klr 650

[LDHunter]

KLRistas, I was riding my red (fastest color) 2007 KLR650 yesterday and got tired and put it on the side stand to take a short break and get some water in me in this Florida heat and made a stupid mistake. When I decided to leave, I lifted my mesh jacket off the bike and for some crazy reason it crashed down on the right side in the soft sand. I didn't think I had it that much upright that lifting the jacket would cause it to fall over but it couldn't have been anyone's fault buy my own... The only damage, other than to my ego that was bruised by my buddy on a DR650 that couldn't stop laughing at me but was handy when it was time to stand the KLR back up, was that I ruined my right side hand guard. If anyone here has replaced theirs with some kind of bark buster or such and has handguards laying around their garage that they'd send me for cheap I'd be greatly appreciative. I guess I should ask for both since I've also dropped it on the left side not too long ago and that one might very well be cracked. I'm not really interested in "upgrading" to barkbusters or any other such guards as I don't really ride hard enough to need them. Thanks, $bob$ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[mikeypep]

Go pick up one of those old two strokers and try to put 50000 miles on them. I think you'll find that the life span of these bikes was about 20K before you needed rings, cylinders, brakes, ignition parts. They were actually far less trouble free than we remember. True, they didn't have "doohicky" problems, they had other problems that were even more troublesome. Then there is the economy issue. My old 250 and 400cc Yamana's got about 25MPG for their 25 and 30HP. My riding "bud" has a Honda Rebel, which is truly a 1970's bike still being sold as new. 2 valves per cylinder, air cooled, two shocks, side by side on the rear swing arm, drum brakes front and rear, truly a nostalgic bike. He has consideable carb trouble, which is characteristic of this bike but not much else. Handling is definitely loose with the spindly forks. Maybe that would be the answer for you if you want to live in the past. Now if you want to enjoy the advantages of a more modern bike, like power, handling and economy it will cost you. Thats life. Or as my grandmother said "That's progress"!