The white Husky, no, not a dog

So after riding one of the newer LC4's with the dual balance shaft motor, I decided I wanted one.  It was SO much smoother than my 2017 690, to the point where if you didn't know better, you'd believe it was a twin cylinder.  I posted my 690 on FB and it sold quickly, I do wish I'd removed a few more things off of it before I posted it though, doh!

The search started for a newer 690/701, and all the bikes locally were grossly over priced, like $3-4000 compared to similar bikes on AdvRider.  I looked at one 701 Long Range, which is a super cool, 2 year model but the guy was sky high in price.  I looked at another well built 701, same thing on price.  The seller reached out to me the next morning and I told him what I thought.  To his credit he got it and we made a deal.

Rode it home, then put it in the shed for 10 days because I had to take an emergency trip out to see my folks.  When I got back I put the bike on the lift and started to get to work.  I need to baseline this bike, so that means all fresh fluids, clean the air filter, check and adjust the valves, new tires, so forth.

On the lift..

Wheels off

My favorite tires ever are Continental TKC80's, which they stopped making.  I was able to score three brand new tires off FB, one front and two rears.  Since I burn through the rears twice as fast as the fronts, this is perfect.  Hopefully by the time I need new ones, they've either starting making them again or replaced them with something new.  I took the wheels to Woody's, who will remove the rim locks, true them, mount and balance the new tires and make them perfect.

Next up the bike came with a broken rear turn signal.  Blew apart the tail to install new ones, but since there are three different aftermarket parts in the tail, getting everything to line up again isn't as easy as it should be.

Complicating matters is the lower pannier mount bolts were pan head allens, which were stripped.  I ended up having to drill one out, thankfully I didn't damage the threads or the swing arm.  Replaced the bolts with 10mm hex heads.

License plate put on

Air filter removed and cleaned.  It was filthy!

This is what came out of the air filter!

That was yesterday.  I was also cleaning every part that I removed and cleaned every nook and cranny I could reach.  This bike had dirt all over it, someone had a good time.

Went after checking the valves today, first off, remove the Rade Garage fuel tank

More cleaning before I removed the valve cover, which was a huge PITA!  It just didn't want to come off, I had to move all sorts of other things out of the way...

Finally!  Set the motor at TDC...

Checked the valves, three out of 4 were tight.  Replaced the shims, set things at the loose end of the scale

When putting the bike back together, don't forget to put the inboard coil pack into the guide tube before you install the guide tube.  Otherwise it won't go back into it's home.

Put the valve cover back on, then I traced the wiring for the switch on the upper left of the dash.  I suspected it was for the ABS dongle, but wanted to make sure.  On my 2017, the ABS dongle gave you three modes, full on (both wheels), off road (front wheel only) and full off.  On the newer bike the ABS dongle only gives you full off or off road, so some people are wiring in an interrupt switch so you can still have street mode where it's always on.

Yup, that's what that switch does...

Next up was replacing the broken RAM mount ball on the dash, with the new one from the seller.

New mount

Next up was wiring the GPS, the bike comes with two accessory fuses/wiring.  One is switched, the other is unswitched.  I prefer to wire the GPS to switched power, that way it turns off with the key.  However when I checked out the wiring, there were already two things wired to that and I'm reluctant to add a third.  Ok, unswitched power it is.

GPS works

While having everything apart I found a Power Commander the seller didn't tell me about.  Sweet!

I'm at a stopping point now.  I need to buy coolant and a low temp fan switch, then I need the wheels/tires back so I can do an oil change and brake fluid flush.  Then I need air filter oil, so I can put the air filter back on, then the seat, then my tank bag.  After that I'll finally be able to ride the bike again and see how it feels.  If it passes the test, I'll add a few more parts to it and it'll be ready to ride!

Congrats on the new bike! The Britannia Lynx is a nice adventure fairing and light upgrade. Looks like your off to a great start!

In reply to ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks!  I got a lot done but ground to a halt because I didn't have the fluids I thought I did.  I'll stop by the Motorcycle shop today after work and buy it all.  I'm curious to see how it feels after all the work, the motor should be a whole lot happier now that I've set the valves and cleaned the air filter.  I know it'll be much smoother after Woody's has fixed the wheels and mounted my new tires.

A quick trip to Performance Cycle on the way home from work, (with my dog, who came inside with me!) netted all the fluids I need

Twin Oil has a specific procedure for oiling their filters.  You dunk it in a whole bunch of oil, let it saturate, then squeeze out the excess (not wring!).  Wait ten minutes, squeeze the filter out again, then wait 4 hours before you install the filter.  I didn't have time to install the filter last night, as the 4 hours was going be 12:30am.  So I'll install it today when I get home from work.  The filter is now a healthy green color

Didn't have time to work on the moto yesterday, had to pick up a "new" car for my daughter after work and I somehow hurt my right leg going down the stairs at my office.  Feels like I tore something in my calf, so that's not awesom.

First start after setting the valves etc

Wasn't sure I was going to work on this last night, as I finished up 4 days straight at the base and had to catch up on house chores.  Managed to push myself though and went out to the garage.

First up, replacing the bent stock shifter.  The pretty Tusk one was $22, so winning!

And installed

If this bike turns into a keeper, I'll get the matching rear brake pedal and maybe the sprocket guard too.

Then I did an oil change.  Skid plate off and cleaned up more stuff, then cleaned up more stuff, then, well, you know...

After that I pulled the drain plug, oil was dirty, but not overly much and nothing weird in it, no solid debris on the magnetic plug either.  Filters looked good, no signs of water in the oil.  Removed the screens, nothing to speak of there either.  Good! 

Rigged up a funnel to fill, it takes 1.7 liters.

To check the level, start the engine and let the oil warm up.  Then turn it off and wait a minute.  Make sure the bike is level, oil should be between the two lines...

Tonight I plan on doing the coolant flush and brake fluid change.  Then I should be able to put the seat back on and strap on my tank bag.  After that I'll ride it and assess whether it's a keeper or something I'll turn more quickly.

Back at it!  KTM/Husky provide a useful bolt that drains the engine and radiator of all the coolant. 

I drained the old stuff and with the bolt out, poured in distilled water until it ran out of the engine.  Did that twice, then put the bolt back in, filled the radiator with distilled water, ran the engine a bit, then drained that out.  Then put in Redline Water Wetter and Engine Ice.  Ran the bike till it was warm, let it cool and topped off the radiator.  I wanted to add a lower temp fan switch, but nobody had one in stock, which was weird.  It's from a 92-94 Geo Metro and all the parts stores told me that was special order.  Ok....

Next up was bleeding the brakes.  I bought this Motion Pro tool that has a check valve in it that doesn't allow air to go back into the system, so one person should be able to bleed the brakes solo.

Sounds good in theory, but in practice I was seeing a ton of air coming out of the system and there's no way it was in there.  So I left it hooked up but managed to bleed both brakes the old fashioned way.  I might do it again tonight without this tool as I wasn't happy with the way the brakes are biting on my ride this morning.

Anyways, this is what I found in the rear brake reservoir.  Seriously gross!  Brake fluid coming out was nasty too.

Thankfully the front brake fluid looked a lot cleaner.

When I was putting the rear brake reservoir back on I found something cool, a rear shock preload adjuster, like an XTrig!  I was bummed out I'd left my XTrig on my 690, so I'm stoked to see this...

I also removed the plastic sprocket guard and found an Oberon clutch slave.  Sweet!  One less thing to buy...

Put the side plastics, seat and my Wolfman tank bag on.

I got a Mosko Moto tank bag with the bike I want to try, but need to get the straps from Mosko.  This Wolfman fits well, but isn't tight up on the front neck and I can't get it any tighter.  Have to see how that works out for me. 

Completed punch list

Someone along the way took stuff off this bike when they sold it.  There's NO way a bike this built is missing things like a proper set of hand guards, a set of mirrors like Double Takes and a steering dampener mount.  I've got the gift card my wife gave me for the dealer and thankfully I can order those parts from them.

Rode it into work today and it's a totally different feeling bike compared to when I rode it home from the seller house.  Far more stable and less vibration at all times.  The TKC80's cemented my love for them when I hit the grooved freeway, they're just drama free.  Motor is very smooth and spins easily, bike puts on speed effortlessly.  Sounds good with the Wings exhaust and Rade intake.  Not as raw as my old 690, which felt stronger because of it's lack of smoothness but I think that's not the case in reality.

I like the height of the bars, foot pegs could be a bit lower but when I add a better seat they'll be where I want them.  I can almost flat foot the bike with the stock seat now.  Sag seems good, bike feels super light and flickable, lighter than my old 690, and very noticeably, which is surprising.  I'm not sure I'm a fan of the Britannia Composites tower/fairing, as it's much closer to me than all of the previous rally fairings I've had.  Because of that the wind protection isn't nearly as good.  Brittania does sell a larger screen, but it's really goofy looking and will be even closer to my head. 

I'm also not a fan of the enduro dash the newer 690/701's have.  I liked my old full dash, with a tach, gear position read out, water temp gauge, etc.  Cupman sells an add on that will give me a tach, oil temp readout and gear position that I might buy.  Overall I like the way it rides, the vibrations a much, much less than my 690.  However they're a different character than my 690, maybe high frequency?  I'll have to take it on a longer ride and see how my hands feel.  I'll probably install my usual Highway DirtBikes anti vibe inserts and the BRP steering dampener mount also has anti vibe bushings, so I should be fine...

Sweet looking bike! 

In reply to golfduke :

Thanks!

I found an O2 sensor delete in the box that came with the bike.  I need to call Rottweiler and ask them if I should install it since the bike has a power commander and I suspect a fuel dongle...

Remembered this bike has a 2 mode traction control, street and off road.  I'd heard that off road has a lazier throttle response, so before I rode home I changed the traction control to street.  Yeah, that's much better!  Way snappier feeling, engine really woke up.  Also remembered the bike has a quick shifter, which is something I've never had, so muscle memory has me pulling the clutch all the time.  Downshifts are nice and smooth with perfect rev matching.  Upshifts are a little harsh, sorta bangs into gear. 

Bike is running well, I'm still not in love with the Britannia Composites tower/fairing but I'll ride it some more.  Time to order some stuff tho, like hand guards, mirrors, BRP dampener mount, luggage plates for the pannier racks, larger tail rack extension, seat, tach/gauge display and tool tube and box...

Looking good! Seems like you picked up a really solid example.

Every bike is different, but my quickshifter experience has been that the upshifts only really feel good if you are really getting after it - WOT upshifts, higher revs, etc. Maybe it's just because I expect shifts to be snappier in those conditions anyway, and I've also never tried the newer systems that rev match your downshifts. I'm sure the tech has improved a lot. That around town "ka-chunk" into the next gear always makes me feel bad for the engagement dogs and shift forks, though I've never actually heard of anyone having durability problems.

In reply to gearheadE30 :

Thanks!  It was a little neglected but nothing I couldn't handle easily.  I test rode an 890 and the quick shifter in it was butter smooth for up and downshifts.  People have complained about the quick shifter on the 690/701's and I can see why.  It will help me when I need to shift gears while standing off road though.

Since I've figured out what the switch on the dash does I figured I'd help out whoever I sell this bike to in the future and label it

I also re-bled the brakes, got some air out of the rear brake and it feels much better.  Front brake was solid.  So as cool as that Motion Pro tool seems, I don't think I'll be using it again.

Couldn't stand the mirror that came on the bike and there wasn't a mirror on the right side, which really bothered me.  I ride enough on the street that I want mirrors that work and that are on both sides.  Dealer needs to order DoubleTake Mirrors, they don't have them in stock.  So I reached into my basement stash and came up with a set of Highway Dirt Bike Mirrors.  These are small mirrors that mount to the hand guards.  I've used them in the past with varying degrees of success because they're small and kinda hard to see stuff in. 

Figured why not though?  The handguards on the bike now are just plastic, but someone has already drilled holes in them, so what's another hole or two?  Was actually able to reuse a hole already in the left handguard, so drilled one in the right handguard and mounted them.

Not only does the bike look a whole lot better, but they actually work surprisingly well!  To the point that I'm going to hold off ordering the Double Take mirrors.  Will try to go to Highway Dirt Bikes this morning (they're local to me) and buy all the hand guard stuff, that way the mirrors can be properly installed.

I wanted to double check that this has the fuel dongle (aka O2 sensor eliminator) on it, plus check the map on the Power Commander.  Got the software on my laptop, checked the map and it's for a 2017 701 supermoto with a slip on and either an intake or stock airbox.  Ok, so not ideal.  Checking the power commander website there aren't any maps listed for my 701 Enduro, but there are for a KTM 690, which is the same bike.  I sent them an email to confirm that they were the same, then looked at the bike.

O2 sensor is still in the pipe and I traced the wiring and found it was unplugged.  Ok, looked for the other end of the harness and there was an unmarked plug in it.  I decided to go ahead and install the O2 eliminator I got with the bike, just to make sure.

Getting the O2 sensor out wasn't easy, access for a 17mm wrench was super tight.  I removed it though and installed the plug that came with the kit.  Power Commander got back to me and confirmed that the 690 maps are the same, so I went ahead and loaded the one that is for my exact setup.

Need to go for a ride and see if I can feel a difference.  Yesterday I went to the dealer and used part of the gift card my wife gave me on a BRP Scotts dampener mount and Kreiga luggage plates for the pannier racks.  I also asked them if they could get me a tool box and tool tube to mount to the racks.  I can get them from Amazon, but since I've got the gift card it makes sense to try and buy them from the dealer.

When I first bought the bike, it was almost out of fuel, so I filled it.  Noticed fuel dripping out of the overflow and thought it was because the petcock on the 2nd tank was open.  This past Friday I filled up again and fuel came out again.  Hmmm.  Coincidentally someone on ADV posted about the routing of their charcoal canister hoses and that made me think.  I put them back on as I found them, but that doesn't mean it's correct.

Pulled the bike apart, looked at the routing and yep, they're wrong.  Fixed it, this is how they should be

Then I noticed a cut out in the side panel and that the vent hose to the main tank was pinched.  Bet that's routed wrong too.  Yep, this is how it should be, I tried to open up the pinched part as best as I could

Next up was replacing another part I should've taken off my 690, adding a tool tube for all my tire irons, etc.  Thankfully it came with all the mounting hardware and it went on pretty easily, even matched the angle of the exhaust.  I've got a tool box that'll mount on the inside of the right pannier coming tomorrow.

I was able to use the last of my wife's gift card to order a Seat Concepts seat, it should be here in 2-4 weeks.  Still waiting for the BRP dampener mount but I also need to order their bar risers as the setup on the bike now won't work with the BRP.  I'd ordered Kriega luggage plates from the dealer too, but only one showed up?  Calling them yielded that these are sold singly, which is stupid.  A pair of them is $$$ though, so I just returned the one and will figure out something else.  I got my new buckles from Mosko and swapped out the Wolfman tank bag for the Mosko

Saturday I rode over to Highway Dirt Bikes and picked up their hand guard setup.  They didn't have their anti vibe inserts, so I'm waiting on those.  Can't put this stuff on until I do the BRP mount though, so no rush.

Did some work yesterday.  Got started on the BRP mount and highway dirt bikes hand guards

First off, take off the handle bars.  I just moved them in front of the triple's

Next take off the old bar risers, looks like a 2" rise.  They felt very comfortable for me, so I wanted to retain about the same height.

All the new BRP stuff to install.  The mount itself gives +15mm of rise, then I bought a set of their +32mm risers, for a total of +47mm, or close to the 2"/50.8mm of rise I had before

After taking off the bolt, which took my impact to do, knock out the bushings usings a deep 7/16" socket

Follow BRP's pic and get the bushings in the right spot and bolt down.  Access to the nuts was difficult, wrench only, not a rachet.  Then BRP insets the bolt head on top, so that's hard to hold.  They want you to torque this to 35-40 ft lbs, but there's no way to get a torque wrench in there, so gutntight it was.  I also started getting the bar clamps on.  BRP sends them with two sets of bushings, blue and red.  Blue is softer, had to put them in the vice to pull them out

Next up was the pin mount.  Not hard, remember to pull the pin and grease it

Now I had to trim the Rade Garage carbon fiber piece to fit around the lower BRP mount.  I didn't want to do this, but it was going to be much more work to modify the stock piece to work with the Rade garage fuel tank.  Turned out nicely though.  You can see I've got everything on below too.

Next up was the Highway Dirt Bikes Handguards.  I've been suspecting that someone took stuff off this bike at some point and I found confirmation of that.  Took off the old hand guards and found that the bars had already been tapped for the Highway Dirt Bikes guards.  Big bolt screws right in

Always fun trying to get everything to line up, but eventually I got it to work.  They're sending me the anti vibe inserts, so I'll install them soon.

Today I went searching for a coolant leak.  I've been smelling coolant while riding and noticed the overflow tank level was going down.  Fingers crossed it's not the water pump, radiator or head gasket!  Topped off the overflow tank, took off the side plastics and started the bike.  A few minutes later I noticed this very small leak from the upper hose on the right side of the radiator

Scrapping at the goo on the top of the hose showed that it was soft and I could see the coolant slowly bubble up there.  Looks like the factory clamp just loosened up.  Grabbed a worm style clamp and put it on.

Started the bike up and no leak or smell, sweet!  I'm not happy with how large the clamp is, so I might swap it out with a smaller one.  I ordered a low temp fan switch from the parts store and will grab the larger fan/shroud off the 701 Long Range to put on too.

I mocked up a tool box I got from Amazon for the right side pannier, but it just wasn't going to fit without a lot of work.  Decided not to go that way since the box was heavy and taking the door off/on was a pita.  Returned it and bought another tool tube like I've got on the left side, but a larger diameter one so my tool kit and mini pump/compressor will fit in it.  That's supposed to arrive tomorrow, fan switch will too.  Hopefully get both installed so I can take this thing out on the dirt Monday!

Got the larger tool tube and it was obvious that if I mounted it horizontally, the brake caliper would smack it.  Hmmm, maybe vertically?

Yeah, that fits, swing arm won't hit it.  Tools fit...

I didn't like how it looked though, pretty goofy.  Plus it didn't seem all that stable, it had a decent amount of wobble just in my driveway, let alone bumping along down a trail.  I decided to just remove it and stuck the stuff in my tool bag for now.  Was planning on a long ride yesterday to test out the bike, but ended up having to go into the office for an emergency, so did a much shorter ride.

Not surprisingly, the bike did great!  I think I've gotten it totally sorted now, no weird smells, everything stayed inside that should've, etc.  The suspension worked really well for me, didn't need to play with the rebound/compression, seems set up well for my riding weight.  I did have to figure out the ABS switch on the dash, I thought I could just flip it on the fly and the ABS would switch from street to off road.  Turns out I need to stop and key cycle the bike so the ABS ECU would reset, which makes sense.

The one thing I'm not happy with is the Brittannia Composites screen, it puts me in a bad spot and there's a ton of wind noise, to the point that I have to wear ear plugs all the time for it to be comfortable.  I reached out to them and they do have a larger screen that I bought.  Price wasn't bad, shipping was kinda nuts for how small it is.  Hopefully this takes care of it, as otherwise I like the setup, seems well made, dash has space for all the stuff, lights are extremely bright.

Forgot to mention that I fueled up before I did the ride the other day and happily no fuel came out the overflow tube.  So properly routing those hoses to the canister has solved that issue.  Score!

re: coolant leaks - my 690 had a persistent coolant smell and dropping level, but could never find it. Eventually found 2 things: the hose connecting the reservoir to the cap was too long and was pushing the little elbow on the bottom of the tank over. It's just a little grommet that seals it, and it would leak just enough to drop some coolant on the hot radiator and waft the smell into my helmet. Shortened the hose, leak fixed. 

The other thing was the radiator cap itself. It started leaking a small amount around where the elbow to the reservoir goes in. Never enough for me to be able to see it when the bike was hot because it would evaporate quickly, but eventually it got bad enough that I saw it was wet. Cheap enough that I keep a spare cap in the garage now just in case. 

Thanks for the 701LR fan tip, I had no idea it was different. I might have to get myself one of those...

In reply to gearheadE30 :

I'll keep an eye on both of those, the hose from the overflow tank to the radiator cap on mine is also a bit long.  I had a smoking gun as far as weeping on that right side radiator hose and the level in the tank hasn't dropped since I swapped hose clamps.

What year is your 690?  The 701LR fan only works/fits on the newer dual balance shaft motor bikes apparently...  The fan itself is a Spal fan that you can order anywhere and it's far cheaper to order it off Amazon or something vs a Husky dealer.  The fan shroud is a Husky part but is only $16 or something.

I've got a set of Wolfman soft saddlebags that use a Molle type clip to attach.  On my 690 I had Perun luggage plates on the pannier racks for these bags to attach to and I stupidly left them on the bike when I sold it.  Perun no longer makes them, so I reached out to Wolfman, who are local to me.  I got a call back from them pretty quickly, with them asking for pics of my bags.  I sent them and heard nothing.  Sent them another email, nothing.  Sent them another one, finally heard back from them that I could use their universal mounting straps to attach the bags to my racks as is and to give them my info so they could invoice me.  I did, then heard nothing.  Sigh, well that's disappointing. 

Contrast that with Mosko Moto, who promptly returned all my emails, immediately responded to my questions, and shipped out a set of buckles/straps I needed to mount the tank bag I got with the 701 the next day.  WTF Wolfman?

Luckily a local ADv forum member had a set of luggage plates he was willing to sell me.  He thought they were Perun ones, but in looking at the pics of the ones on my old 690, these are slightly different.  I don't care, they fit and will work for my intended use.

I had to rotate the tool tube out of the way to get to the clips on the bottom

And done.  I wanted to put clips on the sides too, but the plates are too short.  They seem really solid with the 4 clips I'm using now, so I should be fine

So I haven't been really happy with the Brittannia Composites wind protection.  The windshield itself is a lot closer to me than the rally fairings I've had in the past, particularly the Yenkro I had on my old 690.  I think when the fairing is further away it creates a larger air pocket for me to be in, with better wind protection, even if the height of the "windshield" is lower.

I emailed Brittannia about this and they recommended I try their larger "adventure" windscreen, so I bought one.  Price wasn't bad, but they gouged me on the shipping, $20 for a box weighing just a bit over 1 lb sent via USPS.  Ok, whatever.

Here's the difference in size between the "sport" windshield I have and the "adventure"

And on the bike in the most extended position

So not all that much higher, maybe 2 inches?  I'll ride the bike to work tomorrow and see how it feels on the freeway at 75-80mph.  I did see that Yenkro makes a setup for my bike, but it seems like the side panels they have, which really finish off the look of it, only fit a 701 long range.  I've emailed them to see if they have side panels for a "standard" 701 like mine.  If they do, and this Brittannia windshield doesn't work for me, I'll take off the entire setup and replace it with the Yenkro one this winter.

That's a shame, as the Brittannia setup is well made, well finished and the lights are outstanding.

Rode to work this morning, so far not really impressed with the larger screen.  It does move the wind up, but still keeps me in pretty dirty air on the freeway.  Wind noise is quite a bit more than usual based on my previous moto's.  I'll ride more and then decide, but I think a Yenkro or Rade Garage setup is in my future.  I will say that the headlights on this Brittannia setup are outstanding.  I rode in pretty early this morning and it was still dark out, headlight kicked butt and I didn't even turn on the baja squadron high beam, which is ridiculously bright.

I've been wanting a Berotec Cumpan, which is an add on digital dash basically.  It shows gear position, rpm, ambient temp and oil temp.  They're a bit over $200+shipping from Germany.  Well, one popped up on eBay and looked complete, with the "make an offer" button.  So I tossed out an offer for half of what a new one costs and was surprised when I got the email that the seller accepted the offer.  When it shows up I'll put power to it and make sure it works, if it does, I'll install it.