Time to start the farkling!

Czesc Kuba i Malgorzata. Bardzo sie ciesze ze czytacie moj blog, dziekuje. Postaram sie czesciej umieszczac nowe informacje oraz zdjecia. Moj polski jest coraz lepszy, nie sadzicie??? hehehe

(That part was for my international readers)

For those of you who don't know, "farkling" is the act of adding features to a motorcycle or scooter, which are not required, but increase comfort or convenience.

Last week, I added two farkles to the KLR650:

a) A tap on the battery for Slime's "Powersport Inflator", and
b) A Beadrider saddle pad


Here's a shot of the beadrider pad installed on the KLR:



As many professional drivers will tell you, putting one of these on the seat of one's car, bus, or truck makes a long time on a seat more comfortable. Why? Because otherwise, after a while, no air gets to one's butt. When that happens, it is only a short time until Monkey Butt sets in. (Monkey Butt is when one's butt goes numb, and makes one feel like it is bright red and painful, like the Japanese Snow Monkey or Macaque) With this simple seat pad, I'm able to ride hundreds of miles without Monkey Butt. My wife tells me that her dad used to use these pads in Poland. I think they originated in India.


This was intended as a temporary attempt at long distance comfort. If it worked, I would save myself $600 that is required for a Russell saddle. If not, I've only lost $40.

The KLR has tubed tires. All dirtbikes have tubed tires because the spoked wheels will not hold air like the wheels of tubeless tires. This is the reason I bought some equipment with which I could fix a flat at the side of the road or in the middle of the woods. The first item was the Slime inflator mentioned above. If you click on the link, you can see that the inflator itself is about the size of 4 cell phones. It fits in a little case. Last weekend I used it when a buddy and I went down to an all terrain park. We deflated our tires to 15 psi for better off-road traction, and were able to quickly reinflate them before getting back on the road home. This little inflator worked very well.

While I was at Slime's website, I noticed that they have a high-end inflator too. The ones that are available in the USA are usually very cheap, low quality ones that are made in China. On one visit to Poland, my father-in-law, Kuba, bought a high-quality tire inflator that looked similar to this one. I think I may get one of those for the car in the near future, along with some Slime.

The next episode will discuss the oil burning that the KLR650 has become famous for. Stay tuned.