BLT Offroad KLR

[HenryJ]

BLT are going offroad on two wheels now!
I have had many bikes over the years. My latest thing has been the dual sports. I picked up a TW200 about a year and a half ago. It is all fixed up and has been a great commuter / trail bike. The bigger tank is available next week and that will really help its range.

The plan has been to have my wife ride the TW eventually. That time has now come...My friend at the parts store has been a bad influence. This was a real spur of the moment thing. I wasn't seriously looking. John said a 2000 showed up on Craigslist that morning. I found the ad and had email back pretty quickly. (ad photo)

We had a one hour window to see it that day, between his getting off work and a meeting he had to attend. So, I made the trip to Meridian, ID that evening. It was pretty poor looking from all the oxidation, but otherwise in decent shape and not beat. I made him an offer he could refuse and he didn't. So we loaded it up and brought it home. I am the third owner. The first let it sit outside way too much. The second took better care of it and did some decent maintenance.

I have spent the last couple weeks cleaning it up. SOS pads, heat gun and Mother's Back to Black do wonders for the plastics.

It immediately received some electrical improvements. Power ports, headlamp upgrade, driving lights. A rock guard for the headlamp. Quite a few small things were cleaned up and fixed along the way.
Things are finally getting together on the KLR. I mounted a little clock above the instruments. That is the little orange thing. The mount for the GPS arrived today.

I added a flap on the rear inner fender to protect the shock from mud and debris. The dune flag mount is on the rear rack. I am waiting on a trunk and tool tubes. Those should have it where I want it, I think.
I don't know if the "Doo has been dun". John has offered to help and has all the tools. When he returns from is vacation, I plan to dive right into that.

I foresee some wonderful trail rides in our future. With "L" on the TW and "B" -n- "T" riding double on the KLR we can ride the trails as a family.

 

[Cabrito]

Very nice! Looks great!

 

[HenryJ]

Very nice! Looks great!

Thanks!
Finished the low buck muffler mod today and added a tip to clear the fender.

The cheap ebay cover arrived. Once the tool tube arrives I'll have a home for it.
Mike shipped the Doohickey parts today, so hopefully this weekend we will... "do the Doo".

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I will soon have this where the TW200 is. That "Happy place". Well close anyway. The Clarke tank for the TW200 is done so I ordered one of those for it. It should be here Friday.
Plenty to do this weekend :fingers crossed: :bike_rider:

 

[Motojournalism]

Great! The doo ain't hard, but try to have an assistant help keep the wrench on the flywheel!

 

[Cabrito]

I'm totally digging that low buck muffler mod. Where did you get it?

Thanks!
Finished the low buck muffler mod today and added a tip to clear the fender.

The cheap ebay cover arrived. Once the tool tube arrives I'll have a home for it.
Mike shipped the Doohickey parts today, so hopefully this weekend we will... "do the Doo".

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I will soon have this where the TW200 is. That "Happy place". Well close anyway. The Clarke tank for the TW200 is done so I ordered one of those for it. It should be here Friday.
Plenty to do this weekend :fingers crossed: :bike_rider:

 

[Dave Bennett]

Love the green! :bike_rider:

 

[HenryJ]

I'm totally digging that low buck muffler mod. Where did you get it?

Sorry this took so long to respond. I totally missed your post.

I took the idea from the KLR650.net - Willys Method
I made the tip myself. It is just a slack adjuster shim , three SS screws and a piece of muffler pipe.
I pulled the outer resonator. Drilled with a 1 1/4" holesaw. Under the tip there is a stainless steel screen to act as a spark arrestor.

For this I picked up a Wallyworld Tea ball strainer. Each half makes one screen.
Nice thump at idle and no louder on the highway. No more VW tweety sound. Mostly it keeps the exhaust off the fender. Almost looks stock.

Took the wife and son out for some riding this morning. The new Campinglab awning ROCKS! What a great way to beat the heat.

I forgot the camera so had to use the cell phone for a couple pics.

 

[emohn]

Can I get a better shot of your tooltube mounting if you get a chance? I bought one of the agrisuply.com tool tubes, but have yet to figure out where I want to mount it on my KLR. Picking up another and going up high on the rear rack, like you've done, looks pretty slick.

-Erik

 

[HenryJ]

I had a tough time deciding where to put them on the KLR too. I have a pair on the TW200 and really like them. One holds my cover and the other has real wrenches, tire irons and repair kit.

I trimmed the mounting tabs down to line up with the bars on my Cyclerack. The forward tab I used a heat gun to form to the bar. Three 30# nyla-ties (zip ties) attach each tube.

 

[Desert Drifter]

WOW!! Yor bike looks brand new!!! Amazing what some elbow grease can accompish!!!!

 

[HenryJ]

Scored a used Corbin seat for a bill:

Only a few miles on it so far, but I think I am going to like it. I feel better sitting a little lower on the bike and can comfortably flat foot it at stops.
"L" can fit it too now. All part of my long term plan.

I also added a pad to enlarge the foot print of the side stand.

Drilled a couple small holes to retain it. I have plenty of replacement material on hand. It seems to be holding up pretty well so far (excuse the pun)

A little work to modify the bar end weights and the Moose handguards are in place

Those will protect the levers, my hands and keep the chill off a little better as fall aproaches.

I also picked up a used radiator guard...

and a waterpump bar.

Both were a little rough, but cleaned them up smoothed them up. Modified to work with the road bars and then black baked enameled. They offer a little more protection for those vulnerable areas.

Am going to change out the headlamp bulb for a lower watt and better light solution. The light that I have now is good, but I see a little dimming at idle. I think I can solve that with some power reductions and also improve visibility on both ends.

Slowly but surely I am getting this to its "Happy place". :bike_rider:

 

[adventureduo]

Looking good! It's really coming together nicely.

 

[Cabrito]

Total score on the Corbin.

I've been trying to find one on the cheap.

Looking good.

 

[HenryJ]

Total score on the Corbin.

I've been trying to find one on the cheap.

Thanks guys!

I too have been looking and watching for a good buy on a seat. Basically any of the aftermarket seats would have been fine with me. They are so darned expensive though. I had made offers over $200 on a couple and each sold for higher than I was willing to spend.
This one popped up in a BMW shop for sale and I jumped on it. I was a little worried that I had been taken since I Paypal'd the money and heard nothing for five days. I emailed several addresses listed with no response. Finally I found a phone number and called. A death in the family had been the reason there was no response. The seat actually had been shipped and arrived on my door step a couple hours later.
It turned out great in the end, but gave me a couple gray hairs on the way.
The seat is nice. condition is very good with no blemishes. Black fits right in.
As wide as it is , it is a little tight on the Cyclerack, but I can live with it.

Next up is LED tail that strobes on the stop. [wolf voice]"Better to see me with my dear"[/voice]

The 100/80W headlamp offers plenty of light, but the HID on my truck have spoiled me. The halogen I have in there now does not have the same color light or crisp cut off that the TW200 has. I am very happy with that bulb. It does not dim on idle either.
My hope is that the HID will offer better color, better light and at less power.
Between the tail and the headlamp conversions I should save about 50 watts easily. I might even consider eliminating the running lights on the turn signals or converting them to LED as well. Hopefully the head and tail will do what I need for now.

Next up I need to try out the MicroTrak-RTG. I do need to have power conservation taken care first though.

 

[Cabrito]

Next up is LED tail that strobes on the stop.

I just did this. I didn't like the strop effect. It seemed to go on for so long even though it's only tree or four seconds. Mine starts with a few quick strobes and transitions to a rapid strobe before going solid. I was hoping for something without the rapid strobe at the end. For reference: I got mine at KLR650 dot com.

Do you know if the strobe types are legal in your state?

I'm not sure if it's legal in CA so I tried to ask a CHP motorcycle officer but he couldn't tell me if it was really legal or not. When I tried to explain them to him he asked why I would even want something like this, and felt like it would be blinding or distracting to the cars behind me. He said if he saw me with it he might pull me over to talk about it. I asked if he had ever noticed any on the road and he had not. I can't really remember ever seeing them around here myself. So for now I just have the LED without the strobe.

Let us know how yours works if you get one.