Greetings from Pacifica, CA!

[Endopotential]

I'm in Pacifica, just outside of San Francisco along the coast.

I finally managed to get my hands on a Raven 2022 and have spent the last couple weeks tinkering on it.

 

The most obvious change is the decal kit from Upshift.  Brandon & Crew are a small shop in Boise, ID and super helpful.

 

Also found this exhaust from Amazon.   Had some brackets welded onto the linking pipe, and drilled out a small hole behind the passenger peg to serve as the new hanger.  Altogether it was a super easy install.

The stock exhaust and pipe weighs a honking 5kg/11lbs so glad to get rid of that weight up high.  The new one doesn't stick out any worse than the stock one.  Plus if I ding it, it's a cheap $60 replacement.

I don't have aspirations of any major offroad water crossings, so this one should work well.  It's not obnoxiously loud.  Though with the incessant rains we've been having, I may have to rethink that 

 

Also got rid of the tail fender 2kg, and stock battery 3kg.  So that's 10kg/22lbs so far. 

Had a minor tipover on the driveway already, when I tried to use my rear stand before I was able to get the lift spools installed.

This thing is still a beast to pick up, compared to my street bikes.  Eager to get some time offroad, if things ever dry up.

 

Somewhere down the line will be to get some soft panniers.  I like the look of the Mosko Moto Scout but the plates seem pretty big.  Anyone have photos of those mounted to their Tenere?

Else maybe their Reckless system vs the much less expensive Tusk setup.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2023 by Endopotential

[Dougie]

That’s a great colour scheme.

[katana]

Could you post a photo of how much the silencer protrudes on the side and below?

[Endopotential]

From the pics above, you can see that it sticks out about 1.5" outside/lateral of the passenger foot peg.  Certainly no worse than the stock muffler.  I drilled out a hole behind the foot peg for a 4mm bolt.  It'll give way before bending the foot peg, or grinding out the swingarm.

 

Benefits is that it shaves off just about 10lbs from the exhaust system, and no worries about bending your subframe.

[Mattbell00]

Welcome buddy and Nice bike

[Endopotential]

It's been a fun month, dialing in the bike to fit and bolting on all the farkles -  Barkbusters, crash bars, Camel one finger clutch, and a Tusk tail rack.  Think I've figured out my light luggage situation for now with a small 8L dry bag.  The Tusk extra large bottle holders each carry 1.5L of fuel.

 

 

[Endopotential]

Happy to report that I had my first real crash in the dirt, and thankfully the bike and I did fine.   The low SW Motech bars and Barkbusters took all the impact with just a couple light scratches.

My funky exhaust wasn't hurt at all, as the passenger peg serves as yet another guard.

 

I was exploring the Metcalf OHV south of San Jose, CA.  Going downhill on dry dust and gravel, had ABS off and probably grabbed more front brake than I should.  The front washed out at about 10mph.

 

Lesson learned!  Was in 2nd gear and probably should have been in 1st to use more engine braking.  And lay off the front brake.  Not sure lowering tire pressure would have helped tremendously with such loose soil downhill.  Any other advice?

 

Though this taught me a few important lessons.  Mainly that this bike is way too heavy for me to comfortably lift by myself, especially when it's lying down all crooked on a slope.  

Everyone else was on lightweight dirt bikes.  Should have followed their example 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Endopotential

[discoganya]

How has your exhaust held up?

 

I had a similar fall on my T7 when I braked a bit too much without ABS in the dirt. Now I'm a bit cautious, and yes it is a heavy bike.