KLR 650 Modifications

mods:
Rotated handle bar forward for more comfort (it's nearly perpandicular to the ground)
moved controls on the handle bar 5/8ths" inboard to accomodate progrip enduro grips &
Maier aluminum handguards and plastic brush deflectors.
{these fixes of the uncomfortable positioning of the bar/controls and tiny OEM grips made the bike suitable as a daily rider. Nearly everything else I've done is fluff}
Dual star windshield. Makes travel between 55 and 75 mph much more comfortable.
Dual star heatshield.
Moved the license plate up 6"
Fieldsheer tank bag w/raincover (been through much rain back in Jan/feb/march and never had any wet gear inside)
Wolfman Expedition Large Rear Bag
Alaska Leather seat mat (will try it tomorrow, but works great on easy chair)
[after900 miles in two days the stock seat doesn't cut it anymore]
decals:
pulled off the decals on the rad guards, will do the tank and others later.
That's all I can think of. I'm not buying another thing until I've got another 5k on my bike. Plus I think prices will go down once it gets cold. It might just be me but I think once May rolled around, everybody marked up their prices 10%.
Escuch

What is POS???...

Pile
Of
Suzuki ?!

Pathetic
Orange
Scooter?!

POS

Piece Of Shit

What is the general consensus on corbin seats. I just put a flat on this weekend and haven't been able to do a trip with it yet, but it feels very firm!? is this a good thing?

Once the callouses build up on your arse, you'll be fine.

x2 poweder your snuts and arse and you will be happy with time.

hemis are for Dodges

I have 20K on a Corbin Flat.... after the first 1k or so, you will appreciate the flat, firm nature of the beast.

I've got the dished and I love it, I wasn't to sure about how firm it was, but that firmness sure helps on the long rides.

I've got about 2000 miles on my Corbin flat seat and I love it. My stock seat would make (the boys) go numd after about an hour. The new one I can ride for hours and hours and hours.

Okay - I really think the KLR 650 is a grand bike. Really. And I ain't trying to be smart ass, but the frist mod I'ld do if it wuz my KLR, is to remove the KLR gascap and screw a XR650R to the Kawi cap. Second thing is go ride the hell outta' the mofo.

PEACEOUT

????

The KLR gas cap doesn't screw on ...duh

What's the the deal with the dished and flat seat camps? Is there really much of a difference? The dish looks like it would be a better fit for us shorter riders. Is the "flat" lower than the stock seat?

imo, both of corbin's seats, the flat and the dished are the same quality as far as comfort is concerned, the dif is the dished lowers the seat height about 1.5 inches, some complain this makes them slide forward more, some don't, I myself don't seem to have that particular issue. I got it because I'm not that tall, and I didn't like the lowering links, they made the bike ride funny, at least to me, that and I got tired of replacing my plate every month or so, a real pain getting a leo to write a lost tag report. I don't think you could go wrong getting either seat, but the dished one lets us shorter guys ride a bit safer. I've put close to 10k miles on my corbin, best $240 I ever spent on a single mod.Just my nickels worth.

I've got the dished. It was the only available when I got it. The only good thing I can say about it is its better than the stocker. It is far too hard for me. I use an Airhawk and an Alaska Leather pad over it. As for breaking it in,is 20,000 miles enough? It still sucks. There is two problems with it. The first is the shape. I would probably do better on the flat. The second is how hard it is. For me, its like sitting on a board. I'm just too cheap to replace it.

The Corbin flat, doesn't make the seat height any taller, but it does make it more difficult to put your feet down at a light. The seat is so wide up front that it spreads your legs out a touch. I was flat footed with both feet before, and now i am tippy toe-in it

From front to rear:
Excel 21" Rim /w HD spokes
Progressive Suspension Springs
Race Tech Emulators
Summers Racing Corp Fork Brace
Braided steel front brake line
Aluminum handlebars, CR-HI Bend
Folding mirrors
Maier Bark Busters /w roost protectors
Headlight modulator
IMS 6.5 gallon tank, though it takes 6.5 when just hitting reserve
HT Skid Plate
DR650 footpegs /w custom built beefy brackets
Stripped all safetycrat crap
Stripped the vapor recirculation
Dynajet kit
Cut out air box
Corbin flat saddle for muti-day trips, stock saddle for everything else
FMF Q2 Can, replaced a FMF Q, replaced a Supertrapp IDS, replaced a Cobra, replaced stock
HT panniers and rack
License plate mounted under taillight, inner fender bobbed level with rear fender
Subframe & Footpeg bolts replaced with higher quality stock size, replaced every 3rd year for general principals
Braided steel rear brake line
Excel 18" rim on the rear /w HD spokes
White Power Rear Shock

For consumables -
Dunlopad HH+ brake pads
OEM sprockets
Regina Chain
IRC GP1s for ever day riding and Dunlop 606s for the serious dirt days
Mobil 1
NGK Racing plugs
Twin Air air filters /wNotoil system
And for some reason this engine seems to like a regular diet of Marvel Mystery Oil as a regular gas additive - without it I get less mileage to the gallon. Really wierd. I first tried just to do a de-carbonizing of the combustion chamber and my gas mileage went up and slowly came back down. Started adding it to the gas and the mileage went up, stopped and it went down. I wouldn't say that would work for any engine, just is a strange quirk about the engine in this bike.

The one mod left to do, that I might get to this winter, is to mate the Marzoochi forks from my old Cagiva 500 to the KLR. Need to get the dampening rods cut down the the KLR's 9" of travel and bolt up the Cagiva triple trees to the KLR steering head. These will be neat to play with. One leg provides nothing but rebound dampening and the other nothing but compression. PLaying with oil weights and heights gives just as much variability as if they had clickers. On the Cagiva I ran 15W and 4" of oil height in the rebound and 10W with 2.5" oil height on the compression side and then there was the seasonal summer-to-winter shift in oil weights as well.

The suspension mods were a must, neccessary to make a KLR as much a dirt bike as it is ever going to be. The fork brace was neccessary to improve the tracking of the front wheel in the dirt by eliminating fork flex.

The air box/Dynajet/exhaust mod is debatable. Until someone wants to take the time to pay for the complete calibration of the dynometer prior to making their runs we will never know what this does because even a 5% improvement is within the error of an uncalibrated dynometer. But, if you ride the KLR aggressively you will notice the engine works better.

The 18" rear wheel was done just to have access to selection of 18" tires. For how I perceive the KLR to handle I discovered it made a great improvement to the handling. With the 17" setup, if you were trying to hold a constant radius turn my perception was the KLR wanted to naturally tighten the turn so you had to apply pressure to the outside bar to maintain a constant radius. With the 18", once in the turn the bike held its constant radius without any steering adjustments on my part. My speedometer was shoing a 5 mph improvement in corneing speed up on Sonora and Ebbets pass in those slow, tight 2nd gear turns.

If you have a HT side rack the FMF Q2 pipe is about the only one that fits like it was made for it, and in a way it was. My FMF Q pipe was getting banged up by the rack and the top of the rear brake bleed nipple was denting the bottom. With a call to FMF they asked for photos and said they'd replace it under warrenty. They were just setting up the tooling for the new FMF Q2 and they used the location of the dents in my can to make a few sublte alterations. The first provides clearance for the bleed nipple and the second lets you keep the end of the can from hitting the HT side rack. Fortunate timing.

All other modifications were made for personal preferance to create something to replace my Yamaha Venture Royale. Got rid of the VR years ago. To date, the bike as over 100K miles on it. I've logged at least one 2 week trip a year (heading for the Big Bend country in a few weeks) and countless 3 and 4 day weekend trips. I've done every thing I could think of to disprove that a KLR is a poor man's BMW and failed miserable. The only thing I've suceeded in doing is proving this is only bike Calvin & Hobbes would ride.

The flat Corbin offers you more variety in position. Nice to be able to move around if you're doing a full day.

The complaint I hear about the dished is the lack of mobility within the confines of the seat. I think the foam is identical, the firm rather than soft feel.

The dished is great if you have less than a 32" inseam. With a 32" inseam you should be able to get the balls of both feet on the ground with the flat seat and then its a personal choice and I understand either the dish fits or it doesn't. For me, the flat has that all day comfort. First two days with it I did 1500 miles. It takes a couple mponths to break in a corbin. They are firm like a board, but oddly that is comfortable.

Problem with the flat seat off road is the width. It overhangs the side panels leaving you only the seat to grip when you are standing and not being a thick seat its not very comfortable to squeeze. Thats why I still use the stock seat for anything but the long trips. With the long trips , when standing I'm up on the tank to balance the load, where the corbine is narowest and easier to grip.

kdxkawboy Amazing mate :eek1 You have been busy.
Can you post a few pics? I'm especially interested in the mounts for the Maier Bark Busters/w roost protectors because I have fitted some I was given but I think I need extensions from the bars so they can stop dust and mud collecting in the clutch cable. Also, any pics of the Folding mirrors and the DR650 footpegs /w custom built beefy brackets. I put some cheapo Emgo pegs on mine. They are ok but I think I could do a better job.

When you say you 'Stripped all safetycrat crap' do you mean bypassing all the cutout switches? I've done that.

Is the 'Stripped the vapor recirculation' a US thing only?

Cheers
Steve