Picked up a 2009 KLR650

[joshs1ofakindxj]

I gave up on converting the XR to street legal so Friday I picked up a 2009 dealer left over KLR650 with no miles from Tom's Cycle in Indiana. Got a great deal! My last bike was an 07 Ninja 650R and I'm glad I made the switch to the KLR650. This bike is awesome. It's hard keeping the rev's down on these first miles with so much potential. Well here it is...



With the 87 XR600R...



Ready for some oil changes...



I did the first oil and filter at 50 miles and it was dirty!

I'm thinking about this hard luggage... http://www.happy-trail.com/Kawasaki-...a-KLR650E.aspx

Any thoughts?

I have an hour and 10 minute 1 way commute to work this summer and that is this bikes primary job with some easy trails on the weekend.

Can't wait for the weather to get squared away so I can enjoy riding.

[limegreentj]

nice bikeS!

[muddeprived]

Sweet! What kind of green did you give up for that?

[joshs1ofakindxj]

$4774 out the door.

[trailerrails]

Nice bike!

Happy Trails makes some sweet luggage.
Check out Pelican cases also.

1:10 commute is a long ride twice a day, you might want to invest in a corbin seat.

[joshs1ofakindxj]

I was thinking corbin seat or some people are having good luck with the padded ATV seat covers you can get for cheap. I was thinking about happy trails aluminum hard luggage and a center stand as my first mods.

[trailerrails]

Corbin seats are the best that money can buy. I am not sure adding more padding is the solution, the problem with a lot of stock seats is the shape.

Make sure you fix the doohickey, it can break at any time and cause your engine to seize.

[DodgeMudder]

Make sure you fix the doohickey, it can break at any time and cause your engine to seize.

Explain please, I have an '08 KLR650

[trailerrails]

Google "KLR doohickey" and you will get all the information. There is a spring that holds a doohickey and the spring can break. Kawasaki refuses to acknowledge the problem and fix it. The doohickey is the only thing wrong with those bikes, other than that they are bulletproof.

[joshs1ofakindxj]

I'll do the doohickey next winter when I'm not riding the bike. 08+ bikes have a slightly improved doohickey so it can be left longer from what I read. Going to do the thermo-bob first!

[trailerrails]

Just be aware that it can go at any time. I have a friend that bought a new 650 for a cross country trip and it blew after 1500 miles in Montana. The other 2 650's did fine the whole trip.

[joshs1ofakindxj]

I'm doing the doohickey this week after I ran into a fellow KLR650 rider who loaned me the 2 special tools. Woot woot!

[joshs1ofakindxj]

I did the doohickey yesterday with 300 and did the torsion spring conversion with 300 miles on the bike. All went well except I thought my gaskets were still good but I had a small leak in the outer case when I went for a test run so I have to pull that off and throw some permatex RTV in there. No biggie!

Over the past few weeks I removed the low hanging tail fender and mounted the license plate on the rear fender with an LED light and I added $30 heated grips from Aerostich with new $12 gel grips from Progrip. I've been loving the heated grips with these chilly evenings and mornings Rochester still has. I wired the heated grips using a relay with fused power from the battery and the license plate light as the relay activator.

I also picked up two large 40mm ammo cans from a friend for free so I can make them into panniers. Now I just need to save up some money so I can send a bunch of it to Happy Trails for their skid plate, center stand, and SU rack.

[ridgerunner97]

Lookin Good Man!

[wozz]

Is that carpet where your working on your bike?

[joshs1ofakindxj]

Is that carpet where your working on your bike?

Haha, ya I roll out carpet in the garage when I'm doing important work.


Been awhile since I updated this. My bike is about fully farkled out now. Got to grab a picture. Since the doohickey I've added...

- aluminum panniers made by a friend (with bottle opener)
- luggage rack made by me
- highway pegs made by me
- happy trails aluminum skid plate
- thermo-bob (should of done this first)
- KTM front skinny fender
- tall windshield made by me
- magnetic drain plug

I have a 12v marine outlet to install and I still want to order a center stand. Not sure which one to get though.

I wore down the stock rear tire and put on a shinko rear till it started to fall apart and sent it back for warranty. Replaced it with an Avon Distanzia! Fancy sounding, right? I have a shinko front tire on now I bought when I got the rear. Hopefully it doesnt fall apart on a long trip like that rear tire tried to do.

I gave up on the ammo can panniers. Too heavy. Lucked out on a deal on aluminum ones at cost from a friend who made them back in the day.

I've put about 9300 miles on it since spring when I bought it new. Lot's of Rotella oil and K&N filter changes have kept the bike running strong. No oil consumption issues. I'll be doing a valve check/adjustment once I put the bike away for winter which still won't be for awhile.

I wouldn't mind selling this bike this winter and picking up a new BMW GS Adventure model with all the bells and whistles but that would seriously cut into my military vehicle funds.

[joshs1ofakindxj]