About six weeks ago Beasthonda pointed me in the direction of a Rally-Raid rider saddle up for grabs – brand new from Greece. Well, a couple of weeks ago it arrived and I gave it a quick once over. Since then it has sat in the corner looking pretty. Until today.
I took it to the garage and was just about to put the box away, when I glanced at the saddle on the shelf waiting to go back on the bike.Something wasn’t quite right, so out of the box came the new saddle, and voila ….. it turn out it’s a low-saddle. Yes, AP8793685 – what a surprise! I’ve always been on tipie-toe on the Raid, so I’m looking forward to at least trying the low saddle just to see what the trade off is. My guess, better foot-to-floor feel but knees getting bent more when riding, which will be the killer as my knees don’t do so well these days even with the standard seat. But for local/commuter riding it might be just perfect, the swap saddles for the long-haul rides.
Stuck in lockdown and looking for something biker related to watch? Well here’s a real thought provoking treat for you. I found out about this a few months ago and yesterday it popped up on Amazon Prime UK for £2.49 in HD. It’s part one of a trilogy by the looks of it. If you like bikes and worry about what the politicians may do to our lifestyle in the coming years as they push ever harder to ban fossil fuels and rush headlong toward electric and autonomous vehicles, then you might just like this film. I loved it …. and maybe the back-story sat all the harder as I work in the autonomous vehicle industry!
As I sit looking at the vast expanse of white in the WordPress editor window, fingers poised over the keys and acutely aware of the aches in my fingers and wrists and subtle waft of soap barely masking the hint of worn out engine oil clinging stubbornly to the creases in my old hands, I think to myself ….. aaagggghhhh why did I bother!
Yes, another Caponord service is over – with a valve check. Don’t get me wrong, everything went well, couldn’t have gone better in fact. Air/Oil filters and engine oil, plugs, hoses, fuel tank drain lines etc … are just perfect … but this time I had to fight my way in to check the valves, last done sometime when Crackerjack was on black and white TV’s – or so it feels.
Don’t get me wrong it’s not a hard job, just a fiddly one, especially the front cam cover bolt beautifully obscured by the coolant thermostat, oh and the buggeroo of a screw at the front of the cam cover, behind the radiator and below the finger shredding plastic mount for the front coils … otherwise, all good.
It’s none of that that bothers me in reality. It’s the fact that when you get in and measure the valves after what seems like way too many miles since the last visit, they’re all bloody fine! Couldn’t just one be out, just one require a shim change just to make the whole visit worthwhile – please! Oh well, I guess I had to console myself with fitting the powder coated cam covers and savouring the moment in the golden hour at the end of a beautifully warm day.
I think it’s reasonable to say that Aprilia got it right when they chose Rotax and the rock-solid V990 motor for their range of bikes in the late 90’s. Bullet-proof doesn’t quite do it justice, especially in the de-tuned Caponord variant. But even this wonderful piece of Bavarian engineering has it’s weak points, and probably the one most obvious from a service-by-service aspect is that damn annoying magnetic plug in the crankcase.
Yes, little old AP0241782 can be easy to install, but a stress-breeding mega-monster when it comes to it’s removal. Stubborn is just too understated for how this little sucker can behave! Even with a brand new, high quality hex-key you feel the fear rise in your throat as you apply more and more torque – until finally with a loud ‘crack’ it gives way while your knuckles accelerate toward the floor at light speed. Or as has happened on the odd occasion, the head sheers off!
Over the years I’ve tried removing it with the engine hot, cold and in-between …. with prayer, witchcraft by a full moon and plain old cursing. In the end the best remedy I stumbled upon was a bag full of the little suckers donated by a friend. Spoiled as I was, I could afford to be decadent and change the plug for a new one every three services. By that time the fit between the screw and hex-key was getting a little stretched. But then one day, the bag ran dry …. oh my!
A little online digging threw up a bit more info regarding Aprilia numbers and options. It turns out that the magnetic plug AP0241782 has now been superseded by 2R000498 AND there is an optional washer offered if you want to use one. The 07-09 RSVR and 07-10 Tuono used the same plug AND also had the crush washer AP0250640 fitted. This washer is now sold listed as a usable option on all engines that use this plug. Does it make a difference? I’ve no idea as I’ve not tried one, but I guess it moves the mating surfaces from the taper to the screw head/crankcase and washer. In the end I went a different route used by many others over the years.
Following the recent footsteps of my old mate Beasthonda, I dipped into my pocket and purchased a KTM mag plug – 58030021100 for the princely sum of just under £9 compared with the Aprilia part retailing at £32. This saving alone is worth moving away from the Aprilia part! Now the eagle-eyed among you may have noted that the magnet on the KTM plug is longer than on the Aprilia one and be concerned that this could cause a possible oil restriction – fear not. The 10mm magnet (versus 8mm) fits into a cavern …… the space inside the crankcase behind the magnet goes back at least 50mm, so there’s tons of room around for oil to flow by. So, job done ….time to move on with the rest of the lockdown service.
Just updated the heated grips and helmet graphics on the display, much nicer I think. 👍 Sorry about the stripes in picture, it’s a camera v display thing!
It’s fair to say that these strange and worrying times will touch all of us in some way or other, so may I firstly send each and everyone of you all my best wishes as we each deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. That said, life still moves on and this site is about the beloved Caponord ETV1000 we are lucky enough to enjoy, so it’s content will stay focused to that end.
Recently the fantastic company I work for has taken the difficult decision to furlough us until the end of May, but the flip side of this particular coin is that I’ll now have a lot more time to add new material to the website and spend some well needed hours spinning spanners and generally giving the Capo the TLC it so richly deserves. So please, stay safe, and pop back once in a while and see what’s been added!
First on the list ……. the front mudguard. I’d only had the Capo a year or so, when one fateful day a rather inquisitive chicken decided the front mudguard was a smashing place to perch, but not very grippy. So after lots of slipping around and trying to dig its claws in, it gave up and flapped away in a huff leaving nice scratches in the surface of the mudguard. Since then, a coat of black bumper polish every now and then has gone some way to masking the marks, but it needs applying every few weeks to maintain the effect. Later that fateful day, the chicken mysteriously decided to perch inside a hot oven with some lovely roast spuds ….. and close the door. Who knows what goes through a chickens mind eh!
Last year … yes, last year (the shame of waiting so long!), I got hold of a rattle-can of ‘PlastiDip’ satin black. This stuff is quite interesting, it sprays like a paint but can be peeled off later like a vinyl wrap. Just do a search, there are loads of YouTube videos about this stuff. So the plan is, off with the guard, a good wash and degrease then when thoroughly dry, a few coats of Plasti Dip – if I don’t like it, simply peel off re-polish and put it back on the bike – nothing lost. That’s the cunning plan anyway …
Next on the list …. another little update to the 4DSystems screen software! An extra page has been added that now allows control of heated grips and seats. Here’s a little video of it in action … again, it’s a work in progress and will have a couple of graphic tweaks and an extra function added into the software, but for now it’s a working prototype with three PWM (Pulse Wave Modulation) outputs (one per heater set) that will drive a high power circuit controlling the heater elements. These circuits are capable of handling 12A each, so more than tough enough for grips/saddle heaters.
It uses the 5-button switch assembly so that the grips can be adjusted on the fly, rather than have to use the smartphone app like the other info pages. The basic functions are:
Press and hold OK to access the screen or return to main screen
Use the UP and DOWN buttons to select the heater you want to adjust
Use the LEFT and RIGHT buttons to adjust the heat settings – a single press adds/removes 1 block (10%) while press and hold a button ramps up or down until released
Double click the LEFT or RIGHT button to set all heaters to 0% or 100% instantly. When set to 100% there is a five minute timer, then the grips return to preset values – this is ideal as a pre-heater on wintry mornings!
Finally, Double click the OK button to return all heaters to preset values
In-built safety cuts all heaters when the ignition is turned off
Updates in the pipeline …… addition of a settings page in the smartphone app to allow some flexibility. For example – a timer when the ignition is turned off, so the grips can remain live for a few minutes (like the Oxford grips do) … and the ability to inhibit the pillion heater completely if you never carry a pillion or feel the need to heat luggage you have strapped on!
I’ve just done a quick search of the website and realised that I haven’t mentioned tyres in three whole years. That’s probably because for the past three years I’ve been very happy thank you very much running around on the Michelin Anakee 3’s. But now I have a need once again for something a bit more 50:50-ish to tackle some seriously dilapidated roads, more like tracks across ploughed fields really!
Of course I could just opt for the venerable old TKC 80 or Karoo 3 but I wanted to give another manufacturer a try. I’ve read pretty good things over the years about Mitas tyres, a budget tyre made in the Czech Republic, so I opted for the Mitas e07+ based on reviews for our wheel size and bike style and ordered a set from Pneus Online – £146 the pair, delivered.
Well they arrived by two different couriers from two different warehouses on two different days – but they arrived! Both were manufactured within the last few months, so no old stock which is nice. I unwrapped both of them and stood back in amazement ……. I guess we’re all used to the hairs/bobbles (vent spews) on new tyres, but Mitas has REALLY gone to town. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such hairy tyres before! These things have never bothered me in the past, but this amount gives me a real urge to reach for a craft knife!
First off ….. a bit of code change to the website should mean that all other pages, not just the front page will now display at a greater width than previously. I hope you find the general readability and layout better.
Secondly, I’ve now swapped from an Arduino Uno to an Arduino Mega 2560 to drive the 4DSystems display. This was due to the Uno only having one hardware serial interface, while the 2560 has three. Now I’m driving the display off one and a HC-05 Bluetooth module off another. After a frustrating few evenings playing with the MIT App Inventor, I managed to get a working app on my Note 10 that drives the display. It flicks between screens, resets the two MPG indicators and allows me to change the time of the Real Time Clock.
Here we go then …. the plastic inlay carrier was treated to a real good bash around and the display popped into place. Looks nice with the inlay on top, but believe me, there’s plenty to do underneath to make the mount safe for thrashing around on a motorbike!
The good and the bad so far ….. the good – fits (ish) and should be straight forward to finish off, it’s as good as the original in bright light and looks kind of nice as in black as opposed to grey when it’s turned off. The bad … we’ll the eagle eyes among you may have noticed that the plastic pegs for the ‘Mode’ and ‘Set’ buttons are missing. The display is just that bit to long for everything to stay. So I’ve decided to not only move them, but replace them with a 5-way switch that will allow better interaction with the new screen. The old buttons will stay simply to look retro!
Burning a couple of hours each morning before work has proved beneficial in the end. The 4D display now has working fuel and engine temperature digits and graphics, plus the ‘clock’ is now actually attached to a real-time clock and showing the correct time. The board also runs a ‘self test’ on startup so that the pie slices cycle up/down along with a nifty ‘Aprilia’ splash screen. The lugs have been removed and an inlay panel is sacrificing itself to the Dremel tool …. all in the name of prototyping!
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I think it’s reasonable to say that Aprilia got it right when they chose Rotax and the rock-solid V990 motor for their range of bikes in the late 90’s. Bullet-proof doesn’t quite do it justice, especially in the de-tuned Caponord variant. But even this wonderful piece of Bavarian engineering has it’s weak points, and probably the one most obvious from a service-by-service aspect is that damn annoying magnetic plug in the crankcase.
Next on the list …. another little update to the 