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KLR650 vs Himilayan KLR650 vs Himilayan
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  #1  
Old 29 Aug 2022
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KLR650 vs Himilayan
In 2009 I rode from the Canada/USA border to the north shore of Alaska, then proceeded to ride every hwy in Alaska and then over the Top of the World Highway into Dawson City and then returned via the Alaskan Hwy. Going up I took the Stewart Cassiar. 14,000kms in total over a 22 day span of time. When I got back home again to southern BC, it was almost 3 months to the day that I finally gained all feeling back in my finger tips. Numbness and pins and needles feelings preceding that - all from the vibration of the KLR and of course the road surfaces over the northern 600kms or so of dirt. Shortly thereafter I bought a 650 Vstrom and never felt any numbness again.

So for those who actually have ridden both the KLR650 and the Himilayan - how does the Himilayan compare with the KLR650 in regards to vibration felt through the bars into the hands? Tnx

Ian
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  #2  
Old 30 Aug 2022
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Being a smaller single cylinder, it may vibrate less. But not much. It's not known as being the smoothest bike out there.

Even if it did vibrate less, it will irritate you in other ways.

Dropping down from the reliabilty and robustness of a KLR to a cheap and unreliable Indian bike with terrbile brakes and suspension with barely enough power to get down the road may have you craving your KLR650 back. No matter how much it vibrates.

On your KLR, did you have rubber footpegs ? Thick grips ? There are lots of reasons a bike vibrates. And a few ways to address it.

However, the only way to find out if a bike is better for you than the one you have is to find a way to get a ride on one.

No point asking here. Everyone feels things differently and has different tollerances. Get a test ride.
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  #3  
Old 28 Sep 2022
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Vibrations on a motor bike are a killer if you have to ride most days !
You will feel you have travelled 500 miles per day ............ but only done 150 !
I have been to morocco a few times on a yamaha xtz and allways came back a bit shattered ! . but went back on a bmw gs 800 and felt fine !

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Old 28 Sep 2022
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I listened to this podcast on Adventure Rider Radio - it is about vibration on bikes and ways to eliminate / reduce the effects so food for thought and pointers as to what can be done.
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  #5  
Old 28 Sep 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay_Benson View Post
I listened to this podcast on Adventure Rider Radio - it is about vibration on bikes and ways to eliminate / reduce the effects so food for thought and pointers as to what can be done.
Thanks for the pointer - I listened to most of that (skipped the adverts and a few other bits) but it didn't tell me much I hadn't worked out for myself (that bikes vibrate, and some bikes vibrate more than others and that for most of us vibration is so far down the 'wish list' as to come as a surprise when we ride something for the first time).

What I found depressing about it was that most of their 'fixes' - change the gearing, fill your handlebars with lead shot etc - have been around since the year dot, and were well known to British bike riders in the 50's / 60's. That we're still talking about doing the same now is a pretty depressing indictment of the bike industry (either that or those two old codgers they interviewed still live in the 50's / 60's ) Yes, a lot of bikes now have it engineered out one way or another but put enough miles on any bike and you'll feel the effects of vibration. Even my GoldWing 1800 will leave you with tingles after a long day. You can zone a lot of it out if you ride any bike regularly, but put a non rider on as a pillion and they'll notice it straight away.
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  #6  
Old 30 Nov 2022
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All single engine bikes will vibrate or zing a bit through the foot pegs ./ tank.
Great for a bit of charecter , but a nighmare after 2 / 3 days .
Worst 2 bikes that come to mind are...............
1 yamaha xt 600 e
2 Ktm 640 lc

There are proably a few more
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  #7  
Old 14 Dec 2022
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Good gel gloves make big difference. Also how bars set up, bar ends, vibration damping rubber mounts, etc.
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  #8  
Old 18 Dec 2022
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Good gel gloves make big difference. Also how bars set up, bar ends, vibration damping rubber mounts, etc.
Gel gloves ? I haven't seen those.
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  #9  
Old 19 Dec 2022
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Yes , gloves with gel palms are very effective at isolating your hands from moto vibration. I've happily used gloves made by Olympia for years.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=olympia+g...l_13ficvvwpk_e


.........shu
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  #10  
Old 19 Dec 2022
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Cool Ahem...
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Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* View Post
I haven't seen those.
Strangely enough, just like all the s you've promised me over the last 15 years eh?.... but who's counting?
Merry Xmas anyways!
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  #11  
Old 22 Dec 2022
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Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* View Post
Gel gloves ? I haven't seen those.
Some are better than others but they are pretty good in isolating higher frequency vibration which seems to be the annoying part at highway speeds.

Olympia gel gloves are better at it than Icons I have now unfortunately their quality went down since they moved production to china and they were not that durable 2 seasons was the most I could get out of them as they would disintegrate from sweat in hot climate. Still worth it especially if you catch them on sale.

Other option is grip puppies but IMHO they oversize grips too much to effectively control clutch standing YMMV.
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