Didnt find this forum, never mind your thread, until tonight.
Glad you ended up with the KLR. It is one of the best all-round bikes ever built. There is a reason it has been in production pretty much unchanged for so many years.
I bought mine when my old Honda XL500s was stolen from my buddys house just before a trip, so he leant me his shiny new KLR. On a side trip down an abandoned rail line, it kinda went endo, so I bought it. Have put a fair number of miles on it since then, and have the same opinions as others here.
We replaced his KLR with a KTM 640 Adventure S, and there is no question that it is a far superior bike off road, but for the vast majority of my riding, I am on a road or a trail, with a fair bit of highway. The KLR is actually a nicer tourer.
Yes, it is too heavy and the power is just adequate, but it sure is a smooth tourer and dead reliable. If there is any one big criticism, it is that it needs another gear so that first is low enough for picking away in tight spots, and 6th is just a wee bit taller on the other end. I will just have to keep breaking out my old TT500 on knobbies for the real off-road (as in MUD) stuff.
It will do just fine until I can get a diesel KLR when they are released.
Pat
Glad you ended up with the KLR. It is one of the best all-round bikes ever built. There is a reason it has been in production pretty much unchanged for so many years.
I bought mine when my old Honda XL500s was stolen from my buddys house just before a trip, so he leant me his shiny new KLR. On a side trip down an abandoned rail line, it kinda went endo, so I bought it. Have put a fair number of miles on it since then, and have the same opinions as others here.
We replaced his KLR with a KTM 640 Adventure S, and there is no question that it is a far superior bike off road, but for the vast majority of my riding, I am on a road or a trail, with a fair bit of highway. The KLR is actually a nicer tourer.
Yes, it is too heavy and the power is just adequate, but it sure is a smooth tourer and dead reliable. If there is any one big criticism, it is that it needs another gear so that first is low enough for picking away in tight spots, and 6th is just a wee bit taller on the other end. I will just have to keep breaking out my old TT500 on knobbies for the real off-road (as in MUD) stuff.
It will do just fine until I can get a diesel KLR when they are released.
Pat
