck showed up each night at our motel. Even KLR's get heavy and I'm thinking that K75 Brick is no light weight power plant.

In EU perhaps off road Forest tracks may be maintained. In much of USA and
for sure California ... they can be a bit nasty on a street bike.

Going slow helps of course but sometimes it's good to maintain some momentum, depending on your gearing and terrain.

My Ducati has such HIGH gearing that doing super steep up hill 90 degree switchbacks on super loose dirt I nearly stalled it. Slipping the clutch not easy on this super grabby clutch with about 1/2" of engagement range.

I did not fall ... only solution was to speed up hope I don't tuck the front. Don't think I could have managed it TWO UP. Low gearing a BIG plus for any UPS and DOWNS of any consequence. We rode on 9% grade yesterday and the Duke Hyperstrada (and me) suffered. Lets see the new bike when you can! bier

CRF500L Dual Sport Hybrid......
 

This should be in the Honda section but just answering your intrigue here....


Basically been itching to get back to off-roading and have for some time fancied a midrange parallel twin engine instead of a 'Thumper'. Went on ADVR and found my answer.... Honda CRF500L


I have bought a 2016 CRF250L donor bike with light rear end damage and also a brand new CB500F flood damaged bike to source all bits for conversion (Water level never reached engine so fine).


This project is getting fast tracked because I need IT in my life

So with the luggage system over half way finished I thought i'd pop the seat and tank back on to get a rough idea of the finished look....

Beautiful colors!
But man, that Ray Gun thingy poking through the screen is really gonna hurt if you're launched over the front and it catches you between the legs! :rofl:

YOUCH!

Should be a good Sport Touring set up! bier

:thumbup1:

Is the deathray an eye-level light, raised air intake or actually something to melt David Essex impersonators while Richard Burton does the commentary?

Andy

Haha..... Nice try, actually it's the intake for the butterfly valve but also works with moths when night time riding....!!

time for glitter...!!!
 

Ok, renewed mojo in place I got round to finishing the loom to 95%, the frames final welding, linnishing and quality control, its off to the powder coaters for some colour. While that's being done the engine gets a little tlc, water/oil pump recon, valve clearance check, clutch spec checked, new swingarm bearings fitted, final drive checked. lots and lots of small final tweaking jobs done to get bike on a realistic platform for a test trip somewhere sunny next year.
Oh, I nearly forgot, I weighed all of the bike as I stripped it down and yes it's quite some lump but not as bad as I feared... 280kg

Picking up your parts from the powder coaters is indescribable, especially when you have blatant disregard for brand colour loyalty...!!!

Slow but sure progress being made and sure beats being at work..!!



One thing I've noticed about posting attachment photo's, you cant see them when you preview your post to check picture orientation, it's a complete lottery as to wether they turn out sideways on or upright..!!