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KLR650 adventure build

17K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  Verwah 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey everyone. I had a great summer and fall of riding my 'new to me' '09. I got used to it being a taller bike and of heavier weight. I've now taken the bike nearly entirely apart to begin a rebuild process to make it better, faster and stronger. I've purchased the entire Happy Trails crash cage, cruising pegs and pannier case mounts. I am taking all the plastics and metal tank to a buddy of mine for painting. I was not a huge fan of the blue and black scheme on the bike. I'm going gloss black with gold and silver stripes and gold leaf details. Jayme at Blue Moon Kustoms does world class paint work and paints for a large group of enthusiasts. He will do 70's chopper style stuff for Hells Angels and famous skateboarders, but he will do something like my KLR for a friend.

Here are some pics of the bike before and after. I will do a more comprehensive job documenting on the rebuild part.



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Above is the bike completely stock back in August.



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This is right before tear-down. At this point I added a saddle seat, center stand, rectangular mirrors and I also did a tail delete and mounted the license plate to the fender.



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This is the bike frame after everything was removed.



This is the engine crate I made. I shipped the engine to M-Tech Motorcycles in Oregon for a complete overhaul. Here is a list of the parts and work they are doing:

Schnitz Racing 705 kit.
Re-jetting carburetor
Dohicky upgrade
Head porting and polishing
1mm oversived valves
performance camshafts
-1 tooth output gear





I am hoping for about 45hp as a result. I will also be adding a better spark plug and +1 tooth final drive to pair with the -1 primary for a higher top speed. As I write this, M-Tech is sending my engine back to me. Updates soon, as the reassembly of everything will be happening very soon.

This bike needs to be together before significant snowfall covers my hometown in Wisconsin. Its getting close, so time is critical. I plan to ride this bike all over the southern states of N. America for the entire winter. More on that to come. For now, I'm going to snap more pictures for everyone to enjoy!

:35a:
 
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#3 ·
Verwah -

You need 15 posts before you can have pictures. It's an anti-spam/porn thing that we had to institute.

One more post and you're good to go.

T
 
#5 ·
Good deal. Sounds like a hell of a project. Better, stronger, faster. You could refer to that as "The Steve Austin Mod." Explanatory video below for those who are younger and don't instantly free-associate those three particular words like us old farts.

Will be looking forward to seeing some photos of the overhauled KLR and your impressions upon first getting it out for a run.

 
#6 ·
Six-Million Dollar Man? Heck you can spend that on normal hospital stuff these days. Ironically (or sadly) my last mission to Bagram we returned a soldier missing both legs and left arm. Hopefully he can return to running, even at speeds less than 60mph.

As far as the rebuild goes, if I were doing a full KLR build I would replace the 50# fairing and instrument cluster with UFO or Acerbis fairing and LED instrument cover. One of the Killer's biggest issues with off-road segments is the weight on the nose. I live on 6 acres in the country so I'm doing my best trials/MX/enduro impression on a semi-regular basis. Nose heavy is a tough way to go through the woods.

Other good mods? A smaller fender and lighter rack make good sense. I'd also go for LED tail and turn lights.
Regards
 
#7 ·
Good stuff guys. An Acerbis front fender is actually already part of the painting project. I like its smaller size and less beak-like profile. I don't know anything about a LED instrument cover, but LED indicators are something I've thought about.

I just figured out what to do about the air box. I was going to use an open element filter for maximum power, but removing the air box entirely means I would need a new solution for the integrated battery mount. Now it looks like a better idea is to just section off some of the air box walls and open it up that way. I read that some people cut out a few 1" holes. So I got a cheap dremel-like tool from Harbor Freight (which is an amazing store) to cut up the plastic. I'm going to remove as much material that seems reasonable. I'll get some before/after pics up this evening. Its actually 55 degrees outside today, and that is as warm as it gets on a good day now. I've gotta get things done if I'm to leave before the end of the month!
 
#9 ·
"I am hoping for about 45hp as a result. I will also be adding a better spark plug and +1 tooth final drive to pair with the -1 primary for a higher top speed."

If you are looking for a higher top speed, you might want to rethink your gearing.. down in front/up in back equals a lower overall ratio. ie; better grunt, lower top speed.
 
#14 ·
Thanks man!

The engine is very strong. M-Tech did an awesome job of getting the carb jetting pretty good without actually tuning the engine. Like I mentioned, they knew exactly what exhaust I used and what mods I did to the air box, so it should have a decent tune out of the box. As of this time, there is only 35 miles on the rebuild. I am just starting the break-in. The first 25 miles were driven with the bike half apart and super lightweight. Even under 4,500 rpms and at half-throttle, it was highly motivated to accelerate. Now the bike is fully loaded and quite heavy. Still, it pulls like a freight train and I love the sound. I can also confirm that vibrations are significantly reduced through the seat and handlebars. I expect that oil consumption will go way down, as it was pretty bad before the 705. After a thousand miles or so I will take all the gear off the bike and get out to a remote Texas highway with a 75 mph limit and find out how fast it goes with the new power and gearing. Stock, it did 100 mph indicated by the needle. I know it is probably a bit off, but it's a good reference for measuring improvements.
 
#19 ·
Thanks! Since I last posted, I had the misfortune of low-siding the KLR at about 40 mph. The happy trails crash cage protected all the vitals, but the plastics on the right side are toast. Now I'm going for a street fighter look since I don't plan on doing more adventure riding for a long time. I might post up the gauge binacle and headlight for sale. Right now Im trying to figure out how to make the bike look right without any body work on it. Lots of electronics to deal with right now. I might have to modify the harness more than I hoped at the onset.
 
#23 ·
I traded a '79 XS 650 bobber for the paint job actually. Blue Moon Kustoms out of WI did the paint for me. He would normally charge about $2000 for the design it had. It is gold flaked and sunburst with quality paint and about 8 coats of clear.
 
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