KLR 650 Modifications

That's just about the same experience for me too.

Again, how long do you plan on sitting there going nowhere? Trying to save wattage with turn signals and brake light bulb is, well, waste of time. Your battery has plenty of capacity to maintain your heated gear while idling at a stop light or as you stated braking for a stop light. At the same time your stator/rect will quickly/easily recharge said battery once moving again.

On the flip side, on one of my KLR's my heated gear exceeds the total capability of the charging system. Running down the road at 5000rpm still has me discharging my battery. I use a voltage meter to monitor and adjust my electrical loads as I'm riding. I often ride till my battery is less than 50% discharged (11.9-12.0vdc) then will unplug my heated gear to allow the charging system to catch up. Not the best thing for a battery but I know how to maintain/monitor my battery(s) and more than willing to replace them more often due to my behavior/treatment of said battery(s).

The brake light is also a tail light, which is constantly on.
So you get savings from that.
And I always keep my brake engaged at lights for visibility of people approaching.
Not to mention, the engine RPMs are low when stopped and not doing much keep the voltage.
So it helps to have less of a draw with the brake light as well.

I just got my Rekluse clutch installed in mine, and holy crap. Had one little adventure figuring some of the tuning out, but hurt my pride more than anything else. Pretty dumb ass move on my part.

Either way, the new clutch is amazing, now the roads just need to thaw out so I can really test it.

Not exactly. The taillight bulb has two filaments. The actual taillight is 5W. Applying the brake lights the second 21W filament, for a total of 26W. These numbers are from the factory service manual.

So the only significant number here is the 5W, as I find I often release the brake and actually go somewhere.

Well, last night got expensive.


Been putting off ordering some stuff for a while, finally pulled the trigger on all of it. Didn't plan on buying everything at once, but oh well. It's only money.

HT nerf bar/skid plate combo.
HT nerf bags
Wolfman luggage set
16T front sproket
D606's front and rear.

I knew I was wanting the nerf bars with the bags on them. Been going back and forth on what saddlebags to get. The Wolfman seems good from what I've been reading, guess I'll find out for sure. My cheapo throwovers I have don't fit very well, so I needed something.

I might get the 606's studded for winter use. I've never ridden with studs, but I hear they actually work pretty good.

Did I read a hint of sarcasm? lol. To be completely forthright I also upgraded the rear to an LED unit but did so for safety vs trying to save wattage...I did save a whole 2.1 watts on the running side and 4.2 watts on the brake side. Whoohoo!

btw...I've seen worthless OEM connectors suck up more power than saved by going to an LED rear light.

Anybody try the Saddleman Adventure Track seat for the KLR?

That pair is 4.5" center to center. I think the stockers are a little less than 5.5" center to center. It's easily 1.5"-2" taller. Handles a bit nicer, soaks up the bumps, but of course, I had to adjust the headlight. I have a 34" inseam and I tiptoe it.

I have been very happy with the Wolfman luggage, watertight and durable. I have also gone to the 16 tooth front sprocket as the KLR is my daily commute machine and the 16 takes the revs down a bit on the open road.

I believe this is correct. Raising links that are 0.5" shorter raise the bike 1" and 1" shorter links raise the bike 2". At least that's the gist I got when shopping for them from Eagle Mike.

But, no I didn't buy any. All too often, I find my toes grasping for a dab when riding offroad. Figured my added clearance would be offset by added drops...

Or how about a long run of thin wire to the brake light.

It starts off with an OK gauge of white going from the battery and fuse to the ignition switch. Then it changes to thinner wire going out to the left switches where it's not switched but simply connects to a different color to return to the center then back to the other fuse then forward again to the two brake switches then back to the light fixture.

There must be over 15 ft of thin wire for the brake light -- a guarantee of voltage drop even at just 2.5 amps.

When I was setting up a redundant LED brake/tail light, I was amazed at the low voltage on the brake circuit compared to the reasonable voltage on the taillight. I had cleaned and greased all the electrical connectors about 2 months before adding the LEDs. Remove the incandescent bulb and the voltage improves because the voltage drop in wire is proportional to the amperage.

I used Rustoleum and Duplicolor to coat the bike, but I think I used more cans of Rustoleum. It came out really well and I did minimal prep work. I just lightly sanded, wiped it off and sprayed. It has now held up for 3 years while riding through the winters in Michigan. I never wash the bike, but I spray the salt off semi regularly in the winter. The frame, forks, and wheels I brushed on the coating and it still looks perfect. The bedliner is so thick that when brushed on the brush strokes don't even show up. All the places I brushed it on look like it was sprayed. When I spoon on new tires in the spring I will probably scrape some off the rims, but I can fix it in 5 minutes with a cheap brush and a little bedliner.

The pelican was a cheap ebay purchase about 6 years ago, and I think it is a 1500. A construction company was selling used orange pelican cases with holes cut in them for laptop fans for $10 a piece. I bought 3 of them and filled in the holes with plastic and epoxy and painted black. Doesn't look pretty or perfect, but it is on a KLR.

Awesome, thanks for the info. I think I'll be redoing mine with the Rustoleum!

Yes. The stock incandescent bulb has two filaments. You are correct.
And they do burn some wattage.
But the LED tail/brake light uses the same bulbs for both purposes.
And even with the brake on, the LED burns less than the stock tail light alone.

And I prefer to stop and stay at red lights and be gawked at by all the people jealous of my KLR. It's a babe magnet.

I am running the raising links in conjunction with a Moab shock built to take advantage of the height increase. That and the progressive front springs, flat corbin saddle raise the seat height to 37". But the suspension really is completely different, better, than stock.

Same as what I've been seeing, thanks. The nerf bars was kind of a guess, for every person that likes them another guy took them off. I'll find out for sure as soon as everything gets here

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Or, as Mr. Ohm once said,

Nice, I went 3/4" shorter on mine, seems to have changed the geometry enough that the stock shock is happier, I went from preload 5 to 1, and am still higher than stock. Makes a world of difference, even with the Stearns seat cover on it I as still flat footed, but at 6'5" I like it taller.

Just installed the following this past week,

IMS 10 GAL tank
EBC big brake kit
Galfer ss line
Oxford heaterz grips
Eastern Beaver fuse block
Hardwired USB charging port for standard, micro and iPhone charging.
MSR folding shift lever
Tool tube
Waterproof iPhone holder


This is on top of my already installed SW rear rack plate, HT tenton side cans, HT highway pegs, skid plate, bark busters, doo, Thermo Bob, volt monitor, rear master guard, hid low beam, led flashimg brake light, led turn signals, led dash and indicator lights, and a few other things I am sure I am forgetting.

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