Of all the things, the license plate was the last thing I'd have thought I would break! After a weekend off road, the sub fender looks fine but the plate is just...gone (except for two little tabs at the screws).
What happened? Could the rear wheel have torn off the plate, while leaving the sub fender intact?
I'm stumped but either way, it looks like both a trip to the DMV and maybe a sub fender-ectomy are in my future; if anyone finds my plate, please give it a good resting place!
The rear wheel ALWAYS tears the plate off when off-road. Everyone has a different fix. Mine was a smaller plate that was available on request from our fine DMV people.
I have no explanation - this poor plate was only 6 years old (125 K miles between two bikes) and was probably made locally (as in one of our local prisons).
I don't know which I dread more - working on the sub fender or going to the DMV. Probably the DMV...
In the future run a strap between the mounting points and behind the tag. Bolt the tag to the strap in a couple of spots so if the corners of the tag break, it will be retained flopping on the strap.
I noticed my KLR250 license plate was rather mangled.
Dang hoodlum teenage VANDALS in the neighborhood!
After straightening out the plate as best I could, I went on a ride with some off-road segments, accompanied by a partner. We reached a stopping point where I examined my plate. Astoundingly, those same teenaged vandals somehow FOLLOWED us off-road, and again mangled my license plate!
Somebody ought to DO SOMETHING about the malicious mischief juveniles engage in these days!
a D606 and offroad use on a Gen1 virtually guarantees the plate will be ripped off and left on the trail somewhere. The standard fix is to relocate the plate to the rear fender underneath the taillight and optional removal of the (usually broken) inner rear fender.
I got a new plate and, having examined it over the weekend, I discovered the problem that led to the plate breaking at the corner tabs and disappearing. It wasn't the rear tire that caused the plate to break, after all -
The "optional" license plate bracket (with the reflectors) has cutouts that warp the corners of the plates when you really crank on the screws - this stresses the metal on the license plate to the point where it cracks at the corners and eventually breaks.
I ended up fabricating a bracket to hold the plate along the top side, instead of at the corners, but I think the extended KLR family has lots of creative solutions.
PS: Got to hand it to Colorado's DMV - in & out in 5 minutes, flat!
I mounted mine on the fender like that. Didn’t bother lighting it with a separate light.
I figure if it ever comes up, here in Cali it’s just a fix it ticket then I’ll deal with it then.
re the licence plate light; I very seldom ride at night so I didn't bother doing anything with it. A couple solutions have been to either modify the bottom of the taillight lense by cutting it out and adding a clear pannel above the plate or just using one of the many Ebay LED bolt kits out there. https://www.ebay.ca/dsc/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=led+plate+bolt+light&_frs=1
I think the Bolt style LED Lights are a far more clean and elegant appearing solution . . . . unless or until one needs to unbolt the license plate from it's bracket. Hopefully this is not a common service/repair requirement. Duh! However, if you ever did need to unbolt the license plate from it's bracket (for any reason) you will be forced to cut the wires to these LEDs in order to do so. Any sort of secure electrical connection to the bikes wiring harness, which would not include simply twisting the wires together or using wire nuts IMHO, will be to large to fit through the bolt holes. I think Tom uses them and certainly YMMV, but they're just not a solution that works well for me.
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