dakar: from usa today

[Ian Francisco]

Having got the A14 back running again the quick and dirty way, ie, with a head swap, leaving the piston, cylinder and rings undisturbed, I am wondering about performance. I did use a new head gasket and new exhaust gasket and made darn sure the valve clearances were close to max as a burned valve is what made it quit shortly after puchase. AIso did a leak-down test on the '05 head, which it passed. Checked the intake boot o-ring which looked new. I am curious if the motor has the power it is supposed to have. Not looking for sportbike performance mind you. Didn't do a compression check or anything so have no useful info to provide other than this: When I'm running down the road at 5k rpm and an indicated ~70mph, should I expect a decent kick in the pants if I whack the throttle wide open? Right now nothing much happens, the bike will slowly accelerate up to an indicated 80mph, not quickly enough for passing though. I doubt if the bike will do more than an indicated 85mph tops. Aren't the KLRs supposed to do a little better than that? This one's got 24k miles on it. I still have and use a VX800 and a GS450, both of which will take off from 70mph and reasonably quickly get up to passing speeds. The 450 is supposed to have about the same 36bhp at the rear wheel and about the same weight as a KLR at ~420lbs. but it's got more top end power than this KLR, which is still useful as a commuter as long as I don't expect or rely on top-gear roll-on grunt like the VX has in abundance. I just was wondering if my engine is really as healthy as it sounds. Will do a comp. check this weekend and see what I've got. Stock exhaust, stock airbox, no L-mod or holes, with a Uni oiled filter in place. I may need to look at jetting - does the Uni filter require rejetting? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[Ronald Criswell]

I have had mine up to close to 100 mph (indicated on the speedo) and cruise all the time at 80 mph (indicated - about 5200 RPM)) but it isn't overwhelming in passing especially at high altitudes. Are you running stock 15 tooth on the front and - I forget what's on the rear. Criswell

On Jan 9, 2008, at 2:29 PM, Ian Francisco wrote: > Having got the A14 back running again the quick and dirty way, ie, > with a head swap, leaving the piston, cylinder and rings > undisturbed, I am wondering about performance. I did use a new head > gasket and new exhaust gasket and made darn sure the valve > clearances were close to max as a burned valve is what made it quit > shortly after puchase. AIso did a leak-down test on the '05 head, > which it passed. Checked the intake boot o-ring which looked new. I > am curious if the motor has the power it is supposed to have. Not > looking for sportbike performance mind you. Didn't do a compression > check or anything so have no useful info to provide other than > this: When I'm running down the road at 5k rpm and an indicated > ~70mph, should I expect a decent kick in the pants if I whack the > throttle wide open? Right now nothing much happens, the bike will > slowly accelerate up to an indicated 80mph, not quickly enough for > passing though. I doubt if the bike will do more than > an indicated 85mph tops. Aren't the KLRs supposed to do a little > better than that? This one's got 24k miles on it. I still have and > use a VX800 and a GS450, both of which will take off from 70mph and > reasonably quickly get up to passing speeds. The 450 is supposed to > have about the same 36bhp at the rear wheel and about the same > weight as a KLR at ~420lbs. but it's got more top end power than > this KLR, which is still useful as a commuter as long as I don't > expect or rely on top-gear roll-on grunt like the VX has in > abundance. I just was wondering if my engine is really as healthy > as it sounds. Will do a comp. check this weekend and see what I've > got. Stock exhaust, stock airbox, no L-mod or holes, with a Uni > oiled filter in place. I may need to look at jetting - does the Uni > filter require rejetting? > > __________________________________________________________ > Be a better friend, newshound, and > know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http:// > mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[E.L. Green]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Ian Francisco wrote: info to provide other than this: When I'm running down the road at 5k rpm and an indicated ~70mph, should I expect a decent kick in the pants if I whack the throttle wide open? Right now nothing much happens, the bike will slowly accelerate up to an indicated 80mph, not quickly enough for passing though. I doubt if the bike will do more than > an indicated 85mph tops. What is the *real* (GPS) speed? How heavy are you? Are you going into a headwind? Are you pushing a windshield and/or luggage? Make sure you did not over-oil that Uni oil filter. At 70mph, no, the KLR doesn't give you a kick in the pants or anything. It slowly accelerates to around 80mph, then much more slowly accelerates to about 90mph, at which point that's pretty much it unless you're laid flat on the gas tank and weigh about 85 pounds. With any load or pushing a windshield the top speed (real) of the KLR is about 85mph. But correlating that to your speedometer speed is difficult because the KLR speedometer reads faster than you're going with stock sized tires, but reads slower than you're going with some knobby tires. The lesson is that if you're going 70mph, you don't need to pass anybody, just relax and enjoy the ride .

[Ian Francisco]

I assumed I have stock 15/43 gearing and the original well-worn chain and sprockets. Will have to count teeth now to be sure, because 5200 rpm would be nowhere near an indicated 80mph on my speedo. ----- Original Message ---- From: Ronald Criswell To: Ian Francisco Cc: dsn_klr650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 9:50:34 AM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] engine performance I have had mine up to close to 100 mph (indicated on the speedo) and cruise all the time at 80 mph (indicated - about 5200 RPM)) but it isn't overwhelming in passing especially at high altitudes. Are you running stock 15 tooth on the front and - I forget what's on the rear. Criswell ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Russell Scott]

Yep, thanks. R -----Original Message----- From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Arden Kysely Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:37 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: FW: Dakar: From USA Today Russ, Is this what you were trying to post? http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2008-01-07-Dakar-Rally- Gordon_N.htm __Arden

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Russell Scott" wrote: > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Tumu Rock]

Forgot to mention that you lose some top end in favor of grunt when the valves are at the maximum clearance so that might have some bearing on the feeling.... da Vermonster

> On Jan 9, 2008, at 2:29 PM, Ian Francisco wrote: > I did use a new head > > gasket and new exhaust gasket and made darn sure the valve > > clearances were close to max as a burned valve is what made it quit > > shortly after puchase.