Wilsons Sandbox

Just got back from another one of my "break-in" rides on my 2001 KLR250.It now has 475 miles.One more little back road ride under 4000 rpm till I hit 500 miles, and I'll do the first oil and filter change.Then I can rev the mighty 250 to 6000 rpm for the next 500 miles.At least then I should be able to go about 50 mph, and I can try commuting with it.Just got my two shop manuals yesterday and verified that the 250 does have screw type valve adjusters.The mechanic where I bought the bike told me, when I mentioned that I'd heard it had screw type, had told me that, no, it has shim-under-bucket valve adjustment.Guess he hasn't worked on one of these.He told me to run premium gas, and I said maybe that's because it has a higher compression ratio than the Super Sherpa, and he said it didn't.But thats incorrect too.I have a brochure that says the SS runs 9.3 to 1, while the KLR runs 11.0 to 1. But I have found that, over the years, most of the time I know more about motorcycles than most dealership employees.Sometimes I get some strange reactions from salesmen when I start spouting spaec from memory , or information on mechanical designs or features on the different bikes.Maybe I should get a job in a motorcycle shop cause I can B.S. on this subject with anyone(I should be able to after 37 years of exposure to motorcycles). Now for some gloating.During my breakin so far(revving no higher than 4000, and trying to vary the rpm as much as possible), I am averaging 86.5 miles per gallon!!!I may be able to make my 65 mile commute and use only 3/4 of a gallon of gas. I would like to bring up an incident that happened to me in the hopes it may help someone avoid an accident.In 31 years of street riding, this is the first time this has happened to me.I was riding along on a two lane rode with several cars in my lane both ahead of, and behind me.I was going to make a left turn and had had my turn signal on for plenty of time for other drivers to get the message.It was clear in the oncoming lane, so I started to make my left turn.Then for some reason, I happened to turn my head to the left and kind of glance behind me only to see a car had decided to pass the whole string of us.I came very close to becoming a hood ornament on a Buick.I was able to swerve back into my lane and let the idiot pass.This was a country road with a 35 mph speed limit, and I was not holding up traffic.Anyway, it only takes one time.Maybe everyone else is already doing this, but I'm dam sure going to look behind and to the left before I make any more left turns to check for passers. Thanks, and be careful. Jon Neet Bonney Lake, Wa. USA 2001 KLR250

I'm the guy whose brand new KLR250, with only 1600 miles, started knocking badly.It's still at the dealer's.It's going to take a long time.They have to communicate with Kawasaki at each step of diagnosis and tear down.I had hoped that the knock was from the automatic decompressor, but they say no.They have pulled the cylinder head and the cylinder, and say that they cylinder is not scored, and apparently the piston pin fit is still okay.They are going to split the cases today (Saturday).They think the main bearings may have gone out.They found the hard facing already worn off the cams.So, it seems the engine has an oil supply problem.I asked them if the so-called cam bearings were destroyed due to lack of oil supply(on about all Japanese motorcycles they use a bolt-on cap, and the cylinder head surface as the "bearings"-meaning if the cam bearing goes out, you throw your cylinder head away.Exceptions were the old KZ1000 and 900 cc engines, and the old single cam Honda CB750.), but they said no.This bike had an oil and filter change at 500 miles, and again at 1325 miles (wanted clean oil in it for a two day playtime on fire service roadsnear Olympic Rain Forset in Washington State).I used high quality motorcycle specific oil at $5.00/quart. People from this egroup had told me they had 20,000 miles on their KLR250 with no problems.Man, I guess I just picked a lemon. I'll let everyone know how it comes out. Jon Neet Bonney Lake, Wa. USA 2001 KLR250

Well, I finally got the word today on mu 2001 KLR250, just 6-weeks old and with 1600 miles.It developed an oil supply problem to the top end, and destroyed both cams and the cylinder head.They found sign of gasket sealer in the oil supply system. My complaint about Japanese bikes for the last 35 years has always been that the camshafts, instead of riding in replaceble bearings of some sort(either roller, or split plain bearings like a car uses on the crankshaft), they insist in using the bare cylinder head AS THE BEARING! So if you wear out or oil starve the cam "bearing", you get to throw away your cylinder head.This is exspensive on a thumper-imagin what it could cost on a high performance four cylinder.If Kawasaki used a replaceable bearing, my cylinder head could have been reused. And yes, your KLR650 is made the same way. I know of a few discontinued egines that did have replaceable bearings as follows:The original Kawasaki KZ900-100-1100 ; The original Honda CB750 SOHC engines; The older twin cylinder Honda engines such as the CB305, and the 350 SOHC engines. Kawasaki has a policy of replacing parts on a warranty engine, and do not replace the engine itself, even if it costs more in parts than the cost of an engine. The parts will be here in about a week or so. Jon Neet Bonney Lake, Wa USA 2001 KLR250

By the way, some of you may remember that my 2001 KLR250, bought brand new at the end of July, developed an oil supply problem and destroyed the cylinder head, cams, rocker arms, etc. I had done the 500 mile service myself, and later, at about 1000 miles, had checked the valve adjustments.Kawasaki did all the warranty work, and it was never mentioned by them, about who did the 500 mile checkup.Of course, in this case, no matter who did the checkup, it wouldn't have changed the fact that, at 1650 miles, the engine started a serious knock due to gasket sealer plugging an oil supply line.This sealer was from the factory assembly of the engine.I figure that if the warranty had expired, this little job would have cost me $1500.00-$2000.00.Some people had mentioned that, since the 500 miler wasn't done by a dealer, that I could lose my warranty.Just wanted to let people know that nothing of the sort happened. Jon Neet Bonney Lake, Wa. USA

I'm wondering how many miles some of the KLR250s have reached.My 2001,bought new in July of last year,now has 4500 miles.And the dealer had the bike for at least a month fixing two seperate warranty problems.The most recent was a leaking water pump/oil seal.It had been slightly leaking for a while,but on an 85 mile ride up around some forest service roads it started leaking badly. Jon Neet Bonney Lake, Wa.