Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire . They are not making the KLR650 any more.

They have some 2018s for about 5600 not far from here.
I have never owned or ridden a bike before.

I like the looks of the older ones better.

But htere are some real advantages to the newer ones. Better seat (old ones too soft), better brakes, stiffer forks. The problem is, as the bikes evolved, they grew out of their niche and became much more street oriented. I have a 2005 and it's a pretty usable off-road bike but that seat is a killer. GD

The KLR 650 was an adventure type motorcycle before there was a word for them. The 650 V-Strom took it's place a few years ago.

I think I’d rather have one of the older ones. I’m always keeping an eye out for a really clean used one.

Nice bikes, but the seat height was too damn high for me!
I had the seat shaved and redone.... that helped.
I’d have to side-slip the seat to get a foot down.
Could have done the lower linkage thing, but never did.
Way too much bike for any kind of trail riding.
The old Yamaha 360 Enduro I had in the 70’s was much better in that regard.
They’re a brute of a bike for those that can handle them.......

I agree.... I’d rather run a 650 V Strom these days.....

Buy it.

The V-Strom is a street bike and a very good one; it was conceived as such. The KLR was an old school dual purpose bike geared a bit toward the road side of things but still showing it's dirt bike heritage. It's big advantage over other bikes in it's class was the big tank which would take you in excess of 200 miles. There were a lot of downsides which should have been adressed by Kawasaki but never were. The brakes were just slightly better than dragging your feet. The seat was too soft. The forks were too small and the springs too soft. The exhaust system did not have to be nearly so heavy. Nonetheless, the bike handled surprisingly well in the dirt and, with new springs and a change in oil level, even the forks were usable. Off road, a guy stood up enough to partially take the seat out of the equation. On the highway though, the seat couldn't be ignored. Power was a little lacking and, at speeds near 100 mph, the bike was twitchy and had a tendency to wobble. I think Kawasaki should have tried to improve the off road attributes but they elected to try and emulate the V-Strom and the KLR platform just could not do that.
For as long as I have been riding (55 years), riders have asked for a dual purpose bike which was a dirt bike with legal lights and no other change. They never got it. KTM has come closest.
The V-Strom is, as I said, an excellent streetbike (I have both the KLR and the V-Strom, by the way) but is, in no way, an off road bike. The KLR was bound to die. It just missed it's mark in too many ways. It's replacement may turn out to be the 400 with a big tank which would be a very good, dual-purpose, dirt oriented, bike. I'll keep my KLR anyway, as well as the V-Strom, but the next one will likely be a d-p 400. GD

To bad I didn’t know that last November. I had a 09 with less than 6k on it. I sold it to my cousin around Leander Texas.

Damn it 🤠

I want a dr 650 to go with my xr 650l.

The older bikes are the closest thing you can get to a one bike do it all at their price point. Does dirt better than most adventure bikes with progressive springs and a set of d606's and does 75mph on the interstate decently.
KTM did it better with the 640 adventure but at a higher cost and in this area no dealer support til lately.
Relatively cheap bike that can take you virtually anywhere and an aftermarket of upgrades and add-ons thats unbelievable. I've had 3. Last had a Corbin seat, IMS tank, progressive springs, renthal bars, happy trails racks and panniers, supertrapp exhaust, off road foot pegs,D606's. Sold it and bought my '88 R100gs.

I'd street legal an xr650r!

My first bike was a Ossa 250 Pioneer.
No way would I want or need anything bigger or more powerful offroad than that.
Somebody please explain.

Brother has one. It is fire road capable and fast enough to go from Denver to moab with gear, then has enough fuel capacity to explore. I could never figure those 1.5 gallon tanks on some of the competition. Some of the better dirt bikes are not fast or stable for highway
I had a Honda xl 350, shorter stance, too heavy for serious trailing, but it fit the bill for what I wanted
Anyone look at BMW 650 and 800s?

I've only owned two BMW's that weren't air cooled boxer twins. present F650 leans street, if I'm going that route there's much better options. I'd take an original F650 funduro with the Rotax power plant though.
Worst thing about the old KLR is how fast the plastics fade out.

For guys who like horsepower, you really can't have too much (well, you really can but we like to think not!). I remember riding the KX500 which was geared to top out at around 105 mph yet would lift the front wheel in fifth gear, at speed. Great fun until it hurt me. Now that I'm a little older, the risk might outweigh the fun.
The XR 650L was one which was a fairly good attempt at a street legal big dirt bike. GD

I had an older one, the "Swiss Army Knife of Motorcycles" Seat height was tall, and it was a bit heavy. I'm 6'2 so no issues there. Decent off road, but not an Endure or Motocross bike. Actually pretty good on the Highway, 70mph for long distance is not a problem. Brakes on the road were OK, but not great. Kinda like a much cheaper BMW GS bike. If I had a need for one right now, I would jump at a good one.

Way better power delivery and suspension in a modern. That Ossa had probably had 4" in back and 6" in front. Brakes were complete crap. There is absolutely no comparison to the brakes on a modern bike.That Ossa probably put out 30 HP with a heavy flywheel. Hell, an 80's model Yamaha IT175 was superior in every way to that Ossa.