Questions on KLR and DR650

[cdthiker]

I was in the same spot as you. I had my sights set on a KLR and decided on a whim to look at one more bike.
I ended up with a 99 BMW f650 for 3 grand.... I HIGHLY suggest going to ride a KLR and then getting on a BMW thumper.
it is a night and day diffenerce both on and off road. The KLR is top heavy, it has a huge gas tank that when full can be hard to throw around on trails, compared to my BMW that had a small tank and was a bit lower to the ground...... It sounds like you have a great bike picked for MO.
Really, look at the used BMW's as well as the KLR and then think about the money you would have to spend to get the KLR up to par with the BMW...
I think what you would find would surprise you.
think of this comparsion, yes a honda civic will do the job, but a caddy will do it better..... yes I know slightly dramatic, never thought I would own a BMW, but I now know I will have a hard time riding anything else....
if you have not already make sure to look into ADV rider, great community and lots of amazing help and info...
cheers
td

 

[spetz]

I've got a 2012 KLR with SW Motech crash bars, BarkBusters, Oxford Heated grips, GPS mount and the .22$ mod.. Ride all year round when able. As with what most people say, it's a jack of all trade type of bike. It can do everything, but nothing perfect and probably has the largest aftermarket support of an adventure style bike I've seen. I ride everything from single track to highway as well. For me, the biggest thing to look at upgrading is the suspension (I'm 205lbs) and getting a quality skid plate, the plastic one just doesn't cut it. Depending on how I brake, the front end dives to the stops, but will address that soon enough with some Ricor parts. Alot of people also change out the doohickey with the Eagle Mike aftermarket one, your mileage may vary on this as some people's bikes require it within 1000km, some ride for years without the need.

It can be a little top heavy with a full tank, but I really like the extended fuel range over other bikes.. I get about 350km a tank offroad. It's about knowing your bike and how to throw it around. As well, I know some riders that are a little challenged in the height department and kept the KLR at stock height. After all, you only need a foot on the ground when stopped, right? They prefer the added clearance when on the trail.

Lastly, at speed (100 kph+), the stock wind deflectors on the handlebars really throw the front end around. If you go with a KLR, get some BarkBusters on instead and you'll notice a huge difference (as well as it'll save your hands). Some people also add a front fork brace and drop the front fender or replace the witch nose looking thing with an Acerbis aftermarket one.

Anyway, the KLR is a good all around bike. My wife will be getting this as a hand-me-down when I get a new KTM in a few years.

 

[mkitchen]

Still more good suggestions, thank you

I do have my eye set on a BMW, but in the future. Since Mo and I have not had any experience with dual sports and we may find that we don't enjoy them like we think, then I am only out a small portion of what I would have spent on two BMW's. So who knows, you may see us on a GSA 1200 and a F700GS within time. Mo has found a Suzuki DR 650 that she is arraigning to have shipped and I will be looking at a KLR this Friday. We will be making some changes right away, her's will need to be lowered so she can ride comfortably and due to my size and weight, 6'7" and 320, I am going to go with a stouter suspension and lowered pegs/raised bar for the KLR. Other changes will be done as needs demonstrate. No doubt, the biggest need will be the riders themselves gaining experience. I will post pics as soon as we get the bikes.
Mikey

 

[Christophe Noel]

Just to add real-world perspective. Having ridden the new 1200GS off-road, as in right up to the maximum of my abilities, if I owned such a bike I'd instinctively limit my off-road riding. Not only is it a tad intimidating to ride such a hulking machine off-road, I can't afford to damage a $20,000 bike, and I would damage it. If you put one in my garage today, I guarantee I wouldn't use it off-road nearly as much as I do my current bike, which begs to go off-road.

 

[Frank]

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.

I agree 100%. I would expect the average joe to consider a full suspension replacement an extensive modification.

 

[mkitchen]

Well, we got them

Mo got her DR 650 and I got my KLR and we are getting to know them. I put a lowered seat on the DR and Mo didn't want to wait to get the suspension lowered so she took a shot at riding it at stock height. She crashed (OUCH!). She was a bit overwhelmed with both the height and the power and lost control. She at least went off the road and fell in the dirt. She still cracked two ribs though.

She didn't seem to be in such a hurry to ride again so that left me some time to get the thing lowered. Now she can get her feet on the ground, a bit, and she is happy with that. I took her to a parking lot and had her do the drills that she learned in her MSF class and then she rode home. I think she is going to be ok.

The KLR is fine but Jeff is right, I need to jump into the suspension right away. Well that would be right away, as soon as I get more money. Even with our less than stellar start, I think we are going to enjoy the bikes and we are looking forward to getting some more rides in.

Mo's DR 650

My KLR

As you can see, Reuben is never out of the picture.
Mikey

 

[agavelvr]

Nice bikes!
Sorry that Mo got broke, but glad to hear you got her back in the saddle right away. It's funny how your perspective changes after spill induced injuries. I bought my replacement bike about 2 weeks after my crash Had to spend a month looking at it and making adjustments before I was healthy enough to ride it. That was time well spent because the bike is properly set up now If you don't have cash for the suspension right now, just be aware of the horrible brake dive and don't get too crazy on the gravel. KLR was a great bike for me, many happy memories. One of the best bang for the buck mods I did to that bike was removing the sub fender and mounting the license plate to below the brake light...makes the bike look cool, doesn't cost a dime, and keeps it from getting snagged on the rear tire once you get off the pavement. I almost tore mine off on a mild road before making that modification. Doing so at speed would ruin your day.

 

[mkitchen]

Just an update

We have been out riding quite a bit and have done some mods to both bikes. I got the DR650 lowered front and rear and now it is ride-able but still just a bit too tall for Mo. She is learning to use just one foot at stops and that is helping. She has taken three more sand naps since her first fall but she is still game to keep going. For her bike, I have ordered bar risers that set the bar back and inch as well as raise it up and she has panniers, side racks and a top bag coming. I need to change out the tires to tire that is more of a 50/50 tread. I am thinking of the Heidenour Scout. She also has a Cogent Mohave shock coming for the rear and the bike already has RaceTech springs and valves in the front. The rear shock will drop the rear about one more inch.

The KLR is getting new suspension from Cogent for both the front and rear. I can't wait to try it out. I am also going to get a taller seat from Seat Dynamics and I have lowered/set back pegs and a longer shifter. The bike should fit me pretty well once I get it set up as I want. I also got panniers and racks for it so once we get them done we can take off and do some over-nighters (used to do a lot of all-nighters, but that day is long gone).

I have not resolved the CPAP issue yet and will be doing trips that will require staying in a motel for the night. I hope to have this issue figured out soon as I really don't like motels, for some reason they take offense when you want to sit around a campfire. Once I figure out how to set up a charging system for both bikes, and get the money to do the mods, then we will be free to do some more extensive back country trips. We shall keep all of you posted on how two near-deads do travelling around back country on two wheels.
Mikey

 

[mkitchen]

WOW! What a difference

Needless to say, changing out the suspension on both bikes made a huge difference. More so on mine than on Mo's since she already had a modified set of forks and her weight was within the suspension design. I did put a Cogent Mojave on the rear of her's and then I put the Cogent Moab on the rear of my KLR and the Cogent drop in damper cartridges in the front. It is like riding a totally different bike. I would post some new pictures but the bikes look the same on the outside. We hope to get out and do some multi-day trips in the near future.
I do have some crash bars coming for the KLR as well as a skid pan. At that point, I believe that the bike will be complete.
Mikey

 

[mkitchen]

I think I have them where I want them

I have been working on the DR and KLR more than riding them lately and I finally think that I have them where I want them. I am posting more pictures but they really don't look much different than before all the work. Here is a picture of the two bikes before.

Now, here they are again after all the upgrades. They really don't appear much different. Boy Howdy, they sure do ride different though.

Mo's DR now has a Cogent Mojave rear shock. She already had Progressive springs and emulators in the forks. She has a Sergeant low seat and we had the shock built so that it would drop the bike a bit lower. I don't dare go any lower or it will look like a road bike. I had to cut and weld the kickstand (already a low version) a 1/2 inch to keep the bike at a proper lean when parked. She can keep the balls of her feet on the ground now when stopped. At least she can when on flat ground. She also has a Dirt Racks set of side racks and Bark Busters on the front. I put a set of risers on that set the bars back closer to the rider, so she is much more comfortable now and not over reaching when riding. To top it off, we put a set of Heidenau K60 tires on. For bags she has a set of Dakota panniers and a Wolfman top bag. I bought an EM fork brace and a low mount fender for her but with the diminished fork travel, the brace/fender would hit the lower triple mount at full compression so I went back to the original fender and shimmed it so that the nose of the fender no longer drooped.

My KLR came stock so it had a lot further to go to be ready for long distance adventure travel. I bought a Seat Concepts seat kit, the Bark Busters and SW Motech skid plate and crash bars. The KLR now has an EM fork brace, drill through frame upgrade, magnetic oil drain plug and the DooHickey. So a lot of work there but little to show for it on the outside. I feel a lot more prepared though with the upgrades. I bought brackets that lowered the pegs and set them back and got a longer reach shifter and between these two, I have a lot more comfortable shifting.

Having the plastic off the front, shows how vulnerable the radiator and overflow tank is without some crash bars. I have also hit the plastic skid plate a few times and didn't have much faith in it. I thought that having hex head bolts on the bottom of the skid plate was a bit odd since they would be getting dinged up. so I replaced them with button headed stainless steel bolts. Odd that the skid plate was not compatible with the crash bars since both were SW Motech but I am guessing that they have two versions of the skid plate, one to fit the stock frame and one to fit the modified version with the crash bars. It wasn't too big of a deal though, all I had to do was cut away some on the sides of the plate near the end. The biggest, most impressive upgrade though was switching to the Cogent Moab rear shock and the Cogent fork springs and DDC valves. Cogent set them up for my size and I just cannot say enough about how much better the bike feels. They told me I wouldn't believe the change and they were right. It is fantastic.

So as you can see, not too much change on the outside but both bikes are well set up for Mo and I. I took Mo's windshield off because it would not work with the set back risers and I took off my Cee Bailey when I put my risers on as the mirrors hit the cut away part of the windshield. I could have cut this part away more, but the fairing was no good to me. All it did was put more wind in my face since I sit so tall in the seat. I found it more comfortable with the stock screen. At 6'7" and long in the torso, I don't think I am going to find a windshield that will work and not be too tall so I think I will make do with the stock set up.

We have done lots of local rides and now we are ready for some more adventurous wanderings. Our first trip will be an all day trip up to the Grand Wash Cliffs overlooking Lake Mead. After that we have a plan for the El Tour de Peaks (hope Perimeter Bicycling doesn't mind me borrowing their name). This will take us from Kingman, along rt 66 to Ashfork. From there we will be on dirt all the way around the San Francisco Peaks. It should be a fun ride and we are looking at taking three days on that one.

We still have not figured out the power supply issue so that we can take our CPAP's with us but we will get to it. I am thinking about a Goal Zero battery with some solar that will sit on the top of the top bags and a charging system from the bikes themselves. The gear is out there but we have to build up our funds first. So for this trip we will just use a motel.
Mikey

 

[abruzzi]

That DR looks lowridered. How much did you drop it?

 

[mkitchen]

That DR looks lowridered. How much did you drop it?

I think that I dropped it about 4 inches. I did the changes to the front and rear suspension that Suzuki Motors recommends and slid the tubes up in the triple clamps as well. When that didn't lower it enough, I then ordered the custom Mojave from Cogent and that did the trick. The nice thing about the Mojave shock is that it was built in such a way that even though it has a bit less travel, it still functions very well. Much better than the original shock. By saying that I did the recommended lowering suggestions that Suzuki posts, I mean moving the spacers in both the front and rear suspension. I am not talking about just going to the lower position on the rear shock, which was also done of course.
So now Mo has a much lower dual sport that still functions very well. For high speed single track use, it might be lacking, but for adventure travel as I see her doing, it is working great. I know that Cogent isn't the only good suspension outfit out there but I am very impressed with their work.
Mikey

 

[abruzzi]

I knew that the dr could loose an inch and a half or so, by attaching the rear shock to a different point on the knuckle, and flipping something I the forks, and I was looking at something like that for my dad (5'5"). Thanks for the answer on the other stuff you did.