Right then.
Long story long.
As some of our older members might remember, before the ThunderBastard, there was The Nail.
When I bought the Nail (a 2000 Cagiva Navigator) it was a competent if slightly quirky machine. After making an exhaust system, ruining the fuel injection system, changing the suspension to Wilber's I decided what it really needed was a 17" front wheel with a matching rear.
The bike was transformed, it was all the bike I wanted or needed.
And then I rode a New Africa Twin.
I started looking quite closely at buying an Africa Twin until my attention was grabbed by the KTM 1190 Adventure.
I bought a low mileage example in June 2018 still in warranty. It was wonderful
Apart from the screen. The screen created a load of buffeting and wind noise but I sorted that surprisingly quickly and for a very little outlay.
And the seat. I bought a KTM powerparts seat.
And the exhaust, I bought an Arrow end can.
And the part throttle fueling. I had it remapped, this in turn made the exhaust run hotter so I removed the cat.
All was fine until I realised my legs weren't quite long enough, so I lowered it.
Now it was fine and then I read about a company that made a plug and play cruise control. I fitted a cruise control.
All the way through I realised what I really, really wanted was a 17" front wheel.
For many years I had read threads about the conversion, without exception everyone who had done the deed loved it. We aren't on this planet for ever so I decided that now was the time.
I received a quote to re-lace my front wheel with a 17" rim which was very reasonable. Being a cautious type I much preferred the idea of being able to swap back easily should the need ever arise so I ordered a complete wheel with a tubeless sealing band so I didn't have to fit an inner tube.
Fitting a smaller front wheel also requires a smaller front mudguard, I found a brand new slightly damaged (small scratch) KTM SuperDuke one on eBay for not a lot of money. I painted the front portion (where the scratch was) to match the bike.
Next up were the ABS rings. These perform several functions, they send a message to ecu's that control, the ABS, the traction control, the lean sensitive, traction control, the lean sensitive ABS and the speedometer.
This being quite a common modification a fair amount of knowledge is available, I ordered a pair from Germany.
The last part of the puzzle was the tyre pressure monitoring system, after much reading I decided that again a SuperDuke item should sort the job. ( This didn't go entirely to plan and is now a work in progress).
Worry not, we are nearly there.
Last week (told you, nearly there) I started the assembly, all was going well until I decided that I couldn't wait to match the appearance of the wheels.
(I didn't mention that I had both of the wheels painted orange years ago because I don't like black wheels). As the new wheel is an aluminum rim I decided to remove the orange paint and the black anodising below. The best part of a day and a half later had seen me take a chunk out of my little finger and the skin off an index finger with the most viscous rotary brush ever conceived. All I achieved was several deep gouges in the once pristine aluminum rim and a huge area between the spokes still in their orange glory. Admitting defeat I called my brother in law, his blast cabinet easily took the wheel and tyre. I spent an hour and a half with the media (glass I think) and all was well.
The bike now assembled, was ready for it's inaugural test flight.
Last Saturday morning I set off and was immediately astounded as to how light the steering now was at low speed, it leant over and turned with only the slightest input. On the faster roads it just feels so much more direct, it turns into corners with the minimum of effort and it hold it's line without any hint of running wide.
It was everything I had hoped for. The trip was a mere 35 miles, everything worked as it should, the speedo is now more accurate as a bonus.
The only job I need to do was shorten the side stand.
(And it seems the centre stand)
