the loop.

[Allan Patton]

> ----- Original Message ----- > Excuse me for butting in, but I'm very curious about the KLR650, but I

haven't found one to test ride yet.

> > If you never ride in the dirt, what made you pick the KLR650 over other

street-only bikes of similar displacement? I'm not slamming your choice of bikes, in fact, I'm seriously considering a KLR myself. I ride about 98% street, with just the occasional one mile dirt/gravel road, two-rut trail, or construction site.

> > Artie

Artie, You've come to the right place to ask. Most of the people on this list are riders and not just bike owners. The KLR is so popular because it's a Sport Utility Bike. Not particularly great at any one thing, but covers most every type of riding. There is a large aftermarket availability of goodies to personalize the KLR. The price of the bike new is hard to beat. My personal reasons for buying a KLR is the long travel suspension to smooth out the county roads in my area. The almost six gallon tank is important to me also. The problem with the street only bikes is that they have to look pretty before you can ride. It's easy to spend a great deal of time cleaning before and after riding. When riding buddies ask, "Don't you ever wash that thing?" My answer is always, "It's a dirt bike, it's supposed to be dirty". The color of the A14 doesn't show the dirt all that bad. I haven't been doing much riding this year, but of the 15,000 miles I've ridden this year, 10,000 have been on the KLR. I just spray something on the chain, turn the key and go. The pretty bikes get left at home. Allan

[Artie Turner]

Good answer. I know if I were were rich, I'd have several bikes. One for all occasions. For right now, I'm looking for a "budget universal" bike - something almost like the KLR, but I guess I won't know until I've ridden one. Most of what I've read about the KLR suggests that it might be just slightly underpowered/short-legged for 80mph on I30 with a 6'1" 190 lb. rider and luggage. The Suzuki SV650 is the only other "budget universal" bike that really interests me. I test-rode an SV650, and all the cliches are true: it's light, very quick, and fun. About $1000 more new than the KLR. Big aftermarket and user groups similar to the KLR. Where the KLR would clearly be better for dirt than the SV650, I'm sure the SV650 would excel on the interstate and twisties. If only the KLR came with a 650cc v-twin, or the SV650 had a few dual-sport options! Artie Allan Patton wrote:

>> ----- Original Message ----- >> Excuse me for butting in, but I'm very curious about the KLR650, but I >> >> >haven't found one to test ride yet. > > >> If you never ride in the dirt, what made you pick the KLR650 over other >> >> >street-only bikes of similar displacement? I'm not slamming your choice of >bikes, in fact, I'm seriously considering a KLR myself. I ride about 98% >street, with just the occasional one mile dirt/gravel road, two-rut trail, >or construction site. > > >> Artie >> >> > >Artie, > >You've come to the right place to ask. Most of the people on this list are >riders and not just bike owners. The KLR is so popular because it's a Sport >Utility Bike. Not particularly great at any one thing, but covers most every >type of riding. There is a large aftermarket availability of goodies to >personalize the KLR. The price of the bike new is hard to beat. > >My personal reasons for buying a KLR is the long travel suspension to smooth >out the county roads in my area. The almost six gallon tank is important to >me also. The problem with the street only bikes is that they have to look >pretty before you can ride. It's easy to spend a great deal of time cleaning >before and after riding. When riding buddies ask, "Don't you ever wash that >thing?" My answer is always, "It's a dirt bike, it's supposed to be dirty". >The color of the A14 doesn't show the dirt all that bad. I haven't been >doing much riding this year, but of the 15,000 miles I've ridden this year, >10,000 have been on the KLR. I just spray something on the chain, turn the >key and go. The pretty bikes get left at home. > >Allan > > > > >Checkout Dual Sport News at >http://www.dualsportnews.com >List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: http://www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > > >Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > >

[imperial-4776@webtv.net]

Hi All, Went out for 60 mile scouting trip today. The weather was excellent, and views were great. Hardly a soul out on the back roads, so rather than waste the day, I turned the ride into a 220 mile mini adventure Basically did a loop taking in Opal Lake, Detroit Lake, Green Peter Lake, and nearly Tumble Lake, but I was running low on gas, so decided to push for the the town of Detroit in Oregon at the half way point. I have down loaded a few pix, if anyone is interested. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/American_Dualsport_Riders/files/Sunday%20Scoot Dave Salem OR KLR650 DR350