Hey everyone, I just bought my first KLR 650 and it seems like a pretty decent one. It's a 2006 model with only 2200 miles and it's bone stock. It's a one-owner and aside from an oil change, I don't think the last owner has done any other maintenance. I'm trying to figure out what I need to do first. After buying the bike, I don't have a lot of extra money left so I need to do one thing at a time while I save up.
The tires are original and even though they have a ton of tread left, they are 13 years old so they have some age on them. Do I replace the tires first or are they ok to ride on for a while? Also, the doohickey mod has never been done, so should I do that first before I do anything else?
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the KLR. The first thing I would do is replace the tires, change the oil + filter and bleed the brakes before I would ride it.
That's kind of what I was thinking, but wanted to defer to the experts. So with the brakes, I'm just bleeding and not completely changing the fluid?
And for tires, what are the recommendations for a decent, inexpensive tire? I'm not going to be taking the bike on any long road trips for a while. Mostly doing backroad 2-lane paved roads and gravel roads. I'd say 60% paved and 40% offroad riding.
- change the oil and filter
- service the air filter
- inspect, lube and ensure the chain is properly tensioned
- replace and flush brake fluid and bleed the brakes
- make sure the acorn header nuts are torqued to spec
- replace the tires and tubes.
- check steering head bearing adjustment
- go over all other fasteners to ensure tightness
At that point, I'd be comfortable taking it for a ride. The doohickey should be done at your earliest convenience; do NOT attempt to adjust it. With 2200 miles it PROBABLY hasn't self destructed which makes replacement much easier.
A suspension service should be on your next "to do" list; take the rear linkage apart and lube, same with the pivot bolt. I'd also add a thermobob at some point if it was mine but that can wait if the budget is tight (though the benefit is highest the lower the mileage). After that there are dozens....no, hundreds of other mods you can do to make the bike better for what you want or need.
I bought a 2000 a couple years ago with 577 miles on it; I did the stuff above and the bike was perfect.......I needed a battery too. My tires had almost full tread at that mileage but
As already mentioned, the exhaust header acorn nuts.. They will work loose over time and blow out the gasket.
I would take out ( one at a time) clean and apply blue loctite and torque all 4 of the subframe bolts. Those are bolts that you'll want to make sure they stay torqued to spec. Some will tell you you need to upgrade to a harder grade bolt, but in reality, the stock bolts are fine as long as they stay tight.
Same thing with the foot peg bolts. take them out one at a time, clean threads and add blue loctite to those and torque to spec.
Another fastener that is important to keep tight is the muffler clamp under the airbox. An exhaust leak there could burn a hole into the airbox on the clean side of the filter and let dirty air into the intake.
Alright guys, I got to spend a little time with the bike today for the first time. I cleaned it up really nicely and applied Amsoil Mudslinger to all of the plastics and engine and this thing looks like a brand new one! One of the push tabs on one side of the radiator shroud had broken off, so I removed that shroud and tried some JB Weld to get that tab nipple to attach back to the shroud. Probably a long shot, but figured it was worth a try.
Also, the bike has a lowering kit installed and the forks were adjusted also. I certainly don't need it as I'm 6'1" and can easily flat-foot the bike as it currently is. What I don't like is that I have to lean the bike to the right side just to get the kick stand down. Even standing up and taking the pre-load of the rear shock is not enough to get the stand down. So that's mildly annoying. And the previous owner said not to park the bike without turning the bars to the left and locking them or it will fall over easily. On the stand on level ground, with the bars turned all the way to the left the bike is still standing almost but not quite vertical.
Aside from those things, I took the bike for a 15 mile ride tonight just to test it out and was very impressed. Tons of low end torque! You can tell the engine is more comfortable on the lower end of the RPM range that the higher end. Should make a perfect bike after I get all the little things done. Pictures coming soon after I get the radiator shroud back on.
Q-Bond is a pretty tough plastic repair product for the tabs & stubs on motorcycle panels. It is currently holding 5 of 6 on my Blue un-obtainable early Gen 1 rad. shrouds.
I'll chime in with a suggestion about the kickstand… Do a search on this site for "kickstand shorten" or similar, and you'll find a few threads talking about it. It's arguably on the short end of the "proper" range for a stock bike. Mine's at stock and I have to be very careful about making sure I've got the kickstand all the way down before getting off. If I'm on anything but flat ground, it touches down before it's fully extended and, like you, I have to lean the bike a bit to the right to get it to extend fully.
I’m another new owner of a slightly used 2014 KLR. 4K miles, all maint has been done, and all it needs is a new rear tire. So I keep reading about this famous Doohickey part. So I went to Youtube and watched 40 mins of video around upgrading the stock part. I haven’t found anything that says what’s wrong with the stock part and what prompts you to change it. I see the aftermarket part has a spring that would nicely pull out the chain slack when loosened on its own. Does the stock part not work? Do you start to hear chain rattle in the engine? Is there a danger? How long is the stock part good for? Appreciate any info you can share. Thanks in advance.
On Gen 1 bikes the lever broke and got caught up in stuff and wreaked havoc. On the Gen 2 bikes, the lever is unbreakable but the spring loses tension quite quickly. Reports range from 5K to 15K miles before the spring goes slack.
Once the spring cannot take up slack, and an adjustment is made, the chain runs loose. It chews up the engine case a bit and generally makes noise.
The lever is necessary mostly due to the way the chain runs over the idler sprockets. The chain rests on a polymer shoulder rather than being nestled into the sprocket. It is the progressive compression of the polymer shoulder that contributes to the loosening of the chain.
I have spent significant time reading and researching this issue over the years as have others......my opinion is thus:
- Gen1: failure of the stock lever and/or spring is highly likely.......the people "in the know" guesstimate around 33% though I'd suggest the figure is somewhat mileage dependent with the 33% being around 20,000 miles.....higher mileage = higher percentage of failure.
- Gen2: doohickey lever failure is almost non-existant.......the issues of loose fit on the shaft and loss of spring tension are real. Loss of tension is said to occur around 6,000 miles though some have zero tension from new and some still have tension at 20,000 miles.
So is this all an internet myth? No, it's real enough IMO. There are several reasons that I believe contribute to the lack of even more documented failures:
- A great many people never adjust their counterbalance system. If the adjustment is never attempted, the system doesn't get the huge slack that an attempt with a broken spring would introduce. I always tell new owners NOT to adjust the system without physically checking to see it's intact first.
- Most grenaded doo and spring bits float around harmlessly in the bottom end without causing catastrophic failure. My 2001 was opened up at 15,000 miles to find the typical broken doo (three pces) and spring (two pces). I found all the pces in the bottom end and oil screen and the bike was likely ridden for some time in that condition.
- the "upgrade" in 2008 significantly reduced the likelihood of a broken doo lever.
- a large percentage of bikes die of old age, crashes and neglect long before they can be considered high mileage units.
- many failures are never diagnosed......i.e. bike is "broken" and parted out or otherwise discarded.
- Sometimes other failures (i.e. 2008/2009 low oil level/oil burning) takes out the engine before the counterbalance system has the opportunity to.
At the end of the day, I believe that the stock counterbalance adjustment system is problematic but the vast majority of KLR owners are ignorant of the issue and it doesn't come up on their radar for the aforementioned reasons.
On a Gen1, I believe replacement is critical to longevity. On a Gen2 you could get along fine by just periodically checking the spring to ensure it is intact and has tension. Due to the loose fit on the shaft, the springs are put under significantly increased duty cycles, EM's superior lever with better fitment and the torsion spring design completely eliminate this concern.
A KLR, especially a Gen2 can live for quite awhile without even acknowledging the counterbalance adjuster.....but it's still a weak link that is worth replacing if you want some piece of mind.
Thanks Tom for the quick reply and link to the same creator who’s 4 part doo replacement video I watched. My first Kawasaki. Bad news after just purchasing. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. Was hoping to keep this bike for a long time. We’ll see. - Mike
Thanks Dave for the detailed reply. At some point I suppose I’ll tear into it and make the mod. Sounds like I’ll be ok for awhile. Disappointing though. I didn’t come across this before buying. Heard nothing but positive reviews about the bike. - Mike
All bikes have flaws that are unique to the bike and seem to stay with the bike through years of production. Google "xr650 common issues", then replace "xr650" with "dr650". Heck, substitute any bike you want.
The KLR is infamous for the balancer lever, but it is really a rather minor and easily fixed at a reasonable cost. With reasonable care, these bikes will run trouble free for well over 100K miles. There is no bike that is better as a lightweight, inexpensive, off-road capable comfortable, good-looking in an awkward sort of way, touring-capable motorcycle.
I suppose it's all in what you take away from my previous post but a Gen2 "doohickey" lever almost never breaks; yes the spring runs out of tension early but a person COULD remove the spring entirely and simply tension the lever by hand before tightening it down.....or just monitor the spring for tension and "intactness". The EM kit is a great thing and eliminates all concern for this part forever but it isn't strictly necessary, it just makes life easier.
On the plus side, despite this issue, the KLR is umatched and unrivaled in it's reliability and longevity. Maybe this will make you feel better about your purchase: http://watt-man.com/uploads/How_Many_Miles.pdf
The KLR is generally an inexpensive bike designed in the 1980's which is relatively heavy and underpowered and is hampered by some budget components (suspension, bars, etc.) BUT it's also simple, reliable, long-lived, cheap, fun and easy to work on plus there are a plethora of suppliers and available parts to mould it into a better tool for whatever it is you want to do with it.
Install some hand guards to save the levers. I use the solid ones. They clamp to the bars and go right around into the end of the bars. They are very sturdy and will save the levers most of the time.
If the bike is too upright on the stand get a shorter kickstand or cut/weld the current one. Because the OP's bike was lowered the kickstand is too long. So the bike is too upright and it won't take much to tip it. It may be possible to loosen it a bit to give a bit more play but this is only a short term solution.
Also look for a kickstand with a bigger 'foot' or end. The KLR is quite heavy and on dirt the kickstand can slowly sink into the ground and tip the bike.
Many thanks to DPelletier for the replacement tab link. A durable quick-fix is a strip of ally sheet a couple of inches long and a couple of bolts. Drill a couple of matching holes in the shroud and sheet and bolt them together. Bend the strip 90 degrees and bolt the other end to the bike. Not as pretty but it works. I also make a small nick or cut on either side of the 90 degree bend just to make sure it tears there and not where the shroud is bolted to it.
And the bike vibrates a lot. Every bolt you undo will work its way loose again. OK, it isn't quite that bad but when I first got mine I couldn't believe how much everything shakes loose. It is a good habit to check all the bolts fairly regularly, much more than you would on a car or multi-cylinder bike.
They are a great bike. Very rideable and reliable and very comfortable. Riding around on a sofa is how I describe it. Enjoy.
I would recommend that you do the DO before too long. I think I did mine at 12K miles, and it came out in 3 pieces (2005 gen 1). I rest a lot easier knowing it's got the good Eagle Mike's Doohickey with the torsion spring.
If you don't mind me asking, how much did you spend on this bike. I am looking at a 2006 with low miles, and would like to understand if the asking price ($2800) is legit.
That would be a hard question to answer without knowing the condition and the miles.
If I were in the market for a Gen 1 and found a red one that was still shiny and red with no road rash and it had but a few hundred miles it would bring a good price. $2800 might not be out of the question. On the other hand, if it were faded to a chalky pink then I'd be hard-pressed to do much over $1500 regardless of how low the miles were. Other detractors from price are poorly installed accessories, especially where electrical butchery is involved, and missing bits and pieces.
Aside from cosmetic condition, evidence of proper care, and mileage there is also the issue of what aftermarket pieces have been added to the bike.
Mint, stock, low mileage Gen1's are the holy grail of KLR purchases for me and many others. I bought my 2000 KLR a few years ago with 577 miles on it for $2,775.00 USD and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
It's hard to go wrong buying a really mint bike IMO......a few hundred dollars either way tends to become a non-issue over time, especially when you go to do the maintenance and everything is perfect. Even with that low mileage, I'd look at the oil drain plug for signs of leaks, cracks and shoddy repairs as well as making sure the cleanside airbox drain tube is intact and plugged and the airbox doesn't have a hole above the header/muffler joint.
Dave, I appreciate your perspective and it is in parallel with my assessment of this bike and KLR in general. This will be my first KLR, but the third bike. I have BMW and Honda road bikes and an XT225 dirt bike. I am looking for one more to fit between the small single track XT and the only pavement R1100S.
I will look for the tell-tales you mentioned. I hope it is as mint as advertised.
Well, I did not buy this KLR. Turned out to be one of those "too good to be true" scenarios. Yes the '06 had 1771 miles ... but original tires (worn and dry rot), many fasteners missing, mis-matched fasteners (one piece of plastic held on by twist-ties ... like the ones you close a bread bag with), faded plastic, one key, no tools or any other documentation, petcock didn't work (ran it for 10 minutes in the off position ... this one puzzled me), and many other tell-tales that it had not been maintained/treated properly. I offered $2300 and was told that it was $2800 firm. I drove away.
But, on the bright side ... I did take a nice little test drive and love the KLR (first time riding one). Felt like a big dirt bike. So I am still KLR shopping ...
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