21" Front Wheel & 'Spench Upgrade

3/16/2022

There are some bikes that come into your stable, and leave in short order. Then there are unicorn bikes. Ones that leave a tire tread mark across your heart. It's funny to look back and realize that is has been nearly 9 years since I bought the G650X. So many great rides, I decided to gussy her up a bit. First things first, I bent the housing the Ohlins rear shock. Ohlins has been painful to deal with, as they don't have good inventory control. So out with the nonsense, and I bought a TFX shock with reservoir. Damn, that turned a good bike into a a great one. Mounting it was a bit tricky because I had to relocate the reservoir on the far side. It was suppose to mount to the bracket which is blocked by my Hotrod Welding Aux fuel tank.

The next issue to address occurred back in 2012, when we were riding into New Mexico. We got schooled pretty hard on sticky mud that day, as the bikes had low fenders. The mud would literally stick to tire then cake so hard that the front wheel would lock up and then throw you on the ground. Riding ain't so much fun if you have use your tire iron to unfurl the mud like a rolling pin on cookie dough.

We revisited the sticky mud problem again on the Trans America Trail. But this time, armed with high fenders the mud was not as formidable.

Getting ready to take the X bike out to sticky mud country next summer, and decided to give her a new high front fender. The conversion was probably more than I would have set out to do. But on a lark, I found a used G650X-challenge fender on Ebay. So I scooped it up. Turns out there is no way to get the fender to work with the headlight assembly.

I then bought RTECH Supermoto fenders from MotardInn. Since they are coming from Europe, I buy the black and yellow,as I knew the yellow would be the wrong shade. The yellow will probably be easier to paint as it is closer to the end color, and shipping cost was too high not to at least try. Other than drilling two holes, they appear to be a direct fit. Need to get some ride time to see if they will be the correct length to catch the dirt. They may need a stiffener, but won't know that until some good mud rides.

So, the black fender wasn't too bad. But it is cheaper plastic than the rest of the bike, so it might want to sun fade. The other minor annoyance was it was a high-gloss finish, and the other black panels on the bike are matte black. The yellow is way off, think Suzuki yellow. The bike is a Sunset Yellow (BMW 987), which appears to have some cool/purple tint to the shade. So, I ordered up this paint kit from Color Rite. It is technically the F800GS color, also from 2009. Nothing but mad props for Color Rite. Quick delivery, great directions, very complete kit. And the match more than met my expectations. Here's to hoping that the pain survives the life of a fender abuse!

Next up, I bought an extra hub off a riding buddy (Hi Mike!). I sent the hub to Woody's Wheel Works to lace up a new excel rim and super spokes. It's unfortunate that he won't seal that size rim for tubeless.

Since the other X-country fender has the fork guards integrated into it, there is a need to replace those too. I first bought the KTM Acerbis Fork Guards(any style with 3 holes on the bottom should work. While they bolted up to the bottom holes, I had issues with the brake line. I replaced the brake line with Spiegler one, because I needed one longer for the steering stabilizer mount. Well, that brake line has a nice exterior sheath, which is too fat to fit on the Acerbis brake holder. So I ended up buying the BMW ones, which took 6 weeks to swim across the pond at twice the price.

The BMW Part Numbers are:
31427696714 FORK PROTECTOR, RIGHT
31427696713 FORK PROTECTOR, LEFT
31427708941 COLLAR SCREW - M6 (quantity=6)

Heck, since I this far mind as well also take the forks off and put seal savers on them!