[PeteK]

30 years ago in Utah, a group of chemists claimed to have achieved “Cold fusion” through a lab experiment. It got a lot of press and media attention at the time. The claim was questioned by the physics community from the outset, since it countered long-established understanding of the energy requirements for driving fusion reactions. IIRC, the additional energy from the reaction that the chemists claimed came from cold fusion was later debunked by other scientists who attributed the small amount of energy to some other electro-chemical process.

Anyway, as they say in New Joisey, cold fusion? Fuhgedaboudit.

 

[Damocles]

I've not been involved, even in reading about, cold fusion. I'd think it would be pretty widely publicized if it was truly done..

"Cold Fusion," as "discovered" in Utah, has been likened to, "The science of wishful thinking." Not unlike claims of other phenomena and products.

Click below for a rundown:

Cold Fusion 25 Years Later

On the 25th anniversary of the cold fusion fiasco, scientists are still in hot pursuit of energy solutions based on low-energy nuclear reactions.

www.asme.org

 

[Cube210]

I bought the MCP kit because I was rebuilding my carb anyway. The MCP kit isn't bad.
But then there was the claim he made on facebook about lower RPMS, claiming that a stock bike at this speed had this many rpms and that with his kit it only had such and such rpms at the same speed. Users were quick to be skepticalin that a carb doesnt have any affect on drive gear ratios.

I also didn't like the comments about other peoples coolant bypasses when his wasn't even out yet at the time.

The carb kit is cool. It is nice to see more offerings in the KLR market. But making big claims and talking down exisiting market products when your own isn't even out is not good business. Especially when Watt-man has articles detailing the what and why. Grant stated that the thermobob has wild temperature fluctuations. I think he may have spoke to someone who installed theeir thermobob wrong.

 

[Damocles]

I think he may have spoke to someone who installed their thermobob wrong.

Quite possibly so, I think, Cube210!

A forum member (or maybe, FORMER forum member; hasn't posted here in a long time) of this website posted (on ADV) a Thermo-Bob almost (or completely) burned up his engine, and he had a posse of a half-a-dozen KLRistas with similar experiences. Hard to swallow, given the thousands of successful Thermo-Bob installations over the years. My riding partner postulated, perhaps the hoses were mis-routed by this critic (who, by the way, was also from Canada).

No evidence was ever presented of the alleged Thermo-Bob-caused disaster; the alleged half-dozen victims of the Thermo-Bob never materialized.

 

[eaglemike]

Quite possibly so, I think, Cube210!

A forum member (or maybe, FORMER forum member; hasn't posted here in a long time) of this website posted (on ADV) a Thermo-Bob almost (or completely) burned up his engine, and he had a posse of a half-a-dozen KLRistas with similar experiences. Hard to swallow, given the thousands of successful Thermo-Bob installations over the years. My riding partner postulated, perhaps the hoses were mis-routed by this critic (who, by the way, was also from Canada).

No evidence was ever presented of the alleged Thermo-Bob-caused disaster; the alleged half-dozen victims of the Thermo-Bob never materialized.

I knocked heads a bit with a (the?) guy from Canada several years ago that was alleging the ThermoBob burned up his engine. He convinced many people. I was personally quite frustrated with that situation, and when I sent him a piston kit. He had some problem with it, alleging the material was faulty. All kinds of stuff went sideways. It's been so long I no longer remember the details. I'm extremely confident the TBob didn't burn up his or anyone else's engine without operator error. I'm also extremely confident the piston kit wasn't flawed. There's been a few people that did not read/follow the very good and clear directions from WattMan, especially regarding filling the coolant system back up using the radiator as the first point to refill. There are also people that cross install the hoses, as noted. The stories WattMan (and I) could share about mistakes we try to fix! I just hope there's not an encyclopedia being written somewhere that has all of my mistakes!

BTW, at the time of the alleged burn up, all TBobs were being sold directly by WattMan. He keeps extremely accurate records of his direct sales, all the way back to the very first one. There was no record of sales to the area of the alleged failure group. I asked the guy for names of the victims, nothing was forthcoming.

 

[Damocles]

The same gentleman of whom we speak (a self-designated, "KLR Guru") once penetrated into the water jacket of his engine while free-handing (maybe, "ham-handing") a porting operation. He then blamed (erroneously) a true KLR master for his own error.

After the true expert died (motorcycle-auto accident), the pretender/poseur claimed he "inherited" all the genuine master's notes, data, and voluminous personal correspondence. This alleged treasure, like the mythical Thermo-Bob "victims," was never disclosed by the claimant.

As stated, this guy hasn't been heard from in a while; perhaps now riding his KLR650 (at a claimed 8,000 + rpm) off into the sunset.

 

[eaglemike]

The same gentleman of whom we speak (a self-designated, "KLR Guru") once penetrated into the water jacket of his engine while free-handing (maybe, "ham-handing") a porting operation. He then blamed (erroneously) a true KLR master for his own error.

After the true expert died (motorcycle-auto accident), the pretender/poseur claimed he "inherited" all the genuine master's notes, data, and voluminous personal correspondence. This alleged treasure, like the mythical Thermo-Bob "victims," was never disclosed by the claimant.

As stated, this guy hasn't been heard from in a while; perhaps now riding his KLR650 (at a claimed 8,000 + rpm) off into the sunset.

That's a very interesting tale you were told. You see, KLR Cary's brother contacted me, as it was known we were pretty close, and told me he knew Cary would want me to have them. They were sent to me. (I had several people contact me saying they knew Cary wanted them to have a copy too, yet I'd never heard Cary even mention their name to me. Made me a little cynical.) That morning, October 7, 2008, was a very tough one. I was literally picking up my phone to call Cary when it rang, and it was the Schnitz people calling to tell me what happened. It was more than a couple of years before I stopped anticipating the phone to ring and hear his voice. Or I'd think I need to call and talk with Cary about something. He was a very good guy. A very very very good guy. His passing left a void.
BTW, the same guy once tried to push valve guides in the KLR head into the combustion chamber. There's a small clip or ring on the guide, making that impossible without ruining the head. In my limited experience I've never seen a design where the guides are removed in that direction. Too much enthusiasm and not enough experience - that's' led to many of my mistakes!

 

[prof_uisge]

...perhaps now riding his KLR650 (at a claimed 8,000 + rpm) off into the sunset.

8,000 rpm on the KLR??! Oh, that's easy (for a few minutes anyhow)! That and a KLR flux capacitor mod will get you over the required 88 mph needed, and then some.

 

[MCP]

i think i'm goign to buy some shares in "Chapstick"

 

[Tom Schmitz]

Explain that comment. In detail. Sick and tired of your mysterious references. Speak plainly or don't speak.

 

[Blue316]

This discussion has been off in the weeds for a bit and while entertaining there might be some people who need help understanding the need and purpose of the products like the TB. Maybe this thread is at its end and my 2 bits are unneeded. But what the heck...
Before I had even ridden my KLR600 and based on the helpful information from some of you here on this forum and as much of the information available through the internet as I could ingest, I went ahead and installed a Thermobob 2 on my 600 and I can report that it does everything it is supposed to do. It'll even idle for an extended period of time while the fan cycles on and off. That is something the shop manual says is a bad idea as overheating is likely if at idle for over 5 minutes. I have had bikes that the temp gauge would bounce around and after reading up on the KLR cooling habits and the advice found here it made sense to preemptively spend the money. I would encourage every KLR owner to do the reading and ask the questions that will help them get every trouble free mile they can out of their KLR.

 

[ranger56528]

Very interesting thread and read to say the least but at last it’s not stopping me from getting a ThermoBob for my new to me 08 with 42k miles on it. It’s on my to buy list as I get my new to me bike cleaned up. So far the only updated item I have bought is new hand guards and I’m cutting the seat down so the TB is really getting close to being on order.
It has the Doohickey done, new tires, new chain and sprockets, wire cover update, fresh oil and filter change, LED lights, Tusk Aluminum Panniers so most all maintenance has been done, maybe some running lights can be added.

Just put my Tusk D-Flex Pro hand guards on so one step closer to getting my TB.