Hi Frying Dingo

I think Mollydog is someone you should listen to, don't you think? We can all learn from each other....

good roads on your S America trip!!!!!

[quote=Flying Gringo]On a cold dark night out in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone reception. It will start to rain. The rain will turn to sleet and a bear will attack you.

Hope this helps.

Ride in peace,

Thanks Gringo
I'll be sure to not ride at night and leave my cell at home and everything should bee allright.
Dawger

Sorry but this cracks me up!
During the seven years I've been researching and or riding the Mighty KLR, I've seen a bunch of Trolls like this one where someone calls it junk and many respond in the KLRs defense.
Guess the KLR is the redheaded stepchild of the DualSport World.
Myself, I'll just keep pushin the odometer past 35,000 and relish the fact that besides tires and fuel, it hasn't even cost me $100 to keep the Hoss goin these 4-5 years.
Rod

It's very easy to replace the sub frame bolts with 12.9 hardness ones, putting the worry of failure behind you. They can be bought at your local hardware store-

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2001 Kawasaki KLR650
KLRWorld.com/Forums

Someone was eroneously led to believe that Kawasaki only did minimal mods to the engine to stay EPA compliant on the "new" KLR650 '08 model (already here I hear!) See his post below. But as another replied several posts later, Kawasaki is claiming they increased horse power with the mods. I think if we carefully re-read the press releases, One goal was to get 10% more power and they claim to have achieved that! Re-designed Head, lighter piston, new cam ... but also they made ignition changes and tied in a throttle position sensor so ignition brain can cooridinate things with that ...my guess is that if any of the new mods actually exist to make the EPA it is going to be the TPS/ingnition thing ...possibly the cam although I doubt that. But the lighter "PissTone" (as my old MC mechanics school instructter loved to pronounce it for some bizarre reason) and the head work? Come-on that was ONLY done to woo KLR buyers, particularly probably exsisting KLR owners to trade in! Personally what I want to know is if 10% will be enough (along with re-jet of course) to make the KLR throttle loftable?? The ONE almost vital thing that is SO missing on the KLR (for ME anyhow) is throttle/tug loft front skyward ability ... I had THOUGHT that was standard to the big thumper equasion! Are they finally fixing that? Actually I was reading a transmission upgrade web article where the author seemed to infer that the old ORIGINAL KL600 650? DID posses that until at some model year point when Kawasaki changed not only the CS fastener but also from 3 to 6 dog gears AND new higher ratios with some lower gears. The gist I got from him was that the CS upgrade made for more foolproof maintenance and the 6 dog gears made for ultra slick shifts but the ratio changes SUCKED big time by for one thing rendering the beloved but front heavy KLR grounded so far as throttle induced wheelie. I have to almost believe THAT was their goal to begin with! Perhaps there was a spate of law suits from new owners looping their KLRs or something I don't know, but I know this much BESIDES my childest lust for popping the proverbial wheelie now and then (which admittidly I still CAN do anytime I wish with major clutch abuse) I place great value on lofting at will to avoid certain obstacles and water/mud holes when riding offroad. For example on my old XL600 I could ride a particular section of fireroad right after some rains and wheelie accross every sizable puddle (some looked like fricken ponds), this is SUCH a benefit as opposed to the guys I watched getting drenched, stuck, or drowning their bike's motor out. On an otherwise smoothish fire road even a big heavy dual sport can be gracefully flat tracked and wheelied with very little physical effort so long as it was MADE CAPABLE to begin with!

Has anyone here found any formula to make the KLR-650 a throttle lofter? Gearing changes? Engine mods? chassis or front end changes? ... combos of these Perhaps? Incidently the "new" KLR also has apparently made the front end lighter? by putting an aluminum? radiator supposedly a parts bin modification ... And then also put shorter put on more robust forks and larger brake so It's hard to know if the front end ended up any lighter at all? (although as I recall they DID supposedly get the overall weight down slightly even with the same old frame, base engine,muffler,gas tank etc)

Can hardly wait to read a real test of the "new" old KLR ... HOPEFULLY by a wheelie loving magazine tester somewhere! ... Any yet does anyone know? Not Cycle World, I get that rag. See Ya! DougieQuick

BTW Here is one of the posts I was originally was responding to (I did digress a bit huh?) ~~~> "...Funny, seems to me you pulled it out of your %$# I read the Kawasaki press release (the *ONLY* Kawasaki press release) and it does *NOT* say that the 2008 KLR-650 has an all-new engine. In fact, the only "new" things mentioned are a new piston, a new head, and a new ignition. It lists the other specs for the engine, but never states that any of those other things about the engine are any different from the current engine (for the record -- they aren't, Kawasaki changed as little as necessary to meet new emissions standards, and not one bit more)...."

I screwed up saying "...when Kawasaki changed ...higher ratios with some lower gears...." I meant to be saying that they apparently changed lower gears to higher gears ... although I confess I didn't read through things in detail enough to say which and to what ... I am just assuming the end result was overall higher low gears closing up for no apparently good reason the ratios.

BTW IMHO if Kawasaki REALLY wants to improve the tranny one thing they could do is to add a 6th gear! I am forever trying to shift to 6th! Possibly a 6th gear and a return to the original spread might be awesome! But just a 6th would even allow a change to several more teeth on rear sprocket and or 14t CS ... and THAT ought to at least help spell WHEELIE!?

dougiequick

My understanding from a couple of other lists and forums is the dry weight for the older klr is way optimistic. Most who weighed their current bikes were in the 400 lb range. Conclusions were the new bike is about 15 lbs more than previous model. As far as suspension travel. Lost 2 inches (?) but the springs are firmer so maybe the same in bottoming out. Maybe not, time will tell on that.

--chris

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On the trailing edge of technology - chris