Info about original equipment.

[audiomick]

1 hour ago, gstallons said:

Also , IDK if my triple trees are drilled for bar mounts or not ?

I'm fairly sure mine shouldn't be. Others here have said so. Mine had a handlebar instead of the clip-ons in the hands of the owner 2 previous to me. The papers I have confirm the number plate as being the owner from Feb. 2017 till May 2022.

The mufflers are also different to the ones on it now. I think the previous owner flogged them off seperately when he sold it to me.

The photo was passed on to me by someone I know from the Germann forum. No idea how he got the photo.

 

PS: I'd rather like to know why that luggage rack wasn't on it when I got it.

Edited 23 hours ago by audiomick

[audiomick]

6 minutes ago, gstallons said:

Well , it is an official 2003 and it has an internal fuel pump. 

Yours, I take it?

[Tomchri]

1 hour ago, audiomick said:

I'm fairly sure mine shouldn't be. Others here have said so. Mine had a handlebar instead of the clip-ons in the hands of the owner 2 previous to me. The papers I have confirm the number plate as being the owner from Feb. 2017 till May 2022.

The mufflers are also different to the ones on it now. I think the previous owner flogged them off seperately when he sold it to me.

The photo was passed on to me by someone I know from the Germann forum. No idea how he got the photo.

 

PS: I'd rather like to know why that luggage rack wasn't on it when I got it.

How many racks do you want ?

Cheers Tom.

[po18guy]

2 hours ago, gstallons said:

Well , it is an official 2003 and it has an internal fuel pump. 

Wouldn't an '03 have the 43mm hollow axle forks and better discs?

audiomick, Were it mine, it would be worth a couple of letters or some internet sleuthing to contact the owners, for some PEACE of mind.

[Lucky Phil]

8 hours ago, audiomick said:

Mine both have compression damping adjustment.

 

Umm, don't you mean rebound Mick?

Phil

[audiomick]

3 hours ago, Lucky Phil said:

Umm, don't you mean rebound Mick?

Phil

Yep, you're right, of course.

[audiomick]

I posted I thread in a german forum posing the same question as here, and got these two replies today:

Quote

You have a so-called Zwitterelfe (that means something like "halfway between the two"). This is the 2002 Le Mans model. It has all the same parts as the 2003 cat models, except no catalytic converters, no lambda but already an intermediate pipe, in-tank pump, 43 fork, the plastic instruments, the new handlebar switches and the colour scheme of the 03, but still the 01 ripple paint engine. The 03 models then had smooth paint in silk matt.

There are two spare parts catalogues for this 02 Le Mans, the first even lists the fuel pump nozzles as a spare part. The holes for the tubular handlebars in your bridge are retrofitted, they were not on this model

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Quote

You have a so-called Zwitterelfe. This is the 2002 Le Mans model.

 Welcome to the club. I have one of these in red. The flaky wrinkle-paint on the engine is visually crap.

But otherwise everything the later ones have and no annoying catalytic converters. The best of both worlds.

Did I mention that I love mine....

Both posters are very well informed, so I'm assuming the comments are accurate.

I've no idea if those "transition" Le Mans models made it out of Europe or not, but it seems that the combination is not unknown here, perhaps even normal for a 2002 model.

Edited 11 hours ago by audiomick

[gstallons]

Do both of your forks have R on them ? IT should have C on the l.h. fork and R on the other. My red frame and black frame have a (maybe) 20mm nut on the fork caps. my 2003 has an external fuel pump. DO NOT be too concerned about your bike. The only problem I see is maybe having two R forks on your bike ? 

[audiomick]

8 minutes ago, gstallons said:

Do both of your forks have R on them ? IT should have C on the l.h. fork and R on the other....

It has an R on both forks. As I understand it, the version with compression in one leg and damping in the other was the 40 mm fork. Mine is the 43mm version, and rebound in both legs is correct for that. I don't see that as a problem, either. Lots of bikes only have rebound damping. If there is anything that remotely resembles a problem, it is only making sure that both legs are adjusted the same.

I've thought about it, and come to the conclusion that if one were to want to alter the compression damping, using a different fork oil would be the way. Get the compression damping where you want it with that, and adjust the adjustable rebound damping to match. Haven't tried it, but it should work, I reckon.

And I'm not at all concerned about the bike. The package seems to be, as mentioned in the quote further up, "the best of both worlds", apart from the shitty engine paint. I'm just curious.

[gstallons]

I have not seen the newer fork models so I will leave that alone. Mine has the krinkle paint too .