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General Information

Year
2009
Make
Kawasaki
Model
KLR650
Color
Black and Silver
History
Bought as a replacement for my 200, it came quite well equipped from a 6' 5" Marine. He'd done a good job of outfitting it for a taller person. My original plan was to transplant his engine into my 2008 frame, but he'd done such a good job of setting the bike up that I merely moved a few things over from the '08 and parted it out.
2009 Kawasaki KLR650 (Black and Silver)

Modifications

Interior
When I got the bike it had been an oil burner and Kawasaki had bored it .5mm over in an attempt to fix the oil burning. That lasted a few thousand miles before it started burning a quart in a thousand. Before it got much worse I installed a Wossner high compression piston that brought the displacement to 678cc.
There is a kickstart installed, so the clutch is from a KLR600 with a KLR600 primary gear ratio.
The exhaust is based upon an early GSXR750; free-flowing, light, yet fairly quiet. The airbox has the usual mods, plus mods to the airbox door. The head is ported with big valves, the carburetor is set up with a KLX needle. In the head are adjustable cam sprockets with the valve timing moved slightly to bring the power peak up a bit in the RPM range.
The oiling system has received all of Paul Westman's mods. With the Wossner piston there is no oil burning issue so the main effect of the mods is to provide a bit more pressure to the cams and the transmission. That's not a bad thing because most of the lube for the upper balancer bearing comes off the transmission. Since I lost the '08 to an upper balancer bearing, I appreciate the extra oil going up that way.
Exterior
The bike was originally fitted with an IMS 10, a tank I quickly developed a love-hate relationship with. That tank was replaced with an IMS 6.6 and I am much happier with it as it seems a lot sleeker yet still holds a solid 7 gallons of gas. That change required the installation of a Gen 1 radiator and adapting the Gen 2 fan to fit, plus building a Gen 1 style fan circuit to accommodate the Gen 1 fan switch.
The front cowl was transferred over from my '08 to preserve the history of where I've been (stickers) and to provide the visible point of continuity between the two bikes.
Audio
The rear suspension consists of a Gen 1 pivot, which gives the bike ~9" of travel in the rear, and a Cogent Moab shock that was built an inch taller than stock.
In the front are uprated progressive springs, Racetech cartridge emulators, and preload adjusters.
Suspension
The seat is custom-made, a DIY affair. It's still not right and I need to seek help from Corbin or somesuch.
The tank is fitted with a MOLLE cover with several bags on it that both move some luggage weight forward and provide convenient access to important crap.
The top box is something I call a Super SE540; it is two Seahorse 540's that have been cut and welded together to form a wide top box that will fit all of my camping gear. Rounding out the luggage is a pair of Seahorse cases that are mounted to a homebrew carrier that is, in turn, mounted to a Cycle Racks rack.
Wheel and Tire
The electrical system is quite modified with a custom harness. That was necessary because I converted the bike to a Gen 1 ignition system which I think is more reliable for a back-country bike than the Gen 2.
I have also installed a pair of HID Bi-Xenon projectors that were originally in an Infiniti G37 Coupe. The lighting is pretty damn good.
When designing the harness I eliminated all of the wiring associated with safety switched and the diode matrix and added quite a bit of circuitry to accommodate the lights, temperature gauges for both oil and the Thermo-Bob, and USB power and voltmeter.
The addition of the lights made the installation of a vapor dash necessary simply to make room for the projectors.

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