Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Now is a good time to shop for a KLR 650

Nice bike, the “Adventure” version with engine guard (AKA “slider”) fog lamps and luggage. I had that same slider installed on mine at the time of purchase, it might help protect the plastic when it falls over.

Along those lines next purchases will be a luggage rack and a set of big aluminum panniers. I have heard they make the bike easier to pick up again when it does fall over. An important consideration for us Boomer types.

We have almost 8 months of cold and wet weather up here north of Kansas City. Unfortunately, the motorcycles spend most of their time in the shed waiting for warmer weather.

kwg

I took mine for a little spin today.. get it up to 70-80 and the air was cold.


Mine has an outlet for charging too.

Damn good looking scooter there Birdie, hope you enjoy it.

Be safe & feel the wind.

$125 for the parts for me if I want to add it, dunno how hard an install it would be. One thing it did say is the charging outlet is not waterproof.

I had a BMW R100 gs/pd for a couple of years that had heated handgrips. I swear even in cold weather you could ride in a t-shirt as long as you were holding on to the hot grips. Weird. I dunno if your bike came with them but it seems like the factory option could be worth it. I have read they have upped the alternator output on these latest KLRs to handle all these accessories.

That white looks a lot nicer than the other colors I've seen. I'm sure it'll be fun.

Dam they are heavy though……..

Nice! Congrats on the new ride.

I’ve ridden a new klr, but not the S version. I bet the lower seat changes the feel quite a bit.

Hey, it’s all relative 🥴 at 460lbs wet, it’s 80lbs lighter than a Honda’s Africa Twin, 100lbs lighter than BMW’s BMW’s 1250 GS. Anyhow, for me the KLR ain’t a dirt bike, it’s a dirt road bike, same as my last one.

A main concern of mine at my age is will I be able to pick it up by myself when it falls over.

As for the Africa reference, 460 lbs sounds already crazy for a motorcycle to cross Africa with. A friend years ago rode across the Sahara from Ghana to Morocco on a 125cc street legal dirt bike, maybe a tad small but made a lot of sense. It got him there and freeway speeds weren’t an issue.

The KLR has a good sized fuel tank though.

Yep, I put in 200 miles today, prob’ly another 70 miles range left in the tank.

170 miles round trip yesterday to meet up with some old riding buds at Black’s Barbecue joint in Lockhart.



200.7 miles today, beginning with the traditional Sunday morning ride to Bandera. Bandera is getting buried in people but the OST restaurant is still a good place for a Western omelette, grits, biscuit and coffee..



Anyone who gets out of town on a motorcycle around here knows about the Bandera - Medina - Vanderpool - Leaky Hill Country route, The tight Vanderpool - Leaky section being the equal of any motorcycle road in the US. I stopped in at the Leaky Cemetery, where the victims of the last know Indian raid in Texas are buried.



Heading back south of Vanderpool I was doing about 60 on a two-lane backroad when Pancho the bandit boy on a sportbike blitzed by me in a blur from behind about 6ft to my right doing well in excess of 100mph. Glad I didn’t see him coming, if I woulda moved right he coulda hit me and we both would have died.

Turns out he had been running for 60 - 70 miles by that point, handed off between counties. Two deputies sped past shortly thereafter in hot pursuit.



Anyhoo…. almost only counts in horseshoes. Back at the house now 589 miles on the clock, where it’s gonna sit until I get time to bring it in for the 600 mile service 🙂

Pancho unveiled 😂

Musta been running on fumes when he blew by me…..

his horse ran out of gas just a couple of miles further on. I’d turned left by that point, so didn’t see him stranded.

LINK

Maybe he’s a Comanche.

That dumbass was home free... Ran outa gas? Dumbass...

Nobody hurt, no mention of priors? Sounds like the Deputies I saw gave up the pursuit at the county line right before he ran out of gas.

OK, I’ll ‘fess up, if knew all that and if I woulda gone straight through Utopia towards Sabinal and seen the guy stranded by the side of the road, I’d consider giving him a ride 😂

Too many miles at lunatic speeds back in the days on motorcycles here. Generally speaking, we weren’t dumb enough to run tho.

Same thing happened to me running up Idaho 21, a local twisty road favored by motorcyclists and apparently, [bleep] kids.

Going 60 on a straight section of the two lane road, didn't hear anything when suddenly a guy passes me properly on the left in the other lane. I was about to move over to the right when his buddy passes me doing a good 40 mph faster in my same lane on the right. 1 second later and we both would have splatted. The same thing happened on a 4 lane interstate with lots of open space around me, going about 70 when some guy flashes by me in my same lane going at least 40-50 mph faster.


Got back into riding in 2014 after a 40 year absence but sold my last bike last summer. In the intervening 9 years I never once had a close call with a 4 wheeled vehicle but was almost killed twice by dumbshit kids on super sports.



Which doesn't stop me from following threads like this and still sorta kinda going window shopping at the local motorcycle dealers, just to see what's new...

I put an honest 25k on my '04 first gen KLR. Have to say, I loved every single mile on it. Situation changed and I had to pick up a new dual sport. Test rode a gen 2 klr and was not impressed at all. Also rode an Honda XR650L wasn't quite what I was after. Then.... I Tried out a Suzuki Dr650 and everything just came together. Was the best of everything. It was truly the Swiss army knife of motorcycles. It did everything my ole KLR did... if not better and many things it couldn't do. This month I just rolled over 24k on her and put new shoes on her. I can say that I don't know if I will ever go without a DR ever again.... which in 25+years of riding I can't say about any other bike...street or dirt... that I've ever owned.

Well it depends on your riding, I was a Honda guy since the early 80’s, then inherited my father’s Electra glide, and I love that extra weight, because most of my riding at 64 is highways and cruising, and that weight feels a lot better in the wind, and truck wash. And surprisingly, because I’m no hotshot, I can throw it into turns as well as my old Nighthawk S.

I picked up an S over the weekend, figuratively, as no way, no how can I pick it up! Stumbled into it after almost getting a little KLX230, for not much extra. I'm still evaluating but it feels to me like I'll want a taller seat, something S+ but not the tall bike, it's too high. Short legged long torso. Weather's been no joy. Will likely head west to the coast in a couple few weeks. Straight base 650S. Got stuff ordered to add on. Pannier racks for my soft bags, alloy handlebar, low-profile drain plug, metal foot pegs, RamX phone mount, wrap-around handguards, power outlet, "$12 not $100". I'm not doing the doohiky or ThermoBob for now

So, I had a kickass DR650 up until a few years ago. It was more powerful and I think way more robust. This KLR is, well, expensive and fragile looking, and lacks balls. Apparently the headlight assembly is $900+, front side plastic bs over $1200? God-damned key isn't just a normal key. But they did ok on suspension, it's EFI, has a stout tail rack, functional fairing and better than nothing skidplate. Basically ready to go with a duffle on the back. . Really like the auxiliary lights on the adventure model and might do something like that. The panniers on the adv are a joke as is the USB outlet. Farkles galore. Nothing beyond dirt two tracks I'm thinking. Putt putt.

Will see after the Oregon trip if it'll be 4-Sale.

KLR 650SS, short slow.

If there’s any bike that could give me buyer’s remorse with a KLR, it’s the DR650.

I’d be interested in how you find it. I’m kinda/sorta planning to ride mine to NY State this summer. I’ve always used soft luggage, and don’t want a big heavy duty bolt on pannier rack.

For $34 including mailing have the stock Kawasaki “side cases, fitting kit” for their OEM hard luggage inbound:



3dcycle parts.com makes quick-detach HDPE pannier plates to fit for $160.

Prob’ly gonna go with Nelson-Rigg tank and saddlebags. I like the luggage rack but I wish it had more attachment points, I’m pretty sure larger one that bolt on to the existing one are available.

Mine also wears the engine guard (AKA “slider”) that comes on the “Adventure” version.


Indeed, requires some serious power management to dog the fast guys on a backroad 😀. Seems to keep up with traffic OK up to 85-90 on the Interstate tho.