The seat cover that initially got ripped on last year's Tour of Portugal and then completely FUBAR'ed at the Ryedale, was in desperate need of recovering, As you can see in the photo below I had been relying on "gaffa tape engineering". Unfortunately getting it sorted was a challenge in itself as although I had been told of a reasonably local company in Baldock that could do it for me, I just don't get time off in the week to get it to them.
I tried fitting the standard seat that is designed to fit with the stock 9 litre petrol tank, I knew this would leave a gap between the seat and my 13 litre tank but thought that a small price to pay. Unfortunately, try as I might i couldn't get the mounting bolt to line up so that idea was off the agenda!
The seat on the bike has always been a bit of an issue as it had been built up with extra foam and a gel pad by the previous owner. Whilst this made it nice and comfy for long rally stages, it has been a hindrance on the more technical UK rallies, where the seat height did cause me to struggle to get a foot on the ground.
I tried looking online to see if I could get a new seat to fit with the big tank but couldn't find one listed,
Then I learnt that the EXC was also sold as the MXC in some markets with the 13 litre tank as standard, sure enough a quick check of part numbers and I realised I had an MXC seat. A brand new one was duly ordered and not only is it a perfect fit but I've knocked two inches off the seat height!
You may notice the home made heat shield now fitted to the bike, I got fed up melting my boots and trousers on the exhaust where it is exposed near the rear shock. I had originally constructed this to fit on my old CCM that had a very similar problem but never got round to fitting it. I wondered if it would fit the KTM and with a slight enlarging of the mounting holes, it could have been designed for it!
Another job needing sorting before Portugal was some new tyres, I've always used Torque Racing in the past but since moving to Milton Keynes that means a two hour round trip so not an easy option anymore! So I was very pleased to find Mad4Motocross in Milton Keynes stock Maxxis MaxxCross IT, a favourite of mine and at a very decent price... so i'll definitely be paying them a visit!
Sorting out the electrics was my final major task and this looked like it was going to be a bit more problematic....
To be continued.....
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