Lujo's '99 Kawasaki KLR 650

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

Luggage

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.

Tires

Kenda K270.  5.10-17 rear, 3.00-21 front.  I use these almost exclusively on-road. I bought them to deal with the snow and gravel of northeastern winters. For a knobby tire I think they perform amazingly well on the road. They squirm a bit at more aggressive lean angles, but I'm happy with the grip on both dry and wet pavement. Yes, the rear tire whines at highway speeds, but not so loudly that I'd hear it through ear plugs. A little long-distance highway travel (~500 miles at 75-80mph indicated) doesn't seem to bother them. I run them at about 30 PSI front, 33 PSI rear. After 2000 miles or so, they look to be in pretty good shape -- the rear tire looks great, the knobs on the front worn at a bit of an angle, presumably from aggressive braking.

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.

Hand guards

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. 
 

Windshield

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).

Bash plate and engine guard

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.

Low front fender

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.

Chain oiler

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.

Mini-dash

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. ]