01 klr 650, experience, mods

[Devon Jarvis]

I've been using the stainless steel headlight guard for a month or so already, which bolted on easily with the supplied stainless hardware. Looks cool in an functional, industrial sort of way. You'd have to get hit with a large rock, or branch big enough to dismount you, to lose the headlight with this thing installed. I installed the SharkFin rear rotor guard while I was putting on my new IRC GP110. The Sharkfin took five minutes to install as long as you have the wheel off anyway. Loctite the threads, crank down on the bolts (I consider it a permanent installation) and that's it. It mounts to the caliper hanger, and has a little alloy block that bears on the bottom of the swingarm, in case you come down hard on a rock. Follow the instructions, and fit all the bolts hand-tight first so you can get them all in. Devon A15

[RichardM]

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., Devon Jarvis wrote:

>Looks cool in an functional, industrial sort of way. You'd have toget >hit with a large rock, or branch big enough to dismount you, to lose >the headlight with this thing installed.

These items are at http://www.bigcee.com by the way. There was some debate in the past about the headlight guard blocking some of the light. I don't think that there's enough metal there to have an effect. Have you seen any difference? RM

[lmbakota@telusplanet.net]

Having about 5,500 kms on my 2001 KLR650, I thought I could share some of my experiences and mods. The KLR is in no way an off road bike and it is OK with me because, what I was buying it for, was a combination of pavement and some gravel/dirt road riding. For this purpose it works just fine and, as many others, I was surprised how well it behaves on the highway. I did fairly soon some modifications that so far worked well for me. Windshied. I did read some controversial comments on the extended Kawasaki shield on this group so I opted for the Slipstreamer CF-30. It is squarely shaped shield, 13" wide at the top and a bit wider at the bottom. It has four attachement points on the plexi and two attachement points on the handlebars. I had to bend the holding rods to get the shield more down and forward while keeping the same slope as the OEM shield and the fairing. It extends about 10" above the original OEM shield. It is very steady on the highway but it flexes a bit on rough roads. Anyway, it takes about 20 seconds to detach the shield and few seconds more to attach it back. I have it set in a way that I can see well over it yet it throws the wind above my face. I can keep using again my favorite open face helmet. Cruise control. I have installed the CEP cruise "designed" for Honda bikes. I did drill a hole and cut the M5 thread into the throttle housing to secure the cruise in place. Works fine, except in rain the throttle doesn't return quite freely into the default position. I have put a plastic spacer between the rubber grip and the cruise to prevent the rubber dragging against the cruise. Needs a bit of thinking to install it right. Handlebars and grips. I have shortened the handlebars by 1-1/2", " on each side. I guess it is a matter of personal preference depending on your type of riding. Actually, should have done it 1" on each side. At the same time I have replaced the original grips with the ProGrip gell grips and pumped some silicone caulking into the handlebars. I do not think it has helped much to reduce the handlebars vibration, in fact it was not too bad in a first place. The original left hand grip is well glued to the handlebar and you cannot remove it without destroying it. Hard luggage. I have bought a three piece GIVI luggage set while on vacation in the Czech Republic last June. I thought I was getting an excellent deal over there but in fact it is not as expensive here in Canada either. I got the top 29 ltr box, two 21 ltr side boxes and I have purchased two least expensive Wingracks as well. I have paid a total of about $380 CND, it would be little over $500 here. The top piece has its own attachment rack that can be easily bolted to the KLR's tail rack. It is more complicated with the side bags. There is no specific attachment kit available to mount the wingracks on KLR. I have ended up using brackets made of 1" x " steel flat bar, attached to the tail rack, two on each side. It is a bit difficult to explain the shape of the brackets but I can send a picture to whoever would be interested. It was rather a trial and error method to shape the brackets properly and you need a good wise and lots of patience for this job. I had to relocate the rear signal lights as well, it might be a good idea to buy the wingracks with signal lights. If you are not desperate for that extra capacity in the side boxes you might go just for the top box that is relatively cheap and easy to install. Other stuff. I live and do most of my riding at elevations around 4,000 feet. For this reason, I used to adjust the timing advance (few more degrees) and fuel/air mixture (make it leaner) on my past bikes. For the fuel/air mixture I would drop a bit the needle and tighten the idle fuel screw. Well you can raise the needle (enrich the mixture) on the KLR but you cannot lower it. However, looking at my spark plug I have found out that KLR must be by its original setting rather on the lean side and at higher elevations is just about right. I have still not figured out how to advance the timing. As for the near future, I am planning just two more mods: the Supertrap IDS2 exhaust and the K&N air filter.