KLX650 that won the Winns Safari, Pics anyone?

Guys, as I am the only aussie KLX650R fan on this site, has anyone got any pictures of the KLX650R that won the Winns Safari back in 93 or 94.
Cheers Fogo....

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266100&highlight=safari+bikes

been trying to find the site with the big tanks being made for klx about 20 comingto aus i think;. got a broken one lined up. got a 44 carb on it dyno chart says 52 hp !custom xaust

Ask and it will be found http://www.mx1australia.com.au/index.php/product-details/product/140

Cheers Rick

i'm a fan, just don't have one anymore.... i just wish the DR had the same power and suspension, not very game to jump the DR much unless the suspension was totally reworked.

After Michael Goddard won the (august) 1993 Sydney - Darwin Australian Safari on the KLX 650R, Kawasaki Australia produced a full page magazine article (which featured in both ADB and REV's iirc for a couple months afterwards).

Something similar to this (Kawasaki US version that heralded the bikes success in Baja).


I tried to find a copy of that Goddard/Aust Safari/KLX 650R advertisement, but with no luck so far... The bike was basically a pretty stock KLX 650R, with a 20 liter Acerbis tank, MD roadbook holder and ICO on the crossbrace behind a small lexan screen, some Barkbusters, Dunlop tyres and the usual dose of meticulous Goddard machine preparation.

I will look though my stack of photo's/clips from 1993 and 1994 and see if I can find some...

Mick backed up in 1994 to compete in the Safari on the Kawasaki again (with the #1 plate on) and was involved in a good battle early on with Hederics (#2) on the XR600... Unfortunately on the third day (while leading) Goddard clipped the back of another slower competing vehicle in heavy dust, and split the hand made fibreglass gas tank (a tank which they had updated Mick's '93 Safari spec' bike with - because they required extra fuel capacity than the 20 liters offered by the Acerbis tank). The bike went up in flames... Goddard was a DNF and Hederic's went on to post his 4th win.

Dunno what happened to the Kawasaki afterwards...?

1994 was Mick's last Australian Safari... he ridden the safari 8 times and two wins; 1985 XT 600, 1986 DR600, 1987 DR 650, 1988 NXR 650 won, 1989 Super Ténéré 750, 1990 Super Ténéré (big crash!), he then sat out 1991 and 1992, 1993 KLX 650R won, and finally 1994 KLX 650R (crash and burned bike).

Your a bloody legend Troy.

I've actually got that ICO that was on Mick's KLX that went up in flames........

And it still works!
In fact I lent it to Tex to do Condo on this year.
I reckon I've got a few pics somewhere too.
Will look for them tomorrow.

I know I am preaching to the converted Fogo... but it has got me baffled why Kawasaki stopped producing this bike...

Even 18 years after it was originally designed and produced it is still such a great bike, it is staggering. Ahead of it's time? You bet! Back then in terms of performance and reliability, it set the bench mark (almost as good performance of the euro thoroughbred LC4's and Husky 610, but with the user friendliness and pricetag of Japanese workmanship)... and it took the japanese competitors a few years to catch up; Honda with their XR 650, and Yamaha came with the (discontinued) TTR 600 Belgarda's, while Suzuki updated the DR650e in 1995 and it's remained pretty much unchanged since then (but at least they offer it as a current model). But Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki have abandonned the 600+ trailbike market* completely!?

(the 2010* Ténéré and KLR 650 we'll put in the 650cc sinle cyl. "adventure bike category...shall we? ).

If I could buy a KLX 650R new off the showroom floor today (with the possible exeption of including an upgrade to electric start and a lighter alloy silencer/stainless exhaust system on one), well, to be honest, it really does not lack all that much to the current market benchmarks that are available today (Husky TE 630 and KTM 690R).

In the day, the KLX was as good (some say better) than the XR 650, marginally better than the TTR Belgarda's and DR 650e... and the early LC4 620's and Husky 610's were still getting over their "intensive maintenence" euro exotica image.

...so why have the jap's left this market soley to the Euro's now?

Enjoy you Kawa' Fogo... you're on something that too few people ever got to find out how good they were (are).

Interesting stuff about the Kwak'a, i wonder if the steering head and front forks would bolt on the DR, as both brands have shared parts for a long time.

The KLX 250 front end bolts straight on to the earlier DRs, and I'm about 90% sure that you can bolt a KLX 650 front end to the 300/250 so if pre96 DR front end is swappable, then I recon it will be a easy job.

That's good to know, thanks.

I think the nail in the coffin for the KLX was the lack of ADR, they would have sold a heap more if you could get rego and given the XR600 a hiding, by the time they produced the "softer" model it was too late.

the problem is coporate business plans are developed, debated and decided upon by suits and bean counters not the customer and many such decisions are at odds with what a market would actually like :huh

Look, the "C" model electric start that was and still is really really popular in the UK was the better bike for us guys that pack up with gear and go camping, they were more like an XT600 trailbike. But they had shorter suspension travel, about 200mm front and rear. The "R" model has the KYB 43mm front upside down forks that can cop a hiding with 300mm of travel. Both ThunderDan and Joe with the KTM950 have rode my bike and loved it, you sit on top of it not in it with gives you the trailbike nimble feel. The "C" model has a longer swingarm and is a bit more stable at high speed. Mine with a full load sitting 150 kph on a sandy road is real hard work, very twitchy while shaking its head, But if you lower the back end its not too bad but I like the height. I think Kawaskai threw a little bit of money at it for racing and proved its point and then just closed the wallet for ever on the project, then it was a snowball effect, no aftermarket products were made to vary it use, no racks, one fuel tank thats not big enough 17 litre from Acerbis. Look how cheap the KLR650 is, but its kinda like a Vstrom, stack it and its gunna cost you money.

So what Kawasaki needs to do is put the "C" model electric start engine in the "R" model frame and get it back out there and start selling them again, with out their Farked up colour schemes of the early 90's. Price them a $8500.00.

Conclusion, Kawasaki gave up on their own bike.

Cheers Fogo... Thanks guys. PS, new tanks should be here in a week or too.

I always believed that the Alliance between the two was what restricted Kawasaki to progress further with there dirt bike range. Since the split the Kwaka's are a bloody good package, their MX and Enduro bikes are top notch now out of the box. The new 012 models are a real piece of kit, a stock 250f is putting out more Torque and HP than a works bike. No more mellow yellow in our camp next year.

thanks for the vote of confidence!!

In a nutshell...

What perplexes me though is this; that the KLX 650 R was manufactured and marketed (the same is true of the XR 650R i suppose). It's not like it was some "wish list" bike; like the mythical 690 Adventure or a DRZ 650 X - an apparation dreamt up by unicorn enthusiasts on forums throughout the world... but never put into production. These bikes EXISTED; they were designed, developed by the manufacturers and sold relatively well.

Then (almost overnight) the japanese stopped producing them altogether, took them from the market - without releasing any form of replacement model? Like I said... doubly perplexing? :huh It's like they decided somewhere around the turn of the century that the 600cc+ single cylinder trailbike maket ceased to exist, they walked away and left it to the two (sole) euro manufacturers prepared to build a bike for the purpose.

Thirdly perplexing (can you be plexed in triplicate? ) is the fact that both of these machines (the XR 650R and the KLX 650R) would even today - with some relatively minor modifications and updates - still be a viable option as a ride in that market segment, if they were offered on the showroom floor.

To prove this point you just have to look at the longevity and model run success of the DR 650e, as well as the popularity of the venerable XR 650R on the used bike market.

The Suzuki's sell - not only because they're a good, reasonably priced dual purpose mount - but as much for the fact that there is very little to choose from the "big four", if one does not want to cross over to the "euro" side. I'm sure a lot of the factory home modified works XR650's out there would have been pensioned off by now, if only BIG RED had offered the Honda winged loyal devotees a worthy sucessor by now?


back on topic... gratuitous photo of KLX 650R...

Sorry Fogo, I just searched through all my old ADB's and I couldn't find a report on the Safari at all in '93
I did find a test on the KLX as well as a shootout between it, the 610TE and XR600 though.
Let me know if you want copies of them and I can do it over the weekend for you.