The Blog of Boban Acimovic

Many Kawasaki H2 SX and H2 SX SE owners have reported issues with radiator damage, often attributed to stones being thrown up by the front wheel. The primary concern is Kawasaki’s decision not to include a radiator protector as standard. But how prevalent is this issue, and what extent of damage can it cause?

After just over a week with my new bike, I noticed two to three minor dents and one more significant damage to the radiator. Despite not hearing any stones hit, the damage was evident. This occurred while riding on relatively clean local roads around Munich, highlighting the vulnerability of the radiator even under seemingly benign conditions.

The 2024 Triumph Rocket 3 Storm R comes equipped with a basic navigation system, accessible through a communication module (part number A9820200) and a smartphone application. This setup provides directional arrows and voice-guided turn-by-turn instructions, but lacks a detailed map view. For more complex routing needs, alternative solutions may be necessary. Having previously used a Garmin Zumo XT2 with my BMW K 1600 GT, I decided to adapt it for use with the Rocket 3.

The Kawasaki H2 SX SE, like many of its contemporary counterparts from Kawasaki, features a tank ring with concealed screws, necessitating its replacement to accommodate the tank bag ring.

To begin, safeguard the tank opening with a cloth to prevent any debris from entering — a simple precaution that can save considerable effort later. Proceed by loosening the four bolts with a hex key.

Following this, remove the two screws securing the cap using a Phillips head screwdriver.

Triumph Rocket 3 has long been equipped with LED direction indicators, but for those seeking a sleeker, more modern aesthetic, Triumph offers scrolling direction indicators as aftermarket styling enhancements. These not only add a touch of sophistication but also enhance the bike’s visual appeal.

The part numbers for these stylish upgrades are A9838177 for the front and A9838197 for the rear, with the latter featuring a shorter cable for easy installation. To replace the front indicators, begin by removing the flyscreen to access the connectors. Carefully detach the indicators from their casing, disconnect them, and gently pull out the cables.

When it comes to high-performance motorcycles like the Kawasaki H2 SX and H2 SX SE, ensuring the safety and longevity of your bike is paramount. One of the most effective ways to protect your investment is by installing frame sliders. These essential accessories are designed to minimize damage to the motorcycle’s frame and engine in the event of a fall or collision.

In the European market, options for frame sliders are somewhat limited. Aside from the TBR frame sliders I discussed in my previous blog post and the mushroom-shaped sliders, the only other viable choice is the Kawasaki OEM sliders. Let’s take a closer look at these.

Triumph has rolled out two distinct variants of its Rocket 3 motorcycle: the R and the GT. At first glance, these models seem quite similar, but a deeper dive reveals key differences in handlebars, seat configuration, and foot control placement. While the GT includes a backrest as standard, you can easily retrofit the R with one from your Triumph dealer, making it possible to convert between the two variants to suit your preference.

Grip puppies are made to reduce handlebars vibrations on the grips preventing hands fatigue. For riders with bigger hands they also may provide a better comfort because of the increased diameter. Someone may argue that they may also endanger the feeling of the front end but in my experience that is not the case or at least there is enough good feeling in a regular traffic riding. Sports riding on a track is probably different story.

Is Akrapovič sport exhaust just a nice add-on for BMW K 1600 GT or does it do something more? What kind of sound does it make? Does it change the behavior of the bike? It was quite difficult to find these information online but I still decided to give it a try. Hence, let’s share some more information about it.

Exhausts are packed flawlessly. I haven’t checked if they are really 3.3kg lighter than the factory ones, but I could feel the difference by lifting them. Titanium and carbon finish are mint, simply Akrapovič quality.

After unsuccessful try to use SW-Motech Daypack Pro tank bag on my K 1600 GT, I searched for an alternative and found a new series of tank bags from Wunderlich named CLICK BAG. They offer 5 different sizes, 3L, 6L, 13L and finally 16L. CLICK BAG 3L is not extendable, but remaining sizes expand to 8, 16 and 19 liters respectively. 3L bag is the only one that comes with the rain cover while other bags come with internal waterproof bags. This second solution also keeps your goods dry but I find it not that practical. First, it occupies some space inside and second, it’s more difficult to put the stuff in and take them out. Anyways, the bags are really good quality and they attach to appropriate tank rings very easily, just one click. This attachment system is very similar to SW-Motech Pro but without magnets. Wunderlich is an expensive brand but some of their CLICK BAGS are basically the only safe options for BMW K 1600 GT, namely 3L and 6L. Unfortunately SW-Motech Pro tank bags collide with the fully turned handlebars and random switches might got pressed. Besides that, this may limit the movement of the handlebars to the end which may make turning the bike around more difficult. But let’s see how Wunderlich tank bags fit on K 1600 GT and which one I chose for my bike.

What would “best inner bags” mean, just the quality of the bags or something more? Well, since plastic side cases very often have irregular inner shape, in my opinion, optimal space usage is as important as the quality. Instead of the further explanation, let’s see the internals of the BMW touring cases:

BMW offers good quality inner bags but according to the pictures and forum’s opinions I could find online, they do not occupy all internal space. This can be good in case you want to add some additional items like rain clothes, but these small items may also very easily fall out of the cases when you open them so my conclusion is that it is better to use the whole internal space of the side cases by inner bags and keep all small items in the top case.

Like promised in the previous blog, we will discuss here more about the newest Sena communicator for the newest Shoei helmets Neotec 3 and GT-Air 3. After installing SLR3 into the helmet, the main impression is very seamless integration. All cables safely routed, virtually invisible, speakers fit exactly to the sockets, everything is so clean. Great work both from Sena and Shoei.

On the left cheek you can see main controls.

After quite a while, I decided to blog about my other hobbies, namely motorcycling. In the future, I will more about my past, current and future motorcycles, but the reason for this blog item today is the new generation of the Shoei GT-Air helmets, GT-Air 3 Realm TC-5. I just received this helmet and it looks amazing. Since today, I have been using GT-Air 1, which is a great helmet, but after 5-6 years of usage it was time to get the new one.

Guitarists are fans of loud amplifiers and music in general, but this is not the case with all neighbors. 😆

I started silent practicing with plugging the headphones to my Fender Mustang and this worked well, of course, but I always had to seat close to the amplifier which was not that practical. By searching the Internet I found out about different Vox headphones amplifiers which offer just one kind of sound so if you want to have for example clean, blues and metal sounds, you need to buy three different devices. This also didn’t seem practical even though these devices are quite cheap.

After getting the Strat and Yamaha keyboard, I still felt something is missing. Of course, I wanted a Les Paul as well. 😃

Like always, I investigated a lot but it was still hard to decide which model to buy. I looked at all Les Paul series, I read lot of articles and my conclusion was that it is quite risky to get an original one because of the neck problems. There are just so many neck cracks over the Internet including YouTube. So I decided to look for alternatives and at the end found out that PRS SE 245 would be the best guitar for me. It doesn’t have neck problems, but it is still approximately the same scale as Les Paul and I could get one for quite affordable price. I made the decision at the beginning of July and my Charcoal Burst arrived on 08.07.2021.

I have heard many advises that the best way to learn to play music and visualize it would be to play keyboard, so I decided to get one. Of course, I didn’t have plans to become a great keyboard or piano player, nothing like that, but just to get one for fun. I know about Yamaha, Roland and Korg from my childhood but again, after so many years I had to discover what would be the best buy for a beginner. After lot of readings I came up to Yamaha PSR-E373. I almost bought it, but somehow I continued researching Yamaha’s models and found out EZ-300. This is almost the same keyboard as PSR-E373, but with illuminated keys as a help to learn playing. The price difference was minor, so I decided to go for EZ-300. It arrived on 01.06.2021.

Even though I have a tuner on my modulated amplifier, I wanted to get a clip tuner so that I can use it on any guitar including acoustic ones. After some research I found out the one which shows tuning of all six strings at once. If there is some string out of tune, you can immediately see which one and quickly tune it up. The name of this magical tuner is TC Electronic Polytune Clip. It comes in two colors, black and white, but I decided to get the black one. Somehow I think that white gadgets are too fancy and the color probably influenced by Apple.

As I child, I dreamed of having real Stratocaster and the time has finally come. I looked online at many Strats but one special caught my eye. I didn’t want a vintage guitar, I develop modern software so I wanted a modern guitar as well.

I respect the quality of stuff, so getting something made in Japan sounded really good. The decision was made and I ordered it. My dream came true on 17.03.2021 and I opened it together with my son. He was so curious as well.

I played guitar as a child, even performed at my primary school’s festival. So why did I actually stop playing guitar?

At a time, guitars were really expensive and my parents bought me a beginners acoustic guitar which was quite bad even though it was still relatively expensive. The action was too high and this started being worse during the time. I figured out I could fix this a little bit by inserting a folded paper between the neck and the body which helped but it was still not good. I had quite some pain in my finger so I slowly stopped playing.