Riding with Ren

A blog about motorcycling

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[ridingwithren]

[ridingwithren]

Budget fog lights have arrived

Two weeks ago I bought some budget Cree fog lights via the Wish app, paid $15 for the pair. I have seen this exact same fog lights for sale on Amazon and eBay for much more, and have seen them installed on other bikes before. $15 was cheap so why not? Today they arrived in the mail, straight from China, and they are surprisingly good! They are well built, sealed and sturdy, with a basic mounting bracket. I connected the lights to my battery via jumper leads and confirmed they are indeed quite bright!

Now I just have to wait for the mount I ordered for them to come in the mail too. I am planning right now to install them on the crash bars, but I am also looking at other options. I will be installing these wired into a relayed circuit.

I did pay $15 for the pair, but now they’re up for sale for $30. Prices go up and down at Wish, so check back later to see if the prices drop again: https://www.wish.com/search/1%20Pair%2010W%202%22%20CREE%20LED%20WORK%20LIGHT%20BAR%20FLOOD%20%2F%20SPOT%20for%20Car%20MOTORCYCL#cid=557da080f4c3631a0b194211

[ridingwithren]

Added conspicuity

Today I added some reflective tapes to the panniers to increase rear conspicuity. I thought about getting one of the black reflective kits available for these panniers, but they are $30 a kit, which I think is too much.

Checking out Home Depot I found packs of red and white reflective tape pre-cut to 6 inches, and they looked perfect for the sides of the hard cases on the XT. Sure enough they seem to be at home in this installation. I put one vertical strip on each outer corner of the panniers, red on the rear, white on the front, then another horizontal stripe going through the rear of the panniers and into the inner angled surface. Now I have a lot of reflective material in the rear and some more from the front quarters. I am satisfied with the end result, it cost me less than $5 for both packs of reflective tape.

Rear view

Rear quarter view

Front quarter view (white reflective)

The reflective material from Home Depot, less than $2.50 per pack, found on the same aisle as the mail boxes.

[ridingwithren]

The Gas Cap Dude risers

Today I added The Gas Cap Dude handlebar risers, it brings the bars 1 inch up and 1.25 inch back, the new riding position is great. The caveat is that the holes for the triple clamp did not line up perfectly, I had to file the holes a little bit to make it all fit. I'll monitor these for cracks, and eventually will replace them with better SW Motech risers.

The risers were the cheapest, well built despite the holes that needed to be enlarged. FInd them here: http://www.amazon.com/Kawasaki-Suzuki-DR650-Handlebar-Risers/dp/B00B9LFO4G?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

[ridingwithren]

A man and his bike: on April 1, 2015 I went to Ultimate Cycle in Powhaten, Virginia to pick up my brand new 2015 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom XT ABS. Quite a long name for the bike! I call her Suzi for short. I spent about ten minutes in the dealership parking lot getting acquainted with the brakes, clutch, etc before venturing onto traffic with it. I then rode 100 miles from Powhatan to Fort Eustis and went to work. The bike feels great on the highway, plenty of power, good torque, great road manners. Despite the large panniers ti doesn’t feel either cumbersome or top heavy. The large panniers allow me room to bring all my gear to work, and someday when I take the bike on a road trip I’ll have plenty of room to carry my gear too. Half a week later now and the bike has almost 250 miles, all of them fully enjoyed! Stay tuned for more motorcycling.

[ridingwithren]

Riding with Ren

Hello my name is Ren, this blog is about me and my bike, a 2015 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom XT ABS. It’s an excellent bike, I have owned it for a bit over one week and I am loving every single mile on its saddle. I will post here about all things related to the V-Strom and other things motorcycle-related. Stay tuned.