Questions on KLR and DR650

[mkitchen]

Well Mo and I went to the show (International Motorcycle Show) and looked at a lot of bikes but I believe that we have made a choice. Originally we looked at BMW and she liked the F 700 GS and I was going for the 1200 GSA and we still really like and admire these two bikes and may end up with them. Since neither of us are experienced riders (many years on mountain bikes though, if that counts) we are kind of leaning towards two thumpers. They had a Suzuki DR 650 that was lowered with factory parts and Mo was able to sit on it and still place both feet on the ground. I sat on a stock height one and found the cockpit very cramped for me but she was very happy with it. I found that I like the KLR and I think that both of them would be compatible together.

I do have a few questions though. Would handlebar risers be for a shorter rider who is maybe over reaching to the bars or for a taller rider that is bending over too much? Does anyone know if you can get dropped pegs for the KLR? It looks like it would be an easy change out. The rest we can work out as time allows but I am curious about the above.
Thanks in advance for everyone's help and input. With any luck, we will have them at the ExPo.
Mikey

 

[Ozrockrat]

OK I will throw in my 2c worth. KLR and Dr's are both good bikes. KLR is more friendly for the pavement while the DR's are better in the dirt.

Bar risers are for taller riders or when you are standing on the pegs a lot. What Mo would be looking for are bar backs. These bring the bars back towards her to stop the stretching out. Or you can just swap the bars with a set of bars with the correct bend to suit her (nearly any alloy bar will be better than the stock steel ones).

Both bikes really benefit from a good after market seat. I prefer Sargents or Seat Concepts but some swear by Corbin. (I swear at my Corbin but I am too tight to change it out).

KLR does have the advantage of being able to get Jesse bags for it (best panniers out there in my biased opinion). You can also lower it fairly easily with lowering links, forks through the triple trees and a shorter seat if you wanted to match them up.

Just keep an eye on how much weight you put on the bike for Mo. Keep it to a minimum especially to start out with.

 

[agavelvr]

Does anyone know if you can get dropped pegs for the KLR? It looks like it would be an easy change out.
Mikey

Hey Mikey,
I put the SW Motec pegs on my bike. They have two positions, stock or dropped 15mm. They cost a little bit more, but I like them. I have been riding it with stock suspension since purchasing. Now that I have a little experience, all that advice to spend some money on rebuilding the forks and going with a good rear shock like the Moab is probably a really good idea that you should factor into your purchase. Reason I say that... after adding a center stand (which in hind sight, I wish I hadn't before setting up the suspension) you have a lot of stuff hanging low due to the sag. I crashed a little over 2 weeks ago pretty bad and the single cause of that was contact between the center stand hanger and a rock. This did not happen on some technical trail...it was a flat dirt road and a pot hole that did me in. Had I upgraded the suspension and set it up, I probably would have cleared it and not broken some ribs An expensive and painful lesson.

Also for consideration... When I bought the KLR, I was restarting into motos after a long absence. Was a good choice for a good price for what I had intended... long distance travel with a mix of dirt road and mildly technical riding. Unfortunately, my interest shifted into slightly more technical riding. While the KLR can do it, you work hard making it happen and spend some money setting it up. I ride with a lot of guys on advrider that have DRs in various sizes. If I had studied my needs a little more in the beginning, I probably should have chosen a DR450 for the kinds of trails I seem to be drawn to. My problem is I have to have one bike to do it all. That is always going to be a compromise. 690 Enduro might be the magic bullet for me at this point.

 

[mkitchen]

Thanks, both of you

Good points and thank you. It seems that that more I look, the more confused I get on how I want to set the bikes up. My off road experience is nill on motorbikes. Lots on years in vehicles and mountain bikes but I never got into the two wheel thing. I have recently bought a Victory Cross Country Tour and I am really enjoying the bike. With Mo and my love of back country, it only makes sense to try the dual sports.
I don't believe that we will be doing the more aggressive rides so the 650's should do ok. I certainly will follow your suggestion Oz and keep Mo's bike as light as possible. I could buy both, brand new and spend less than I did for the Victory. This should be a lot of fun. I am going to have to figure out how to carry and charge two CPAPs on the bikes but I believe that we can do it and still carry enough gear to camp. After all I carried all but a CPAP on a bicycle for many years.
I am hoping to not have the serious accidents that I have had in my younger years with the mountain bikes. Most all of my physical issues now are from crashes on the bikes in years past. I have no doubt though that the bike and me will go down on occasion.
Mikey

 

[Frank]

As for risers, check out Rox Risers. As mentioned by OZ, risers are generally used by taller riders. To add to that, if MO is short, she likely also has shorter arms. Rox Risers will allow you to pull the bars back and forward (or up) giving her much more comfort, and will isolate some vibrations.

 

[Christophe Noel]

I'm now on my fourth thumper for on/off road. I owned a KLR at one point and never really took to it. At any rate, if you make it up to Prescott, you're welcome to take my Dakar out for a spin. They're popular bikes for riders of all sizes and have massive aftermarket support, like the KLR. The second day after buying this bike I rode it 900 miles in two days with a mix of mountain pass and long stretches of slab. It did great. I went this route because while I've got a solid 25 years of riding, it's largely tarmac biased. Although I'm an aggressive mountain biker, I'm pretty conservative off-road on my moto, but wanted something capable. I also wanted something I could drop - repeatedly. That means cheap(er). I bought this bike because I could bolt $3000 worth of farkles on it and still be well under the MSRP of a new Dakar or 700GS.

 

[pugslyyy]

Very nice looking bike there Christophe.

 

[mkitchen]

Wow, thank you for the offer, Chrisophe

That is quite an offer, thank you. I do get out to Prescott a fair amount. Either for some activity with other ExPo folks or on the motorbike or bicycle. Pretty nice country out there.
I can buy both the KLR and DR650 for less than one of the BMWs that we are thinking about. Since neither one of us has any real experience with dual sports, I think we will go that direction and see if we really enjoy it. Then maybe I will up grade to the two BMW 's. Also, after using the AT Horizon and a teardrop for road trips, I need to see if I can still put up with the cold hard ground and a backpack style stove again. This is certainly going to be a bit of a change.
Mikey

 

[Christophe Noel]

Mikey,

Don't sweat the comfort factor. You can create a sublimely comfy camp kit these days that will easily fit in a pannier. I'm also in the final stages of finishing a power pack review for the next issue of OJ. There are plenty of systems which will power your CPAP for minimal expense, weight and bulk. As our in-house gear geek, I've assembled a variety of ultra-light camping systems for everything from ultra-distance mountain bike racing to motorcycle and truck travel. My moto system is really comfy and fits in one pannier. At only 9 pounds, it includes a generously sized tent, plush 3" thick pad, great bag,nice stove, even a fluffy pillow. The good news, you really only need to pay about 20-25% over "average" gear to get exceptionally great gear.

I also fully relate to your motorcycle purchase dilemma. I was at Go-AZ in August, cash in hand, ready to purchase a BMW 650 Sertao. I went to lunch with my wife to mull it over and ended up driving home. That very day I found a Dakar (exact same bike) from 2004 with 4600 miles on it for just $5800. It already had $2500 worth of Touratech goodies on it. If price is a consideration, good deals abound. BMW owners in particular tend to be a finicky lot and care for their bikes quite well.

Let me know if you have camp gear questions. I'm obsessive about that stuff. My bikepacking racing kit is quite comfy but only weighs 5.7 pounds for shelter, pad, bag and stove.

 

[Frank]

Food for thought on the KLR. I think (my opinion) the KLR is a fantastic bike, only after extensive modifications. -another words, I think it is a great platform to build a bike to suit YOU.

That said, many people buy them and do nothing to them and set out for a 10,000 mile trip. Take it for what its worth.

 

[mkitchen]

Won't be long now

Mo made a bid on Ebay for a DR 650 and I am going down to Lake Havasu next week to check out a slightly used KLR. We are both very excited about the bikes and are looking forward to a big learning curve.

Christophe, I am looking forward to seeing your article on light weight gear. I have grown from carrying everything on my bicycle to hauling an AT trailer or using my F 250 when camping. Near Deads do enjoy their comforts so climbing onto a DS should be interesting.

I have been scouring the forums on both the Suzuki and Kawasaki. Wow there is a lot out there and we are sooooo inexperienced that we are not going to know what is good handling and what is not. I know what to expect from a road bike or mountain bike but something with a motor on it? Should be interesting.
Mikey

 

[Byways]

Having ridden the heck out of an '08 KLR (yeah, it's an oil-burner ...), my thought is to hold off entirely on farkling and changing things. It takes time, and plenty of riding, to determine what really will be useful and helpful in making your bike the ride you want and need it to be. Do it straight away, and you'll buy a lot of stuff that won't produce the results you anticipated. Take your time ... and ride. Then decide.

 

[mkitchen]

Good Advice

That is very good advice and something that I have learned quite a while ago with my 4X4's. It is very easy to get caught up in all the neat stuff out there and go overboard. I think that I will go ahead and get some side boxes so I can carry stuff but leave it at that. It certainly won't take long to get a bunch of miles on these things, I am looking forward to hitting the dirt ASAP. I love riding the Victory but I hate the idea of not being able to ride some of the roads that we do with our Tacoma. Here at least, there are a lot more dirt roads then there are paved.
Mikey

 

[agavelvr]

When I bought my KLR, a bunch of people told me to do the suspension 1st thing. I ignored them and had some fun rides. After riding the same bike with a Moab rear shock and progressive springs in the fork, I can see the value. Big guys like us crush the KLR suspension, making the bike really hard to ride. Add some boxes and gear...you are bottomed out. But I didn't know any better since it had been a while since I rode. In hind sight, I wish I would have done mine. Probably would have saved some broken parts, including my ribs Know that I know, every bike gets re sprung right away.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Christophe, I am looking forward to seeing your article on light weight gear. I have grown from carrying everything on my bicycle to hauling an AT trailer or using my F 250 when camping. Near Deads do enjoy their comforts so climbing onto a DS should be interesting.

Just to give you an idea of what's possible on the extreme end, I was just fooling around with my latest ultra-ultra-light gear and got my bivy, sleeping pad, AND sleeping bag to fit in my cycling jersey pockets!! 2 pounds 13 ounces.

My latest adventure moto kit consists of a 2 person Nemo tent, 20 degree down bag and 2.5" thick pad at just 7.8 pounds with an MSR Reactor stove. That all fits in one 31 liter hard pannier or two 15 liter soft Kriega panniers.