Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Great thread

I have stickied this one .

i would imagine that using a 21 inch front tube on an 18 inch rear would work much better than on a 17 inch rear wheel that most big adv bikes have. so you guys might be talking apples and oranges. the big bikes have enough ability to carry weight in tail packs or tank bags that i really don't see the point in not taking a 21 and 17 inch tyre...

B)

Big tip to self.... When making reference to Grant JOHNSON from Horizons Unlimited ... don't call him Morrison! :whistle:

The biggest problem with fitting a front tube in a rear tyre is less the diameter more the section width.
Modern tubes have very little stretch, inflating a smaller tube to fill out the tyre can result in a seam failure, that can be very sudden.
I've seen this many times.
Best to carry one of each.

all this talk about inner tubes reminded me of a tip thats worked for me for years,

good chain locks are expensive,
some come with good chain and an iffy lock, and vise versa,
cheap chain locks are, well..... cheap.

spend the money on a good lock, then get some chain from a yacht chandlers. you can get hardened welded chain loads cheaper than a bike shop, and get any length you want. but its loose chain that will damage wheels and swingarms, so put it in a cut bicycle inner tube and sew/rivet the ends between the second to last chain links at both ends.

You can pressure check a radiator by cutting a known serviceable bicycle inner tube at the point furthest from the valve, and then pushing the open ends over the top and bottom inlets, securing with jubilee clips. Pump up the inner tube, wait and see if you lose any pressure. I have used this a number of timesbefore buying second hand rads from bike/auto jumbles.

For adventure riding I found I needed a USB charger to charge my iPhone and iPod. The problem I had was the USB charger that plugged into my car charger socket on the bike would vibrate loose as I rode. I decided to go to a powerlet socket which clips the plug in place to stop it working loose. 
Now I had no way of plugging powerlet to USB so I thought I'd make an adaptor lead. This lead can be made any length and I thought it could be handy to run from the bike to my tent to charge accessories if it was raining. ( the plug can be powerlet or car charger whichever you prefer. 

First I bought a USB car charger





Then I opened it up



And took out the circuit board



I then removed the positive and negative connections by heating their solder join with a soldering iron and pulling them out 





Next I soldered a new lead onto the board in place of the old wires. Make sure positive is on the centre pin. 



Now reassemble the plug 



Now strip the other end of the lead and fit your plug of choice ( mine is a powerlet ) be sure positive is on the centre pin. 
 


Assemble your plug and test 

Nickj wrote:For adventure riding I found I needed a USB charger to charge my iPhone and iPod. The problem I had was the USB charger that plugged into my car charger socket on the bike would vibrate loose as I rode. I decided to go to a powerlet socket which clips the plug in place to stop it working loose. 
Now I had no way of plugging powerlet to USB so I thought I'd make an adaptor lead. This lead can be made any length and I thought it could be handy to run from the bike to my tent to charge accessories if it was raining. ( the plug can be powerlet or car charger whichever you prefer. 

ummm... couldn't you just buy a usb cable extension? is your setup going to be waterproof?

Orlando_Orange wrote:

Nickj wrote:For adventure riding I found I needed a USB charger to charge my iPhone and iPod. The problem I had was the USB charger that plugged into my car charger socket on the bike would vibrate loose as I rode. I decided to go to a powerlet socket which clips the plug in place to stop it working loose. 
Now I had no way of plugging powerlet to USB so I thought I'd make an adaptor lead. This lead can be made any length and I thought it could be handy to run from the bike to my tent to charge accessories if it was raining. ( the plug can be powerlet or car charger whichever you prefer. 

ummm... couldn't you just buy a usb cable extension? is your setup going to be waterproof?

They don't make a USB with a powerlet plug !

My biggest problem was the cigarette plug vibrating out when I was riding !

The plug is waterproof but I had to seal the USB socket and mount upside down under my speedo to protect it.

Nickj wrote:
They don't make a USB with a powerlet plug !

My biggest problem was the cigarette plug vibrating out when I was riding !

The plug is waterproof but I had to seal the USB socket and mount upside down under my speedo to protect it.

aah i see that explains it. cheers