Project Saguru: A Comprehensive KLR650 Transformation

Table of contents of the build:
(Links to be updated as new 'chapters' are posted)

• Introduction
• Teardown
• Planning & Modifications
• Frame & Body
• Suspension & Brakes
• Engine
• Electronics

Introduction
Project Saguru: A comprehensive KLR650 transformation journal about turning an econobox dual sport into something better.

Everyone has a different idea of the ‘ultimate' KLR650. Whether it is a simple spring swap or changing everything from the forks to the swing arm and the engine to the electronics, I’ve concluded that the term ‘ultimate’ varies from rider to rider. If you’re looking for THE ULTIMATE OF ULTIMATE KLR650 builds, I cannot guarantee that this is it. Instead, this is my vision of the potential of the KLR650 materialized by what I can do with my hands, mind, and money.

I come from a background of performance BMW (Bimmer) modification and driving. My first car was a 1996 BMW E36 328is that I rebuilt darn near every component of. As an influence of my professional involvement with the performance aftermarket automotive community, I have begun to transform that very BMW into a race-prepped, track-only car. For those unfamiliar with the BMW E36 328is, it was the 2nd generation 3-series that shared nearly every component with the E36 M3. Recently, the E36 M3 and 328is have become some of the most popular cars to build a relatively budget-friendly race car. Out-of-the-box, it isn’t fantastic but with some very intentional and value-driven modifications, it is competitive with $80k-$100k BMWs and Porsches in a track environment.

Sound familiar?

That is exactly how I see the KLR650. Out-of-the-box, it’s pretty substandard as far as performance goes. I believe some forum members describe it as, “great at nothing, but capable of everything.” With some intentional and value-driven modifications, I plan to make the KLR650 a formidable dual-sport that can close the “capability gap” between an “E36” KLR650 and a “Porsche-tier” BMW F800GS.

Core Values of the Build
When it boils down to it, I think the KLR is usable in stock form— A great bike to get your feet wet with dual sport/adventure riding. I wanted a good bit more out of the KLR without spending $11k-$25k on a KTM or BMW. Throughout the course of this project, I will be keeping the following core values in mind:

• Reliability
• Rideability
• Capability
• Future Value & Scalability (I’m not talking about resale value)

Planned Usage
The bike will be used for commuting during the week and, with a quick wheel change, ready to tackle OHVs and long off road trips (think SheetIron, Moab, Heart of the West) during my free time. I’m not looking to build a race bike or cross-country slab’er.

Planned Modifications
As far as initial planning goes, I have listed my projected modifications below. List will change as the build progresses and goals, circumstances, knowledge, or needs change.
Frame

• Reinforced upper rear shock mount
• Reinforced & Lowered Foot Peg Mounts & Bolts
• Drill-Thru Subframe Bolt
• Reinforced (Triangulated) Subframe Attachment Point
• Reinforced Main Upper Tube
• Left Side Boot Guard
• Safety Wire Bolts
• Repaint Frame, Subframe, Swingarm, and Accessories

Body

• Britannia Composites Lynx R Fairing
• SeatConcepts Tall Seat
• 2nd Gen Rear Fender
• Acerbis (undecided) Front Fender
• Highway Dirt Bikes Ultimate Hand Guards
• ProTaper ATV High Bend Bars

Fuel / Carb / Air

• IMS 6.x Gallon Tank
• Manual Petcock
• Carb Rebuild
• $0.22 Modification
• KX300 Choke Plunger
• Carb Screw
• UNI Filter
• Snorkel Delete

Suspension

• Front KX450F Forks— Custom valved and sprung for weight and riding style
• KTM 640 LC4 Adventure Rear Shock— Custom valved and sprung for weight and riding style

Brakes

• Front KX450F Caliper & Master Cylinder
• Front Galfer Oversized Rotor & Bracket
• Front Galfer Pads
• Front Galfer Stainless Lines
• Rear KLR650A Caliper
• Rear Galfer Pads
• Rear Galfer Stainless Lines

Engine

• New Countershaft Seal
• Valve Check/Adjustment
• New Case Seals
• EagleMike Doohickey with Torsion Spring
• Uprated RaceTech Stator and R/R
• ThermoBob
• Repaint Case & Covers
• MAYBE: 685 Kit

Exhaust

• FMF Q4 Muffler
• FMF Powerbomb Header
• New OEM Crush Gasket & Nuts

Electronics

• Completely Custom Wiring Harness with Upgraded Connectors & Wiring Diagram for Reference
• Low Beam: Sealed Projecter with HID
• High Beam: Squadron LED
• ADVMonster Spot Light
• ADVMonster Flood Light
• TheRetrofitSource Running Lights
• Custom LED Brake Light w/ Modulator
• Custom LED Plate Light
• Turn Signals
• TuffLights Turn Signals
• Trail Tech Vapor Gauge
• ADVMonster Aux. Temp Gauge
• ADVMonster Aux. Volt Gauge
• Accessories
• 12V Heated Gear Ports
• Dual USB
• Hardwired Garmin Montana 600 with AMPS Rugged Mount

Next update: Teardown

My free time isn't abundant and my weekends are short. I'm working hard to bring you guys some awesome content, though!

Teardown, Refinishing, and Hard Decisions —Part 1.1
This process is probably the most thought-intensive of the entire build. Initially, I just wanted to do a simple suspension swap, but I lost self-control and went a bit overboard. I think a few of us have been down that road before.

Tearing everything down is easy. I'm terrible at keeping track of labelling bolts and brackets, but I typically make it out alright. Stripping and refinishing various components will be more challenging. How do I strip the factory paint off? What do I use that will be durable and easy without costing my liver? Do I need to make any mods before I refinish everything? Those are the hard questions, but they are future-James' problems.

For now, teardown and disassembly is on my mind!

I started with a relatively clean 2001 KLR650. 40k on the clock and still running like a champ. There is no real reason for such an ambitious undertaking— I just like disassembling and reassembling things.



Tank is off.


Slowly shedding layers...


Forks, wiring, and more off. Now out come the guts...


Should everything go according to plan, this will look way different in the end...


I invested in a Sears lift to make things easier.


The countershaft/seal area needs some attention.


Drained the coolant the hard way. Only after did I realize there is a drain plug.


Luckily, these came off without a hassle.


Not sure I like the look of this... Any insight?


Some serious leakage going on somewhere. On my 'To Investigate' list...


Carb is out!




Rear brake setup is off the bike. (I upgraded to SS lines and Galfer pads RIGHT before disassembly)


Chain guard bit looks pretty worn and smelled putrid.


Engine out. It needs some tender loving care.


Frame is not in perfect condition. It's a California bike and that appears to only be surface corrosion, but I need to kill the cancer ASAP. This find is what convinced me to refinish the entire frame/swingarm/subframe.


Installed these and went on one dirt ride at Hollister OHV in NorCal. I fell once on the left side and found this when I removed them from the bike. Needless to say, I am not impressed with SW Motech bars and I will not be running them on this build.


Frame is stripped of all equipment. Time to clean it up a bit...


Began removing seals and bearings from swingarm to either replace or perform maintenance on.


Bearing sleeve popped right out.


Removed the rear linkage bit from the bike.



Sleeves removed, ready for some parts to accommodate the KTM rear shock.

Teardown, Refinishing, and Hard Decisions — Part 1.2
Whoops! Image cap made me split this update into 2 posts.

I began disassembling the KX450F caliper.


If you don't have an air compressor, you can use a electric air mattress pump with some tape as a seal to push the pistons out.



Piston's on their way out. Be sure to block them with the pads or some wood to prevent them from shooting out when you use compressed air!


Stripping factory paint off KX450F caliper


All cleaned up and ready to be refinished (TBD). Foam ear plugs make GREAT plugs.


Began disassembling the master cylinder for stripping and refinishing.


Started spooning off the used dirt tire from the KX450F front wheel I acquired.

Looks like a good write-up so far Shigeta. It's nice to see your progress as you move along the project. It's even nicer that I don't have to do the work.

I look forward to following along your journey. I'm even more interested to see the final product.

The rear shock has me interested. I can't wait to see how that fits.

In!!

Actually planning the exact same front suspension mods you have planned. Looking forward to your progress with great interest!

I'm gonna say don't bother swapping forks. I ran YZ fork on mine for a while & they worked great but they limit the lock because they will hit the tank. you will need to build stops if you go that way. you will also probably have to dump the original instrument cluster (no biggie... I went with an Acewell). installing the Ricor valves and a fork brace (and maybe better springs) will get you 95% of what USDs will give you (within the context of the bike its going on). the Gold Valves are really good too but are more fiddly to install & tune. I'm a big fan of the Moab rear shock too. can't say enough good about the Ricors

685.... YES. do that for sure. that and some port & polish will give you a bit more power as well as a smoother engine. the 705 is not worth doing unless you want to be silly (like me).

SW Mototech racks crack.. I have fixed a few for my friends at Motoquest... they have a pile of broken ones. I think it's because they don't normalize the welds... that and the fit isn't that great to begin with.

I'm in too. With questions.

You're a new poster to Adventure Rider, so please don't take offense to my questions. They're meant to get more information about where you're coming from and where you're going. And, to see if we're along for the journey or just looking.

You mention your experiences in the car world, but how much do you have in the bike world? it's sort of the same, but sort of different. In that same vein, how much reading and research have you done into things KLR? Beezer offers words of wisdom about the suspension. Are you open to advice from those of us who've plowed this ground before? Because if you are, you might be changing some of your plans.

A few folks (2-3 I could find documented) have installed them in the past, but the documentation is very poor. I'm already running into small road blocks that weren't detailed in previous posts. Most of the documentation about the swap is either 1 post or several posts with little-to-no useful information. A lot of pictures taken are broken now. I'm hoping to provide a more concrete, well-documented answer.

Beezer,
Thanks for your feedback! While I don't agree with everything, I appreciate it because it makes me really be sure of my choices and offers an alternate perspective from someone who has "been there and done that."

I'm not too worried about fabbing the steering stops into the triple tree clamps. I'm already dumping the stock cluster for a TrailTech Vapor and the front fairing for (as of now) a Britannia Composites Lynx R as I briefly outlined in the first post. The forks are more adjustable than inserts, provide a larger caliper with matching master cylinder, and are 9mm (or was it 11mm?) thicker than stock forks. They also offer 3" more travel than the stock KLR forks.

Moab rear shock is great as I've heard. Bolt-in, too. I contacted CD 2x via phone and sent 2 emails always with an indirect, "we'll contact you later" kind of response.

When I finally got ahold of someone, they said that I would need the Moab + a rather hefty (but totally understandable) fee to lengthen the travel of the rear shock to match the 12" of travel I would get in the front. The KTM WP shock was about a 3rd of the price of the Moab with common knowledge of rebuild-ability, modification if my needs change, etc.

I want to do something a little bit different than just the common bolt-ons and give you guys something interesting to read.

Jury is still out on this one for me. I would love to. This will definitely weigh heavy on me until the point at which I start working on the engine.

I'm hoping to be able to get away with just an IMS tank and very beefy rad/res guards.

Kawidad,

I appreciate your execution of fine communication skills. I feel it is rare these days in general— let alone on an online forum where any user can hide behind a digital mask of anonymity.

You bring up really great points and I should have included those in my introduction of myself. If I try and boil down your points to a main objective, I would say that you think it would be better if everyone understood where my decisions stem from (experience, research, etc) and how they will effect build.

I am a very new rider, but with a fair bit of miles under my belt. I've been riding a ton of street over the 1 year that I've been riding. About 28,000 miles— ~10,000 of that various slabbing and ~18,000 of that being actual skill-testing miles (twisties, etc). No track days on the street bike.

Like you said, coming from a automotive world is similar, but different. I am a firm believer of the concept that suspension and control is the driving force behind speed and ride-ability (drive-ability). V8 engines are awesome, but my inline 6 with 1/3 of the horsepower can compete because it has a very setup suspension and I have invested time and effort into (ever)developing my driving skills. 705 kits, Versys motors, etc don't appeal to me with an objective of making a KLR that exhibits excellent handling, agility, ride-ability, and overall capability.

I bought the KLR to immerse myself into a dual-sport, adventure riding style. I wanted to learn how to ride on the dirt and be able to travel and explore all over the world without being restricted by paved roads. I have little dirt experience, but combined with my (basic, but ever-developing) knowledge of cars & street bike suspensions, I believe I have a good idea on a productive path to head towards.

Ever since I purchase the bike, I've had my head down in forums, manuals, videos, etc. trying to absorb as much information as I possibly could. I tried to approach this build equipped with as much knowledge as possible. That being said, I am still learning and growing every day; that's all part of the process, isn't it?

I am very open to the experience of others. I would love to hear from others who have travelled down the same road, but I am too careful to blindly heed advice— an old habit from Bimmer forums.

Anyways, it seems like you've got a decent head on your shoulders and I feel like you'll be one to provide some great insight into my journey. I hope I'll have the chance to appreciate your advice in the future.

Looks like an interesting thread, I'll follow along..

Replace both tubes with the red line drawn on them with heavier wall DOM, trust me, now's the time to do it.

Thanks for the kind words.

SInce you're already in with the suspension stuff you've got on hand, no worries. There might have been some better ways, but it's no biggie, it'll work just fine.

Larryboy makes a good suggestion about the frame. He's right, the tubing Kawasaki uses is thinner walled than what I've seen in other bikes. You already mentioned re-enforcing the frame, so you're on the right track. Frame breakage is rare from what I can gather, but cracking is not.

I'm including a link to a build I did several years ago, just so you can see what I faced and what I did about it. It might give you some additional ideas.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699117

About the engine. I would suggest a total teardown. The bike has 40k on the clock, so if you putting this much time and energy into the project, why not go all in? Some KLR motors will go happily a 100K, but most big singles will not. Kawasaki is known among the pros for using weak valve springs, sketchy valve seals, and, IIRC, the main bearings can be sketchy too. The "doohicky" is a well known problem, which on a high mile motor should be pulled and replaced with all of the balancing chains, plus cam chain. So, if you're going this far, and you already pulled the motor.........

Once in the motor, a mild camming with bigger valves and porting would do wonders. A 685 kit would be nice, but that depends on your bore. Maybe look into raising the compression ratio slightly? At 40K, most likely you'll need to go oversize on a new piston. If you want to stay at 650 (I did), I would suggest a Wossner piston. It is tons lighter than OEM and makes a huge difference in the performance of the engine. I believe that the weight of the piston is the biggest gain in going with the 685 kit.

You mentioned the 22 cent needle mod on the carb. Don't. I know some guys swear by it, but I'm not one of them. Spend the $15 and by a KLX650 needle. It's worth every penny. The 22 cent mod works okay if you stay completely stock on the intake and exhaust, but if you do any modifications, like a better air filter or pipe, it's not that effective. But, then again, if you're going this far, you might look at replacing the carb with a TM40 pumper carb.

You showed a picture of the radiator and said you had ideas. Dual radiators? It's been done before. It seems like it wouldn't be that hard and would give you the chance to cure a perceived weakness.

Anyway, those are my random thoughts for now.

I fully agree, but I'd go even further...replace every single bearing in the engine/trans and make sure to open the oil pump to check for wear.

Pictures just to back up what I'm saying because everybody doubts and can't take a person at their word around here.








I've never heard of a 100,000 mile KLR and I consider a 40,000 mile running KLR engine a damn miracle.

Well then, there are tons of damn miracles running around, mine included.

Closing in on 50,000 miles and it uses no discernible amount of oil. Reliable as an anvil and I bought it with 3600 miles on the clocks.

Here we go again.

Might as well get this one out of the way early too.....

"just buy a KTM"


There, now we can move on.

My apologies for defying the gospel according to larry.



As for KTMs....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtUj3br21_E

Shigeta, I look forward to seeing progress. The rear shock option has me interested as well.

You being ignorant doesn't make your KLR a bullet proof motorcycle, you are on borrowed time, rebuilding it sooner rather than later would be prudent unless you're out to prove some kind of internet myth. There's a reason that hundreds of KLR's are being sold for parts on ebay at any given time, guys like you.

Welcome Shigeta!

I know the steering lock issue comes up a lot but for most of us that have done it it's not a problem (No disrespect to Beezer, I value his experiences and posts, but his case seems to be an isolated one)

I agree that new steering stops are needed, this was my solution (YZ forks and triples)









I kept my forks at stock travel and got a longer shock to match. If I did it again I'd shorten the forks a bit. Why? The KLR has a very tall headtube compared to most of the bikes the USD forks come from. If you look at the pic you can see I'm at the very bottom of the flat clamping surface on the tube. Right now it sits a little higher in front- a more relaxed geometry by a degree or two. The bike is more stable on gravel and two track which I appreciate but if you still plan on hustling the bike down some twisty tarmac you'll feel the extra effort needed in side to side transitions.

I'm not sure how much your KTM shock will raise things in the rear so this may be a non issue for you. Speaking of which, if raised a lot you may need a chain roller or tensioner.

Just some more things to consider I guess.




.

FP...thanks a lot for reminding me about your build thread.

You bastard.