2008 KLR650 must do items

[Saleenguy]

In my opinion as not just a mechanic, but an owner of an 08 klr650, and a guy that rides wih lots of them on group rides to.

The bike is great, and I would recommend it to anyone, that said there are a few simple and cheap things I feel must be done.
I will not go into mods, just for the sake of doing cool Mods, although those are cool to.

But the thing vibrates a lot, and its got a lot of bolts that come loose.
A few come loose regualrly, s in they could fall out every few weeks if not tightened, so go buy a tube of blue loctite if you do not already have one, and trust me with a KLR you need to own loctite.

Then remove each one of these bolts, I suggest just 1 bolt at a time, if its dirty, wipe it clean, add a drop of blue loctite and reinstall the bolt.

Or else check these bolts every single ride, so ya its easier to loctite them.

The worst bolts are as follows.

The footpeg to frame bolts.

The rear subframe bolts, and these bolts are known to fail frequently on a KLR if they are allowed to be loose.
They will not just fall out, but actually snap and can cause a major crash, and they break from being loose.
Mine got loose every 3 or 4 rides, until i loctited them.

And also the exhaust mounting bolts need loctite.

Sure all bolts can come loose, but those bolts i mention loosen a lot.

The above things to me are critical to avoid what can be a catastrophic failure.
The following are just things its a good idea to do.

If your fairly decent with tools, its also a good idea to pull apart and grease the swingarm,rear suspension links, and steeringhead, as kawi put about 4 drops of grease total in all of them.
Many develop rust and fail prematurely if not taken apart and serviced.

Also the DOO lever is a lot better on the 08, but the spring is too long and tends to run out of tension fairly early on in life, so maybe get an eagle manufacturing torsion spring and put it in, and then never worry about it again.

And ya, if your 08 sounds a bit growly, adjust the DOO, and it will be quieter, but you only have about two adjustments before the spring is too long.

And do you break signal lights a lot?
They all seem to, so maybe just toss a set of LED lights on it and then you will not break them so often.

Have fun.