Wilsons Sandbox

48 pounds heavier?!?! Holy crap. Where'd all that come from? That's pretty serious. erik

> Just checked the Canadian Kawasaki site and noted the following: > The 2008 KLR is: 95mm longer > 10 mm wider > 5 mm higher > wheel travel is 30mm less front and 45mm rear! > wheel base is 15 mm shorter > weight is 22 kg's heavier > fuel capacity .9 litres less > power is down by 4 ps @ 6500 rpm > torque is off 5N-m at 5500 rpm > cost is up by $100.00 Can to $6599.00 > rotor size up .... sorry, missed that one > > Ain't progress wonderful? > > Cheers >> From the Great (not so white) White North > Martin > >

On Thu, Mar 08, 2007 at 08:12:07PM -0000, veloboarder wrote:

> > The 2008 KLR is: 95mm longer > power is down by 4 ps @ 6500 rpm > torque is off 5N-m at 5500 rpm

Wow. I don't get it. How did they redesign the head and make the motor even _more_ anemic for its displacement? I bet the loss of power, along with the very slight change in length, means that more parts are now shared with the C model: we knew about the fork, which would be the length change, but I bet the whole motor now is too -- there were a couple of small differences, such as the flywheel, which was heavier on the C model, reducing power somewhat. The KLR was already behind most of its peers in the 650cc class in power and torque. It's amazing they'd "update" it and make it more so. Thor

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "veloboarder" wrote:

> > Just checked the Canadian Kawasaki site and noted the following: > The 2008 KLR is: ... > power is down by 4 ps @ 6500 rpm > torque is off 5N-m at 5500 rpm

...

> From the Great (not so white) White North > Martin

My understanding is there's been a change on how power output is determined. The revised head should give more power but we'll probably have to wait until we see some dyno comparisons. Doug

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, erik wrote:

> 48 pounds heavier?!?! > > Holy crap. Where'd all that come from? That's pretty serious.

More likely they just quit lying. Everybody who's ever weighed a KLR has found that it weighed over 400 pounds. The old published "dry weight" of 327 pounds was always a cruel joke. -E

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "sd_ware" wrote:

> --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "veloboarder" wrote: > > > > Just checked the Canadian Kawasaki site and noted the following: > > The 2008 KLR is: ... > > power is down by 4 ps @ 6500 rpm > > torque is off 5N-m at 5500 rpm > My understanding is there's been a change on how power output is > determined.

I went and checked the specs on the Canadian site, and converted them to horsepower for those of us who haven't progressed beyond horse-drawn buggies. The old spec said the 2007 KLR had 44 horsepower. We've run dynometer tests on the pre-2008 KLR's time after time on this newsgroup and never found a stock KLR that had more than 36HP at the rear wheel. The new spec says the 2008 KLR has 41 horsepower. If that's actual real wheel horsepower, that's about 5 more than the current KLR. Point: The old specs were a pack of lies in the first place, so might as well just ignore them. - E

I would not be so sure that the manufacturer HP is necessarily a "pack of lies". I am not aware of any vehicle manufacturer, motorcycle or car, that rates their HP at the wheels. It is a rating at the crank. And a 10%-20% reduction in power through the drive train is normal. Jeff A20 ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "gust0261" wrote:

> What is the consensus about the new 2008 KLR650. Better than the old > one? Good changes? Bad Changes?

My take: 2008: Much better headlights. Much better brakes. Stiffer suspension for less lurching around when you hit said brakes. Much better on-road bike. Slightly worse off-road, but if you've already lowered your bike by 1" and stiffened your suspension (as I have) there's no difference in off-road capability, but the fairing is crunchy so you better have crash bars on the thing before going offroad (there are now three venders of crash bars for the '08 KLR, that tells you a bit about how necessary they are). Doesn't seem to be any noticable difference in power. Does seem to be smoother. This is the first year for the '08, and there has been a number of production problems over the course of the year -- a problem with the rings that causes excessive oil consumption in certain bikes, a problem with the rubber provider for the turnsignals that causes the turnsignals to fall off when you bump them, and a problem with a vendor of parts for the shock that causes the shock preload adjuster to fail. KHI has fixed all three problems (gasp!), but hasn't issued a recall on any of these problems and has not provided a list of affected VIN's for any of the bikes currently in the supply chain, so I'm waiting for the 2009 model before buying a new KLR. 2007: Slightly better offroad. Not as good of wind protection. Vibrates more. Stock springs are really weak and must be beefed up if you weigh more than 140 pounds. Seat is really soggy and must be replaced with an aftermarket seat if you weigh more than 140 pounds. Reliable as a brick. Has tupperware plastics rather than crunchy plastics so less likely to break something if you drop it (still, you want a radiator guard before you drop it, because the radiator, while not as fragile as on the '08, is still expensive). Brakes are pathetic and must replace the front rotor with an aftermarket one to get any kind of real braking power on the road. Front headlight is pathetic and cannot be significantly improved, even if you re-wire the headlight circuit and put a 100 watt bulb the square shape of the headlight does a lousy job of putting light where you need it on the road. My take: There are a number of used pre '08 KLR's on the market for cheap. If in the market for a KLR right now, either get one of those and upgrade to the new model once the bugs get ironed out (probably the '09 model), or wait for the '09 model. But again, that's just my opinion, which is worth what you paid for it (shrug). -E

The choke cable can also squeak behind the fairing. Ernie Campbell http://www.oldskoolklr650.com

----- Original Message ----- From: Tumu Rock To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 9:04 AM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: tweety bird noise --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "joel nelson" wrote: > > I have a 05 KLR650 . I put a Jardine Muffler on it and put a dynojet > kit in to keep it from being too lean. The Muffler from Jardine was > loud , which was to be expected. I also purchased a spark arrestor > for that muffler. That made it more quiet but now I get the TWEETY > sound under hard accelerating or letting off the gas . > What makes the Tweety noise. Is it leaking exhaust from the joint into > the header pipe? One solution is ditch the spark arrestor and piss off > my neighbors, but that wouldn't be nice. > I know we talked about the Tweety in the past but I can't recall the > solution. tks SPARKS454 > Tweety as we know it does come from the perforated baffle in the stock exhaust. Since you no longer have the stock exhaust on your bike, it's coming from somewhere else. Tweety as you are hearing it is coming from some other metal to metal contat area that isn't tight. Check the heat shield on the header and check the spark arrester you installed in the Jardine to see if either is loose. I've also had a slight tweet from the clutch lever rattling around in its perch. da Vermonster [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]