You know this happened because you named the bike, right? I assume you used welded repairs because they were all out of tire-irons and hose-clamps.
A man and his KLR shall not be beaten. You are much,much, braver man then me riding a bike around that long with a disintegrating frame. After being pitched off once with it broken in half. I can see the romance of it and all but jeez louize if it had broke in half again with cars around it might scuff you up some. Carry on and just remember the more a frame is welded/heated and fucked with the weaker it is and tends to crack around the welds.
My KLR frame has held up so far, but now I think I'll look it over for cracks. It just turned past 55,000 miles , so maybe it's near to timing out. I once had a TM400 Suzuki that I used to play at racing trains beside the tracks, chasing cows in the fields and in "Let's Moto here " down where they built the ball fields.There was a 20 ft. hill that led to a flat area where the outfield is now. One day the TM started handeling worse than normal. The frame broke behind the countershaft sproket. I took it to Lawson's who were the best welding shop around. The guy welded it up and pronounced it fixed. I got him to add a gusset anyway , even though he said it didn't need it. It did. It needed more than that , it broke the next time out and after rewelding it and regusseting it 5 or 6 times , the thrill was gone for me . I sold it on for what I'd paid for it.
Well well... you are still taking pictures aint cha! Looking gooood man! Love the heat shield brotha, can't wait to see the right side Rad! Yo guys I've been preaching about gett'n a new frame, do this, do that for................................... ever, he's stubborn save your breath! How was the Baja last week???
I noticed your La Kiva sticker in the second pic. Were you in Big Bend when you went all broke back? I've had a few steaks and beers there. Cool story bro.
I was going to say that aluminum isn't a good material to make a heat shield with but f*ck it. He did a good job with them and they probably work fine. If your adding another radiator, where are you going to put the coolant overflow?
I recently had my frame powder coated and was amazed at how light it is. There really isn't much to it.... I'm surprised there aren't more failures considering how much people load them down. .
I want to see the "famous photos", the walking the front wheel down the trail one and the bathroom one, whatever that is.
Gotta love the KLR's. They may not be all fancy, and you CAN wear them out, but they sure give you a lot of miles and smiles for what you put into them. Looking forward to the new and improved, Extreme Adventure version you are making. Keep up the good work TFN.
Wow! I would say it's more like a KLR from hell. Fascinating anyhow. I am not an expert in metalurgy, however, it seems that the downtube is sheared "cleanly" and the backbone was not. It might indicate that there was an unnoticed crack through the downtube. Finally the backbone was suddently overloaded due to a bump or something and it gave up. It has clear marks of bending at upper surface. Was there any indication of corrosion in the downtube surface? Or did it shear at weld?
The other "famous" picture is in the front page picture rotation, possibly NSFW . How's it feel to be famous on the internet, Alex?
It never fails. Ever since that hit front page, a vast majority of the conversations I have in person, as well as in thread form, deviate or reference that goddamn night. And the funny thing is, very few are aware of the story that goes with that photo, which is also posted on ADV. Dude, it's something else. I get recognized on the trail. Though considering I'm fully clothed, I think they're recognizing the bike. My dentist back home recognized me from it. How she saw it, I've no idea. But she was the one that broke it to my mother, who no doubt had cotton mouth and a suction tube nipping at her uvula at the time, that her full grown son was naked with his bike on the internet. "That's gotta be photoshop. No one would do that, no way." "Knowing Alex, that really happened...." I love you, mom. I'm gonna derail for a moment because I have something relevant to share with you in regards to this damn photo. After a resent internet search, I discovered that this photo has been reposted on several other websites. 60 search results. USA, I'm assuming. Denmark, or Germany... Russia Even some dude in Brazil that has apparently tagged it as his own. Damn you, Hobbes.