The pictures and descriptions on this page are intended to help fellow KLRists who are deciding how to accessorize or outfit their bike, and, of course, for the entertainment of those of us who just like to admire our bikes. Enjoy!
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I bought my KLR A13 in November of 2001 with about 7500 miles on
it. My previous bike was a Vulcan
750. The Vulcan made me pretty fond of Kawasakis, and
Motorcycle
Online's and Canadian
Biker Magazine's enthusiastic reviews of the KLR 650 got me hopelessly
excited about the KLR. When I saw a good deal on a relatively new
one, I couldn't resist.
The pictures and descriptions on this page are intended to help fellow KLRists who are deciding how to accessorize or outfit their bike, and, of course, for the entertainment of those of us who just like to admire our bikes. Enjoy! |
Luggage | Tires | Hand guards | Windshield | Bash plate and engine guard | Low front fender | Chain oiler | Mini-dash
    E36 Givi side cases mounted on a
powder-coated Happy Trails
"Northwest" rack, and an E45 top case on a
Givi top case mounting plate. Mounting the rack on the bike was a
bit
of a pain and required quit a bit of pushing and pulling, but now
that
it's on it does its job quite well. Protects the bike in tipovers,
too. Living in an urban area makes having lockable luggage extremely
convenient -- I don't know how I ever did without it. The Givi cases
are sturdier than they look, too. The side cases do, however, make
the bike too
wide for any serious lane splitting. Fast cornering near curbs also
needs extra attention. |
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  Bridgestone Trailwing TW21/22.
After replacing the K270s
with Trailwings I began to appreciate what the people whom I heard
complain about Kendas being squirrelly were talking about. In
retrospect I still like the Kendas and I'll use them again; the Trailwings,
though, are definitely superior on asphalt. Vibration and noise is
down at highway speeds, especially from the rear, and cornering ability
and comfort are also better. With the Kendas I can feel the knobs
flex (even though predictably) with aggressive cornering; the Trailwings,
on the other hand, feel smooth and solid even at lean angles higher than I
dared attempt with the Kendas.
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If
you ever intend to go off road (a.k.a. fall) upgrading the hand guards is a
must, and even for just street riding it's easy insurance against parking lot
tipovers. In almost any fall one end of the handlebar is bound to dig into
the ground, squishing the stock hand guards and any clutch or brake levers that
are in the way. I replaced my stock hand guards with Acerbis Rally Pros. I
think these are the nicest-looking of the hand guards that have aluminum spines,
are available in assorted colors, and with optional spoilers. Unlike what
I've heard of some other brands, they're really easy to mount. Beware,
however: the mounting brackets are aluminum and overtightening the bolts can
strip the thread. I got some longer bolts so they use more of the thread
on the brackets.
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Clearview +11 windshield. For me this is a must for any extended highway travel, especially two up, when there's less room to move around and find comfortable spots. Yes, it causes some turbulence (not that the airflow was exactly smooth without it), but my riding position is too upright for fast riding to be comfortable without something besides my body to push the wind out of the way. I might try a +7 or a Rifle windshield of comparable size to see if would push enough air out of the way while giving smoother airflow over the helmet (and hence better cooling and less fogging of the face shield). |
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Happy Trails aluminum bash plate -- I don't think my use of the bike requires it, but it does provide a tiny bit more peace of mind. The highway pegs/engine guard came with the bike. I like having the engine guard, but the position of the pegs makes them pretty useless for me except for an occasional stretch. |
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UFO Superbike Front Fender -- the only trick to installing the low front fender was getting it to fit with the SuperBrace. This required cutting the fender to allow the brace to pass through it. The process wasn't hard, and the installation looks good. The fender came from Fred, who before selling me the fender patiently answered various questions I had about installing it. I'll post a detailed description at some point; for now, here's a series of pictures I took during the installation. |
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I normally don't do all that much long distance touring (though I wish I did!), but a few 500+ mile days convinced me that either I'd get a chain oiler or my chain wouldn't get the TLC it deserved. I wanted an oiler which would let me directly control how much oil reached the chain, so a HawkeOiler seemed like the best way to go. (Ordering the oiler, I should add, was a supremely pleasant experience: only hours after I'd ordered it online, I received an email telling me that the oiler was in the mail, and a few days later it arrived. Enclosed were detailed, illustrated instructions, and more than enough parts to install everything.) Here are some pics of how I installed the oiler on my bike. |
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I needed a place to mount my heated-grips switch, 12 V outlet, voltmeter, and oiler switch. After some tinkering with plastic enclosures, I settled on an L-shaped piece of painted aluminum. The dash has a relay operated by the city light circuit so that the voltmeter is off and the heated grips cannot be switched on when the lights are off. Here are some details about how I made the dash. |
Luggage | Tires | Hand guards | Windshield | Bash plate and engine guard | Low front fender | Chain oiler | Mini-dash
Comments are welcome. Thanks for visiting!
[ See my Vulcan 750 page. ]