Sleeping Dog
Adventurer
:wings: 2005 Dakar with 15.3k miles and the usual BMW options plus a few more, case guards and a few Touratech and Wunderlich pieces.
Why the Dakar? Well I've been a BMW guy long enough that its become a habit, but I began considering the new KLR 650. I wanted a lighter bike with decent two-track capability, that could also serve as a long distance traveling rig with mostly two lanes in mind.
The R11/1150 GS was an obvious choice but loaded they weigh over 600#, plus the worry of the final drive. The R12 is lighter but an 07 or 08 was more than I wanted to spend considering that it would need to be outfitted and I'm choosing to pass on 05s & 06s due to the servo assist brakes. The servo unit is far to expensive when it fails.
I began looking for a Dakar late last summer and missed one then passed on another and then they dried up. In September a birdy told me that the F800GS would be introduced at the Milan bike show and would likely be available in the US in the early spring. With that news I decided to wait and see the 800.
I went down to the NY motorcycle show and threw a leg over the 800 and thought, yup this is for me. A couple of weeks later I planned to put down a deposit and found out that the bike was delayed till September.
I decided not to wait and had a talk with the Kwacker dealer who told me that he could have a KLR in my choice of colors 3 days after placing the order. With that knowledge I looked around for a Dakar, knowing that if I didn't find one by April 1, I'd by the KLR.
So let the farkleization begin.
First are panniers, get the GPS connected and a secondary fuse panel. Closely followed by some fork gaiters. Given the history of overheating problems with gaiters this maybe an experiment. In the future I'll probably upgrade the chain guard and add progressive fork springs as well as a Wilburs or Ohlins shock and some driving lights. A small topcase will also be sourced.
I'll update this post as accessories are added.
Jim
Why the Dakar? Well I've been a BMW guy long enough that its become a habit, but I began considering the new KLR 650. I wanted a lighter bike with decent two-track capability, that could also serve as a long distance traveling rig with mostly two lanes in mind.
The R11/1150 GS was an obvious choice but loaded they weigh over 600#, plus the worry of the final drive. The R12 is lighter but an 07 or 08 was more than I wanted to spend considering that it would need to be outfitted and I'm choosing to pass on 05s & 06s due to the servo assist brakes. The servo unit is far to expensive when it fails.
I began looking for a Dakar late last summer and missed one then passed on another and then they dried up. In September a birdy told me that the F800GS would be introduced at the Milan bike show and would likely be available in the US in the early spring. With that news I decided to wait and see the 800.
I went down to the NY motorcycle show and threw a leg over the 800 and thought, yup this is for me. A couple of weeks later I planned to put down a deposit and found out that the bike was delayed till September.
I decided not to wait and had a talk with the Kwacker dealer who told me that he could have a KLR in my choice of colors 3 days after placing the order. With that knowledge I looked around for a Dakar, knowing that if I didn't find one by April 1, I'd by the KLR.
So let the farkleization begin.
First are panniers, get the GPS connected and a secondary fuse panel. Closely followed by some fork gaiters. Given the history of overheating problems with gaiters this maybe an experiment. In the future I'll probably upgrade the chain guard and add progressive fork springs as well as a Wilburs or Ohlins shock and some driving lights. A small topcase will also be sourced.
I'll update this post as accessories are added.
Jim
