Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Scenes from a motorcycle trip.

People do, there's that motorcycle gathering every year at Tierra Del Fuego, I believe one guy on a Harley made it there when he was in his sixties. Gotta go through Central America at some point to get there, to that crowd, Costa Rica would be child's play.

Anyhow, check out klr650.net, one guy there posted recently from Costa Rica, having spent some weeks meandering down there. And other folks still ride to Mexico and back regularly.



Si, por que puede hablar espanol muy bien.

This is a back-burner issue at this point.

Sure is doable though, even a new KLR is pretty cheap, and for a six week trip $2,500 oughta cover expenses ('course for that kind of money, you can FLY to Costa Rica and just hang out).



I woulda thought Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua would be the worry, but not according to the travel books I perused this weekend.

I dunno the odds overall, but hey, look at the bright side; as time goes by we have less and less to lose anyhow

Birdwatcher

you know, birdy, as we travel through life, we get to know our REAL FRIENDS. my father once told me that at my deathbed, i would only be able to count my TRUE FRIENDS on the fingers of one hand.

you, my old friend, my brother... you helped me bury both my parents, and listened interminable to my whining about their care... even visiting mom in the rest home one sunday visit...

you are my brother. i would like to go to the ends of the earth with you to listen to your drivel and be a better man for it.

yes, sir. you are my brother...

-tom

p.s. globemaster, you go in the pot too... just 'cause you were there for most of it,ds and ... just 'cause...

-tom

so, what's the time frame you're thinking of? can we bring guns? please say we can bring guns...

Guns? In Mexico? Not fer us I'm afraid....

As it is we would have to travel through a country where our fortunes would be dictated by the whims of whoever DID have a gun, and maybe a uniform, in places without the constraints of any meaningful rule of law.

Playing the odds actually, and avoiding lingering in the Border area as much as possible. People still do trips like that, even today.

I have that rearset luggage rack on order. The missus and I will make a trial long-distance run (on our side of the Border) when the weather cools down a bit.

After that, I dunno, a few years down the line?

Birdwatcher

What a fantastic read! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I even spent half a second contemplating selling my Harley and buying a Super-Moto.

Flat amazing the positive comments on this thread, I mean most of the stuff that interests me just bores a lot of people.



I believe all three of the Japanese makers have offered big singles in a cafe format from time to time. They don't (or didn't) sell well and were dropped from the lineup pretty quick.

I test rode a new Yamaha 600 set up like that once. At the time it felt small and slow.

Speaking of thumpers (one-cylinder motorcycles), I was in Costa Rica last summer and found the motocycles there fascinating (warning: most stuff I find interesting most people don't).

Costa Rica is motorcycle country, they are all over. But traffic codes there appear to be strictly enforced, and whether for tax rates, price or whatever reason almost everyone there rides thumpers.

Like this one, undetermined brand, biggest thumper I saw there....



..at the other extreme, this.....



Shades of Moto... this cool two stroke...




I don't think I saw the same bike twice, so many different kinds there were....










They were almost all small, under 200cc, I'm guessing a tax or licensing restriction...

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Sharpshin/24hrcamp/IMG_5837.jpg[/img]

Birdwatcher

Birdy,

I just a couple of weeks ago passed on a Suzuki 650 Savage with only something like 258 miles on the clock.

What impressed me about the KLR, is your report of spending many miles on your trip at sustained speeds in excess of the legal speed limit.

My interest in the big singles goes back to the 60's and to my mentor who had a soft spot for the 500 singles. I remember riding his 1937 BSA and his 1950 something AJS 500's. (He also had a BSA Victor and a Gold STar... and others...)

I remember reading about motorcycles back in the '60's and always wanted a Velocette. I'm thinking that a KLR could be made into a modern day Velocette with a lot more heart and dependablilty. (OK, So I'm wierd that way... )

I started on two wheels with a Norton Atlas (1967) that I purchased in 1969, Also had a '68 BSA Firebird Scrambler, and a '73 Triumph Bonny and a '73 Trident that I wish I still had. FWIW, in a revered place in my big tool box lie my Wentworth spanners, and a set of Wentworth sockets... (BTW my first car was a 1959 Morris MInor...) I have a soft spot in my heart (AND MY HEAD) for English iron....

GH

I have always liked the Suzuki Savage and if I had one I suspect I would ride the wheels off of it.



The only bad things I have heard is that the drive belts are prone to break and the rear suspension bites.

With regards to performance, one of the many intelligently thought-out features of the KLR it that maximum horsepower (about 6,000 rpm) coincides with ninety something in top gear, putting the peak horsepower right about where wind resistance starts to overcome those 34 rear-wheel horses. I don't think a sixth gear would make it much faster.

With regards to performance, everyone says the KLR is dog slow compared to the other big 650 dual purpose thumpers, especially the Suzuki DR650 and KTM. This doesn't worry me any as it would appear this detuned state, along with the water-cooling, contributes to the famous longevity of these motors (at 54,000 miles, mine runs about like new).

I expect the KLR motor could be horsed into any sort of chassis, except the basically finless cyclinder and radiator hanging on somewhere might spoil the look. And if the big air cooled thumpers are toast at 40,000 miles, they are also an easy rebuild.

Oh, BTW, did I mention I have photos of Costa Rican thumpers....











[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Sharpshin/24hrcamp/IMG_5818.jpg[/img]

Birdwatcher

Birdy,

My biggest issue with the Suzuki is the forward controls. I suppose if one was innovative enough, one COULD engineer something a bit more comfortable.

I liked all the pics of the Costa Rica bikes... There are many there that I wish we had at our avail.

Another thought occurred to me. I could always look for an old VT-500 Honda Ascot. Tho' I've not seen one in a long time. or even a Honda FT-500...

I like the idea of a simple, lightweight bike merely for commuting around town. Like I said, I have the Harley bagger for the long haul.

GH