My 2-Wheeled Jeep - '98 KLR650

Just picked this up today and rode it down from Loveland. Man this thing is fun to ride. Not fast, but fast enough to pull away from cars. Not heavy, but heavy enough to not get blown over by a simple breeze. I can't wait to farkle it up and make it a legit ADV bike. On-road, Off-Road, it don't matter. Its simple, rugged, and ugly. Just like a Jeep.

Crappy pic at my buddies house, I'll take some more tomorrow.

Nice bike. Of all my bikes my DR650 was and is still my favorite bike. I wish I could ride still. Good luck with it and ride safe.

Thanks to a left over sticker I had from Dutch Bros Coffee in Boise, ID I was able to mark the beast



I also ran into another dual sport at the Home Depot when I was picking up some paint for my mismatched front fender.

Fender painted and installed



The tank bag my neighbor gave me, this thing has been very useful already. Pinion bearings at CSK, spray paint at home depot. I love this thing.

Man, 1:15 AM and I am beat. I'll be sleeping good tonight. My friend's wife had hurt her back early on but was adamant she be able to go on a ride so she toughed it out. While at Hooters it was decided she needed to go to the Hospital so my wife took her in the Sportage and I rode to my friends house. While we were waiting to hear what happened we hopped in the hot tub. She gets home around midnight drugged up and happy, and the wife starts to follow me home. For some reason my bike keeps surging and stuttering, I keep having to pull the clutch and rev it up to get it stable. Finally it just dies and I coast to a light. I'm trying to crank it and I notice fuel coming out the air filter housing. I'm no carb guy, I'm a diesel mechanic for frak sake. I call my buddy up and I'm like, "What the hey man? Its dumping fuel out the air box!!!" He's like, "What!!??"

I closed the fuel valve off and it finally started, as soon as I turned the fuel back on it would start smoking and die. We figured the float or needle was sticking in the carb. I barely crack the fuel valve, adjust the idle screw up to 2000rpm, and start tapping the hell out of the carb with on of the wrenches in the tool kit. It quits smoking and idles fine, I figure I'll limp it back to his house. I get off the phone and it dies again. WTH!!!!!!!

Ok, try cranking it. No fuel pouring out. Hmmm... did the carb un fiddle fudge itself? Open the fuel valve all the way, starts up and runs like a champ the entire way home. I guess I'll be pulling the carb off and having a buddy help me clean it out and rebuild/adjust it. I still love the bike though.

One more noobie question for you guys. Are these DOT knobbies more prone to catching grooves in the road than a more highway styled tire? I was coming down HWY 287 from Loveland which is concrete and its grooved in the direction of travel. My bike was just shimmying the entire time, got me a bit nervous to be honest. Once I hit asphalt it would stop, so it had to be the grooves. Would a less aggressive tire help with that? I figure I'm going to ride what I've got until they're bald, but for future purchase consideration I'm wondering if a less aggressive tire would be better for that. Or is the groove shimmy thing just a motorcycle thing and I'm just going to have to get used to it?


On with the pics. My buddy got his oil and filter for the engine, primary, and transmission. While he was changing all that out I decided to spray bomb over the carbon fibber and mount the unknown brand plastic bark busters. I like them on there, they still block the wind fairly well and I know when/if I drop the bike my controls should be safe.



Close up of the "bark buster"



Outside of Hooters



All in all I put over 100 miles on the bike today, although when I looked down at my trip odometer to watch it click over to 100 I noticed it skipping back and just stay at 99.9, so I don't actually know how far I rode.
Highlights of the day? I stalled it at a light leaving Thornton (damn it) and while my buddy is slowly going and looking back to see if I'm able to get going again this 90's ricered out Civic hatch starts revving on him. My buddy takes off and the Honda is screaming, unable to keep up. I'm like, "What the heck is that about?" and crank on the throttle hard. I redline second and third gear and starting catching them in 4th. A light up ahead is red so we're all slowing down and I am pretty much on them again. The light turns green while we're still moving and that dumb Civic takes off. My buddy goes flying with that big 103 V-twin roaring and I rev my little thumper for all its got, keeping up with them and pulling slightly on the Civic. I hit 80+ (don't worry officer, its all lies. I just want to sound cool) and can't believe this "slow" little thumper is keeping up with the big Harley and pulling on the riced out Civic.
Second highlight was en-route to Hooters. I am coming under the interstate and there are traffic circles at the on/off ramps on either side. In the dark and still wearing my shades I get a confused and wind up in the on-ramp only side. I'm like, "Damn" but wait, there is hope. The median/island has a cut out for the cross walk, so I slow down and turn onto the cross walk. It takes me onto a sidewalk and I goose it and jump off it and back onto the street. Oh yeah, that's why I wanted a damn dual-sport.

just remember jack asses that drive their jeep through every mud puddle after it rains and push down trees and such make us all look bad.....racing your bike riding on sidewalks....bet the ADV guys would love to kick your arse

Well the Honda thing was definitely a no no.

The sidewalk incident was at night and not planned. It was fun though.

That's one of the reasons I enjoyed riding dual sport. Have had to hop a curb a few times while a cager wasn't paying attention. I'm sure it won't be your last sidewalk adventure with the way people drive.

I did finish my Motorcycle Safety course on Tuesday, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I rode the bike up there both days and kept stalking this KLR at the Front Range Community College Larimer Campus in Fort Collins.



After the class I went by Tri-City Cycles and found a helmet I liked. I really like the full face setups, but wanted to be able to drink water and talk easily w/o having to remove the helmet so I went with this Bell Modular. The MSC must've been effective because I chose safety yellow for the color. I seem to be riding at night a lot and as my jacket is all black I wanted something easily seen by others. My son gave it his mark of approval.



It also has built in shades that drop down with a push of a button, so no more squeezing my shades into the helmet. They work well with the main shield up too.



Once I get the air flow worked out via Wheat Whacker's mod I'd like to go to a more open helmet. I really like the look of these old-school MX muzzles mounted internally instead of externally.



I'm thinking the Bell Rogue is a great modernization of that look. I tried one on while at Tri-City Cycles and liked it a lot. The muzzle is easily removed or swung to the side and I think it looks bad arse in flat green. I'm betting I can pull it off on the KLR, if it didn't have the flared edge to make it look like a 1/2 helmet it would be even more in line with the look I'm after.



The Shark Raw is another I'm considering getting later on, I love the look of the combined goggles and muzzle.


Oh yeah, and so far I've but over 300 Miles on the bike. I noticed the oil seemed a bit low in the sight glass so I went ahead and changed the filter and put fresh oil in it. I went with Rotella-T 15w40 after reading a bunch of comments about people running it and liking it. I use the Rotella-T 5w40 Synthetic in my S4 with great success so I like the idea of using it in the bike as well.

Dutch there are some of the klr 650 running around the marine base at camp Pendleton,and the burn any fuel including diesel I'll get a photo next time I see one

I've seen those (not in person but in pics/vids). I would love to put the same multi-fuel drivetrain into mine. They're supposed to be a little bit faster and get over 100 mpg. That would be awesome.

If only I could order the engine and transmission through my work. There has got to be an NSN for them. I found the NSN for the entire bike, its around 9800$. I tried ordering it for a truck I was working on but my bosses told me no.

Decided to repaint the already spray bombed plastics. Went with a darker tan instead of the usual green. It just seems to fit the bike IMHO. Just as I was putting it all back together the mail man showed up with my DirtRacks Pannier mounts so I installed them and then got to work putting the mounting bits onto some over sized ammo cans I had left over from my old YJ buggy I had long since parted ways with. I also did the "Wheat-Whacker" mod to the front fairing and will see later on how much of a difference that makes in the wind department. Eventually I want to get a different fairing entirely so this is just a cheap and simple experiment.

All painted up


Side shot showing the new windscreen angle


Pannier mounts installed, I hope I don't ever find out how effective a bumper that rear cross-brace makes.




Another side shot


With ammo can pannier


rear view