What Tools for TA 650?
 

I have just bought a 2001 TA 650 which is now waiting for me in Ireland.

I am in Australia and thinking about a basic tool kit to take this bike from the UK to Mongolia.

I don't even know the basics of the bike ie what size are the front/rear wheel nuts?

Love some feed back on what people think the minimum required tools would be keeping in mind I won't be rebuilding the bike if the engine blows up! Just basic maintenance.

Thanks

For basic maintenance, the toolkit that Honda includes when you buy the bike will be suffice. Spanners included cover all the sizes you will require. 2 screw drivers and a tool to replace the spark plugs are included as well.

Greetings

just bought the same and am preparing it at the moment for a Morocco trip, and agree with above. The spanner to do the rear wheel is a bit weak and not long for leverage if its on tight or corroded.. with that in mind one of my tyre levers also fits(24mm spanner built into one end-nice bit of kit)in and is strong enough to take a bit of pipe for extra leverage to undo if needed.

Other than that I take the usual emergency bike rations of cable ties, gaffa tape, a handful of spare nuts and bolts of various sizes, araldite, emergency tyre sealant if i run out of patches, lockwire and a small wd 40. Might sound a bit OTT but I don,t like being stranded or having to pay someone else.. But you probably knew most of that anyway.
i,m away from the bike at the moment but the rear wheel nut is 24mm and i think the front are11 or 12mm, but the standard tool kit fits anyway..

Enjoy the trip

Great thanks for that, I'll see if I can get a tyre lever with the a 24 mm spanner.

The only tool that will remove the spark plugs is the tool that comes with the original tool kit. If its not there get one from David Silver spares. About £10. As others have said the supplied spanner for the rear is pathetic and apart from that you will need 5mm Allen key, 8,10,12,13,14,17 spanners and/or sockets. Small and large Philips screwdrivers, flat blade screwdriver. Personally I would buy a decent set of tool rather than the provided toolkit. Then also take whatever else you think you might need for emergencies and roadside repairs.

A TA is not the easiest bike to work on, nor is it the hardest though. The fairing seems hard to take off but once you have done it a few times takes about 10-15 mins. There's a lot of fastners though.

You can change all 4 plugs with the tank on and radiators in place despite what the book will say - but it's tight and you will skin your knuckles. The most difficult service job is tappets mostly coz they are so inaccessible. But I ran mine for over 100,000 miles and I stopped checking them very early in its life as they never moved.

Hope all goes well, they are a great bike. Www.XRV.org.uk is the best resource for TA advice.


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Austin can I add a question to your answer. . Did u have any water pump or reg rectifier problems in your 100000 miles? Agree with you re xrv org although ad ice seems a bit mixed in respect of my question.
My missus has tiny hands so I'm sure she'll change tbe plugs for me.... Thanks for the tip

Nope no problems with water pump or R/R. I only changed the coolant once too. It always looked so clean and perfect it seemed a waste.

Oil and filter every 8,000 miles. Keep the chain on the loose side. Keep the sliding pins and pistons on all the brake calipers well lubed and keep the rpm below 6k and they seem to go forever. It's probably worth checking the front sprocket for wear and that its s Honda one. Pattern parts will wear the shaft rather than the sprocket - which is not good.


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Great. Good to know thank you and your advice re tbe front sprocket seems very common its next on my list of todo jobs :-)