Picked up a 2nd bike.

[patw]

Hey all,

I had a tiny budget this year to get into a 2nd bike (The Ninja 250 stays. Period.), and I believe I managed to get a great deal on something:



It's a 2001 Kawasaki KLR 650 with 56k km on it. The bike was very cheap (final price pending), and from every bit of scrutiny I could muster, cleaner than my 250 is

It's pretty much bare-bones right now, besides the aftermarket skid plate and a 12v socket in the front fairing. In the test ride, I found the front brake to be pulsing, but the current owner is fixing it today. The rear brake locks up wonderfully (dirt riders know why the smiley)

I'll be picking the beast up on Monday night.

[Live2ride]

Nice bike! I was just looking at one at a local dealer yesterday. Have fun with it .

[Lil_Green_Demon]

Enjoy it and stay safe!

[Xoulrath]

Have fun with it!

You can't have too many motorcycles in my opinion. My wife and I are constantly looking at bikes to purchase next.

[TXJ]

Have fun with it. KLR's are great. It has weak brakes because of its dual purpose nature. Give yourself a lot more stopping room if you're taking it on the streets. I had a 99 KLR that I beat the snot out of doing dirt roads and trails with, sold it with 46k (I put on 42k of those) on it and it was still running like a champ.

They are pretty bullet proof. Since it has some miles on it, it probably won't have many, if any issues. I would only check some common stuff: Rust in gas tank, clean and repack steering head / swing arm bearings, replace fork oil, check/replace sprockets/chain, clean carbs etc.. If you're planning on riding it a lot you might want to put in some race tech springs as well if you're going through the trouble of changing the fork oil.

[patw]

Originally Posted by TXJ

Have fun with it. KLR's are great. It has weak brakes because of its dual purpose nature. Give yourself a lot more stopping room if you're taking it on the streets. I had a 99 KLR that I beat the snot out of doing dirt roads and trails with, sold it with 46k (I put on 42k of those) on it and it was still running like a champ.

They are pretty bullet proof. Since it has some miles on it, it probably won't have many, if any issues. I would only check some common stuff: Rust in gas tank, clean and repack steering head / swing arm bearings, replace fork oil, check/replace sprockets/chain, clean carbs etc.. If you're planning on riding it a lot you might want to put in some race tech springs as well if you're going through the trouble of changing the fork oil.

Good to know, thanks. Mechanically it seems perfect from the test ride, but I did complain about the front brake not having any bite at all. The 2008 KLR I rode could stop much more positively.

[DarC]

Cool scoot. One day I hope to add a pair of DP's to the garage. My wife would never see me again.....

[TXJ]

Originally Posted by patw

Good to know, thanks. Mechanically it seems perfect from the test ride, but I did complain about the front brake not having any bite at all. The 2008 KLR I rode could stop much more positively.

Old KLR's notoriously have lousy front brakes. They fixed them up a bit with newer (06 or 07 IIRC when they changed the body style) models for more adequate response and feel. I remember changing the brake line to steel braided and put on a better pad and had better response. Some will go a step further and get a over sized rotor on top of that. A new line and pad will make it feel more responsive, and not like a 600+ pound motorcycle with bicycle brakes on the front.