What kind of KLR owner are you if you don't follow the herd and add all the unnecessary farkles? I got banned on KLR.net for even questioning the wisdom of adding lots of crap. I'm sure most of the mechanical problems are self inflicted.
My '06 had 2200 miles when I bought it in spring of '08. Was bone stock except for doohickey. I've spent way more than I should have on farkles and it now has over 15K miles. But now I hardly ride it since I bought a '84 KDX 200 last summer.
Those little KDXs are seductive, but you need to roll that '84 into a '86 2nd gen design. I've had several and still think the '86-'88 was the best handling of the breed, and it weren't no slouch if you kept it pinned.
What is your problem with people putting stuff on their bikes? You go from thread to thread and espouse the "yer a moron if you add this or that........." position, and it gets annoying. Everyone gets it. You're a maverick. You don't add things to your bike that you feel are unnecessary. And good for you for it. It's your bike, and I, for one, feel you should be able to do whatever you want with it, including just adding gas and riding it. What's it hurt if someone else wants to put something else on?
++1 I love to spend money on my ride(s) What the fork else do you work for? I do the things that make ME happy not someone else's theory of what I should do with my money or motorcycle and who gives a flying funk anyway You sure as hell are never going to get out the amount of miles designed in a bike if it's not comfortable for you to ride long distance........................just say'n...............................watch me do my thing..........
I admit, I'm a bit of a gatchet whore. I like to see what I can build myself or modify. The winters are long and I get a little restless, so I tinker.
I don't have any problem with people putting farkes on their bike, it helps the economy. What I don't like is people preaching you have to put certain farkles on your bike. Newbies buy a bike and ask for advice and then others tell them they have to put on all of these farkles as if the bike will fall apart if they don't. There is a difference between putting a farkle on you bike and telling about it versus telling them they have to have that farkle, especially when the farkle does nothing but make someone feel better.
I put 15,000 on my 08', then traded in for a new v-strom wich I put 12,000 on, and now I'm back on an 09' KLR that already has 3,500. I should look into trading less and riding more....
Fair enough. Personally, I try not to tell anyone that something is a must, but rather try to relate what I've done to my own bike. I've been the sheep a time or three on this thing and put stuff on that turned out to be mostly useless. Lessons learned. You going to West Fest in Montana this year? If so, first beer's on me for my harsh tone in my previous post.
I agree with ya Nanuq! I like to "tinker" and that's about as far as my skills will get me then something breaks and I start again . Or I have to buy something else to replace the part I "tinkered up" :huh. Ain't got many skills but me like's to farkel
At 34,666 something went klunk bent the intake valves. Now I need a cheep complete used head. The doo spring was broken and balance chain jumped a tooth. Not sure how many teeth the cam chain jumped. Exhaust left cam cap broke at the grove and was ground well. Captain Tom
I've seen people crack the left side cam caps by not getting them properly lined up with the ring on the camshaft that goes in that grove. I know because I did that and had to do a JB Weld repair. I suspect your doo spring gave out and some how got trapped in a way that caused the cam chain to jump when the balancer chain jumped, as the sprockets for both chains are side-by-side on the crankshaft. When the cam chain jumped this more than likely caused the intake valves to be opened when the piston came up. Question would be how often did you do the balancer chain tension adjustment? If this adjustment is not done frequently the doohickey can be in the position that leaves the spring stretched, leading to premature failure.
'05 - 20K Bought it in Dec and put 2500 miles on it so far. Still getting used to how high I sit from the earth..........
I'd like to go just to get a beer from you. I'm getting back from a 2 week trip 2 days before West Fest and I don't think I'd have time to get ready for another week. I'm still thinking about it and the logistics. You just sweetened the pot with the beer offer.
'06 w/ 28k 8600 of that was in one month, what a good month! have a couple of others so I don't use it as much as I'd like
I'm running Mobil synthetic motorcycle oil. I also run it in my Honda ST1300. I have 42,000 on the Honda and the valves have never been adjusted and are still in tolerance. I have 10,000 on the KLR with no problems.
The mobil sythetic oil you are using-is it motorcycle specific or are you running a mobil 20-50 synthetic for automobiles?
