Who died and made you president...

Or even God for that matter...
As an outsider I can view the coming American elections with some amusement but something has struck me of late... The Obamessahia seems to act like it is a done deal! Helloo? Who died and made you president?
If he does get elected then I am afraid the Americans commonsense has really left them, must be all the KFC and Macdonald's... then when it all goes pear shaped I can say... you got what you voted for.
Maybe the Americans need this to wake up and realize that politicians are the lowest form of life on earth?
I was prompted to post this by the current Rockwood by the way...

I am also reminded that others also aspired to be like God...
"How you have fallen from heaven, 0 morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High' But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit"
(Isa. 14:12-15)

We will learn the words when you get back...

I was shopping for storage boxes and buzzed past the CD dept... and Sarah Brightman's new album Symphony caught my eye... this is from the album, for my love, away on business...

Sarah Brightman & Fernando Lima - Pasión

[via FoxyTunes / Sarah Brightman]

Pasión

Sueñas con un amor
Puro, sin condición
Fuerte, eterno como el sol
Con el que se dibuja una pasión

Sueñas con un amor
Limpio, con devoción

Libre, sacar las alas del corazón
Y Volar a dónde anida la pasión

Chorus:
La pasión, es como un viento inquieto
Que se convierte en libertad
Es saber que hay alguien más que vive
Deseando poderte encontrar
Es viajar sin miedo entre las estrellas y la inmensidad
Es atravesar el fuego, caminar sobre las aguas
Convertir un sueño en realidad
La pasión es ésa fuerza inmensa
Que mueve a toda la creación
Es saber que alguien te está esperando
Mas allá dónde se oculta el sol
Es borrar por siempre de tí la palabra soledad
Son dos almas que se unen llegando así a la eternidad

Nunca te faltará
Alguien en quien confiar

Un ángel que de la mano te llevará
A descubrir un mundo de pasión

(Repeat chorus)

Vives con un amor
Fuerte y sin condición
Libre y ponerle alas al corazón
Volar adónde anida la pasión
I have the English... but would rather learn the Spanish first... together...
"To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich, to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never, in a word to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common, this is to be my symphony."
William Henry Channing

Listen and take the words into your heart

Jewel- Hands

[via FoxyTunes / Jewel]

If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all ok
And not to worry because worry is wasteful
and useless in times like these
I will not be made useless
I won't be idled with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
for light does the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know,
but they're not yours they are my own
but they're not yours they are my own
and I am never broken
Poverty stole your golden shoes
but it didn't steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
but I knew it wasn't ever after
We will fight, not out of spite
for someone must stand up for what's right
cause where there's a man who has no voice
there ours shall go singing
In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees and I will pray
I will get down on my knees and I will pray
I will get down on my knees and I will pray
My hands are small, I know,
but they're not yours they are my own
but they're not yours they are my own
and I am never broken
My hands are small, i know,
but they're not yours they are my own
but they're not yours they are my own
and I am never broken
We are never broken
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's mind
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's heart
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's eyes
God's hands
We are God's hands
God's hands
We are God's hands
No special thought but the song just went with what I experienced today in the service... we are only able to do God's work when we hand over our lives to him. I have always liked her music and this one touched me today. She is a very special singer and if you read about her life and career you will soon understand her songs much better... another instance of a person's name fitting perfectly... a true singing Jewel.
No quote seems fitting today... so here is the same song but the video version...

Jewel - Hands

[via FoxyTunes / Jewel]

Moonrise over the Maloti

Today I had to go and sort out a small problem and on the way back I just had to stop and take pictures of the full moon rising over the Maloti mountains... here is the picture as well as some of the others I took earlier the day...
The moon caught rising over the Maluti (or Maloti as some pronounce it in these parts) Mountains just outside Clarens on the way to Fouriesburg, taken on the way back from our other campus at Qwaqwa.

Fortunately the clouds dispersed when it was time to leave... I had not packed the rainsuit!

The dirt road to Kestell over the mountain... will be explored one day...

Shadows falling over the mountains of Golden Gate...
The trip was highlighted by me being able to test the new HID light and I can say it works well... just near Tweespruit some cattle had wandered onto the roadside and I was able to see them clearly... with lesser lights I would have seen them a lot later... maybe too late.
"Beauty is a form of genius--is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon."
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

LED there be light

Ok... so while Shrek was dismembered I decided to do some radical surgery to the instrument cluster and add a hazard warning switch while I was about it...
Fortunately the wiring diagram has not changed much since the 1985 model, it is basically the same just that some of the stuff has been relocated on the bike.
The indicator relay is now under the instrument cluster which made it very easy to splice in a wire on the Orange output wire to feed to a DPDT switch and then feed that to the LH and RH indicator wires on the harness. Green = left and Grey = Right. I used a peice of ribbon cable... also fitted 2 plugs so that it is removable. yeah I know... looks like computer plugs... I did not have a suitable 3 pin one at hand so this will have to do till the next
farkle episode...
Then I removed the white lettering on the N and <> lamps, this was to make the Neutral the LH indicator and the <> the RH one. I found that paint brush cleaner did the trick while not being too aggressive to the plastic lens.
The indicator leads are now split, one to the old neutral lamp and one to the old <> lamp, the other ends of the lamps are now grounded on the instrument cluster ground points so that they LED's now have a ground path.
Due to the fact that the LED lamps are fitted with reverse polarity diodes you may have to orient them 180 degrees if they do not work. This also keeps the LH/RH indicator circuits isolated!
While doing this I hooked up 2 diodes and a buzzer as well to the indicator circuit... now Shrek sounds like a delivery bike... but I have less excuse to leave the indicator on now!
Then I fitted the new amber neutral LED under the speedo... using plastic steel to mount the led and resistor as well as the lead securely... the lead is then spliced on to the old neutral wires from the harness plug... the other ends became the LH indicator leads...
Once all the splicing and dicing was done I fitted the blue LED lamp to the high beam socket and the 3 HiBright LED lamps to the 3 lighting sockets. LED lamps are supposed to outlast ordinary filament globes and at the same time
they draw less current from the electrical system. Here are the pictures:Led lighting up the unstruments...
DB25 connectors!

Splicing into the Orange indicator lead to go to the DPDT switch...

Splicing into the R/h L/h Indicator leads...

DPDT switch mounted and silicone used to waterproof and insulate the back...

The switch on the front panel...

Indicators! one for each side!

Mounting screws on the right to be loosened when un mounting the instrument cluster...

Ditto another screw on the left...

Neutral LED mounted on the front panel...

Led and resistor prior to connecting and potting with epoxy or plastic steel...

Lead fitted and the lot gobbed with plastic steel...

Filament lamp VS LED lamp, a bit bluer than the filament and not quite as bright... but I like it...

Main and indicator LED's being tested...

Another shot...

Lights before the mod...

All the plugs and leads... wiring and speedo cable loosened to remove instruments.
"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning."
Bible, Luke xii. 35.

HID me... for all the KLR Wild Dogs...

How to fit HID lighting to your 2008 KLR. One of the best farkles in my opinion.
Main beam on before HID
First thing of course is to get a kit from Bikegear for a H7 type globe system.

When your parcel arrives it will be in this neat box that you can use to store KLR bits and bobs in neatly...
Start by removing the windscreen.


Then you need to loosen the 6 bolts that hold the fairing to the bike, 4x 6mm Allen heads and 2x 4mm as indicated in the pictures.






Then gently move the fairing forward and disengage from the instrument cluster... don't break anything! Let the fairing rest on the front fender/mudguard as you do this.



Once moved forward by around 200mm you will be able to unplug the indicator leads and the headlight leads, be careful as the whole lot can fall off at this stage.

The indicator leads...

Close up...

Right...

Left... Now for the headlight leads...



Once the leads are all unclipped/unplugged you can take the fairing off and put it in a safe place where you cannot step on it/fall over it/drop the bike on it or otherwise destroy it... Beware Murphy lurks where tools are involved!
Now comes the tricky part... where to mount the HID ballast, my first thought was to mount it on the instrument mounting.


but after taking a good look again it seemed that it would make a good fit inside the fairing... more on that later...

After fitting the ballast begin preparation to fit the globe in place of the OEM H7 one... Take out the OEM globe by pulling of the lead then removing the rubber cover... this is what it looks like after being removed

Then undo the retaining clip...

You will find that the OEM globe has an adapter between the globe proper and the lead...

H7 globe and adapter...

H7 and adapter removed, this is used to retain the globe in the light fitting itself with the retaining spring/clip. It is 34mm OD by 9mm thick where it the retaining clip rests.
The problem is that the kit has no adapter! Fortunately I found a substitute for the dimensions needed... 3x rubber tap mounting washers! They are the right OD and have the right size hole as well as being 3mm thick! Volia!



I cut a small slit in each washer to enable them to be slipped over the leads of the HID globe. Actually I removed about 1.5mm, this makes the washers fit better in the light fitting...
Now fit the HID globe, pop the washers behind it and clip in the retaining spring, then connect the HID globe leads to the ballast... retaining clips to the small tab... if you get it wrong it will not work but will also not fry anything. "Whew! glad to hear that!"

Put the boot back and secure with some Duct Tape, you will have to slit it to get it over the HID globe leads...
Once you have fitted the HID system you can put the fairing back and test things.
This is what it looked like...

Now comes the interesting part... the plug tabs on the OEM light lead needs to be slightly crimped as they tend to be loose on the HID lead tabs... be careful... the plastic around the plug can break but does bend enough when gentle pressure from a water pump plier is applied.
The HID is polarity sensitive in respect of the connection to the OEM light socket, I tried it one way and the HID did not work... if this happens to you just swap the leads around and it should work.
Oh yes, do not test on a battery charger... it cannot deliver the starting amps the HID system needs to fire up the HID Globe. Rather do the final testing and connecting on the bike.
When the HID fires up and everything works as it should you can proceed to refit the fairing... except it wont fit! What now?
Aha! Found the problem... this support on the instrument mounting is the problem... the ballast is now taking up the same space as this pipe section wants to occupy...

The pipe too long...

The remedy is to unclip all leads again... put the fairing in a safe place and grab the hacksaw! yes... you need to trim around 20mm off this projecting pipe... then you will have space for the ballast and fairing support to live together... without causing strife. Once that bit of surgery has been performed you can file the end smooth and give it a dab of matt black spray paint... do not want the Rust Monster to get a hold on your bike now do you?
Once the fairing is back in place start by inserting the top 2 bolts first... do not tighten all the way... now do the two bottom 6mm ones followed by the smaller 4mm ones and their spacers... once they are all seated you can tighten them all snugly.
That is basically the lot... now check that everything works

and if so pack away all your tools... gear up and take your KLR for a test run.
While I was doing this farkle I also fitted a few other things like LED lamps for the indicators, lighting and high beam... I also converted my indicator and neutral lamp to be the RH and LH indicator lamps... and fitted an amber neutral indicator LED... and also fitted a switch to give Shrek a Hazard warning facility, more about these mods here...

at the same time the temperature hovered around this... chilly...

I also had my apprentice Myoo looking on...
I like the quote I found as well... it fits in with the purpose behind fitting the light... to be safer at night and to avoid chaos!
"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting."
Alan Dean Foster, "To the Vanishing Point"