Originally Posted by quastdog

OK, I'm being a bit hard on the KLR.

All the postings on the HUBB for folks dumping, err selling, their KLR's after reaching South America had me confused.

Originally Posted by quastdog

OK, I'm being a bit hard on the KLR.

All the postings on the HUBB for folks dumping, err selling, their KLR's after reaching South America had me confused.

Originally Posted by markharf

...I must say that I really do despise the kickstand.

...Hope you're having more fun out there than it sounds!

Originally Posted by quastdog

and I've put on 18,000 miles in the past 4 months on my slightly used ('06, 4,300mi) KLR650 now, all in the U.S., roughly 2,000 miles off-road. From the issues I've encountered with the KLR, I stick by my opinion.

The KLR is just a cheap ass motorcycle, and you'll spend many more days and hours in your travels keeping it together, fixing and tightening all the stuff that works loose, then other popular bikes. Never mind all the time and fixes you need to make before hand in order to make the bike road worthy.

The air filter/intake is over the rear wheel - sucks in dirt like something fierce - like a Hoover - cleaning air filters every couple days when doing dirt is required.

Everything works loose. Everything! (your foot pegs will fall off if you don't keep tightening them).

Wiring to the tail light is exposed (under the rear fender) and can be broken with rocks. There are all sorts of significant shortcomings with this bike.

Fan motor can be destroyed in a tip-over on the left (blade housing can be bent, blades stop, shaft keeps turning and it self-destructs).

Riding position is shit - figure on spending money on proper clamps and bars.

There are many more problems with this bike that I've encountered, in addition to the above, but known throughout the KLR community.

about the best thing I can say - I like the sidestand.

The KLR will do a continent, but it won't do the world without continual maintenance and repairs. I still stick by the claim - there are no (or few) successful long distance round the world efforts on this bike. Greg Fraziers RTW ride on this bike (or '08 upgrade was it) is without a doubt one of the shortest RTW distances ever recorded by bike me thinks.

If you're serious about RTW - get serious about the wheels. Yeah, anything will work. Just not a 650 with the shortcomings of the POS KLR

If we just stopped buying this bike, then maybe KLR might come up with a better version? I doubt it - they probably depend on the US market of cheap asses keeping this bike in production. If we stopped buying it, they might stop making it. But I really don't see the downside.

Originally Posted by Pigford

They are a cheap deal (for a reason) and overall solid - if a bit lacking from the showroom

Originally Posted by Mickey D

So what's your next bike gonna be?

Sounds like some serious bad luck or maybe PPPP? I don't make a living following RTW KLR riders but do know many that have gone well over 18K and not had the litany of probs you claim. Now why is that?

I've owned two KLR's, one beat on '92 and a brand new '98. The '92 was set up and probably had all the crap fixed on it. Many years ago, but the worst thing that happened on that bike was when my soft bags caught fire on the Freeway Melted plastic side panel. I had too many bikes then, so sold it to a buddy .... cheap. It needed some overdue maintenance but was basically sound. Had about 35,000 when sold. (I only put maybe 10K on it) I beat the living crap out of it ... rode it wide open everywhere (just to keep up with manic group ...a real slug compared to my '87 XL600R.

With my '98 I spent a week prepping it like I would an Enduro bike. Only put 8K miles on the bike before selling. But did do the length of Baja and quite a bit of washboard, rocks and whoops there and then traversed Copper Canyon and down into S. Mexico. Just 5500 miles that trip. Only problem was when the boys in Vallarta changed oil they didn't replace the Copper drain bolt washer ... so it started leaking oil. I finally noticed it and fixed it. No other problems ... even after a few tip overs in deep sand. (it sucks off road with stock tires) A few bolts came loose but no big deal and no major issues at all ... except burning through tires. Never noticed the air filter getting all that dirty?? Of course it was cleaned once in a while, but this years ago ...

But much of what you say is TRUE. It IS a pretty cheap ASS bike and well overdue for a re-do. I agree ... Kawi should drop it and START OVER! But they won't ... at least not anytime soon.

I don't mind the riding position actually. This a Subjective area. But I've only owned 20 or so dirt/dual sport bikes to compare to. The seat needed help but not a torture rack. I rode ten hour days for about two weeks on my '98. Standing position was not great as I recall, but I managed somehow.

I would look a little closer at Dr. Greg's Sexploitations on KLR's and other bikes. He's got a few bikes stored in various places. Flys in, rides, flys away. He may have owned a few KLR's? Recently he had a KLX250S. Much better put together bike than a KLR. (I have a KLX For Sale!)

Quite a few HU folks have done some pretty good miles on KLR's, mostly without problem. There were 35 of them at one of the Copper Canyon HU meetings. Only guys with problems I heard about down there was a KTM
640 (worn out chain, water pump) and a BMW F650 (dead battery). One KLR guy did crash badly, they had to drive him out. Forgot what happened to his bike. He went over the side going from Creel down to Batopilas, IIRC.

I really saw a lot of the shortcomings on the KLR after working on prepping one. Compared to my DR650 (sat next to the KLR) they were a real pain to work on, poor access and the lack of quality on some assemblies was obvious. The DR is a gem by comparison, IMHO.

But so many guys have done big trips on them ... I just go with the numbers. Listen, I'm no KLR fan, but facts is facts. If the bike was such a POS how come Pancho Villa and many other rental outfits use it as a rental to go to Mexico on? Why does that guy in S. Africa use them (or did?) And what about all the ride reports going back twenty years involving KLR's?
Hey, guess what? Guys rode RTW on KLR's before internet forums.

The fact is, I sold my '98 KLR the week I got back from my trip ... and never looked back. But in recent years I've had the opportunity to ride a few really nicely set up ones. Like a different bike, IMHO. Would I buy another? Nope. Not until Kawi build a WHOLE NEW BIKE. then ... maybe.

Yes, you do have to go through them with a fine tooth comb and get rid of all the crap and replace with better components but once done I believe they aren't any worse than most other dual sports ... and don't often have the typical catastrophic failures of shaft drive and some other bikes.

The basic electrics are OK, and can be improved
The water pump and cooling system is generally trouble free
The bearings hold up reasonably well
The wheels are pretty tough
The frame and sub frame can sometimes crack but this is not common

With all the things above we could get into how these things fail so regularly on certain "other" bikes. So those who live in Glass Houses should not throw stones.

The KLR is a cheap date for many who otherwise could not travel at all.

But I still wish KHI would dump it and build a serious, modern dual sport. The '08 up grade is a cruel joke. Better, but still way off the mark. KHI have the ability to build any bike they want. They are one of the most incredible engineering firms in the world. Motos are childs play for them.
But they won't do it unless it will pay ... and at this point it won't.