Wilsons Sandbox

Posted: **Mon Nov 25, 2002 12:49 am**

Hi! I'm new to biking and looking for my first dual purpose. When I first started looking around, I was interested in the Suzuki DR650. However, I seem to have gotten steered towards the KLR. I've been lurking in your group for some time now, trying to find out as much as I can. It seems to me that everybody modifies their bike to some extent....some don't like the handle bars, brakes, carburetor, mufflers, etc..etc..Not to mention the doohickey!! I'm not a mechanic, and the closest dealer is an hour away. I'm looking for a dependable, fun bike that I'll like right out of the box. My question is...will I be happy with this bike the way it comes, or will it cost me hundreds or thousands to modify it to my liking? If so, would I be better off with the BMW Dakar which is already thousands more? What the hell, only a few more years payments! Thanks in advance for any input.

Posted: **Mon Nov 25, 2002 4:18 am**

Subangel, First off, every bike, BMW, Honda, Harley, Kawasaki, Suzuki, etc, is a compromise: trade-offs in power vs weight, handling & brakes vs comfort, performance vs reliability, and most important, all of it, everything comes at a cost. Now, of course, some compromises work better than others. The KLR is fair-to-good at a lot of things, but great at very few things. It's great at riding crappy roads in almost any kind of weather, at reasonable speeds, for hours on end. Out of the box, the KLR650 works very well for a wide variety of bike riding needs. Folks change parts to make it better suit their own unique/individual needs. It's a great base platform, that's also easy to taylor. And after 17 years of production, there's alot of aftermarket goodies to add on or change out. For long distance riding, switch to a taller windshield, replace the seat (Corbin, Russell, Meyer), switch to a 16 tooth sprocket, and slap on some decent long distance road tires. Add your luggage, and maybe replace the subframe bolts (esp. if you're a 'large' or bigger). And off you go, with good gas milage (50+), big tank (6.1g) and very good reliability. For more serious off roading, switch to a 14 tooth sprocket, al skid plate, bark-buster handguards, radiator guard, and full DOT knobbies with heavy duty tubes. Put on your MX gear, and hit the trail. There's other tasks, like courier, commuter, etc that it does well in stock configuration. Because there's so many tweaks you can do, it seems that everbody is unhappy with the stock config, when really, we're just softening the rough edges, looking to make a good bike a little better at doing what we need. Personally, unless I had a serious long distance or off road agenda, I would only worry about changing three things. Other listers will have a different opinion -but mine is almost as good as theirs. 1. Change the doohickey & spring. Cheap insurance and piece of mind. About $50 in parts and 1.5 hours labor for a good mechanic. Get the parts ahead of time and have your mechanic do it at first service. 2. Most of us find the front forks a little soft -she dives under hard braking. So we swap the fork springs and change to heavier fork oil. Easy piece of work even for a novice, and parts and materials will set you back about $100, even less if you're a good shopper. Couple of tools and a helpfull friend, review the instructions, read the web sites; should take you no more than 2 hour if you really drag it out. 3. Likewise, the front brake feels a bit wimpy compared to most bikes made today, adequate if you have a good right-hand grip, but nothing special. So we swap the front brake line for stainless steel (Galfer, Russell), and change the front brake pads to a more aggressive unit like the Galfer green (lots of other choices here too). Brake line and pads will set you back about $100, and take you and your friend another two hours of lazy work. You can go even bigger, but that's for folks whose other bike is a superbike. Later, after you've decided what kind of riding is your favorite, you can find a great accessory to taylor the beast to your liking, wether it's keeping the wind off when riding the slab, bashing through the rocks, or slinging mud on remote single track trails. Finally, one huge bonus you need to keep in mind -the KLR650 has this list of pissy, opinionated, narrowminded, friendly *ssholes, who'll help you out and teach you the ways of the KLR, and teach you some other stuff too, stuff that you never knew you needed. Mark. A11 --- In DSN_klr650@y..., "subangel32" wrote: > My question is...will I be happy with this bike the way it comes, or > will it cost me hundreds or thousands to modify it to my liking? > If so, would I be better off with the BMW Dakar which is already > thousands more? What the hell, only a few more years payments! > Thanks in advance for any input.

Posted: **Mon Nov 25, 2002 6:26 am**

IME with ANY bike you spend money on mods and accessories in direct proportion to how much you ride it. So don't go thinking you won't ever make any to a Dakar (in aftermarket support beemers are probably eclipsed only by Harleys). And don't belive any one *particular* mod to a KLR is anything more than a matter of opinion or personal preference, not an absolute must for every single owner--even the doohickey. Barring any bad luck you could probably run it bone stock for many years and have few complaints if you never ride it on long extended roadtrips or offroad conditions more challenging that what it was intended for. But why do that (leave it bone stock) if you'd enjoy it more with a few changes? That'll apply to whatever you buy so remember the #1 rule which is get the one YOU really want!

> My question is...will I be happy with this bike the way it comes,

or

> will it cost me hundreds or thousands to modify it to my liking? > If so, would I be better off with the BMW Dakar which is already > thousands more? What the hell, only a few more years payments! > Thanks in advance for any input.

Posted: **Mon Nov 25, 2002 7:28 am**

Ya what he said.. except I changed the rear sproket up a couple teeth, and drilled out the Pilot screw on the bottom of the carb and turned it out a little more to remove the lean surging the motor gave when rolling down the road. Basically its stock (tried a LOUD pipe, and did'nt like it), and have to tell ya the stock tires wear FAST, and suck in the mud, but grip just about everything else I have rolled over sofar. Its a great platform, kinda big and heavy if you want to ride it like a MX bike however, but has plenty of power to overcome that weight, just insists you manhandle it alot when riding that way. But sure is nice to exit a trail and get right onto a highway and get somewhere with more than enuff power/speed to ride the highway. Years back had a KZ400 twin and at highway speeds its was kinda scary, since it did'nt have enuff to speed away from trouble in a hurry at least, this KLR just "twist and shout", if'n your in a really big hurry, downshift and nail it. I also look at the Suzuki DR 650/Honda 650, and they actually suits my needs closer to "my" riding, but since I ride two up at times, the KLR was better for "us". Like he said.. Everything is a trade off. Dooden Besides the KLR looks better

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., "mark" wrote: > Subangel, > > First off, every bike, BMW, Honda, Harley, Kawasaki, Suzuki, etc, is > a compromise: trade-offs in power vs weight, handling & brakes vs > comfort, performance vs reliability, and most important, all of it, > everything comes at a cost. Now, of course, some compromises work > better than others. The KLR is fair-to-good at a lot of things, but > great at very few things. It's great at riding crappy roads in almost > any kind of weather, at reasonable speeds, for hours on end. > > Out of the box, the KLR650 works very well for a wide variety of bike > riding needs. Folks change parts to make it better suit their own > unique/individual needs. It's a great base platform, that's also easy > to taylor. And after 17 years of production, there's alot of > aftermarket goodies to add on or change out. > > For long distance riding, switch to a taller windshield, replace the > seat (Corbin, Russell, Meyer), switch to a 16 tooth sprocket, and > slap on some decent long distance road tires. Add your luggage, and > maybe replace the subframe bolts (esp. if you're a 'large' or > bigger). And off you go, with good gas milage (50+), big tank (6.1g) > and very good reliability. > > For more serious off roading, switch to a 14 tooth sprocket, al skid > plate, bark-buster handguards, radiator guard, and full DOT knobbies > with heavy duty tubes. Put on your MX gear, and hit the trail. > > There's other tasks, like courier, commuter, etc that it does well in > stock configuration. Because there's so many tweaks you can do, it > seems that everbody is unhappy with the stock config, when really, > we're just softening the rough edges, looking to make a good bike a > little better at doing what we need. > > Personally, unless I had a serious long distance or off road agenda, > I would only worry about changing three things. Other listers will > have a different opinion -but mine is almost as good as theirs. > > 1. Change the doohickey & spring. Cheap insurance and piece of mind. > About $50 in parts and 1.5 hours labor for a good mechanic. Get the > parts ahead of time and have your mechanic do it at first service. > > 2. Most of us find the front forks a little soft -she dives under > hard braking. So we swap the fork springs and change to heavier fork > oil. Easy piece of work even for a novice, and parts and materials > will set you back about $100, even less if you're a good shopper. > Couple of tools and a helpfull friend, review the instructions, read > the web sites; should take you no more than 2 hour if you really drag > it out. > > 3. Likewise, the front brake feels a bit wimpy compared to most bikes > made today, adequate if you have a good right-hand grip, but nothing > special. So we swap the front brake line for stainless steel (Galfer, > Russell), and change the front brake pads to a more aggressive unit > like the Galfer green (lots of other choices here too). Brake line > and pads will set you back about $100, and take you and your friend > another two hours of lazy work. You can go even bigger, but that's > for folks whose other bike is a superbike. > > Later, after you've decided what kind of riding is your favorite, you > can find a great accessory to taylor the beast to your liking, wether > it's keeping the wind off when riding the slab, bashing through the > rocks, or slinging mud > on remote single track trails. > > Finally, one huge bonus you need to keep in mind -the KLR650 has this > list of pissy, opinionated, narrowminded, friendly *ssholes, who'll > help you out and teach you the ways of the KLR, and teach you some > other stuff too, stuff that you never knew you needed. > > Mark. > A11 lines (and some other stuff). > > --- In DSN_klr650@y..., "subangel32" wrote: > > My question is...will I be happy with this bike the way it comes, > or > > will it cost me hundreds or thousands to modify it to my liking? > > If so, would I be better off with the BMW Dakar which is already > > thousands more? What the hell, only a few more years payments! > > Thanks in advance for any input.

Posted: **Mon Nov 25, 2002 8:07 am**

HEY!!! I represent that remark!! millerized KLR658A15-3/4

> Finally, one huge bonus you need to keep in mind -the KLR650 has

this

> list of pissy, opinionated, narrowminded, friendly *ssholes, who'll > help you out and teach you the ways of the KLR, and teach you some > other stuff too, stuff that you never knew you needed.

Posted: **Mon Nov 25, 2002 8:38 am**

I like to ride woods trails, sand pits, whoops, small jumps, mudholes, rock garden, etc. I've entered two enduros on my KLR, finished one of them, and I use the same bike to get groceries. The only difference is airing up the tires and putting the mirrors back on. With some soft luggage, a tank bag, and a tail box I can fit nearly an entire shopping cart on the bike at once. People in my neighborhood seem to think a "dirtbike" with a crate of Pampers on the back is pretty funny. I've done a lot of modifications, because I can't help myself and it's slightly cheaper (and probably more fun) than a coke habit. Carb, suspension, 14t front sprocket, handlebars, lots of armour for the bike. But KJ, who I ride with when he can get out of the house, has done a total of maybe $250 in mods to his bike- Kenda 270 tires, metal-reinforced handguards, moose aluminum bash plate (stuff that could be installed in two hours by a decent mechanic). And he rides the same terrain, most of the time at the same speed. Granted he has a lot more dirt experience than I do, but if you're not in a hurry a nearly-stock KLR will go pretty much anywhere. Devon subangel32 wrote:

> > Hi! > I'm new to biking and looking for my first dual purpose. When I first > started looking around, I was interested in the Suzuki DR650. > However, I seem to have gotten steered towards the KLR. I've been > lurking in your group for some time now, trying to find out as much > as I can. > It seems to me that everybody modifies their bike to some > extent....some don't like the handle bars, brakes, carburetor, > mufflers, etc..etc..Not to mention the doohickey!! > I'm not a mechanic, and the closest dealer is an hour away. I'm > looking for a dependable, fun bike that I'll like right out of the > box. > My question is...will I be happy with this bike the way it comes, or > will it cost me hundreds or thousands to modify it to my liking? > If so, would I be better off with the BMW Dakar which is already > thousands more? What the hell, only a few more years payments! > Thanks in advance for any input. >

Posted: **Mon Nov 25, 2002 10:39 am**

Does anyone have a fork brace laying around they would like to sell? I'm currently unemployed but my forks are flapping in the breeze. Couldn't pay a bunch for it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Alan

Wilsons Sandbox

fork brace for sale?

is this the bike for subangel?

is this the bike for subangel?

is this the bike for subangel?

is this the bike for subangel?

is this the bike for subangel?

is this the bike for subangel?

fork brace for sale?