Hey gang - just thought I'd introduce myself. Had my first taste of dual sport riding on an '09 KLR and was pretty active on the klr650.net board. Farkled that thing to the max trying to make it the bike it never really was meant to be, at least for me.
That said, I took some time off thinking about riding after I sold it in September, then started back up looking hard at DS bikes again in January. Saturday the lady and I snatched a raven S10 from Hicklin Powersports in Grimes, IA two days after it got uncrated.
I have a lot to learn going from a bike (KLR) that was built on basic, old technology and nearly stupid-proof to farkle & maintain. This beast is a different story, I feel. Refined in every way, but no bike is without weaknesses.
I haven't even had the S10 fired up yet, it had not been dealer prepped when the purchase agreement was signed. So in the meantime till it warms up enough to ride, can anyone toss me some search keywords that I can fast-track on the learning curve?
First things I'm looking into:
1)proper break-in procedure (ride it like you stole it, or baby it) <big-one for me. No second shot at doing this.
2) Maintenance intervals (e.g. oil changes, common gotchas at the first 600 mile maintenance)
3) Must do mods. That exposed oil filter scares me, so crash bars and a proper skidplate.
4) In progress...
Anyway - glad to be a member, and hopefully I can start contributing soon!
That said, I took some time off thinking about riding after I sold it in September, then started back up looking hard at DS bikes again in January. Saturday the lady and I snatched a raven S10 from Hicklin Powersports in Grimes, IA two days after it got uncrated.
I have a lot to learn going from a bike (KLR) that was built on basic, old technology and nearly stupid-proof to farkle & maintain. This beast is a different story, I feel. Refined in every way, but no bike is without weaknesses.
I haven't even had the S10 fired up yet, it had not been dealer prepped when the purchase agreement was signed. So in the meantime till it warms up enough to ride, can anyone toss me some search keywords that I can fast-track on the learning curve?
First things I'm looking into:
1)proper break-in procedure (ride it like you stole it, or baby it) <big-one for me. No second shot at doing this.
2) Maintenance intervals (e.g. oil changes, common gotchas at the first 600 mile maintenance)
3) Must do mods. That exposed oil filter scares me, so crash bars and a proper skidplate.
4) In progress...
Anyway - glad to be a member, and hopefully I can start contributing soon!