Yeah, Ace is good. Also, rocky mountain and other sites sell some metric nut and bolt kits as well. I lost the bolt frim the clamp that hold both heat shields to the frame around the header. Lol. I think it was an M8 1.25 threads and 15 or 20 mm long.

I bought a used luggage system from these very forums and got it installed yesterday. It's the older Zega cases by touratech mounted on the KTM rack. Install was pretty straightforward and easy, just watch out for a few things:

1. It's very easy to shave plastic off of your fender around the grab handle holes where the top mounts.

2. Be careful where the bolts go in at the buddy peg mounts if you use this rack. It took a bit of pushing to line the holes up, and I very nearly cross threaded a bolt on one side.

Other than that, went on super easy! I'm quite happy with my purchase, since it was well below retail. I've also always liked the idea of hard luggage for road trips.  Since I've never brought more than a camelback and maybe a bum bag with me on tough trails, I'm not too worried about hard case issues there. It's strange getting used to hearing hard stuff rattling around in these aluminum cases, though. Haha.

Also, everyone knows a thread isn't a thread without pics!

Now it's a double oops! I misread the parts fiche I was looking at and also stated the wrong clamp in my prior post. It's the clamp for the heat shields, and the bolt is an M8, but it isn't nearly 35mm long. It will contact the tank at that length.

For me, since I was about offroad first, street second, I put real hand guards on mine, then the bash plate. I also put some doubletakes on it, since the stock ones decided they need to vibrate to new positions. I bought some luggage from the for sale forums that's on the way and should be installed before the end of the week.

Next is a seat concepts seat install,  and my last big mod that I feel is necessary for making it my perfect 50/50 bike will be the Lynx. After that I'll probably drop an FMF q4 or something on it. The performance really isn't bad, but I'd like to ditch our thermo reactor 100 lb exhaust can.

Someday I might consider getting the suspension resprung and valved to be more progressive and less soft and wallowy,  but I really don't know if it's worth it for my all arounder bike.

That's how I am, I can do everything on my 690. However, if I had the dough, I'd be rocking one of these too:



A Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX. Just seems like it'd be a sweet bike to gobble up tons of miles on in the off chance I actually had time to ride tons of miles at once. Lol. Plus that Guzzi twin sound is super sexy. Then when you figure it comes with all the stuff the 1200 GSAW does at 24K for only 15 or 16k, seems an easy choice.

Haha thanks Rusty. I'll have to load more video of the single track up. I was trying to keep up with a local pro, and me being out of shape held me up a lot more than the 690 did. It was a beast trying to wrangle around as dry as it is here though, the Sandy parts were like talcum powder. I need to lose some lbs and quit smoking. Haha.

Oh nice! I wish I had the expertise to do that. I don't know much about upholstery. I'd like to make one that is more friendly for 2 up riding, most of the aftermarket seats look like they're made for one person who sits slightly rear of the center of the bike. Lol.