(Click on picture to see more pictures of the bike)
This is my 1992 Kawasaki KLR 650. Its on of the most popular dual sports around the world. Kawasaki built this particular dual sport for more than a decade and left it largely unchanged during that time. Why change something that does the job right? I bought it with the help of my mom so my dad had a bike he could use to go to work. He has a KLR250 but its too small to ride on the freeway for long periods of time. Unfortunately he doesn't ride it because he says it vibrates too much. Anyway we got it for 2200, which is kind of a lot for 1992 but it is in very good shape and tastefully modded. The beauty of a KLR 650 is that there are aftermarket parts for it like no other bike. I found the bike on craigslist and one rainy day I called him up and went to go get it. We drove down there in the MR2 and I guess the guy thought we wouldn't come because he wasn't there. He said he bought the bike off of his neighbor who couldn't ride it anymore because he had his leg amputated or something. The bike came with a bunch of nice mods on it and he basically just wanted the price of the bike and the amount of money he put in it for the mods. He wound up getting a Husqvarna dual sport so he couldn't keep this one, he had a collection of GPZs too! He had basically just added a Jardine exhaust, supermoto fender, lowering link (he was kinda short), Acerbis Handguards, and as a bonus a Scottoiler. He hadn't had a chance to take the Scottoiler off so he just gave it to us. Even got the service manuals! Also it had a nice phat Metzler rear tire and Avon Gripster front tire. My plan was to turn it into a off road dual sport but that kinda fell through, its so nice that I wouldn't want to take it off road. Its a pig too so probably not the best choice. There are a bunch of mods you can put on it to make it better off road but I went with a DR650 instead.
The bike is great. Its a 1992 so it has some interesting graphics. Its mostly white and blue with some green and pink mixed in there. The supermoto fender is green and white also so it fits very well with the bike, its suppose to make the bike more aerodynamic too. You don't see too many of these models with this body style anymore. Its very simlar to the Tengai also which is basically a KLR650 with a streetbike type of fairing. The first thing you'll notice when you fire it up is its LOUD. Its a nice loud though, very bassy. Sounds like a chopper too. When you ride it you'll notice it vibrates a LOT, if you ride it on the freeway long enough your hands will start to go numb. You get used to it though. Its a joy to ride on the street, the grippy tires take the corners very well and the dirt bike riding position is very comfortable. It always starts up and it idles well all the time. It has some nice torque too, it not superfast, but it has some good mid end power. The engine doesn't rev very high so you can't really wind it up. The seat is also very comfortable too I don't know if its the stock seat (looks like one) but it is very cushy. One of the most comfortable motorcycle seats I've sat on. It has a gold DiD O-Ring chaing and a Scottoiler. The Scottoiler is awesome, I always check the chain periodically on my other bikes but this one I checked it and it is super clean and lubed all the time. The chain never needs adjustment also. To clean the chain you just get a rag and wipe the extra oil off, that's it. Plus its lowered, so you can easily flat foot it, it gives you confidence being able to put your foot down.
I added some mods too it to make it even nicer. I've added a 12V automotive plugin dash so you can hook up accessories for it. I also added a blue Renthal handlebar from my parts DR650 to it. The stock handlebars are really wide and tall this bar is must nicer. I used it with handle bar risers also to raise it a little. From that bike I also added a brake rotor cover, it fits supprisingly well since it is white. The rear brake has the lower cover from a Tengai which is blue. I also found out that the counter balancer tensioner assembly (also known as the Doo-hickey) was broken. There was pretty much nothing left of it. That might be why the bike vibrates so much maybe the balancer timing is off now. Anyway it was updated with the Eagle Mike doohicket and torsion spring. For now I'm going to put some 90/10 (on/off road) tires to it because I have a bunch lying around. Then I'm going to have a supermoto setup made from a KLR600 front wheel. So it will be a true supermoto with the smaller street tires.