Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bringing my ol' 92 KLR 650 back to life

Bought new in '92.

Rode it every day for two years and 40,000 miles. Mobil 1 15-50, regular maintenance. No problems except for weak kick stand cut out spring, split fork boots. I think I replaced the clutch.

Bought a BMW airhead Paris/Dakar in '94, put KLR in storage.

Sold Beemer in '97, took KLR out of storage.

1997-2006 - only put another 8,000 miles on the bike (fat and married and all that).

In those years the turn signal stems crumbled and the seat went south.

Last time I rode it in 2006 it had serious carb issue, cutting out on acceleration. Didn't put it up exactly in '06, just put it in back, pulled the battery, drained the carb, left full tank of gas. 48,000 miles on the odo.

I did pick up a new stock seat cheap a couple of years back.

I would like to ride it to New York and back next month (just like in the old days, except I didn't need reading glasses back then ).

I looked at the bike.

Metzler front and Avon rear tires are still good, they hold air and ain't deformed from sitting.

Turns out the tank had rusted under the gas, I just got it cleaned out and coated. Likely developing rust was what clogged the carb in '06.

Put the tank back on yesterday, drained the ancient Mobil 1 15-50 (didn't look too bad) and put in some Syntech 20-50 (do they still make Mobil 1 in 15-50? I couldn't find it).

Put in new gas and presto! The old girl fired right up.

Still has carburetion issues of course.

I'm gonna take her in for a full service and a carb re-do.

I need to replace the fork springs and turn signals.

OK, since the 'Fire is a deep well of knowledge about most everything.....

1) Any recommendations for aftermarket turn signals?

2) Any recommendations for aftermarket fork springs?

3) This is an 18 year old, high mileage bike. Before I head out on that 6,000 mile, three week trip what else would folks here look at on the bike?

"Get a new one" ain't really an option, this is most likely a one-time deal designed to out-cool my brother in front of my nephews

Conventional wisdom has it a maintianed KLR oughtta be good for at least 70,000 miles (means I should have about another 22,000 left).

Thanks.

Birdwatcher

Birdwatcher

Go to www.klr650.net .Anything you want to know about you bike will be on that forum .

Boondock

Great to see your thread here! I just now got back on the road a sorely abused '02 KLR650 that had been mildly wrecked and then left outside to sit and crumble. I had not been on a road bike for 18 years before getting this one up and going. Only 8100 miles on its odometer so definately worth fixing up. Now, after a nearly two decade drought of no road riding.....How sweet it is! Do keep us informed regarding your progress. Sorry to say that I am too new to the KLR scene to be of any help. Pretty cool and amazing bikes from what I can tell so far.

Bird, the internal seals will probably be OK,....anything that's EXTERNAL,....like between the atmosphere and the internal contents should be looked at REAL carefully.

Guess it would be dumb to ask if the "Coating" that you put in the gas tank is Ethanol compatible ?

GTC

'Spect so, I brung it to a well-regarded radiator shop that also has a rep for doing a good job on bike gas tanks.

The gasoline petcock attaches to the bottom of the tank with two 10mm bolts and has a thin rubber gasket. Both it and the petcock valve itself leaked with a steady drip when put back on.

Funny, a day later the leaks stopped, at least for now, maybe the gaskets swell when wet with gas?

Birdwatcher

Yepper.... prob'ly the best thumper motor ever devised, with an amazing broad torque range that can slog through the mud on the one hand or do 1,000 mile day, 80mph Interstate hauls on the other. On a tight mountain road chasing Ninjas ya dont even need the tach, just listen to that thumper singing to know what the motor is doing When yer stalled in commuter traffic, the automatic cooling fan will kick in to roast yer knee, but it ain't gonna overheat, if it gets close the temperature gage needle will warn you before the fact.

Alla that and a 250-300 mile criusing range from that 6 gallon tank.

Amazing they tweaked that performance out of a conventionally carbureted motor, just the one carb too. Mine always ran better with octane booster in the fuel though, especially under offload high torque/low rev situations.

The weak front brake is tolerable, but most people replace the soft fork springs (prob'ly already done on yours).

On Kawasakis the cam chain is the weak point. On the back face of the KLR cylinder is the balance-chain tensioner, this has to be manually reset by loosening and then tightening the outside bolt (8mmm if I recall) at reg'lar intervals. Takes all of 30 seconds but needs to be done.

The other known weak point is the kick stand cut out switch spring, rather exposed low down above the kick stand. I personally would never consider disarming this switch as taking off with a lowered kick stand could guarantee a bad wreck. People do though. You'll know the spring is shot when the bike keeps stuttering at high revs.

On long rides bring a can of aerosol fix-a-flat. Get a can that has a hose to reach the valve. These DO work on tube tires, and switching a tube ain't gonna happen on the side of the road, trust me.

You can sneer at Harley riders if ya want on a KLR, the bike was produced unchanged for about 25 years, parts from yer '02 will drop right in in my '92, nothing in current Harley line has been in production that long. The motor is STILL unchanged, but they redid the front forks/weak brakes in '08.

Unfortunately they also duded-up the fairing in '08, the original being a masterpiece of minimalist function, in soft plastic yet so it bends rather than cracks when the bike is dropped (along those lines, carry a spare clutch lever too).

The new KLRs STILL sell for what I paid for mine.... about $5,000. Prob'ly the best deal on two wheels

Where they cut corners is that the bolts/fittings/pipe etc are prone to surface rust, and that same sort of plastic bodywork that survives wrecks so well fades to ugly pretty quick if left outside 24/7. Fortunately '92 was a blue-and-white year, which don't look TOO ugly faded.

Birdwatcher

I bought my 07 KLR when the 08s were out on the floor. I had to search to find an 07. I wanted the last year of a well proven design, and the new 08s were more street oriented than I wanted.

I cant help ya with your mechanical questions, I just figured I would post some motivational pics.

Hey Mackay, what are you using to mount that pistol to the side of the bike? Seems like there'd be all kinds of dirt, mud, and crap getting in it in that position?

Ryan

Good catch, most do not notice the 10mm. Kind of like, where's Waldo.

It is just sitting there.

I thought that it was an awful strange place to mount one, ha.

If anybody needs one,I have an OEM front brake line I replaced with a braided stainless one off of a 2000 klr.Its like new.Probably only a few hundred miles on it,your for the asking.

Turns out when I actually LOOKED at the sticker, the last time I had this bike on the road was '04, six years ago. One of them things that just sat, waiting to be resurrected "someday", in the meanwhile worth more that whatever pittance I could sell it for.

This is the bike I met and courted my wife on 18 years ago Hard to believe that we were dumb enough back then to actually break an honest 100 mph while riding two-up on a long downslope, just to see if we could do it.

Actual rear wheel horsepower is about 38, not bad on a 450 pound machine. Ordinarily a KLR has useful acceleration up to about 80mph before it runs out of gears. Be patient, keep the throttle pegged, and it will eventually get up to about 95 if ya aint running into a headwind, 'course at that point that tall, soft front fender is fluttering like an airfoil with the expected effect on handling

Anyhow, I ran it around the block a few times with the missus on back for old time's sake. Just like the old days... except that somehow the seat had shrunk considerable

The best shop in town where I bought it lies 35 miles away down the interstate. Knowing how the local constabulary feels personally offended about motorcycles with '04 stickers rolling down said interstate in broad daylight, I headed out before dawn....

The bike ran like crap at first; wouldn't take rev's above 4,000 rpm (or about 50mph in top), but then half way there the carbs musta cleared themselves of all that powdered rust, because suddenly it kicked in and ran like a champ, pulling hard.

Anyhoo... the guy at the shop has a serious backlog so its gonna be there for a couple of weeks. New fork springs, new fluids, new rear tire and tube and a complete go-over.

..and Safariman, the balance chain tensioner that you loosen and tighten is down low on the side of the cases, not in back of the cylinder like I said.

I was a bit apprehensive throwing a leg over the bike again to head out fer the first time in what apparently had been six years. Turns out though its about like riding a bicycle, felt like I had just ridden yesterday.

It did occur to me that morning riding in the dark that I might actually be a biker now, I mean here I was on the exact same wheels I used to win my ol' lady, 18 years back

But wouldn't ya know it; a guy shows up at the shop that same morning that has an '87 KLR, the same one he had shipped over to the Phillipines when he was stationed over there, it being buried and given up for lost under the ashes of Mount Pinatubo... until the Seabees dug it up and sent it back to him.

50,000 plus miles on the odo, original motor, he still rides it

Birdwatcher