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2nd bike

Cra-z1000

Cra-z1000

Member
Member
I've been thinking about a 2nd bike and am looking at the KLR . I'd like to be able to ride up to my favorite off road riding area (Red River) and tool around . I see that there are a few KLR owners here and the tech support on this site is awesome . Is this a good bike for some easy trail riding through the woods ? Any issues with them in general ? Thanks .
 
The KLR makes a pretty solid 2nd bike for a lot of people.  I own an 05 KLR and its unofficially one of my favorite motorcycles.  It was cheap to buy and it returns pretty impressive fuel economy (I get 55 mpg with mine) and with the 6 gallon gas tank you can ride out the next hike in gas prices.  On the street handling is a pleasant surprise.  After riding my Concours for a period of time then getting on the KLR the KLR is a feather weight and loves to be tossed around in the turns.  I have never done really hard core off roading with mine but it has seen a fair amount of trails and it does just fine in that environment.  The KLR is a bit tall and slightly top heavy when the tank is full so it does not take much to loose footing in the difficult spots but as long as you are careful and pre plan it is capable of a lot.  I consider the KLR one of the best adventure bikes ever made. 

Some things to be aware of.  Its a fairly dated design so it tends to vibrate a bit.  Its not super bad and actually pretty good for a big bore single but it does vibrate some.  When I ride the KLR "A LOT as in multiple days" my body starts to feel like a milkshake.  I suffer from arthritis and the KLR does not help with that issue.  However it does not keep me from enjoying the bike.  Freeway capability is fine but I can sort of tell its not its specialty.  The engine just seems to scream and begging me to stop and speeds above 65 mph.  I have an 05 and supposedly the newer models with the updated body work are a bit better on the freeway.  Supposedly highway riding does not hurt the motor at all and I have not had any issues and I super slab a lot on the thing but I can still tell it does not enjoy it much.  Only thing to be concerned about with the KLR is high oil consumption during extended freeway riding.  Above 5K she supposedly can burn a lot of oil and quickly.  Just a nature of the beast on a lot of KLR's although I can say I never seen high oil consumption on mine.  In fact mine burns hardly any at all but as a precaution I check it often.

Another thing about the KLR is you can expect to loose an occasional bolt or two every now and again.  I have lost a few over the years.  The vibrations and the resonance from that big bore single just vibrate loose over time.  Lock Tite blue is your friend when you own a bike like the KLR.  Also even though the motor is bullet proof if well maintained you can expect odd but not terribly complex issues at times for example my header pipes came loose and caused some bizarre pinging issues when on the throttle.  Just a simple tightening of the header bolts tweaked it.  Also the water pump seals seam to fail on a fairly common basis.  Usually after the 1st repair they hold up a lot longer but my water pump seals went at the 5,000 mile mark.  It was only about $30 in parts if memory serves and took a few hours to fix and I took my sweat time.  Also mine recently developed a random coolant leak coming from around the radiator reservoir and I have had it apart twice trying to find it but can't seem to find it as of yet.  Every once a while a few drips hit the header pipe causing a nasty sweet smell.  Again its only a few drops and no noticeable loss of coolant has occurred.  Little issues like this on the KLR is fairly common but if you are good with a wrench it should all be easy work.  The motor is a dated design so it requires fairly frequent service pretty much identical to C10 Concours.

The only major issue that really needs to be addressed on any KLR is a part called the Doohickey.  Its the balancer tensioner spring and guide thingy.  Google KLR Doohickey on the internet is full of info on it.  Basically the factory parts break making it impossible tighten things up and it can cause a lot of problems later.  An after market spring and guide are available that are much better then factory.  It took me about 4 hours to do mine and I was taking my sweat time and taking breaks talking to friends on the phone etc etc.  If you are knowledgeable with a wrench its not that difficult and the internet is full of "how to" guides.  Also odds are a KLR owner lives near you who could help with the process if necessary.  The newer KLR's are slightly better but apparently still have the weak spring so its best to have the fix on the late models as well.

Overall though its an awesome bike and it gets my highest recommendation.

 

           
 
Bought the '00 KLR and put 48k mi on it. Dd not have noticeable oil consumption the first 40 k mi.
Rode it pretty hard on some long trips. Longest was 6400 miles. Doing an 'indicated' 85mph (really 78?) on that long trip thru AZ, NM, NV etc with temps as high as 112 deg, did not use oil. Bike did begin using some oil later at 48k but then switched to staright 30W oil and halved the oil use. Lots of vibration at interstate speeds. No problen @ 60 mph and lower IMO.
Bought an early release '08. Major oil use and as many as 50% of them same problem. Talking a qt low every tank of gas. Ridiculous  :mad: . Later versions into '09 were OK I hear. Less vibration on the revised "08 model and better wind protection. The headlight and front brakes were a huge improvement, front brake not state of the art for dual sport but good.
Had the 685 Snitz Racing big bore kit installed and no major oil use any more on the '08.
 
Wow ! A quart of oil loss per tank ?  :eek: . No reason to bother with oil changes much than I guess.. :rotflmao: . I've seen some pretty good deals on them and certainly don't mind the old school technology .
 
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