my tool kit

This kit fits nicely under the tail of my 550, along with a lithium battery jump starter/power pack (pictured).




The loose items in the top of the photo all go into the integrated zippered pouch. 





I don't know, I find it relaxing assembling a kit like this (and knowing I'll be that much more prepared for maintenance and emergencies). Thought you all might appreciate it...not sure who else would!

I probably carry too much stuff. extra tools I think I might need plus the Kawaski kit under the seat. But my biggest worry is a flat tire, so I also bring along a plug kit & Slime mini-pump. If a puncture isn't too bad, hopefully I'll be able to limp home. I made up a pigtail so that I can quickly connect a 12VDC power supply to my charger adapter that's hooked to the battery.

Not shown. Ctek quick connect cable.


...

I just carry the stock tool kit (shown below) plus a pack of fuses and a very small flashlight (not shown).  Everything fits in the stock tool kit pack.  Ed

We're fairly minimalist about our on-board tools.  We carry the OEM under seat tools plus a few for local joyrides.

The old Japanese OEM tools are stronger than many of today's cheap Chinese pressed tinfoil items.  The exception is the cross-slot screwdriver bits.  Good Japanese or German #1 and #2 JIS screwdrivers take the place of the soft bits in the OEM kits.  

We test at home what we carry on the road to make sure we can do basic maintenance & repairs, like adjust the chain, remove a wheel or spark plug, etc.

When touring we carry a spare clutch & brake lever, clutch and throttle cable, plug/patch kit and the few additional tools to use them.  Also a small LED flashlight and a compact basic DMM.

 If a tool doesn't fit any fastener on the bike we don't carry it.

We've never needed eleven hex wrenches


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote: ..........

We've never needed eleven hex wrenches

slmjim & Z1BEBE

  True.  My bike doesn't have any fasteners that use hex (allen) wrenches.  Ed

I saw one of those original plug gap gauges on ebay recently for $249 US.

I broke a throttle cable a couple of weeks ago and had the tools to change it but no spare.  It occurred to me at the time that I should check them at least at the start of the year to ensure they last an entire summer.  I used to carry tire irons and changed a couple of flats back in the day but today's tires have stiffer sidewalls (or my arms are much weaker) because all I managed to do when I tried one recently was to bend my irons.

hardrockminer wrote: I saw one of those original plug gap gauges on ebay recently for $249 US.

Hmmm... that beats the $222.00 we saw one go for a few years ago.

hardrockminer wrote:  I broke a throttle cable a couple of weeks ago and had the tools to change it but no spare.

We've heard that a closing cable can be swapped for an opener in a pinch.  No personal experience though.


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Yep, you can swap cables to limp home although I didn't think of doing that. 

A couple of days ago I fired up my B4 for the first time this year.  Had to fix a carb leak and I inadvertently reversed the cables when I put the carbs back in.  Did you know the throttle works perfectly well in reverse?

To avoid burnt fingers, I also carry a short length of hose that fits snugly over a spark plug to grip and remove loosened hot plugs and to restart the threading of plugs back into a hot engine head.

Especially handy when performing side of the road plug readings following high speed throttle chops.

Good Fortune!